Preparing for SAP ECC to S/4HANA Migration with a Clean Core Approach

How LeverX helped a manufacturing company modernize SAP ECC, implement a Clean Core strategy with SAP BTP, reduce technical debt, and achieve 40% lower SAP TCO with scalable extensions and secure integration.

Traditional SAP ECC development often involved extensive customizations and complex code embedded directly in the system's core. Over time, this created technical debt, making the SAP landscape harder to maintain and increasing the complexity and cost of migrating to S/4HANA.

LeverX helped a manufacturing company modernize its SAP landscape by moving custom development from the ECC core to SAP BTP and adopting a Clean Core approach. This prepared the company's SAP environment for a smoother transition to S/4HANA while creating a more flexible foundation for future innovation.

Client and Challenge

A large manufacturing company relied on a heavily customized SAP ECC environment. Over time, extensive custom ABAP code had become tightly coupled with the ERP core, creating technical debt and making the system increasingly difficult to maintain and upgrade.

The main challenges included:

• Complex S/4HANA migration: Extensive custom code would require significant remediation during the transition to S/4HANA, increasing the complexity and effort involved in the migration.
• High maintenance effort: Legacy customizations required significant effort to support, maintain, and update.
• Fragmented user experience: Users worked across multiple applications with different interfaces, making it harder to access information and complete everyday tasks efficiently.
  

   

Solution

LeverX helped the client adopt a Clean Core approach, moving custom business logic outside the SAP ERP core and onto SAP BTP. The goal was to preserve essential business functionality while making the SAP landscape easier to maintain, update, and prepare for the transition to S/4HANA.

Following the SAP Activate methodology, we assessed the client's existing custom extensions and objects and identified which functionality should be redesigned and moved to SAP BTP. Rather than simply migrating legacy code, we modernized the applications and decoupled custom development from the ERP core.

The solution included:

• Modern application development: Custom objects were redeveloped in the SAP BTP ABAP Environment using modern development approaches, including object-oriented programming (OOP) and the RESTful Application Programming model (RAP). This reduced dependencies on the ERP core and simplified future maintenance.

• Secure integration: The new applications connect to the ERP system through APIs and secure connectivity using SAP Cloud Connector. This keeps custom functionality separate from the core and supports a more flexible architecture for future SAP updates.

• Unified user experience: SAP Build Work Zone provides users with a single, secure entry point to business applications. This simplifies access to the tools and information they need and reduces the need to switch between multiple interfaces.

Technology Stack

The solution is built on a modern and integrated SAP technology stack:

• Core Platform (SAP BTP): The central cloud platform for all custom development and innovation.
• App Development (BTP ABAP Environment): Used to build modern extensions that keep the S/4HANA core clean.
• Unified Access (SAP Build Work Zone): A single, modern portal for a simplified user experience.
• Database (SAP HANA Cloud): A high-performance database for real-time processing and analytics. 

Results

The Clean Core transformation delivered measurable improvements in cost, development, and system flexibility:

• 40% reduction in TCO: A scalable SAP BTP architecture and simplified application landscape reduced the total cost of ownership of the SAP environment.
• 30% reduction in development and support costs: Replacing complex legacy customizations with modern, reusable BTP extensions reduced the effort required to develop and maintain custom functionality.
• Greater flexibility for innovation: The new architecture gave the client a stable foundation for introducing automation and AI-driven processes, including new use cases in finance.
• Simplified S/4HANA transition: Moving custom logic outside the ERP core reduced dependencies on legacy customizations and minimized the need for code remediation during future system upgrades, helping prepare the SAP landscape for the transition to S/4HANA.