SAP ECC to S/4HANA Migration Checklist

Start with an object inventory covering master data, open transactions, balances, history, attachments, and interfaces. Record the source system, target object, business owner, retention requirement, and migration decision for each object: migrate, archive, transform, or leave behind.

A clear RACI prevents the migration team from becoming the default owner of business decisions. Functional leads should own what the data means, data owners should approve quality rules, and the technical team should own extraction, transformation, load execution, and evidence.

Profile completeness, duplicates, invalid values, inconsistent units, obsolete records, and referential integrity before writing detailed mapping logic. The output should be a prioritised data-quality register with measurable rules and named owners.

For SAP programmes, common focus areas include materials, vendors, customers, chart of accounts, cost centres, fixed assets, and open items. Do not treat every exception equally: separate defects that block loading from issues that can be corrected during controlled business review.

Document the source field, target field, conversion rule, default value, validation rule, and business approval for every in-scope object. This mapping becomes the shared contract between functional teams, data engineers, testers, and business owners.

SAP BusinessObjects Data Services (BODS) can support repeatable extraction, cleansing, transformation, validation, and reconciliation flows. Whether BODS or another approved tool is used, keep transformations version-controlled and make reruns deterministic so defects can be traced to a specific rule.

Plan multiple mock loads with increasing scope and realism. An early cycle proves the dataflow and mapping approach; later cycles should include production-like volumes, performance checks, dependency sequencing, business validation, and the cutover timetable.

Each mock cycle should close with record-count reconciliation, exception review, defect ownership, and a formal decision about readiness for the next cycle. Carrying unresolved issues forward without an owner turns the final cutover into an avoidable discovery exercise.

The cutover plan should define the data freeze, final extraction, delta identification, load order, dependencies, validation windows, decision-makers, rollback considerations, and communication points. Align it with the system integrator's technical cutover plan and the business's operating calendar.

Use explicit go/no-go criteria rather than informal confidence. Criteria may include approved reconciliation tolerances, critical-object completion, open-defect thresholds, sign-off from data owners, and a confirmed hypercare response model.

Keep extraction logs, transformation versions, record counts, validation results, issue registers, approvals, and sign-off records together. A complete audit trail helps resolve production questions quickly and gives business owners confidence in the migrated data.

After go-live, continue post-load reconciliation and exception resolution through the stabilisation window. Close the migration with a completion record that states what was loaded, what was archived or excluded, which exceptions remain, and who accepted the outcome.