SAP implementation: Your path to a new IT architecture

SAP Implementation: Start your project now with GAMBIT

You want to use the full potential of SAP S/4HANA? You want to implement a lean, up-to-date and above all future-proof IT landscape?
In most cases, one way to do this is best: a new implementation, also known as a greenfield approach. SAP Greenfield means something like "on a greenfield site". The system is therefore set up from scratch.

Companies thus have the unique opportunity to make the change from an evolved and often heterogeneous IT landscape to a lean, harmonised, uniform and flexible ERP system.

Ultimately, however, it is not the path or the "colour" that is decisive, but the goal: i.e. not greenfield or brownfield, but basically a kind of futurefield, the contemporary and permanently lean architecture.

The best SAP solution for your business

If you are an SAP newcomer and do not yet work with an ERP system from SAP, then it is simple: the greenfield approach is the only way for you to implement SAP S/4HANA.

If, on the other hand, you are already using an ERP system from SAP, you primarily have the choice between two paths to SAP S/4HANA:

• the New Implementation ("Greenfield") and
• the System Conversion ("Brownfield").

Further approaches ("Selective Data Transformation") are usually always based on the System Conversion, which is enriched with a selective data migration.

SAP Greenfield vs. Brownfield

Brownfield means that SAP experts upgrade the existing SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA in one step. However, data and developments are also transferred - including old code, obsolete data and functions that either have no successor in SAP S/4HANA or were discontinued by SAP by the end of 2027.

If, on the other hand, you choose the greenfield approach, you make a clean cut between the previous ERP system and SAP S/4HANA. You create the foundation for a future-proof IT architecture and get the opportunity to resolve pain points in the course of the new implementation.

We discuss the topic in detail in the article Greenfield vs. Brownfield.

SAP Best Practice - close to the standard

With the greenfield approach, the software is implemented along the SAP best practice processes, i.e. close to the standard. In addition, the master data is taken over from the existing systems, if necessary also with cleansing and harmonisation.

The SAP Best Practices are pre-configured and immediately available business processes with which the basic requirements of companies can be fulfilled.

Implement SAP S/4HANA with GAMBIT

Are you looking for a partner with whom you can tackle such a greenfield implementation with a focus on best practice standards now?

Rely on GAMBIT - an experienced companion and enabler who knows what matters in such an introduction.

With our 360-degree process model, we also support you and your company on the way to SAP S/4HANA: comprehensively, individually and with the highest quality standards.

This is what GAMBIT Consulting stands for:

• Tried and tested approach
• Business, IT and implementation expertise
• Transparent and simple pricing model
• Licences for SAP S/4HANA (certified licence partner)
• Design directly in the live system

Grown over many years: the typical SAP system

In order to better understand why we recommend that most of our customers go greenfield, we should first take a look together at where many companies currently stand that use SAP ERP or SAP R/3.

If you already use an ERP system from SAP, your ERP landscape probably looks like this:

• In your SAP core there are numerous in-house developments (so-called Z developments) - that is, your own individual adaptations and solutions that have been developed over many years.
• In addition, there are also various environment systems - connected to this conglomerate of functions and components via classic interface technology.

It is a world that is now used by almost every company that uses SAP ERP. This world was state of the art for a long time. And it still has its advantages.

Above all, independence from third parties should be mentioned here, because requirements can be implemented independently. In addition, it is possible to adapt almost any development and solution individually to one's own needs.

From today's perspective, however, the disadvantages still outweigh the advantages. The classical structure of ERP systems has become outdated. Today it slows down companies in their further development.

In what condition is your ERP system?

Do you have such a classic system in use? Then you know what you have to deal with. Because a conventional ERP system is

• mostly historically grown, highly complex and heterogeneous,
• difficult to maintain as a result, and
• cumbersome to upgrade and keep up-to-date.
• Moreover, many developments are strongly interdependent,
• the responsiveness of IT decreases and
• serious know-how problems can arise if employees with expert knowledge are no longer available.

All this makes necessary adjustments to new requirements extremely difficult. Often the supposed digital core - i.e. the ERP system - is an insurmountable hurdle for the rapid implementation of requirements from the market. A complex system causes costs and makes companies slow and cumbersome.

Anyone planning to implement SAP S/4HANA now should therefore carefully consider whether to take the software of the old ERP world - as in a system conversion - one-to-one with them into the new world of SAP S/4HANA. This is especially true since a system conversion does not allow the way to best practices. This also means that a later switch to a cloud solution is significantly more cost-intensive. You should therefore include future developments in your planning today.

Implementation of SAP Conversion

Should you decide to convert, we will also implement this with you.

SAP provides a standardized roadmap and various helpful tools for the transformation. Our experts use their consulting know-how to carefully and proactively adapt this best-practice solution to your individual requirements and goals.

We accompany and support you at every stage of your brownfield project - before, during and after the S/4HANA migration. In this way, we ensure successful implementation of your SAP S/4HANA conversion with as little downtime as possible.

Together we implement the SAP S/4HANA conversion step by step with you and guide you transparently through the decisive phases.

• Kick-off with extensive on-boarding
• Check of the system requirements
• Testing and optimization of databases
• Practical phase of the migration (content and technical migration)
• Individualization of the system landscape (configuration, customization & security)
• Individual reworking

Why SAP Greenfield is often better

Taking the path of conversion may well be recommended. This is also technically possible as a rule if companies take certain special features into account. In most cases, however, the best way to replace SAP ERP is probably a greenfield migration.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. If you opt for Greenfield, you rely on a modern IT architecture and open the way to best practices. You arrive at an ERP system that remains clean in the long run due to the flexible handling of interfaces via apps and the new principles of the overall architecture and where there are no problems with updates and upgrades in the future.
   
   
2. In addition, you are setting the course towards the future and the cloud: properly understood, SAP S/4HANA software is not just a technical update of existing systems. Rather, SAP S/4HANA is a strategic opportunity to realign the entire business model - for example, through new analytics, through more easily scalable processes or through the application of artificial intelligence.

Your new software: faster, more flexible and less complex

A modern IT architecture under SAP S/4HANA looks like this:

• It is close to the SAP standard and thus to Best Practices,
• is thus - despite new functionalities - far less complex,
• the applications are located in part or in whole in the cloud or, depending on requirements, on their own platforms,
• it can be extended individually in many cases by means of modern frameworks and is nevertheless release-safe and
• are mainly connected to each other via real-time interfaces.

The core of such an architecture is the digital core of SAP S/4HANA. This core is based on the HANA database and is preconfigured as standard via scope items. These scope items reflect the end-to-end processes. All central functions are already contained in the core.

After a new implementation, further, separate software components are available in SAP S/4HANA, which are connected to the core via modern API interfaces:

• from extensions released by SAP (Extensibility Framework),
• Business Cloud Apps (from SAP or third parties),
• to further non-SAP environment systems and
• company-owned apps.

Communication between the applications takes place using API protocols, which have evolved from Web technology to a quasi-standard for developments in general. SAP delivers these protocols as a docking area for connecting apps in the standard system. In conjunction with the powerful SAP HANA in-memory database, they connect all data in real time.

The advantage for you: In this way, you have access to current and fully harmonized financial key figures or customer data at any time and at the push of a button - a clear competitive advantage over those companies that are not yet in this world.

The advantages of a modern SAP ERP system

The advantages of an IT architecture in best practice standard are

• no restrictions in processes and functions,
• high speed of adaptation to new developments,
• lower operating costs,
• greater independence from third parties,
• maximum flexibility in the choice of operating model and
• high investment protection through permanent product up-to-dateness.

Your Company and the SAP Cloud

Those who want to implement such a contemporary architecture will usually do so in whole or in part in the cloud. It is the key to significantly more flexibility, less complexity, greater adaptability of functions and lower costs.

From SAP's side, there are several ways to do this, public and private cloud solutions.

The variant currently preferred by many companies is RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition - a solution that combines the advantages of an on-premise solution with the benefits of a cloud solution.

With RISE with SAP, SAP is paving the way for companies to move into the cloud. The offering bundles a variety of tools and solutions that facilitate and accelerate adoption.

The fastest path to the cloud is SAP S/4HANA Cloud, a modern and flexible SaaS public cloud solution. For companies that want to achieve maximum standardisation, this variant is the best way - with or without RISE.

Would you like to learn more about the cloud solutions or about RISE and benefit from the advantages of the cloud with your company?

Get in touch with us. GAMBIT is certified for all available operating models, has already implemented various cloud projects, is experienced in dealing with methods and models and is an official SAP S/4HANA cloud partner.

Overview of an SAP Implementation with GAMBIT

You are curious and interested in a SAP S/4 HANA Greenfield approach with GAMBIT? Then do not hesitate to contact us - our consultants will be happy to introduce you to our process models, tools and strategies.

A first overview of a SAP S/4HANA implementation with GAMBIT:

• We generally start with a GAMBIT preliminary study and the development of a suitable SAP roadmap - depending on your progress, we also build on results already achieved.
• If you have already started, we also build on already achieved results.
• For the implementation you can use our well-proven end-to-end process model.
• The total duration of the project is usually between 6 and 18 months.

GAMBIT can also support you in evaluating your license situation and you can purchase licenses from us.

Our path to the new SAP system

We implement SAP S/4HANA together with you using our tried-and-tested 360-degree process model.
We divide the process roughly into three phases:

1. In phase 1 we analyze the initial situation. We go in search of the drivers for your SAP S/4HANA implementation. This phase also includes important preliminary analyses for the further preliminary investigation.
2. In phase 2 we prepare the implementation. In doing so, we pay particular attention to budgets, time and risks. Part of this phase is the evaluation of the various operating models as well as the corresponding new license models.
3. In phase 3, the design, implementation and rollout take place. Now the implementation takes place: setting up customer model companies, technical implementation, training and testing, cutover and go-live.

Durable „green“ solution with 100 percent standard

The primary goal is to use the SAP standard and thus the best practices as much as possible in order to maintain the future viability of your SAP S/4HANA system in the long term.

At GAMBIT we also speak of the "Perpetual Green Approach" in this context. This means that product updates and innovations are permanently and regularly available to you and that you can also adapt your system quickly and effectively whenever necessary.

Therefore, our goal is to provide you with a permanently "green" system - a system that optimally supports your processes, is as close as possible to the standard and is therefore open for all operating models of SAP in the future. Such a system also enables you to benefit from new functions in future releases through rapid release upgrades.

Implementation of SAP S/4HANA with SAP Activate

For the introduction of SAP S/4HANA with the Greenfield Methodology, GAMBIT relies primarily on SAP Activate. SAP Activate is a combination of best-practice processes, methods and user-guided configuration to implement SAP S/4HANA quickly and securely.

However, we have further developed SAP Activate. Our approach reduces the time required and the complexity of the project. In this way, you can implement SAP S/4HANA even faster and more securely.

The methodology is characterized by the fact that we carry out the implementation - in close cooperation with the specialist departments in your company - agile and in several fast cycles.

Your SAP S/4HANA trial run - live, digital, immediately

The basis of the agile approach is preset live systems. SAP calls these demo systems SAP S/4HANA Fully Activated Appliance.

In addition, key digital features outside of SAP S/4HANA are already included to demonstrate to companies the full power of the SAP Intelligent Enterprise family:

• SAP Business Technology Platform connectivity
• Connection of SAP FIORI-based apps
• IoT integration with Digital Twin simulation
• MDM/MDG integration as an integrated data hub
• Rest API-based interfaces for live data streaming
• Mobile Application Docking

With the help of such a live demo system, employees in the specialist departments can access the SAP S/4HANA system at an early stage and actively accompany the expansion.

The special feature, however, is that we adapt the SAP S/4HANA Fully Activated Appliance to your company, so that the experience of a possible new solution becomes very vivid for the later users.

Other advantages:

• Live systems allow users to immediately play through end-to-end process chains.
• They provide information about the usability by the users.
• The system can already be optimized in the design phase and does not have to be adjusted later on in a time-consuming process.
• In addition, this approach ensures broad user acceptance through early and intensive user participation.

In contrast to the Fully Activated Appliance, the so-called Model Company is an industry-specific solution that contains a pre-selection of best practices and additional processes and solutions and is subject to a fee.

Typical errors during SAP implementation

In many companies, businesses only look at the technical requirements. In doing so, however, they run the risk that the chosen operating model or target architecture does not fit the strategic and operational goals of the company.

Sometimes the necessary project effort is also underestimated - and the entire organization suffers under the heavy burden of the implementation and loses productivity.

We are aware of the risks. That is why we attach particular importance to not only looking at the technical side of an implementation.

Rather, we take into account the strategic, business and future requirements in your company - in concrete terms and with the help of measurable target figures.

360-degree approach to SAP S/4HANA implementation

Our experienced consultants keep an eye on the entire process from day one: With our 360-degree approach to the implementation of SAP S/4HANA and a detailed preliminary study, we ensure that risks are minimized and that subsequent difficulties do not arise in the first place.

In this way, you are always on the safe side. You get what you need. And above all, you get exactly the target architecture that best suits your company and your long-term goals.

Your advantages of an SAP implementation with GAMBIT at a glance:

• Everything from a single source - from design to application management
• Certified SAP S/4HANA licensing partner
• Customized SAP S/4HANA Fully Activated Appliance with End-to-End Process Scenarios
• Own SAP Data Migration Factory
• Implementation expertise and certification for all operating models
• Cost-saving education and training programs through SAP E-Learning Hub integration
• Avoidance of redundant and costly documentation through SAP E-Library integration
• Proven and certified project management methodology
• Reduced risks through integrated risk and compliance management

Your SAP Greenfield Project with GAMBIT

We fully implement SAP S/4HANA Greenfield for you.

You too can now benefit from our end-to-end process model, from the expertise and experience of our consultants with SAP S/4HANA and from our proven project management.