11.6    Comparison of Migration Tools

You now have an overview of existing and SAP S/4HANA-specific migration tools. However, the differences among the tools also raise the question of which approach you should follow in your situation.

We cannot give general recommendations on this choice because multiple solutions can also be used in parallel; however, in this section, we’ll provide you with an overview of how to choose a tool for your situation.

Table 11.6 compares the different migration tools we introduced in this chapter.

Criterion for Comparison SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit SAP S/4HANA Migration Object Modeler Rapid Data Migration Using SAP Data Services
Availability In any SAP S/4HANA system, cloud-based or on-premise In any SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, system as of Version 1610 ETL tool to be installed separately; not available for SAP S/4HANA in the public cloud (software as a service, SaaS)
Coverage Only tool for SAP S/4HANA Cloud (SaaS) with a holistic SAP Best Practices scope; only basic tool with file upload; compared to SAP Data Services, restricted extensibility for on-premise editions Add-on for the migration cockpit in SAP S/4HANA on-premise, systems for extending fields beyond the SAP Best Practices content Can only be used for SAP S/4HANA, on-premise; best object coverage and unrestricted extensibility
Advantages Covers the exact solution scope of SAP Best Practices; easy to use Extends fields not covered by SAP Best Practices Direct connection with source systems; data cleansing
Disadvantages No data extraction; defined migration templates; no data cleansing Not available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud; structure extension not possible yet Separate hardware; data cleansing requires additional license

Table 11.6    Comparison of Migration Tools

You may also know other SAP migration tools because, like SAP Business Suite, SAP S/4HANA is based on ABAP and also contains SAP NetWeaver as a basic component. The Legacy System Migration Workbench (LSMW) is a component of SAP NetWeaver and is a data migration tool for the traditional SAP Business Suite.

Although this tool is still available via Transaction LSMW in your SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, system (but not in SAP S/4HANA Cloud), you should only use LSMW as a supporting tool, if at all, in addition to the migration tools specifically designed for SAP S/4HANA that we described in this chapter. LSMW is listed in the simplification list (see Chapter 10, Section 10.2.2), meaning it should no longer be used. Instead, refer to SAP Note 2287723, which discusses the approaches described in this book as alternatives.

If you still want to use LSMW additionally, you should always carefully check your LSMW projects because, due to modifications and simplifications from SAP S/4HANA, proper implementation of LSMW projects can no longer be ensured.

If your LSMW migration projects test successfully, you can (at your own risk) still use LSMW for migrating to your SAP S/4HANA production system—in addition to the SAP S/4HANA standard migration solutions mentioned throughout this book.

[»]  Additional Information on SAP S/4HANA and SAP Best Practices

You can find more details on SAP S/4HANA Best Practices, including migration content in the SAP S/4HANA Community and the SAP Best Practices Explorer, at the following links: