Earlier this month, industry experts gathered at FutureLink Barcelona 2024 to explore the digitalization of supply chains and the future of healthcare and life sciences. It was at this conference that Janel Firestein, Partner and Life Sciences Industry Lead at Clarkston Consulting, joined forces with TraceLink’s VP of Alliances and Channel Sales, Graham Clark, to explore how organizations migrating from SAP ECC to S/4HANA should be driving business value in conjunction with the upgrade. In this piece, we share insights for SAP S/4HANA and TraceLink.

This migration is a pivotal moment for life sciences companies looking to future-proof their digital infrastructure, especially as the end of maintenance for ECC draws near. Simultaneously, as serialization regulations and requirements deadlines approach across the globe, there are similar pressures on supply chain leaders to implement supply network orchestration solutions like TraceLink. Organizational leaders faced with these competing priorities may initially attempt to fast track one over the other but as we’ve learned with many clients in a similar position, a parallel pursuit for both can reap significant organizational benefits and mitigate undue risks and costs.  

The Importance of an S/4HANA Upgrade in Life Sciences 

For life sciences companies, this upgrade intersects with mission-critical processes in supply chain management, manufacturing, and external collaboration. However, the complexity of such migrations can threaten the progress of other strategic investments, especially when it comes to maintaining efficient supply chain operations. 

Firestein and Clark outlined how the migration can be streamlined through a combination of best practices in both SAP S/4HANA and TraceLink’s Opus Platform and Multienterprise Information Network Tower (MINT) solution to ensure a smoother parallel transition to S4 and implementation of supply network orchestration tools.  

7 Best Practices When Upgrading to SAP S/4HANA

1. Understand Your Current Landscape

Before migration, it’s essential to have a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape and the impact the upgrade will have on the current capabilities and interfaces. Consider support from 3rd party systems and any upgrades that may be needed on their side as well. 

2. Invest in Data Quality

This migration is the perfect opportunity to recalibrate the quality of your data. As such, ensure data quality by cleansing, de-duplicating, and validating your data before migration. Inaccurate or incomplete data can lead to problems down the line. Organizations may also consider data archiving strategies, if possible, to streamline the migration. 

3. Ensure a Comprehensive PMO

Multiple initiatives may be competing for the same resources in your organization. Therefore, it’s necessary to have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) that oversees not just the upgrade project but the integration with other projects or programs in flight. This helps ensure that progress isn’t derailed by conflicting timelines or resource demands.  

4. Prioritize Change Management

Migration impacts the entire organization, so remember to involve all key stakeholders in the change initiative as early as possible. It’s also recommended to identify change champions that can disseminate the message top-down, driving adoption and ensuring accurate communication. 

5. Define Migration Objectives

Organizations need to determine which parts of their SAP environment should be migrated as-is, re-implemented, or replaced. Code remediation and customization considerations should be part of this plan. 

6. Engage Security Teams Early

Your security design will change in SAP S/4HANA due to the additional layer of security invoked by Fiori. As such, security teams need to be engaged from the start to address any new vulnerabilities. 

7. Test, Test, Test

Rigorous testing is non-negotiable and needs to be enforced. In particular, interfaces should be a focus, as they often require more effort to test and coordinate. Allow sufficient time to test every component and fix any identified issues before going live. 

Key Considerations for Maximizing Value 

Our clients with the most successful S/4HANA implementations and upgrades leverage the opportunity to drive business transformation with the foundation of SAP S/4HANA has the lens through which they drive process change and strategic evolution. Key considerations include: 

• Business Drivers: Shift the mindset from “needing to migrate” to “leveraging the upgrade for transformation.” SAP S/4HANA offers a unique opportunity to drive process improvements and evolve your business. 
• Organizational Impacts: Consider the amount of change your organization is capable of digesting. Make sure to address the biggest challenges within each department to secure buy-in and deliver real value. 
• Value Realization: Consider the pros and cons of various implementation approaches. Whether you go for a phased rollout or a full-scale migration, factor in business urgency, readiness, and the sequencing of business units, geographies, or functional areas.  
• Global vs. Local Requirements: While global standardization is important, allow for localized flexibility where it makes a difference. Different markets may have different needs, so be different where it makes a difference. 

Deliver Additional Value with TraceLink 

While driven by technology, this is a strategic upgrade above all else, and a critical part of the SAP migration is maintaining supply chain transparency and continuity. The opportunity to create value through other investments like TraceLink’s Opus Platform and MINT solution enable businesses to orchestrate their supply network operations digitally, helping organizations to deliver needed value even as internal IT systems undergo major transitions. The value that could be created is in ensuring that external relationships with manufacturers, logistics providers, and suppliers remain seamless, minimizing any disruption to the supply chain. 

As your life sciences organization embarks on its migration journey, remember to align parallel solutions with your S/4 migration to maximize value and minimize interruptions to your business. Other recommendations for how leaders can plan for joint SAP/TraceLink platform projects include: 

• Lead with transformation enablement, 
• Define key business challenges to resolve across the digital enterprise, and 
• Design global standardization of processes in parallel with other solutions. 

Looking Ahead 

Supply chain digitalization and transparency is an enterprise-wide effort, and an S/4HANA migration provides the foundation for meaningful change. Organizations that take a strategic approach, leveraging both SAP S/4HANA and TraceLink, will be well-positioned for success. By aligning TraceLink’s Supply Network Orchestration solutions with their SAP migration strategy, businesses can ensure they not only upgrade their IT infrastructure but also drive lasting business value. 

For help getting started, connect with our experts today.