Reducing Data Volume, Cost, and Complexity in SAP S/4HANA Migrations

Years of accumulated SAP data can become an expensive part of an SAP S/4HANA migrations. Historical transactions, inactive company codes, and inconsistent structures can increase the volume of data companies carry into the new environment, along with the infrastructure and operating costs that come with it.

That moves a practical question front and center: how much of that history needs to be migrated into the SAP S/4HANA environment?

cbs’s Brownfield+ approach gives companies more control over that decision. Selective migration and time-slice methods can limit the productive system to data that still has operational value, while older information remains available through archiving or other parts of the enterprise data architecture. The migration can also be used to clean up and harmonize the structures that do move forward.

The Cost of Carrying Legacy Data Forward

The economics of an SAP S/4HANA migration extend well beyond go-live. The more data companies carry into the new system, the larger the target database can become, increasing infrastructure and hosting costs, particularly in SAP RISE environments.

Brownfield+ addresses that cost base as companies define the scope of the S/4HANA transition. cbs uses Selective Data Transition to decide how much historical data still has operational value and which company codes remain in scope. Reducing the target database can lower the infrastructure needed to run S/4HANA and the cost of hosting it.

Reducing volume can also leave less unnecessary data in the productive system after go-live. Teams have a smaller body of information to manage, while obsolete history does not continue to consume resources in the new environment.

Deciding how much data to carry forward can be included in the business case for migration from the outset. Without discipline, migration can be technically complete while still leaving the company with years of avoidable cost.

Reducing Volume Does Not Resolve Data Inconsistency

Data harmonization addresses a different problem than data reduction. Years of acquisitions or local changes can leave different parts of the business using different structures for the same kinds of data. If those differences are carried into SAP S/4HANA unchanged, the new system inherits the same inconsistencies.

Brownfield+ addresses that problem as part of the transition. cbs analyzes the data in scope and performs cleansing and harmonization before master and transactional data are migrated.

The changes can extend beyond the master data itself. cbs says Brownfield+ can harmonize or update master data together with related transactional documents. Historical records that are retained can therefore be aligned with the new target structures instead of remaining tied to the structures they used in the source system.

While data reduction determines what moves forward, harmonization determines how that data is organized in SAP S/4HANA. Common structures support more consistent reporting across the business and make the resulting system easier to manage after go-live.

What Data Reduction and Harmonization Look Like in Practice

SPS Companies, a US-based steel products and processing group, had been running SAP since 2001. Over the years, organic growth and acquisitions expanded its ERP environment into a heterogeneous landscape with numerous custom extensions. As SPS prepared to move from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, it wanted a more uniform system without losing historical data and custom processes that still had value.

Within cbs’s Brownfield+ approach, SPS used Selective Data Transition to reduce the amount of legacy data carried into SAP S/4HANA. The company migrated five years of historical transaction data and put 15 of its 30 company codes in scope, leaving inactive company-code data and obsolete information behind. cbs reports that this reduced the database by 89%, leaving SPS with a more consolidated SAP environment.

Brownfield+ also gave cbs scope to restructure the data that SPS retained. Organizational units were renamed, historical transaction data was mapped into the SAP S/4HANA Universal Ledger, and customer and supplier records were merged and harmonized with Business Partners in the target system.

SPS demonstrates that data reduction and harmonization can be carried out together across a complex SAP estate, rather than treated as separate cleanup projects before or after migration.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• Data scope becomes a governance decision. Defining operational value requires business, finance, legal, and IT teams to agree on which history must remain transactional and which only needs to stay accessible. That ownership should be established before migration scope is frozen.
• Harmonization lowers the cost of future change. Common structures can reduce the work required when companies add entities, modify reporting models, or integrate acquisitions after go-live. The migration therefore influences the economics of subsequent transformation, not only the current project.
• Database reduction alone is an incomplete success metric. A smaller S/4HANA footprint creates little strategic value if retained data remains fragmented or difficult to use consistently. Programs should measure the quality and usability of the target data alongside volume reduction.