SAC and Group Reporting Implementation Timing

[EDWIN11]

Hi Experts,

We are currently implementing RISE with SAP S/4HANA, paired with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and Group Reporting. Our proposed go-live strategy involves a phased approach:

• S/4HANA Go-Live: [4th months of 2026]
• SAC and Group Reporting Go-Live: One month following the S/4HANA go-live.

Our rationale for this phased implementation is to ensure that SAC and Group Reporting have live data from S/4HANA available at their go-live.

We would greatly appreciate your expert guidance on the optimal timing for this go-live. Specifically, we are seeking your insights on:

• Validation of our phased approach: Is this a sound strategy, or would a big-bang approach be more suitable?
• Alternative rationales: Beyond the availability of live data, what other factors should we consider when determining the go-live timing?
• Risks associated with a big-bang approach: What potential challenges or risks could we encounter if we implemented all three solutions simultaneously?
• Potential risks of our current phased approach.

Your expertise and recommendations would be invaluable in ensuring a successful implementation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[dana_pu]

Hi,

Group reporting go live month usually decided by your consolidation life cycle activities. In majority of the case, you start the first period of your consolidation group close activity when system goes live. 

When considering SAC and Group reporting, you need to consider the factor how is the data flow designed. Either SAC feeds data to GR to have planned version consolidated. Or GR feeds SAC to plan on the consolidated data. 

I'm not sure which company you are from. SAP has Premium Engagement team who provides MaxAttention Service, they will address all these type of questions in detail and provide recommendations.

Recommend reaching out to your TQM for more details.

Thanks,

Dana

[Li_Sen]

Dear,

this appears to be more resource management relevant than GR and SAC themselves.

it may be easier to have S/4 include GR and SAC go live altogether.

S/4 TRs are being imported to production together; historical data validations can be done in S/4, GR, and SAC. 

GR and SAC may be technical go live first because  actual data  gets flowed  in later, but users can still view historical data, import historical data from S4 to SAC for planning and for BI reports etc. and if ICMR is included in GR implementation. it even makes more sense to go live together.

Cutover strategies should be focused on more rather than technicality and definition of go live.

Regards,

Sen 

[EDWIN11]

Hello Sen,

Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate the information. I have a follow-up question regarding the statement that GR and SAC might experience a 'technical go-live' before the actual data flow.

To ensure I understand correctly, could you please clarify whether this 'technical go-live' refers to:

A deployment of GR and SAC before the SAP S/4HANA core goes live?
Parallel deployment of GR and SAC while the SAP S/4HANA core is already in production.
Furthermore, considering that we are not migrating historical data, I'm concerned about the potential impact on GR and SAC if they go live in parallel with S/4HANA. It seems that GR and SAC would require initial data, such as loaded balances or current transactions, from the S/4HANA core to function effectively. Could you please elaborate on how this scenario would be handled?

Thank you in advance.