Migration from SAP ERP to RISE with SAP S/4HANA
Migrating from an SAP ERP system to RISE with SAP S/4HANA is more than a technological upgrade — it’s a strategic step towards a business’s digital transformation. The SAP RISE program offers cloud based efficiency, scalability, and agility, which has driven a lot of business’s interest towards the program. Though, during the hustle and bustle of modernization excitement, many people fail to pay attention to one important aspect — Data Retention.
For any enterprise, data is their lifeline. Everything from financial information to customer data is essential for reporting, auditing, and making business decisions. Managing data information incorrectly in RISE with SAP Migration to Cloud can result in operational downtime, compliance conflicts, and other expensive business insights.
Updating data retention policies alongside an organization’s SAP ERP Data Retention helps an entity avoid carrying over outdated, irrelevant information. Policies set also help guarantee sensitive data withstands the needed security measures during & after the RISE with SAP S/4HANA
In this article, we will explore what data retention methods can accomplish, explain why regulations matter with retention data options, and highlight other critical areas of focus for choosing an RISE with SAP migration partner. Whether you are at the initial stages of planning your migration or you are already ‘in the river,’ these insights will aid businesses manage their data confidently—ensuring a hassle-free, compliant, and technologically advanced transition to the cloud.
Why Data Retention Matters
Let’s not kid ourselves. RISE with SAP Migration are seldom simple processes. They are convoluted journeys that are laden with time, risk, and challenges. While SAP ERP Migration to Cloud, one of its core components is often skimped on: data retention. This is, however, not a step that one should neglect. During the migration phase, customer profiles, financial histories, human resource records, and supplier information are perilously prone to being lost, corrupted, or mismanaged.
Many organizations lack a clearly defined SAP ERP data retention policy which exposes them to the risk of losing access to critical information or maintaining redundant data cluttering their systems. To make matters worse, unnecessary data may result in regulatory compliance penalties for non-compliance if sensitive records are not managed according to industry standards.
That is why it is essential to combine extensive policy documents for data management and retention with SAP ERP to RISE with SAP Migration. Operational continuity, compliance readiness, and digital transformation success hinges on the retention strategies implemented during the transition. This blog aims to elaborate on the ways to streamline data retention of RISE with SAP S/4HANA SAP data retention policies and pitfalls, as well as aid in their compliant migration to the cloud.
What Is RISE with SAP and Why Is Everyone Moving?
RISE with SAP S/4HANA is an all-encompassing answer to digital transformation needs. It integrates a cloud-focused model with strong infrastructure, platform capabilities, business process intelligence, and innovation—all of which are provided as services. Businesses can now shift from traditional SAP ERP systems to SAP ERP Migration to Cloud frameworks and enjoy streamlined flexibility, scalability, and modernization.
With monumental transformation comes equally monumental responsibility. Understanding your data is crucial. Not all information is useful during migration. To ensure a smooth, secure, and compliant RISE with SAP Migration, knowing what to keep, archive, and disregard is vital.
Data is at the core of every migration. Improper management can result in loss of data, compliance complications, and disruption of operations after migration. These risks highlight the importance of an SAP ERP data retention policy as an essential business strategy, rather than just a recommended practice.
We’ll examine important issues like strategies and oversights regarding SAP ERP data retention in this blog. No matter what stage you are at looking into, or planning for, these insights will assist you in dealing with the RISE with SAP S/4HANA Move with assurance and direction..
The Hidden Risks of Ignoring Data Retention
Ignoring data retention policies while RISE with SAP Migration could pose unimagined consequences for organizations and become apparent only after it’s too late. The migration with managed data retention is riddled with multiple obstacles which could result in operational paralysis or invite massive regulatory risks if not addressed in time.
Starting with the compliance breach risks, transaction history, customers records or audit trails, and the irreversible loss of organizational trust. Many sectors are, unfortunately, governed by some of the toughest data retention criteria such as GDPR, HIPAA, or SOX and storing requisite metadata tends to have equally harsh penalties or monitor buoys attached to them. Once the trust in the system is lost, subsequently day to day operational functions are crippled.
Another WCC consequence is inaccurate and incomplete reporting post-migration. Your analytics tools cannot offer any reasonable SAP ERP Migration to Cloud insight without historical data, undermining strategic decision-making. In the end, poorly handled or inadequately archived data could pose legal liabilities, more so if data subject to legal holds is removed or changed.
A well-defined data retention policy ensures compliance, sets your organization up for a hassle-free and protected migration, and retains important information, functioning like a safety net.
Data Retention Meets Compliance
Retaining information is not solely about best practices—it is also about compliance with the law. Policies such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX have precise requirements on the minimum retention period for specific types of data and stipulate securely deleting that data after a designated time frame. Each law bears its own peculiarities based on industry, geography, and data classification. For instance, GDPR stipulates personal data must be maintained only for as long as needed, while HIPAA legally requires retention of healthcare records for a defined period. Ignoring these restraints during SAP ERP to RISE with SAP migration can be disastrous. Non-compliance could lead to significant financial penalties, litigation, or operational red tape. Even worse, your brand might suffer devastating reputational damage and loss of consumer trust. That is why aligning legal obligations with SAP ERP Data Retention strategies is paramount.
Business Continuity Needs Historical Data
Historical data access is an essential aspect of maintaining smooth and intelligent business operations. For example, your accounting department will likely want to examine past transactions for auditing, financial planning, or regulatory reporting. On the other hand, your sales force might SAP ERP Data Retention draw upon prior customer interactions, purchase patterns, and service history to inform targeted campaigns, customize offers, and close more deals. Without proper data retention, these insights can vanish during the RISE with SAP Migration process, leading to major disruptions. You’re not just risking the loss of archived records—you’re potentially discarding years of institutional knowledge that could guide future decisions. Retaining this data isn’t just about compliance or storage; it’s about preserving the heartbeat of your operations. As you transition from SAP ERP to RISE with SAP S/4HANA, make sure your retention strategy retains the most important historical data in an accessible and usable form. It’s one of the best decisions you can make for future-ready, data-driven growth.
Don Prioritize: Critical vs. Non-Critical Data
As with all technologies, moving your SAP ERP Migration to Cloud to the cloud is often accompanied by the wish to upgrade not just the infrastructure, but everything “just in case”. However, transferring all datasets indiscriminately is not only costly but will likely slow down system performance. To remedy this, these datasets may be divided into three categories:
Critical data pertains to records necessary for day to day activities and legal compliance like financial transactions, employee records, and audit logs. This data is required to be preserved and replenished promptly.
Non-critical data may assist towards analysis or referencing, but isn’t necessarily vital for operational activities. This data can now be shelved safely in more economical storage options.
Obsolete data includes datasets which no longer have any useful relevance, like duplicate entries, outdated logs, or expired documents. This information should be either wiped or kept in secured archives.
Identifying concepts of this nature will clear SAP ERP systems whilst enabling lower operational costs and more efficient and better compiled solutions during system monitoring.
What Should You Do with Legacy Data?
Managing legacy data is one of the most important activities considering the step from an SAP ERP to RISE with SAP Migration. Data hygiene starts with asking the proper questions before anything is moved. First, determine if the data serves any purpose that underpins current activities, analytics, or decision-making. Secondly, identify if the data is some kind of a legal requirement. Laws like GDPR or applicable tax legislations may require retention for a defined period. Lastly, look for duplicates. If there are multiple of the same information, retain the most accurate source and remove all duplicates.
Once these steps have been completed and the questions answered, retain legacy RISE with SAP Migration as it is. For compliance and operational requirements, everything else needs to be archived while infrequently accessed information can be disposed of. Remove unfamiliar data which is outdated, irrelevant, or duplicative. Achieving a strategic migration requires leaning down SAP ERP Data Retention on unnecessary cumbersome legacy information systems, improving overall performance, operational efficiency, and data cost optimization of the environment. With these strategies all set to move on, time can be saved to ensure the business is fully ready for the future.
Watch Out for Legal Holds
Managing legacy data is one of the most important activities considering the step of migrating from an SAP ERP to RISE with SAP S/4HANA. Data hygiene starts with asking the proper questions before anything is moved. First, determine if the data serves any purpose that underpins current activities, analytics, or decision-making. Secondly, identify if the data is some kind of a legal requirement. Laws like GDPR or applicable tax legislations may require retention for a defined period. Lastly, look for duplicates. If there are multiple of the same information, retain the most accurate source and remove all duplicates.
Once these steps have been completed and the questions answered, retain legacy data as it is. SAP ERP Migration to Cloud for compliance and operational requirements, everything else needs to be archived while infrequently accessed information can be disposed of. Remove unfamiliar data which is outdated, irrelevant, or duplicative. Achieving a strategic migration requires leaning down on RISE with SAP Migration unnecessary cumbersome legacy information systems, improving overall performance, operational efficiency, and data cost optimization of the environment. With these strategies all set to move on, time can be saved to ensure the business is fully ready for the future.
Master Data Management Is Non-Negotiable
Information such as customer profiles, vendor records, and material details constitute master data, which is the ERP system’s backbone and foundation. While migrating from SAP ERP to RISE with SAP S/4HANA, this data must always be accurate and dependable. This logic extends beyond information duplication, as what you transfer must bring value in the new environment. Inconsistent records and duplicate or outdated entries fundamentally hinder reporting accuracy, reporting workflow interruptions, and delaying decision-making. So, the cleansing of data must be paramount before migration. Standardizing and identifying discrepancies helps foster smoother transitions and improved performance metrics post-migration SAP ERP Data Retention. Accurate data fosters better adoption rates, enhanced process efficiency, and system reliability as harnessed by the users. Carefully refining master data before migrating helps ensure the new platform operates seamlessly without legacy issues to unwind, helping the user rely on the system’s efficacy from the get-go.
Build a SAP ERP Data Retention Policy (Yes, Put It on Paper)
For a RISE with SAP Migration to go smoothly and legally, a clear SAP ERP Data Retention policy must be established. Sorting your data into transactional, operational, and regulatory categories should be your first step. Assign suitable retention periods after classification in accordance with business, legal, and industry standards. This guarantees that important data is preserved for as long as required without overloading your new system with outdated information.
Next, assign data stewards or accountable teams to each category. These people will be in charge of enforcing SAP ERP Data Retention, making sure that the policy is followed, and serving as the point of contact for any questions pertaining to data. Lastly, describe safe and auditable procedures for getting rid of data that has outlived its useful life. Whether you choose secure archiving or automated deletion, your disposal strategy should promote compliance and reduce risk.
Throughout your SAP ERP to RISE with SAP S/4HANA, departmental consistency, accountability, and clarity are ensured by documenting and aligning on these components.
Online, Nearline, Offline: Choose the Right Archive
It’s crucial to realize that not all data must always be easily accessible when it comes to data archiving during your RISE with SAP Migration. Adopting a tiered storage model that groups data according to its frequency of use is a clever strategy.
For data that is regularly accessed, such as operational reports or active transactional records, online storage is perfect. Although it costs more, it provides high-speed access. For data that is used infrequently, like quarterly financials or historical sales data, nearline storage is an excellent compromise. It strikes a balance between affordability and speed. Offline storage is the most cost-effective option for data that is rarely accessed, such as compliance records or old audits.
You can significantly lower storage costs while maintaining availability when needed by carefully dividing your archived data into these three tiers. Additionally, this method streamlines your post-migration SAP ERP data management and retention procedure.
Use SAP ILM to Automate Retention
An important tool for controlling data retention during your RISE with SAP Migration is RISE with SAP S/4HANA Information Lifecycle Management (ILM). It gives companies the ability to create and automate data policies that control every stage of the data lifecycle, from initial creation and use to eventual archiving or deletion. You can minimize data volume, optimize system performance, and guarantee legal and regulatory compliance by incorporating ILM into SAP ERP Migration to Cloud your data retention strategy. ILM facilitates the management of both active and legacy data by supporting structured data retention for audits and legal holds. It’s a clever method of giving complicated migrations control and clarity.
Don’t Migrate Dirty Data
Clear, trustworthy data is the cornerstone of more intelligent business choices and seamless digital transformations. Doing a thorough data cleansing is essential before starting your SAP ERP to RISE with SAP Migration process. This entails checking all documents for correctness, eliminating duplicates, fixing discrepancies, and confirming their applicability. Incomplete or outdated data only causes clutter, raises migration expenses, and degrades performance after the migration. Early data refinement reduces risks, guarantees a smooth migration, and positions your company for long-term success in the cloud. One of the most important resources for any transformation process is a well-prepared data set.
Automate Where You Can
In addition to being time-consuming, manual data handling is prone to expensive mistakes. Use automation tools such as OpenText, SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM), or other third-party platforms in place of antiquated techniques. Important procedures like data archiving, secure deletion, and data retention policy enforcement are made easier with the aid of these solutions. Automation improves overall operational efficiency, guarantees consistency, and lowers the risk of non-compliance. Businesses can increase data accuracy, free up IT resources, and concentrate on more strategic tasks by eliminating manual intervention. Automated data management is a crucial component of any cloud-based SAP ERP migration that you shouldn’t ignore.
Don’t Forget Metadata
The structure and meaning of retained data are provided by metadata. It indicates the meaning of the data, its source, its creation date, and its relationships with other data. Raw data is transformed into something searchable, intelligible, and applicable across time and systems in this context. Your archived data might become SAP ERP Migration to Cloud unusable, irrelevant, or even non-compliant without precise and consistent metadata. In theory, the data is there, but you’ll have a hard time locating what you need if you have a warehouse full of unlabeled boxes. Long after the initial migration is finished, well-managed metadata guarantees that your data will still be valuable, discoverable, and organized.
Encrypt Everything (Seriously)
Both internal company data and personal data must be encrypted, particularly when archiving sensitive data during migration. It protects your data from breaches, leaks, and unauthorized use by limiting access to only authorized users. Your storage environments must adhere to industry standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001 in order to preserve trust and fulfill legal requirements. Encrypt all data, whether it is in use, in transit, or at rest, from beginning to end. Throughout the SAP ERP to RISE with SAP migration process and beyond, this tiered approach strengthens your commitment to privacy, improves data security, and lowers risk exposure.
Assign Data Stewards
Maintaining appropriate SAP ERP data retention requires effective data governance. Assign specific data owners to supervise retention procedures, enforce rules, and conduct routine audits. By doing this, you can make sure that data is kept in accordance with legal requirements and organizational goals. These positions are crucial for reducing compliance risks, enhancing operational effectiveness, and protecting data integrity. Regular audits will help identify gaps in retention practices, ensuring continuous alignment with business goals and legal requirements. Proper governance provides a solid foundation for a successful migration to RISE with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud and supports long-term data management.
Train Your People
Effective post-migration SAP ERP Data Retention requires team training. Make sure they are aware of the security procedures, retention guidelines, and how to access data that has been archived. They can handle data more effectively thanks to this knowledge, which lowers the possibility of mistakes and security lapses. Unambiguous data management guidelines promote a more seamless transition and boost adoption after migration. When your team is properly prepared, they can guarantee the integrity and accessibility of stored data, follow best practices, and comply with regulatory requirements. This strategy improves operational effectiveness, safeguards priceless assets, and contributes to the migration’s overall success.
Post-Migration: Audit, Validate, Repeat
It’s crucial to examine and confirm all data that was kept after the migration. Do a comprehensive audit to make sure nothing is missing or incorrectly stored; don’t skip this step. Verify that the retention policies were implemented SAP ERP Migration to Cloud Correctly and that all data access rights have been assigned appropriately. To ensure that your data is compliant, accessible, and undamaged, this validation procedure is essential. You create a solid basis for future operations to run smoothly by taking the time to finish this last step. You can depend on your data with confidence for future business success if you conduct a thorough post-migration audit.
Futureproof Your Retention Strategy
Your SAP ERP Data Retention strategy should change and grow with your company. Designing it with scalability in mind is crucial to making sure it can adjust to new systems, nations, and constantly shifting regulations. You can make sure that your company remains efficient and compliant even as new challenges emerge by proactively developing a flexible retention strategy. You can manage your data with confidence SAP ERP Migration to Cloud and steer clear of needless risks and compliance problems with a well-thought-out framework. Long-term time and resource savings are achieved by planning ahead, which also lays the groundwork for future business success and more seamless transitions.
Choosing a Partner for RISE with SAP Migration
Making the switch to RISE with SAP is a big change that you shouldn’t do alone. Selecting the appropriate partner is essential to guaranteeing a seamless, legal, and business-oriented journey. We suggest 2iSolutions, a SAP Gold Partner with extensive knowledge of data governance, compliance frameworks, and SAP cloud technologies. Their staff makes sure that your SAP ERP Data Retention plan is a fundamental component of your migration strategy, not merely an afterthought.
Contact 2iSolutions by phone at +91 88005 92601 or by email at sales.india@2isolutions.com for professional advice and end-to-end support. You deserve the best for your cloud journey.
