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NXTsoft needed assistance to consolidate multiple Business units’ data centers into AWS for simplicity and ease of management. A perfect task for the EPI-USE AWS Services team.

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SMART SAP Migration

EPI-USE’s SMART SAP Migration for AWS

Traditional SAP migrations, upgrades, and conversions to the AWS cloud can be time-consuming and costly. This document introduces EPI-USE's SMART SAP migration, leveraging the world-class software Data Sync Manager (DSM), to reduce costs, time, minimize data footprints, align target landscapes, and enhance security during SAP migrations, upgrades, or conversions to S/4HANA. We delve into the process and the advantages of accelerated migrations, demonstrating how EPI-USE's approach can revolutionize your migration journey.

Introduction

The migration of SAP systems to AWS has become imperative for organizations seeking scalability, cost-efficiency, and superior performance. However, conventional approaches to these migrations often present challenges such as extended timelines, escalating expenses, and the risk of insecure data. EPI-USE has crafted an all-encompassing SMART migration that effectively addresses these concerns and empowers organizations to transition to AWS with confidence.

Once the source landscape's technical information has been thoroughly investigated and a detailed migration plan is agreed with all stakeholders - the transition to AWS can commence.

The EPI-USE SMART SAP Migration Approach

The first step of a SAP migration, it is advisable to test the process by conducting a test migration from the production system to a test system in the new AWS environment. This important initial step offers numerous advantages and value to ensure a successful migration.

Benefits of an initial test migration include:

  • Any issues, challenges, stumbling blocks can be identified early and solutions can be sought in a timely fashion.
    Leveraging these findings provides valuable insights for executing the final production cutover.
  • The test migration will provide Informed timing expectations for the final cutover.
  • The opportunity for business users and stakeholders to test drive a copy of production in the AWS environment, from a performance, security, testing and AWS perspective.
  • The potential to use the migrated test system as a source system in AWS for regenerating non-production systems.

The SMART Way

Organizations can benefit and save project time and costs by rebuilding non-production systems, leveraging the EPI-USE Labs Data Sync Manager (DSM), from the initially migrated test or sandbox system. The test system on AWS now represents a copy of production, in a tested state - why not use this base system to create some or all of the non-production systems in the new AWS environment. Utilizing Data Sync Manager, the following process is followed:

  • Instead of migrating DEV from old source, with old legacy developments across data centers, EPI-USE will recreate a new DEV in AWS, with as much or as little data as needed, with the added advantage of this data being masked.
  • Instead of migrating QAS from old source, with old legacy test data, across data centers, EPI-USE will recreate a new QAS in AWS, with as much or as little data as needed, with the added advantage of this data being masked, and
  • Should a Sandbox, extra training or PRE-production system be required, this can also be created with ease, with as much or as little data as needed, with the added advantage of this data being masked.

Migrating the Production System and Cutover

Once all non-production systems are built with testing completed, together with platform behavior deemed as acceptable, the production cutover process commences with a final SAP migration from the original source. 

Should there be a need to reduce the size of the production environment, various methods can be employed. For instance, options such as archiving or again leveraging DSM (Data Sync Manager) to downsize production, while still retaining deleted data with the assistance of Archive Central within AWS, can be explored. The choice of archiving method will depend on specific business requirements for retrieving outdated data. This resizing intervention for the production environment can be implemented either pre or post the migration phase.

Benefits and value of this approach are summarized below:

  Benefits Description
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Minimize your non-production dataset's size to unlock substantial cost savings on AWS resource allocation.

With this method we can downsize all of the non-productions systems (DEV, QAS and SBX) to a size that is just enough data for the clients needs.

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Benefit from having current, securely masked production-like data in your non-production systems.

As the non-production systems are effectively copies of production, Data Secure can scramble and mask this data, rendering it unusable for unauthorized purposes. Far wider access is given to project teams, testers, developers that would not normally have access to production.

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Enjoy a faster and more efficient migration, as each non-production system can be rapidly recreated in the new AWS target environment, eliminating the need for time-consuming migrations from on-premises sources.

Expedited turnaround time compared to migrating all non-production systems using SWPM, is particularly beneficial for time-constrained projects.

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Opportunity to harmonize and synchronize configurations between non-production and production systems, ensuring enhanced consistency in managing the future lifecycle of your systems.

Normally, after years of operations, new developments, support packs and patches (failed and successful), the consistency and alignment can become inconsistent. This method is a great opportunity to correct this.

 

Conclusion

EPI-USE's SMART SAP migration, powered by Data Sync Manager (DSM), presents a compelling alternative to traditional migration approaches. By reducing costs, minimizing data footprints, aligning new landscapes, and enhancing security, this methodology empowers organizations to migrate, upgrade, or convert to S/4HANA with greater efficiency and confidence.

The advantages of secure data migration, flexible testing, risk reduction, and the opportunity to right-size the landscape make the SMART SAP migration an appealing choice for organizations seeking to modernize their SAP environments on AWS. With transparent runtimes and the ability to address challenges early in the project, EPI-USE's approach offers a smoother, more cost-effective migration journey. In an era where digital transformation is critical, EPI-USE's accelerated migration methodology provides the agility and efficiency organizations need to thrive in the cloud.