RISE sooner than later - Part 1

[Jimjees]

RISE with SAP S4/HANA or Not Yet?

2025, a great beginning, and it is going to be an exciting year for SAP as many more adoptions of RISE with SAP S4/HANA is projected.

In this first part of blog series related to RISE with SAP and Enterprise architecture, I am outlining some thoughts that are related to :

• Role enterprise architecture can play in RISE with SAP S4/HANA transition.
• When to begin and where to begin?

It's time to restart thinking about where we left at in 2024. RISE with SAP S4/HANA or Wait to rise? In the SAP ecosystem of customers, this has been the burning question for many. Even after having a positive mindset to move to S4/HANA, there are still lots of "concerns" and unknowns enterprises have.

The good thing is these concerns are valid, and you are on the right track.

Here are some of the main ones :

• Why move to S4/HANA because everything is working now ? Where is the value? Convince me what S4/HANA would do better from what we already have today.
• Is it a push from SAP to move everyone to cloud ?
• My custom developments and enhancements are so complex and it's too risky to touch any of those. How do we deal with it?

Before going any further, let's take a step back.

The questions enterprises should ask themselves are:

• Do we understand every enhancement and custom developments that exist today in the SAP landscape?
• Are we carrying forward a lot of "technical debt" that has been accumulated over the years?
• Do we have a centralized, up-to-date and RELIABLE repository/view of the business processes and business capabilities, along with solution capabilities and process flows?
• Is data clean, crisp and reliable?
• Is there maximum reuse of processes and solution building blocks?
• Are the upgrades and consuming new offerings easy and seamless?

Even though it's not a comprehensive list of questions, If the answer to any of the above is a "NO", then the enterprise is at a point where there is high potential for improvement. This is where the relevance of RISE with SAP S4/HANA comes into the picture.

When we talk about RISE with SAP S4/HANA, we are talking about Modernization. This journey should not be limited to just migrating the current ECC to S4/HANA for the sake of getting continuous support from SAP. It is beyond that. This is where we have to make an effort to derive the value of this modernization by revisiting the existing business processes and capabilities and its transformation to the target state. Most importantly, it is to also gear up the enterprise to consume the latest and greatest innovations like AI, ML etc. at the pace of its evolution.

The challenge enterprises face now is to objectively derive the value proposition. How could the key stakeholders feel the need for this change, beyond the usual "sales pitches"?

SAP Enterprise Architecture Methodology helps the enterprises address these in a well-defined and value driven methodology. 

We will also cover the common engagements Enterprise Architects play in the SAP Activate Methodology. 

Key thing to note is that SAP Activate is mainly the implementation methodology (not withstanding the Run phase) for the program, for example RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition WHEREAS Enterprise Architecture is an ongoing initiative.

In an ideal situation, Enterprise Architecture should be performed even prior to the start of SAP Activate implementation methodology.  This is not the reality in all the cases.

REMARK:  The ONLY reason to connect these two here is because of the current context where enterprises are typically in the RISE journey with SAP Activate methodology and enterprise Architecture cannot be a totally disconnected stream. Focus is to understand the key deliverables Enterprise architects should orchestrate in each phase. 

When should the EA start?

One common mistake is that the transformation and project teams start the planning for moving to S4/HANA by defining a transformation approach such as brownfield, greenfield or selective data transfer approach and Enterprise architecture happens parallel to the program.  Enterprise Architecture should prepare the team to define the mindset and guardrails for effective transition and should be done before the implementation is kicked off. The idea of EA is to treat this as an opportunity to derive the best value and define a target state where the best practices and clean core becomes the backbone.

The common practice is to start the engagement along with the Discovery phase, with more detailed involvement in the Prepare and Explore phases. It also depends on the current maturity of Enterprise architecture in place.

Discovery & Prepare Phase

In the Discovery phase, key objective is to make the Enterprise Architecture methodology familiarized and get the necessary buy in from the stakeholders. Overall Innovation strategy,  Value and impact analysis, Implementation Strategy, Technical Architecture and Infrastructure etc. are best supported by artifacts that are delivered by Enterprise Architecture.

The following could be addressed:

• Initial Discovery workshops to introduce and familiarizing EA by tailored EA methodology for the enterprise.
• Establishing the stakeholder map for different functional domain and areas to help identify the personas and determining the deliverables addressing their concerns. For example, a Head of sales might be concerned about the big change that occurs in sales processes and an Enterprise Architect can produce a target business capability map along with the solution capability and showcasing how they are contributing the key value drivers. 
• Create the business strategy map that will help the stakeholders collectively think of a common vision, key value drivers with cross-functional view point. Identify the key business and IT value drivers in the S/4HANA Adoption.
• Identify if an iterative approach for Enterprise Architecture is required to identify and deliver key modules and deliverables that help in earlier decision-making and faster adoption. 
• Enterprise Architects can start the engagement by obtaining the request for architecture work.
• Alignment on how the EA activities would be performed, the stakeholder involvement and team composition, One key element is to define which approach the workstreams or squads would be taking either the End to End Business process approach (e.g. Lead to Cash / Procure to Pay etc.) or a Modular Approach with functional capabilities in focus (e.g. Sales, Finance, Marketing etc.). In either case, collaboration between squads is critical to break down the processes into the capabilities in the right domains. 
• Statement of Architecture work and define the key deliverables in the context of the enterprise.
• Start the deliverables like Business strategy and priorities, Solution Context, Business model canvas.

As we move on to the Prepare phase,

•  Start the deliverables like solution concept, business context diagram, strategy map comprising strategic priorities, identifying the goals or desired outcomes, key value drivers, and the business capabilities that exist .
• Introduction to the Reference Architecture contents and Tools are the first thing to do. If the Enterprise is already using SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, SAP Cloud ALM, then it would be to validate the existing usage and fine tune to it to the context of RISE with SAP.
• Start of workshops by the defined work streams that involves Business architect, Subject-matter expert, Solution Architect, Technical Architect, Data architect, etc. orchestrated by the Enterprise Architect(s).
• Deep dive into Business architecture artifacts such as business capabilities map, business process catalogs, business value flow etc.

Explore Phase

As we move on to explore phase, the idea is to have the critical artifacts like business processes, application architecture, data architecture, integration scenarios etc. along with the advancement of Fit-to-standard workshops. The team could start with an initial baseline draft of these architectures and evolve it during the phase.

Further Phases

One critical aspect of Enterprise architecture is Practice as it is not a one time activity. For example, in the ongoing phases, the Clean core quality gate is one aspect which enterprise architect(s) has to contribute. EA will have active contribution for deployment planning, organization change management etc. to name a few.

In the next blog, we will address:

• Step-by-step approach of Enterprise Architecture engagements with different set of stakeholders
• Working with different value streams, functional and solution architects, transformation leads
• What are the key elements that should be always checked - golden rules?
• What artifacts should different work streams typically produce at each stage?
• In addition, We will revisit the initial concerns and check how the Enterprise Architecture has helped to build confidence for the stakeholders

Link to next blog : https://community.sap.com/t5/enterprise-architecture-blog-posts/rise-sooner-than-later-part-2/ba-p/1...

Feel free to comment / collaborate about this topic.