January 7, 2025

RESA prepares S/4HANA migration with in-depth analysis

RESA, an important Belgian operator of electricity and gas distribution systems, conducted an in-depth assessment to prepare its migration from SAP ECC to S/4HANA. By mapping the technical, functional, and organizational impact and analyzing all possibilities, the organization hopes to minimize the risks and maximize the returns when transitioning to the new SAP platform.

RESA has relied on SAP ECC for many years, but with SAP ending support for the ERP system, they decided to migrate to SAP S/4HANA. The new platform will help them maintain high service quality while boosting efficiency. “As our business and environment evolve, we need new tools to support our operations,” says Nathali Carrera, RESA Application Portfolio Manager. “S/4HANA offers the very latest technology, including AI, and is sure to address all our needs.”

Flexso and RESA, a strategic partnership

After a public tender, RESA selected Flexso to draft the migration plan, focusing on end-to-end integration. Flexso partnered with Iliade Consulting, for their deep expertise in utilities. Both teams had worked with RESA before.

Together, we prepared the migration, analyzing the as-is situation, defining the new landscape, and presenting the results. Each phase of the project included a series of workshops, which played a key role in the overall success of the migration.

Read how and why to migrate to S/4HANA.

Prepare the transition to S/4HANA

RESA’s existing ECC platform is highly customized, but for their new system they wanted to adopt more SAP best practices – an important shift that would impact internal processes. “We had to take this step,” says Nathali. “The migration is an opportunity to better address both current and future challenges.”

To ensure a smooth migration, RESA partnered with Flexso for an in-depth preliminary study. Nathali: “For 10 months, we organized workshops to chart IT and business needs. These insights were crucial in creating a solid list of requirements for the implementation, and in developing an efficient strategy and detailed roadmap, complete with a realistic timeline.”

Super detailed pre-study for the migration from SAP ECC to S/4HANA

Together with the various departments and SAP IT managers, RESA analyzed the ‘as-is’ situation. In this way, they could give Flexso a complete picture of the existing situation:

Functional: prioritize needs, analyze the specific processes in the system, identify gaps between ECC and S/4HANA as well as obsolete transactions, look for rationalization opportunities and consider which existing applications should be replaced.
Technical: assess infrastructure, hosting, and security requirements and propose a testing strategy, including a database analysis; look at the conversion of specific code and determine what technical modifications are needed to move to S/4HANA.

Invest in change management

“We wanted to involve all of our employees from the very beginning,” explains Sylvie Nahon, Change Manager. “It was crucial to communicate our objectives and highlight the need for everybody to collaborate. We also considered their needs, even when these were beyond the project scope. Through regular feedback and informative updates, they all understood what we would integrate before, during, or after the migration, based on technical feasibility and overall impact. In this way, everyone felt confident and informed.”

Nathali Carrera emphasizes the importance of this proactive approach: “During our last migration to SAP ECC in 2014/2015, we included a lot of customization, making the system difficult to use and maintain. Moreover, the change management was lacking. Because of the system’s complexity, the business couldn’t optimally manage their data, which affected data quality. We were determined to avoid that for the new migration.”

The key to team commitment? Make sure to communicate the objectives clearly and listen to the needs, even if these are outside the initial project scope.
Nathali Carrera - Application Portfolio Manager at RESA

Brownfield and cloud: the right migration approach to S/4HANA for RESA

The preliminary study recommended a Brownfield migration, converting the existing system to S/4HANA while retaining certain features. This way, existing components remain in use during the migration, ensuring a smoother and more controlled transition. This strategy is perfect for Belgian and certainly Walloon utilities, as the sector is highly regulated, requiring a certain degree of customization.

For hosting, RESA selected RISE with SAP, an approach designed to guide organizations through their cloud transition. As a highly regulated company, RESA was initially hesitant about adopting the cloud, due to concerns about security risks. Still, a cloud solution offers numerous advantages:

More flexibility
Better data management
Lower infrastructure costs
Unlimited accessibility
Scalability
Improved security
Adaptability to technological change

SAP S/4 HANA: Countless benefits

“The preliminary research ensured a clear technical study and planning. Flexso estimated the project would take a year and a half,” says Nathali Carrera. “We also got an overview of the new features and functionalities of SAP S/4HANA. We’ll further analyze these benefits for optimal integration in the roadmap:

Faster processing and analysis with the in-memory database
An intuitive user experience thanks to SAP Fiori, which our HR department already uses
Simplification and new possibilities thanks to machine learning
More flexibility because S/4HANA runs in the cloud.

Demos that make a difference

“Flexso’s demos helped us compare S/4HANA’s interface and user-friendliness with SAP ECC,” Nathali Carrera concludes. “Flexso provided numerous demos and encouraged us to ask questions afterwards. Users appreciated this openness and were excited to experience the benefits of S/4 first-hand. The demos also clarified roles and authorizations in S/4HANA, which was really valuable.”

What’s next?

And now? What are the next steps? “We’re kicking off several pre-projects as we prepare for the S/4HANA migration,” says Nathali Carrera. “Soon, we’ll validate the project timing and scope based on the preliminary study. I’m also drafting a business case to present to management. This will form the basis for a detailed specification document, which will be essential in selecting our future implementation partner for the S/4HANA project.”