Pfizer successfully migrates to SAP S/4HANA: Rapid Move with BLUEFIELD at the core
PfizerGlobal SAP S/4HANA transformation: On time and on budget with SNP’s BLUEFIELD approach and IBM Rapid Move
Pfizer, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, undertook a digital transformation initiative to upgrade its SAP ECC system to S/4HANA. This strategic move aimed to enhance system performance, scalability, and real-time data processing capabilities. Due to the scale and complexity of the project in a regulated industry, Pfizer turned to SNP, a trusted partner and global leader in automated solutions for SAP data transformations with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Project overview
With global warming presenting serious threats to human health, leading biopharmaceutical company Pfizer is on a mission to reduce its environmental impact and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. To support these goals, Pfizer selectively migrated a portion of its 85TB SAP ECC database to S/4HANA, leveraging the transition to enhance sustainability efforts while improving IT services. Ensuring the smooth operation of critical logistics, business, and financial processes remains key to meeting these ambitious targets.
Pfizer is one of the few companies to achieve the vision of a single global ERP platform across all major business functions. Over the past 30 years, the company has evolved its SAP landscape through upgrades, acquisitions, divestitures, and enhancements, gaining a competitive edge. However, aging architecture and accumulated technical debt within ECC necessitated a global transformation to remain current and support future growth.
Migrating 85TB system while ensuring business continuity
Using SNP's solution CrystalBridge, Pfizer successfully migrated its 85TB SAP ECC database to S/4HANA with minimal disruption to business operations. SNP’s BLUEFIELD approach enabled Pfizer to complete the migration in less than 18 months with minimal downtime ensuring continuity of business-critical functions.
Key guiding principles for Pfizer’s migration included:
- A Big Bang migration approach
- Leveraging built-in enhanced SAP capabilities
- Minimizing risk and downtime
- Selective historical data migration using time slice and organizational structure slice methodologies
- Staying ahead of the curve with S/4HANA adoption
- Prioritizing speed and cost efficiency
- Enabling transformation flexibility and incremental post go-live innovations
Successful go-live delivering immediate operational continuity
Pfizer’s SAP S/4HANA migration was completed on time and on budget, meeting all key metrics, including cutover timing and data migration duration. The migration, executed over a single go-live weekend, was supported by extensive planning and mock runs, ensuring minimal business disruption. After validating data transformations during testing, Pfizer confirmed optimal system performance post-migration. SNP provided ongoing post go-live support to ensure continuous operations.
The solution for business agility
SNP partnered with IBM Consulting to help Pfizer transition its legacy SAP systems to SAP S/4HANA. Using SNP’s CrystalBridge software within the IBM Rapid Move methodology, SNP facilitated a selective data migration, significantly reducing historical data volumes from a 27-year-old SAP R/3 system. This approach optimized Pfizer’s new S/4HANA applications, enabling greater efficiency and performance. SNP's expertise in data management contributed to streamlined processes, including a 73% reduction in ledgers, enhancing Pfizer’s financial operations and improving order-to-cash cycle times by 5%.
Key deliverables for sustainability, performance, and capacity
- 85 TB ECC system migrated to SAP S/4HANA in 43 hours
- Divested 27 years of historical data to 5 years and excluded divested companies.
- Reduced the size of the database by only migrating 427 of approximately 1,100 company codes and associated organizational structures
- 70% reduction in special purpose ledgers (from 15 to 4)
- Faster time to value by consolidating several projects into one go-live with minimal risk and disruption
Key facts
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Database size
85 TB
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Duration
18 months
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Source and target systems
SAP ECC to S/4HANA
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Project type
Global S/4HANA migration using BLUEFIELD (selective data migration)
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Modules
FI, CO, MM, SD, WM, QM
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Test cycles
Multiple iterative test cycles
Over the past two years, the partnership with SNP on the S/4HANA project has been nothing short of extraordinary. SNP’s expertise, dedication, and innovative spirit have been crucial to our shared success. Together, we've navigated challenges and achieved milestones that have significantly advanced our mission - some never done before at this scale as well. The collaboration between our teams has set a new standard for what can be accomplished through shared vision and commitment.
Mike Lutschaunig
Senior Director – ERP Service Center
About Pfizer
