Set Up Parallel Landscape for Upgrades and Conversions

Managing Business Continuity During SAP ECC to S/4HANA Conversion:

The Role of Parallel Landscapes:

During the transition from SAP ECC to S/4HANA, a critical phase of system freeze occurs, which can potentially impede ongoing business changes. However, for businesses requiring continuous operations, setting up a parallel landscape offers an effective solution. This parallel setup also proves beneficial for other significant upgrades or extensive data conversions.

Understanding the Parallel Landscape:

Initially, the conventional system landscape comprises DEV, QAS, and PRD environments, facilitating the flow of transports from DEV to QAS and finally to the PRD system.

With the introduction of a parallel landscape, a secondary development DE2 and QA2 environment are established, mirroring the version of the production system. These secondary environments, termed DE2 and QA2, allow the conversion and upgrading of the DEV and QAS systems to the desired target version.

Three streams of development take place:

1. Transports move from DE2 to QA2 to PRD, accommodating essential business changes through automated support via STMS.
2. Synchronization from DE2 to DEV demands manual intervention, involving double maintenance or dual updates. All code modifications and configurations must be replicated or, in some cases, re-developed.
3. Transports move from DEV to QAS, supported by automated STMS, allowing future enhancements and fixes to be tested in the QAS environment.

Note: For DV2 and QA2 you also need to number ranges for transports for more information please visit....

Conflicts between points 2 and 3 often necessitate manual resolution.

At the go-live juncture, all transports from QAS are imported into the PRD environment. Following successful go-live, the DE2 and QA2 systems can be phased out.

Evaluating Costs:

Implementing a parallel landscape entails certain costs:

1. The infrastructure for both Development and QAS environments doubles.
2. In some cases, connected systems such as BI and SCM might also require a parallel landscape.
3. Basis resources are required for the installation, setup, monitoring, and updates of the additional systems.
4. Increased transport management, monitoring, and administration efforts.
5. Double maintenance entails significant manual work, necessitating additional personnel to ensure proper execution.

While tooling exists to assist, it may not cover all possible scenarios, warranting a pragmatic outlook.

Exploring Alternatives:

There are alternatives to the parallel landscape approach:

1. Accepting the freeze period, and understanding its implications.
2. Establishing an emergency repair environment: Replicate the production system to a specialized instance reserved solely for emergency repairs.

For smaller landscapes and organizations, these alternatives could offer feasible options.

Navigating the SAP ECC to S/4HANA transition requires thoughtful consideration of business continuity strategies, with the parallel landscape approach presenting a balance between continuous operations and the conversion process.

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