SPAR Austria moves with RISE with SAP to SAP S/4HANA Finance and the cloud
The SPAR Austria GroupThe Challenge
With SAP S/4HANA, SPAR Austria is now fit for the digital future. The transformation is the strategic continuation of several preliminary projects to integrate the FI/CO SAP systems of individual business units in eight countries into the central instance of the group. SNP has proven to be a very successful partner, also in migrating to the fourth generation of SAP. The aim was to selectively migrate data to a new cloud-based SAP S/4HANA finance system – with SNP’s flexible approach and software.
Fast and secure migration of more than 1.1 billion data records
“We made the conscious decision to make a clear cut in order to break new ground and implement future-oriented processes in the finance area,” says Veronika Mayer, Head of the Competence and Service Center Accounting/Controlling at SPAR Austria. Even for experienced IT experts this was no easy task: In addition to the rollout of the new interface technology SAP Fiori for around 2,500 users, the introduction of the SAP Analytics Cloud for the management of reporting and planning was part of the project. In view of 390 company codes as well as 45 domain mappings, this proved to be challenging.
Other requirements, such as the simultaneous changeover to euro in Croatia, also continuously led to new starting points. Furthermore, the complexity of the 1.1 billion data records to be migrated and the heterogeneous system landscape with over 200 interfaces in numerous peripheral systems added further complexity to the project.
“SPAR Austria and SNP once again formed a powerful team for the SAP S/4HANA finance transformation and were able to master the ambitious project requirements,” says Christian Silberberger, Senior Tech Lead SAP Finance, SPAR. “It was definitely an advantage that the SNP team already knew the systems and could start the project immediately.”
The Solution and Benefits
Thanks to the flexible and software-based solution from SNP, the move to SAP S/4HANA Finance and the cloud with RISE with SAP was implemented quickly and securely – and in just one step. At the start of the project, SPAR Austria received a fact-based overview of the existing system landscape, which helped them make strategic decisions about how and which data to move. This provided the transparency needed to determine the best migration strategy and the associated time frame and costs. With CrystalBridge™, the data migration and validation become highly automated. This results in a high-quality data migration and supports the customer with the validation.
The implementation phase included four test cycles, a dress rehearsal prior to go-live, and two weeks of support after the system conversion. Maintaining a tight time schedule, the SNP data migration was completed in just 36 hours and the subsequent business validation by SPAR Austria in twelve hours. As a result, the cutover was completed in next to no time and with minimal system downtime.
SPAR Austria completed the project on schedule in May 2023 and has been benefiting from the modern finance system ever since. If the team responsible for this project would choose SNP again for the next migration project? “Absolutely,” says Veronika Mayer.
- Automated system analyses ensure an accurate assessment of the system landscape and the migration approach.
- SNP’s flexible approach and software enable a selective data selection as well as a fast and secure migration to SAP S/4HANA in the cloud with RISE with SAP.
- The actual data migration was completed in just 36 hours with a correspondingly low system downtime.
- SNP provided support in numerous tasks such as the customizing migration, RISE performance analysis or building planning data.
Key Facts
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Participants
All parts of the SPAR Austria Group in 8 countries
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Legacy system
SAP ECC with 28 TB Oracle
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Cutomer data migration
36 hours
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Users
Around 2.500
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SAP modules
FI, CO, AM, RE-FX, Logistics (MM – purchase orders),
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Data volume
600 GB
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Project type
SAP S/4HANA Migration to the cloud with RISE with SAP
Our goal was to migrate relevant data from the 28 TB database – in 36 hours on a single conversion weekend. SNP’s proprietary software enabled a selective transformation, maximizing efficiency, flexibility and security.
Christian Silberberger
Senior Tech Lead SAP Finance at SPAR Austria
About The SPAR Austria Group
Market leader in food retail and shopping centers. The SPAR Austria Group operates in Austria as well as in northern Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bavaria. The family-run retail company currently operates 3,026 SPAR, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR and Maximarkt stores, 233 Hervis shops, 30 shopping centers and 17 of its own warehouses and logistics centers
