Self-guided Migration from On-premises to Software...

carmen_eliescu · ‎2022 Sep 14

SGX Self-Guided Migration Plan

We know why SaaS is better, and we are familiar with the top features of the new SAP Signavio Collaboration Hub. After exploring how to move from On-premises to Software-as-a-Service with SAP Signavio, in this blog, we will explain how you can migrate from the On-Premises to the new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Edition of SAP Signavio solutions by using the self-guided SAP Signavio Archive (SGX).

When migrating by yourself, there are four important steps to go through:

Planning phase: here you need to think about preparing for the migration
Migration steps: take three recommended actions
Restrictions: things to keep in mind that this will help to migrate more easily
Success Criteria: monitor and keep communications channels open

1. Planning Phase

The entire migration includes two major components we will focus on in this guide to make the migration as smooth as possible. We recommend looking in these areas for migration:

Configuration of the SaaS Edition: Applying/importing the current settings of the On-premises solution and expanding them in the SaaS Edition.
Migration: Exporting and Importing all the process data that has been created and still exists in the current On-premises SAP Signavio Process Transformation Suite, particularly BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) diagrams, DMN (Decision Model Notation) diagrams, value chains as well as the dictionary.

The migration also provides the opportunity to optimize processes, process data and update settings. To update the business process transformation of the company, we recommend rethinking and redefining the following topics on your On-Premises instance before the migration:

defining the processes and process data for the migration

defining security and authorization settings (SSO vs. Login via E-Mail and password)

managing roles, especially users, user groups, and access rights

adjusting the dictionary

defining the modeling notations, conventions, and rules

validating attributes and attributes visualization/overlays

defining the future language settings

updating existing process documentation templates

merging the setup of the Collaboration Hub with the setup options in the SaaS Edition

adjusting the general settings

configuring approval workflows and simulation scenarios

doing a SGX Migration Test with some processes to check everything will move smoothly

2. Migration Steps

After the planning, it is time to start the migration and manage these three following actions:

Setting up the SaaS Edition
Migrating processes and process data into the SaaS Edition
Adjusting the SaaS Edition

With these steps, you will migrate quickly and successfully. Let's start!

2.1. Setting up the SaaS Edition

Before migrating any content, we recommend setting up the SaaS Edition environment first. This short guide helps you to focus on the top settings.

First, manage roles, especially users and user groups, by creating the user groups, inviting the users, and assigning them to the groups. At this stage, you can also set up the SSO option.

Set up the language

Adjust Notation Settings

Prepare the General Settings, especially for the folder 'My documents'

Define modeling conventions and rules

Set format settings

Set up security settings

Set up possible existing simulation

Configure Collaboration Hub with the further options provided in the SaaS Edition

2.2. Migrating Processes and Process Data into the SaaS Edition

Now, it is time to migrate processes and process data to the SaaS Edition.

The SGX Self-Guided migration uses the standard functionality to import process data as SGX files. You can find more information in the SGX Export and SGX Import documentation (Access to this feature depends on your license.). All processes, process data, and linked dictionary entries will be migrated. When exporting, ensure to include all revisions, not just the latest revision (deselect the checkbox during export). If models are linked, create one SGX File for the entire "Shared documents" folder to avoid manual efforts after the import. If there are processes and process data in their "My documents" folder, please ask the users to migrate this folder themselves.

When importing the SGX file, please choose these options:

'Import all custom attributes and modeling language subsets' (all languages and custom attributes will be imported as well)

Import all dictionary entries used in the processes and process data, as well as their links to the models, and import the dictionary theme

Finally, import the process documentation templates folder.

Let us also look at the migration of process governance processes, especially approval workflows. This guide also helps you to set this up in the SaaS Edition.

Define and create users and user groups in Process Governance

Export and Import processes from Signavio Process Governance

Check access rights of users and user groups, especially in the tasks of the workflow

For the approval, workflows connect SAP Signavio Process Governance with SAP Signavio Process Manager in the trigger settings of the specific workflow

Check and add a new API token

After migration:

2.3. Adjusting the SaaS Edition

All SAP Signavio settings are now transferred. In the final step, we just need to adjust some last settings in the SaaS Edition:

Export and Import of missing Dictionary Entries - Those dictionary entries that are not used anywhere in a process can now be migrated via the Dictionary Excel export and import functionality

Set up attribute visualization settings

Set up access rights, especially the feature packages

Merge Hub settings and use new setup options of the collaboration hub

Publish all processes directly to the collaboration hub either manually or with the newly set up approval workflow

3. Restrictions

The revision timestamp and details of the migration itself will be available and shown in the SaaS Edition only; revision timestamps and details from the On-premises solution cannot be migrated.

The information of the author and creation date will now refer to the user who imported the processes and process data into the SaaS Edition.

Comments from the on-premises solution cannot be migrated to the SaaS Edition (comments can be added manually afterwards).

We recommend using more than one SGX File to migrate the content when possible. If more than one SGX file is needed, please consider linked processes are in one SGX file.

To migrate dictionary entries, we recommend maximum 500 dictionary entries per excel file.

4. Success Criteria

Congratulations! All processes and process data have been migrated and are now available in the SaaS Edition. End users probably won't note the difference. However, it's imperative to be available to answer any questions or challenges they might face and keep communications channels open. It is time to share this with the company and celebrate your success!

5. In Summary

As presented above, it's straightforward to migrate from your On-premises instance to the new SaaS Edition of SAP Signavio Process Transformation Suite. The advantage of this option is that it can be done independently and quickly by the workspace administrators.

If you need support, please create a support ticket in SAP for Me.

Feel free to ask a question about SAP Signavio and check out other SAP Signavio blogposts.

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