A new approach to SAP integration

Launched in 2015, SAP S/4HANA represents a major step forward in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. However, with this change, SAP is ending support for SAP ERP in 2025, requiring existing customers to upgrade to SAP S/4HANA. Numerous organizations rely on SAP platform solutions, many of which were implemented during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

By 2040, SAP will end mainstream maintenance on all instances of ERP installations forcing enterprises to migrate to SAP S/4HANA, or re-implement complex SAP ERP installations, which can come with many challenges. Businesses are now considering various options as they migrate to SAP S/4HANA.

Read this whitepaper, written in collaboration with Capgemini, to learn:

• How to prove the business value of a migration to SAP S/4HANA
• Why an API-led architecture is the best approach for SAP S/4HANA integration with existing systems, providing agility and shielding an organization’s technology stack from future changes to other systems
• The main principles of a Center for Enablement (C4E) and how it enables enterprises to implement software design with governance and high delivery speeds Below is a sneak peek from the whitepaper.

Fill the form to download the full version of our whitepaper.

SAP S/4 HANA Migration Challenges and Considerations

Upgrading from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA is a complex undertaking, likely the most challenging upgrade your organization will ever undertake. Presumably, your SAP ERP is already integrated with a number of internal and external systems through a combination of custom code and legacy ESBs. This, alone, poses significant challenges, because each of these systems requires rebuilding the respective integrations to SAP S/4HANA.

SAP has designed SAP S/4HANA to remove the need for legacy reporting approaches. However you likely have an existing enterprise reporting structure whereby you push critical SAP ERP data to data warehouses through information management tools. After a SAP S/4HANA migration, maintaining the ability to access legacy data with SAP S/4HANA is required.

Another consideration when migrating to SAP s/4 HANA, is that you may operate separate lines of business, possibly in separate geographies, each with its own ERPs. These ERPs may be connected to your headquarters’ ERP through legacy approaches. Worse yet, the integration approaches are likely not well documented, and those who did the work may have left your organization. In addition, conducting business with partners, suppliers, and customers, all require integration and need to be preserved or modified during SAP S/4HANA migration.

SAP S/4HANA Integration with an API-led Approach

An API-led architecture is the best approach for SAP S/4HANA integration with existing systems. It provides agility and shields an organization’s technology stack from future changes to other systems. SAP S/4HANA migration requires a new paradigm and new tools to deliver on your future business needs. First, and most importantly, MuleSoft’s API-led approach provides critical flexibility during SAP S/4HANA migration, de-risking your entire migration program. And second, MuleSoft’s approach enables building a microservices platform that supports your business agility for your future growth.

Instead of a linear and fragile SAP S/4HANA migration program, MuleSoft’s API-led approach enables you to decouple business functions from the underlying systems. This means that downstream systems are not pulling data directly from your legacy SAP ERP or from SAP S/4HANA as they would be using a traditional point-to-point integration. Rather, they would pull data from an API which allows you to abstract data across multiple underlying systems.

An API-led approach enables moving beyond a legacy, monolithic landscape, and instead, building a modern, futureproof architecture based on microservices that enables adopting best-of-breed enterprise solutions. The agility achieved by following an API-led approach to SAP S/4HANA migration provides an incredible opportunity to reimagine your business. Because you’re already moving from your legacy ERP to SAP S/4HANA, which requires building integrations to the rest of your IT landscape, now is the time to transform your legacy monolith into a microservices architecture.

SAP S/4HANA Migration and Beyond

MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform is uniquely positioned as a unified platform for designing, building, deploying, managing, and monitoring both APIs and integrations, whether on-premise, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. From SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA to legacy systems to best-of-breed SaaS apps, Anypoint Platform eliminates the need to navigate multiple, disparate tools across your organization. As a result, MuleSoft’s unified platform de-risks and accelerates your SAP S/4HANA migration program.

Our connector for SAP S/4HANA was developed in design partnerships with leading global brands and a global systems integrator to understand priority integration use cases and desired solutions. The MuleSoft connector for SAP S/4HANA supports all SAP S/4HANA APIs, automatically discovering each API and the related entities for each service. And Anypoint Platform’s DataSense introspects underlying data structures, allowing developers to easily map fields between SAP S/4HANA and other endpoints using an intuitive, drag-and-drop user interface.

Conclusion

Despite the complexities of an SAP S/4HANA migration, it’s clear SAP S/4HANA represents the SAP ERP of the future. Companies that embrace the shift to SAP S/4HANA as a strategic opportunity, enabled by modern integration approaches and tools, will come out ahead of their peers with a modern, microservices infrastructure.