Usually, system consolidations, upgrades, and migrations take considerable time, primarily due to the extensive review, cleansing, and migration of structured and unstructured system data required. Structured data in SAP is data which does have a predefined structure. This can be for example a sales order, a financial document, a purchase document or so on. The structure is always the same, no matter for which customer or supplier you are issuing the document. Unstructured data is data which doesn’t have a predefined structure. In the SAP area, this could be for example a PDF, Word, Excel, or any other document which is attached to any business object (Invoice, Sales document etc.). To link unstructured data to a business object, SAP offers different functions to do so. The most common functions are for example GOS, BDS, DMS, ArchiveLink, etc. Approximately 90% of information exists in unstructured format and only 10% is structured content. Unstructured data accumulates quickly and leads to SAP database size growing. SAP addresses this challenge by helping you modernize your mission-critical systems and processes with a simplified, disruption-free approach provided by OpenText solutions for document management archiving, such as “SAP Archiving and Document Access by OpenText” or “SAP Extended ECM by OpenText”. These offerings shorten implementation time and reduce the volume of data that needs to be processed. For example, when migrating a single system “as is” (also known as “lift and shift”) to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, you can employ SAP’s core data archiving functionality along with SAP Archiving and Document Access by OpenText or SAP Extended ECM by OpenText to minimize database size before conversion. This transition strategy significantly cuts down on the time required for document management tasks, enabling teams to focus on optimization opportunities by leveraging more powerful analytics tools in the cloud. According to IDC, customers can achieve “43% faster document migration to SAP S/4HANA Cloud” when taking advantage of OpenText solutions (Source: The Business Value of SAP Enterprise Content Management Solutions by OpenText in the Digital-First World,” IDC White Paper, January 2022, IDC doc. #US4861702). Best practices Clean up the SAP database Before doing the migration to HANA, think about cleaning up your SAP database and archiving older transactional data. Remove unstructured content from the database If you haven’t configured the storage location of GOS attachments (GOS = Generic Object Services), DMS attachments (DMS = Document Management System),and BDS attachments (BDS = Business Document Services) – all unstructured content that your users have added has ended up in the SAP database and adds to the overall volume. GOS, DMS and BDS attachments, as well as Fiori attachments, can be stored in OpenText Archive Center. But this has to be configured for each SAP Business object (e.g. Customer, Plant, Material, Vendor, etc) and document type (e.g. invoice, sales order, maintenance order, etc). But once all configuration and data migration is done your database will be relieved from the burden of the unstructured content and the upgrade to SAP S/4HANA will be much easier. System decommissioning and process standardization If during your solution landscape analysis phase you found homegrown, legacy, or simply a bunch of systems that are used for document management and archiving, think about: What it will take to make these 3rd party/homegrown solutions work with SAP S/4HANA? How future-proof is this? How many business user man-hours are wasted while switching between different applications, looking for information in silos? Is your organization accumulating data? Would you benefit from an automated data retention/records management solution? Does it make sense to consolidate and standardize the business process and the overall solution landscape? Chances are that a lot of what you’ve used 3rd party or home-grown software for can be done using out-of-the-box functionality of the latest releases of the OpenText solutions you already own, such as: SAP Archiving and Document Access by OpenText (ADA) The ADA package, as the name already says, provides document archive and preview functionality embedded within SAP business transactions and processes and is accessible anywhere and anytime from your laptop or mobile device. SAP Extended ECM by OpenText (xECM) The xECM package covers everything ADA does, plus it offers document management, records retention management, collaboration, document version control, and much more. It’s great because it is quite flexible, provides a variety of functionality, and seamlessly integrates not only into SAP S/4HANA®, but also into Microsoft® 365, Salesforce, and SAP SuccessFactors®. Wrap-up & advice When planning this type of project it’s highly recommended to engage with a trusted team of certified OpenText experts. Experienced OpenText experts have hands-on experience helping organizations get their OpenText solution S/4HANA ready, and can provide inside knowledge, and guidance on best practices, tips and tricks so you can get the most of your investment into SAP and OpenText solutions. Ready to talk to an expert? Book a session for advice and support.
