Rise with SAP – Series #3

July 6, 2022

In the Series #1 & Series #2, I have walked you through what is RISE with SAP and how does it differentiate from your standard HEC managed service along with insight into what can you expect from the scope w.r.to both various BTP based services and also the roles and responsibilities of what you need to be aware of. You can get more details about the same in the link below

Series #1

In the second article of the series, I have provided details of what are the different functional and non-functional requirements you need to be considering when about to finalize RISE with SAP as a solution for your organization and about the information you would need to plan out in order to complete the onboarding into RISE with SAP. You can get more details about the same in the link below

Series #2

In this final article, I will walk you through the lessons learned during some of the engagements along with various value-added services which IBM can offer with “BREAKTHROUGH with IBM” for RISE with SAP in order to plan your journey not just moving to cloud but with value added services to your organization.

* Consider the Cloud Architect role – While moving onto RISE with SAP, you might be wondering most of the technical managed services are going to be taken care of by SAP and the concerned Hyperscaler and I wouldn’t actually need a dedicated cloud architect for the whole engagement. This is incorrect, and we strongly suggest having a cloud architect from the initial pre-sales all the way through the digital discovery assessment (DDA) and for the technical assessment along with the checklist completion to finalize the functional and non-functional requirements.

This role is also going to support you with making sure the right sizing along with the HA / DR solutions are enabled including the optional and additional services you would need to be selecting to avoid any surprise costs at a later point in time. This role is also required for network architecture, system delivery and to provide guidance to the infrastructure teams involved.

If not already, you can get yourself certified as a Partner Cloud Architect for RISE with SAP going through the learning journey mentioned below

https://learning-journeys-prod.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com

Do the Sizing right the first time – Depending on the Greenfield or Brownfield migration deployment mode you have different sizing approaches available for you. When it comes to Greenfield you can either go by FUE based deployment or by using the Quicksizer tool available online. For Brownfield you can use the ABAP programs made available by SAP which provides you with the conversion from Non-HANA DBs to HANA DB with compression applied. You need to make sure you add the growth projection for years based on your business model which none of the programs can provide you inputs around.

Plan your Add-Ons appropriately – Prior to moving to RISE with SAP, ensure you have a detailed inventory of different Add-Ons you are using today and validate on the allow list for RISE with SAP to make sure the same would be supported as certification of the add-ons is a must for them to be deployable on RISE. You should ensure they do not need any OS level or middleware level access as this won’t be provided given the technical managed services scope.

OS / DB Kernel updates – Typically OS / DB Kernel updates is SAP’s responsibility but you still need to make sure you plan in advance by raising the SR’s to ensure the downtime can be effectively communicated and planned.

SAP Cloud ALM Subscription – This subscription is already available in the RISE with SAP package but most of the customers are not aware of the same and customers with SAP Enterprise Support model can request access to SAP Cloud ALM. You also need to plan for a stand alone SolMan or FRUN instance depending on the level of BPMON and other technical monitoring KPIs you would like to automate within your landscape given you cannot control what will be done on the central FRUN used by RISE with SAP technical managed services team.

BTP based services – Ensure you have a clear plan in place around what are the ADS and other Business Network or Logistics Supplier Network services you would be planning on consuming as while there is an initial credit included you are bound to run out the same pretty quickly and hence it is important to plan out on these credits before hand and agree on which model would fit your requirements depending on the business model which you have.

Upgrade of S/4HANA minor and major upgrades – RISE with SAP package promises unlimited upgrades involved in the solution but the fact remains around not including the functional testing, planning coordination and other planning activities. These activities would still need to be performed either by the customer themselves or by the Vendor supporting the landscape functionally. You can also opt for Cloud Application Service packages as needed.

Best practice requirement to be planned up front – You need to plan ahead of time before the installation happens if best practice packages are required to be deployed in the landscape.

VPN / Direct Link set up – You are responsible for coordinating with the communication provider along with your network team to get the network set up all the way to the end point exposed by the SAP team depending on the data center chosen. Discuss from day 1 about VPN, standards, security policies, SSO, tunnel setup, SSL server certificates, network traffic and so forth. Always plan properly on your network ingress and egress capabilities depending on which applications are going to consume the data from the S/4HANA or other applications to be deployed within RISE with SAP.

FIORI enablement – SAP S/4HANA Cloud PCE as part of RISE with SAP has the FIORI Launchpad configured but only for one sample app for transactional apps, analytical apps and fact sheets. You would still need to plan for the remaining scope of applications you would be needing.

Allow list the configuration of IP addresses for external system communication to ensure your systems can communicate with the systems within RISE with SAP by having SAP add your IP addresses to the allow list.

SSO, CTS+, gitCTS and other components set up – all these components or configuration is not covered or made available by default as part of RISE with SAP and you would need to plan the same post the handover of the systems.

Now that we have gone through the different points to be looked out for when it comes to RISE with SAP deployment, it is also important to be aware of what all services you should be aware of when embarking on the journey towards cloud and S/4HANA. The below image provides a summary of high level input around different services available as part of BREAKTHROUGH with IBM for RISE with SAP.

For more details around RISE with SAP around onboarding activities or if you need support with building of business case for S/4HANA in alignment with RISE with SAP solution, feel free to contact at [email protected].

About the Author :

Mr. Dharma Teja Atluri is an Associate Partner, Executive Architect, Inventor and artificial intelligence/machine learning evangelist at IBM. He has more than 19 years of experience working in advanced analytics with both SAP and non-SAP product lines. He has provided strategic direction to clients globally regarding the adoption of SAP and non-SAP advanced analytics products for artificial intelligence/machine learning operationalization, data management, information management, and analytics. He has also carried out multiple platform comparison initiatives for reporting, ETL, data warehousing, and data science products across IBM, Microsoft Azure, Google, Amazon Web Services, and SAP. He has led the SAP analytics (reporting and enterprise information management) portfolio for IBM India, and designed client architectures for analytics with SAP and IBM capabilities. Dharma is an IBM master certified data scientist, architect, and technical specialist, and also an IBM thought leader certified consultant. His most recent SAP Data Intelligence sprint was featured for global consumption by clients and nominated for SAP Innovation Awards.

Mr. Dharma Teja Atluri is currently leading the RISE with SAP as a Chief Architect enabling Technical Managed Services on IBM Cloud along with Other Hyperscalers to support the clients on their journey towards Hybrid Cloud with Automation, Data and Intelligent Workflows driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Mr. Dharma Teja Atluri is the Chapter Lead & Co-Chair of TEC India & Member of IBM Academy of Technology.

He is bestowed with the following License & Certifications :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharma/details/certifications/

He has received following Honors & Awards :

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He can be Contacted at :

Email : [email protected]

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharma/

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Skype : darma.teja

Also read his earlier article: