SPS Companies Accelerates S/4HANA Cloud Migration with CBS

⇨ SPS embarked on a transformative journey to modernize its ERP system with SAP S/4HANA, aiming for a centralized, performance-oriented platform with modern functionalities and flexible process support.

⇨ The IT department at SPS crafted a customized roadmap for transitioning to SAP S/4HANA, eventually opting for a selective data transfer approach facilitated by cbs.

⇨ This initiative, known as SPS/4WARD and championed by cbs, not only optimized SPS's operational efficiencies but also crafted a strategic roadmap for future SAP cloud migrations.

SPS Companies, a Kansas-based steel enterprise, has been evolving its IT infrastructure since the introduction of SAP R/3 4.6c in 2001. After 17 years of organic growth and integrating acquisitions, its IT landscape became overly complex, outdated, and challenging to manage. To remain competitive, SPS embarked on a transformative journey to modernize its ERP system with SAP S/4HANA, aiming for a centralized, performance-oriented platform with modern functionalities and flexible process support. The core objective was to standardize processes across the enterprise, enabling uniform reporting and incorporating a global chart of accounts and controlling area. The IT department at SPS crafted a customized roadmap for transitioning to SAP S/4HANA, eventually opting for a selective data transfer approach facilitated by cbs.

This strategy involved building an entirely new S/4HANA-based platform from scratch while allowing SPS to use a selective data transition (SDT) strategy. This method provided the dual benefits of data cleansing and restructuring while preserving proven processes and best practices, effectively leaving outdated data and processes behind. Selective Data Transition (SDT) represents an advanced, software-driven methodology for SAP S/4HANA transformations that effectively reduces project implementation times by up to 50%. This innovative approach addresses the conventional dichotomy between new implementation and system conversion by introducing a versatile, data-centric alternative tailored to the business needs of SAP customers across various industries.

This strategic overhaul at SPS Companies, termed as the Lighthouse Project, significantly reduced the complexity of the IT landscape and positioned SPS for sustainable future growth by leveraging cloud-based ERP solutions.

The SDT strategy emerged as a versatile alternative to conventional migration techniques, minimizing disruption for users and compressing the migration timeline to a single year. A key aspect of the migration was the reduction of data volume, achieved by migrating only five years of pertinent historical data and executing structural modifications, such as the renaming of organizational units. Additionally, the finance department underwent an extensive restructuring to leverage the capabilities of the new SAP S/4HANA Universal Ledger, including Margin Analysis and the transition from classic G/L Document Splitting to the new G/L framework.

This initiative, known as SPS/4WARD and championed by cbs following their inaugural SDT implementation with Viessmann in 2019, not only optimized SPS’s operational efficiencies but also crafted a strategic roadmap for future SAP cloud migrations. SPS/4WARD has showcased significant improvements across various domains including a unified financial structure, enhanced transparency, system harmonization, and expedited processes, illustrating the extensive benefits and adaptability offered by the SDT approach to SAP S/4HANA Cloud migration.

SPS Companies became the first company to use Selective Data Transition to merge selective data and processes from an ECC 6.0 on-premise system into a productive SAP S/4HANA Cloud, EX environment.

Learn more about how SPS Companies migration to S/4HANA here.