To learn more about the challenges organizations face when migrating data to the SAP General Ledger, I asked William Miller, managing partner at MI6, to answer some questions related to this topic.

What do you think the key areas to focus on during a migration of data to the SAP General Ledger are?

The key areas to focus on during the migration project would be data quality, data transformation, and data volumes. As you can see, the common component is data. Since migration involves the movement of existing data from the customer’s existing design architecture into a new data model, it is key to understanding the differences that may exist between old and new structures. Data transformation or enrichment can be another challenge during migration. The hidden value in migrating to the SAP General Ledger is the opportunity to take a fresh look at the current business reporting requirements and management initiatives, and design a platform that supports the future direction of the organization. Last, data volumes are key to ensuring the migration itself can be accomplished within the available cut-over timeframe.

In conversations you have with clients is there one topic related to migrating to the SAP General Ledger that they tend to ask frequently?

Most customers simply do not understand the process itself. They come to us with misconceptions that the SAP General Ledger is an entirely new SAP module, or with assumptions of radical process changes and data conversions. They are surprised to hear me tell them that the SAP General Ledger is an enhanced back end to the processes they currently have in place today. Their primary concerns seem to be around what changes will affect their organizations.

The nomenclature of functionalities and features in the classic General Ledger and the SAP General Ledger can be confusing. What terms are most often confused?

I think the term new GL is still one of the most recognized and used terms today, despite being dropped by SAP years ago. Everyone still refers to these projects as new GL migrations. Classic General Ledger is well understood too, but when you speak of SAP General Ledger, it does not always click.

Document splitting and parallel accounting do seem to be catching on. There is much more awareness and less confusion today than there was when the functionality was launched eight years ago. It still takes time for most customers to fully understand the intended purpose of these functions and why they should be used. I find that many customers continue to struggle more with the applicability of the functionality in their company as opposed to how it mechanically works.

What precautions one can perform to reduce the system downtime during the migration week-end?

Transaction volume is directly related to migration runtime. We are constantly focused on understanding performance benchmarks in the customer system to make certain our schedules are as accurate as they can be. We recommend reducing the overall number of open items wherever possible and involving the business owners early on in the validation process so that they are comfortable with the reports and tasks they need to perform at cut-over. MI6 has also developed and successfully executed phased migration approaches where most of the migration process is performed during normal up-time windows, in situations where the customer transaction volumes make it difficult or impossible to physically process all the data in a single weekend or when excessive downtime is not an option.

Gary Byrne

Gary is the managing editor of Financials Expert and SCM Expert. Before joining WIS in March 2011, Gary was an editor at Elsevier. In this role he managed the development of manuscripts for Elsevier’s imprint responsible for books on computer security. Gary also has held positions as a copy editor at Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based IT market research company, and as an editor at Internet.com, a publisher of content for the IT community. He also gleaned experience working as a copy editor for International Data Corp., a Framingham, MA-based IT market research company. He earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism from Suffolk University in Boston. He enjoys traveling, sailing as a passenger onboard schooners, and helping his wife, Valerie, with gardening during summer weekends. He’s a fan of all the Boston sports teams and once stood behind Robert Parish in a line at BayBank. He felt small and didn’t ask for an autograph. You can follow him on Twitter at @FI_SCM_Expert. His online footsteps can also be found in the SAP Experts group on LinkedIn.

You may contact the author at gary.byrne@wispubs.com.

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