The SAP Extended Warehouse Management FAQ Series: ...

corrine_lu · ‎2025 May 19

What tools are available for S/4HANA EWM migration?
To migrate EWM master data and customizing, we provide 34 migration objects via the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit. The SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit allows migration per warehouse number using pre-configured migration objects. Here is an overview of the available EWM migration objects via SAP Help Migration Objects for SAP S/4HANA.

The migration tool provides the options for direct data transfer, the usage of staging tables, as well as file-upload.

To migration from SAP EWM (e.g. 9.5) to EWM on SAP S/4HANA you can use the 29 migration object for direct data transfer.

For migration from LE-WM to EWM on SAP S/4HANA you can use the 5 migration objects that enable migration via staging tables, availables in since SAP S/4HANA 2023, FPS1:

Warehouse Fixed Bin Assignment
Warehouse Stock
Warehouse Storage Bin
Warehouse Storage Bin Sorting

Both direct data transfer and staging table approaches enable the migration process with high amount of data, like warehouse stock, for optimized error handling throughout the migration process (upload, prepare, mapping, simulate, migrate).

Find further information via SAP Note 2976757 - SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit: Central Note for Transfer Data Directly from SAP System - S... incl. Migration Guide.

The SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit is included in SAP S/4HANA licenses and shipment. Learn more about the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit via SAP Blog Starter Blog for SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit or Part 1: Migrate your Data – Migration Cockpit (SAP S/4HANA 2020 and higher and SAP S/4HANA Cloud, pu....

I am a LE-WM customer, and we would like to know the possible migration path towards S/4, what options would we have?
There are three major aspects to consider, evaluating a transformation:

Target Application Architecture evaluation
Target Technical Architecture evaluation
Transformation Roadmap planning

Every aspect has its own depths to consider generally and specifics relevant to customer situations, e.g. business transformation, system landscape, roll-out strategies, etc. We would like to highlight in the following the most general and important considerations relevant to our customers planning their transformation from LE-WM solution.

With regards to Transformation Roadmap planning, the first step as from an LE-WM customer perspective, is to categorize your existing WM manage warehouses into different groups, e.g. by size, warehouse process complexity, level of automation, nature of the warehouse (e.g. manufacturing or parts/after-sales warehouse, distribution centers).Clustering can help you in structuring the discussion on rollout sequence, instance strategy, deployment strategy and assessing which target warehouse management solution is most suitable.

Consider SAP’s release strategy when choosing the target warehouse management solution. Please have a look at SAP Blog The SAP Extended Warehouse Management FAQ Series: Release Strategy for Warehouse Management highlighting the maintenance strategy per warehouse solution.

When it comes to migration of LE-WM contents, there are contents and guides available, depending on the target solution:

LE-WM to Stock Room Management
- Perform an assessment on warehouse numbers via report STOCKROOM_COMPLIANCE_CHECK (see also SAP Note 2882809 - Scope Compliance Check for Stock Room Management) on Stock Room Management compliance (usage on functionality out-of-scope).
- Review if result indicates necessity for local adjustments (e.g. example customizing or non-productive pilot processes) and decide which warehouse numbers can stay on Stock Room Management and which ones have to be transformed to EWM.
- There is no technical migration needed to go from LE-WM to Stockroom Management.
LE-WM to EWM for SAP S/4HANA
- Decide whether to transform to a decentral or embedded EWM on SAP S/4HANA.
- EWM on SAP S/4HANA has different solution architecture requiring basic process customizing to be setup.
- The following migration objects are available:
  - Storage types, storage sections, bin types, picking areas, doors, and staging areas (via tool Migrate Warehouse Layout Settings)
  - Storage bin data, including storage bin sorting for picking and crossline stock putaway (via SAP Migration Cockpit – File Upload)
  - Warehouse number and storage type-specific material master data, including fixed bin assignment, warehouse UoM and palletization data (via Implementation Tool for Warehouse Integration)
  - Stock data (via SAP Migration Cockpit – File Upload)
  - Physical Inventory completeness data (report Physical Inventory Completeness Migration - /SCWM/MIG_PI_COMPL)
  - Queues (via Mmigration tool for Cross-Process Settings - /SCWM/MIG_CROSS)
  - Movement types (via Mmigration tool for Cross-Process Settings - /SCWM/MIG_CROSS)
  - Stock removal strategies, putaway strategies, and replenishment strategies (via Mmigration tool for Cross-Process Settings - /SCWM/MIG_STRATEGIES)
- Out-of-Scope: Transactional Data Migration, System Users/Authorization Roles and Profiles, Customizing, Customer-specific objects and enhancements.
- Find further information on migration from LE-WM to EWM via SAP Note 3523591 - Migration from LE-WM to EWM on S/4HANA - Migration Guide.

An updated version of LE-WM to S/4HANA EWM migration guide is available via SAP Note 3523591

We are running EWM 9.x on business suite/On Premise, what I shall take into consideration in choosing the deployment option – embedded vs. decentral - for EWM on SAP S/4HANA?
There are various aspects to consider, choosing deployment strategy for warehouse management. The typical considerations our customers share with us are listed in the following:

Functional Coverage – Restrictions and Differences:
- Close or loose integration required for
  - Transportation Management
  - Production Processes
  - Quality Management
  - Synchronous Goods Movement Postings (e.g. for Repetitive Manufacturing) required?
Operations and Maintenance:
- Same upgrade and maintenance cycles possible for ERP and Logistics solutions?
- Integration to multiple ERP-systems required.
- Complexity and volume of warehouse operations combined with warehouse automation integration.
Project and Transformation – Risk and Costs:
- Evaluation of hardware/subscription to cloud services costs for 1 –tier or 2-tier SAP system architecture.
- Transformations risks considering changes from As-Is to Target Application Architecture – Training, Responsibilities, technology differences.
Project and Customer Specific Criteria:
- Transformation motivation, e.g. system-consolidation, platform upgrade, back-to-standard, etc.
Preference of deployments depending on business requirements (e.g. production warehouse, distribution centers).

Feel free to have a read on the updated SAP Note 1606493 - SAP EWM Deployment Options Best Practices which talks about various consideration criteria when choosing the right S/4HANA EWM deployment options.

In short, there is no silver bullet which fits all, but rather must be analyzed by each individual case.

We are running EWM 9.x on business suite/On Premise, and we also have SAP ECC system(s), we want to incorporate the SAP S/4HANA project not only for EWM but also with ERP project, what shall we consider here?
We have learned from our customers that while planning the SAP S/4HANA EWM migration project, you might have to also adjust the project timeline with your SAP S/4HANA - ERP transformation and rollout.

The relevant transformation roadmap can be categorized into the following patterns:

ERP transformation first
EWM/logistic transformation first
Big bang

In practice, we have seen customers using either approach, and the decision criteria are typically resource commitment, project timeline and scope complexity/definition.

For example, if a customer chooses to have EWM transformation first and the project is running under tight schedule, we might want to keep the migration scope lean, so the project timeline is manageable from the start till go live. Then we are more independent for adapting and exploring new process capabilities in the new EWM on SAP S/4HANA system.

What if we also have some industrial add-ons on our SAP EWM 9.x?
S/4HANA EWM is restricted for all SAP industry solutions except for those features which are explicitly documented and supported by EWM. You may also want to go through the what’s new documentation to explore the details of supported scenario.

There are some known changes to SAP Industry Solutions (IS) features that where available with SAP ECC to SAP EWM integration and are transformed through the general change to integrate industry features natively to SAP S/4HANA:

Fashion Management: The EWM AddOn SAP EWM FOR FASHION 1.0 is not supported in EWM on SAP S/4HANA. Due to central changes in material/article master integration and delivery processing, used features have to be analyzed within the transformation project to understand which functionality has to be transformed to SAP Standard and which features have to be adapted via project solution.

For further information please read the release information notes of the relevant SAP S/4HANA release restrictions (e.g. EWM on SAP S/4HANA 2023, Private Cloud: SAP Note 3376453 - SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS00, FPS01, FPS02 and FPS03: Release information and restrictions for E..., SAP Note3376455 - Release information and restrictions of Decentralized EWM on SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS00, FPS01...) on the restrictions.

With the upcoming EWM on SAP S/4HANA release we aim to introduce and enhance industry features e.g. for Automotive, Aerospace and Defence, Retail, Fashion Management and more to support the specific requirements of key industries.

We are already running a decentralized S/4HANA EWM on Private Cloud, and we would like to get support to migrate some warehouses to embedded S/4HANA EWM with ERP, what options would we have?
Currently the migration from decentral EWM on SAP S/4HANA to embedded EWM on SAP S/4HANA is not supported via the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit (see also SAP Note 2976757 - SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit: Central Note for Transfer Data Directly from SAP Syste... – attachment 2022_Migration_Guide_V17.pdf - Chapter 1.5 Scenarios not in Scope).

We are still running EWM 9.x on business suite/On Premise, considering the potential impact and timeline, can we do a lift and shift of the EWM to the S/4HANA EWM on Private Cloud?
A rule of thumb of a successful migration project is to always keep the scope and project timeline in control. A minimal requirement here would be that the corresponding custom codes and customer defined processes are validated, and if needed refactored, against the target release of S/4HANA EWM on PCE, as there have been some technical changes in the new S/4 systems. Please also plan sufficient resources and efforts into the test of end-to-end processes to ensure the business continuity after the migration.

We recommend our customers get familiar with all the new features and functionalities that are available in the SAP Roadmap Explorer and plan the process optimization accordingly into the future project timelines.

Customers can also contact your SAP Account team to get a closer look into available Premium Engagement service offerings as well as SAP consulting services on the EWM migration support.

In wrapping up our exploration of the topic, we would like to include the following SAP Blogs for further information around the topic of strategy, product versions and more:

The SAP Extended Warehouse Management FAQ Series: Migration to S/4HANA EWM on Private Cloud