S/4 HANA and SAP HANA: Good to know!

SAP HANA is a mandatory requirement

The core of S/4HANA is the in-memory database SAP HANA in which all data is stored in the working memory, so that the database is capable of extremely powerful analyses and calculations almost in real time. While SAP R/3 and SAP ECC systems operate under many different databases and database types, including SAP HANA, SAP/4 HANA requires the SAP HANA database.

What has to be considered with the SAP WM module?


What happens with SAP WM - when SAP support or even usage rights expire. And what is the best time to switch to the SAP HANA database?

Familiarize yourself with the current Simplification List for your planned S/4HANA release. The Simplification List contains all transactions for which there are changes in the application when switching from SAP Business Suite to S/4HANA, including recommendations and alternatives.

Read more: S/4 HANA Migration and SAP WM

What happens to the customer's own Z programs?

There are typical difficulties with HANA implementations - for example, the runnability of customer's own Z programs. These must be adapted in their syntax, especially for the SELECT and SORT statements, to ensure that they can be used under HANA.

SAP provides a toolset that supports you with regard to the Z programs (custom code) during a HANA migration. The ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) - for the systems SAP EhP2 and upwards for SAP NetWeaver 7.0 SP 12 and the Code Inspector - for older systems before the mentioned versions can help you to change the SELECT command with ORDER BY PRIMARY KEY automatically and thus to achieve HANA conformity in a short time.

If you do not use Eclipse with your SAP development environment yet we can guarantee a HANA migration of your Z-programs with our own clavis-tools. For this purpose and as a supplement to the standard SAP tools we have developed tools that identify and automatically migrate the affected places.

What can you already consider before the changeover to SAP HANA and S/4HANA?

Prepare your SAP Business Suite SAP ECC for the conversion to SAP HANA and S/4HANA:

  • Analyze your data and used programs in your production system via SQL query: Which Z programs are actually still used and which data can be archived before migration?
  • Familiarize yourself with the new technologies, such as CDS, BOPF, OData, ADT, Eclipse, etc. for the future development of your own programs as well as adaptation and extension of SAP standard objects.
  • Program "S/4HANA-ready" today. Use the remote ATC (ABAP Test Cockpit) for this.

It is also recommended:

  • Make a conversion to Unicode if you have not already done so.
  • Adapt the syntax of your Z programs to be migrated - make them "HANA-ready".
  • Improve the performance of your runtime-critical SQL queries.

SAP HANA is a mandatory requirement

The core of S/4HANA is the in-memory database SAP HANA in which all data is stored in the working memory, so that the database is capable of extremely powerful analyses and calculations almost in real time. While SAP R/3 and SAP ECC systems operate under many different databases and database types, including SAP HANA, SAP/4 HANA requires the SAP HANA database.

What has to be considered with the SAP WM module?


What happens with SAP WM - when SAP support or even usage rights expire. And what is the best time to switch to the SAP HANA database?

Familiarize yourself with the current Simplification List for your planned S/4HANA release. The Simplification List contains all transactions for which there are changes in the application when switching from SAP Business Suite to S/4HANA, including recommendations and alternatives.

Read more: S/4 HANA Migration and SAP WM

What happens to the customer's own Z programs?

There are typical difficulties with HANA implementations - for example, the runnability of customer's own Z programs. These must be adapted in their syntax, especially for the SELECT and SORT statements, to ensure that they can be used under HANA.

SAP provides a toolset that supports you with regard to the Z programs (custom code) during a HANA migration. The ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) - for the systems SAP EhP2 and upwards for SAP NetWeaver 7.0 SP 12 and the Code Inspector - for older systems before the mentioned versions can help you to change the SELECT command with ORDER BY PRIMARY KEY automatically and thus to achieve HANA conformity in a short time.

If you do not use Eclipse with your SAP development environment yet we can guarantee a HANA migration of your Z-programs with our own clavis-tools. For this purpose and as a supplement to the standard SAP tools we have developed tools that identify and automatically migrate the affected places.

What can you already consider before the changeover to SAP HANA and S/4HANA?

Prepare your SAP Business Suite SAP ECC for the conversion to SAP HANA and S/4HANA:

  • Analyze your data and used programs in your production system via SQL query: Which Z programs are actually still used and which data can be archived before migration?
  • Familiarize yourself with the new technologies, such as CDS, BOPF, OData, ADT, Eclipse, etc. for the future development of your own programs as well as adaptation and extension of SAP standard objects.
  • Program "S/4HANA-ready" today. Use the remote ATC (ABAP Test Cockpit) for this.

It is also recommended:

  • Make a conversion to Unicode if you have not already done so.
  • Adapt the syntax of your Z programs to be migrated - make them "HANA-ready".
  • Improve the performance of your runtime-critical SQL queries.