Process Mining: the accelerator for a successful S/4HANA migration

You may already be familiar with SAP's future plans: within the next five years, support from SAP for SAP ECC will no longer exist. 2027 may still seem far away, but without the right approach, S/4HANA migration processes can be experienced as lengthy and complex affairs. That is why this deadline still creates the necessary time pressure. Fortunately, Process Mining can provide a solution for a correct approach that allows the deadline to be met without time pressure.

Are you curious about how a Process Mining approach supports and relieves your organization during the migration to S/4HANA, and thus ensures a smoother, successful process? Then read on.

Trust data instead of conjecture

Given the size and complexity, the migration to SAP S/4HANA quickly requires a lot of time and effort if the correct approach is not taken. Process Mining offers a solution by starting with a factual understanding of processes. This way you avoid regular discussions about the difference between how employees think processes run and how processes actually run. We see that these discussions often arise in practice when processes cannot first be factually understood.

It takes little imagination to imagine how much unnecessary time and effort this saves in the S/4HANA migration process. With the smoothest possible, effective approach to migrating your old SAP ERP to the new S/4HANA, you will gain back a lot of the investment in the migration process.

Stay ahead of the competition

It is therefore not recommended to postpone the transition to SAP S/4HANA, especially given the deadline of 2027 given by SAP. The longer the transition to SAP's new ERP variant 'S/4HANA' is postponed, the greater the chance that your organization will start to lag behind proactive competitors who decide to make the transition to S/4HANA faster.

A successful migration to S/4HANA

A common theme in successful S/4HANA migrations is a deep understanding of processes. With Process Mining's data-driven approach, processes are objectively mapped using data mining from your ERP system. These data are so-called 'digital footprints' that are left behind during the execution of a process, with which all process flows - both agreed and exceptions - are mapped. This makes subjective discussions a thing of the past, which benefits the acceptance and adoption of the changes.

Continuous improvement of processes

The actual understanding of processes enables your organization to form an idea of the extent to which the existing processes correspond to the optimal working method within SAP S/4HANA. This not only provides transparent insights and starting points for process optimizations during the migration, but also provides opportunities for standardization and harmonization, alignment of processes with strategic objectives, and continuous improvement of all business processes.

Process Mining during the SAP S/4HANA migration process

Process Mining simplifies and accelerates the S/4HANA migration using the DimActivate methodology. This is a further development of the SAP Activate method, which is part of the SAP RISE program. The Activate method is recommended by SAP for S/4HANA implementations. The method simplifies and clarifies the course of a migration process with specific steps that you can best take during the process. We have supplemented this methodology with extra attention to stakeholder and change management to ensure that the change process runs as smoothly as possible.

Process Mining is best applied in both the explore phase and the run phase of the Activate methodology. Process Mining is then first used to map the current processes (this is the explore phase) and then to monitor the redesign of the processes in S/4HANA (this is the run phase).

Get in touch

Ready to make a business change? At Emixa, we'd be glad to share our comprehensive insights. Contact us to discover how our approach can help your organization thrive in the cloud era. Let's embark a journey towards enhanced efficiency and effectiveness together!  

Jelmer Reichert

Jelmer Reichert has experience in the field of process optimization and gaining insights into specific business processes. With his expertise in Process Mining, he helps companies with improvement processes. In addition, his knowledge areas are Enterprise Asset Management and Supply Chain Management.