Roadmap gives clear guidance to NORDWEST

"We would favor a brownfield approach, but is that really the right option for us?" This question was the starting point for the collaboration between NORDWEST and GAMBIT Consulting back in mid-2023. The trade association commissioned GAMBIT to develop a roadmap for SAP S/4HANA in order to identify the most suitable migration scenario and operating model. The company was looking for clear answers – based on data and facts.

Is Brownfield enough?

Prior to the preliminary study, the internal IT department was more in favor of a brownfield migration, based on the assumption that it would involve less effort and – depending on the design – lower costs. However, the company's specialist departments were hoping that the switch to SAP S/4HANA would bring process-related and strategic benefits that would be almost impossible to achieve with a brownfield migration – such as a more flexible system landscape, faster response to new requirements, and a higher proportion of automated processes.

The aim of the preliminary study was therefore to examine the possible paths and operating models in more detail. "You can't make a decision like this based on a gut feeling or insufficient information," says Christian Schepermann (Head of IT & Process Management). "And so, we opted for GAMBIT's roadmap program, to get all the information we needed to say with certainty: This is the best path for us – the one that will optimize our long-term position after the implementation and enable us to continue digitally transforming the company."

From manual to automated processes

NORDWEST has an evolved and complex SAP ECC system that needs to be migrated to SAP S/4HANA due to the end of maintenance. Most importantly, however, the existing system no longer adequately supports the company's future business development. Too many manual processes, overly complex maintenance, demographic risks, and a system landscape that is not scalable in the event of acquisitions or organic growth – these are just some of the many challenges to be solved in the course of migration and that raise the question of whether a brownfield approach will in fact help the company move forward.

The six-phase GAMBIT roadmap program

GAMBIT implemented its roadmap program, which has already proven itself in many customer projects, for NORDWEST. With the help of the program, the consultants examined the various migration options. This included analyzing NORDWEST's strategic goals with the help of strategy interviews, conducting a fit-gap analysis of the coverage levels of SAP best practices, and developing a cost and effort estimate for the different migration approaches.

Besides the migration scenarios, the GAMBIT experts also examined the various operating models that could be used. In the case of NORDWEST, these were the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition (with or without RISE with SAP) and SAP S/4HANA on-premise edition.

"When the study was complete, we advised NORDWEST to opt for a greenfield migration to the private cloud together with RISE with SAP," says Sebastian Schmitz, roadmap expert and project manager at GAMBIT. "We focused on the potential benefits, the effort, the costs, and the NORDWEST strategy. The study showed that a brownfield migration would not bring any appreciable advantages for NORDWEST – apart from avoiding the danger posed by the end of maintenance for SAP ECC."

The desired clarity regarding the right path

According to SAP experts, a greenfield implementation is the only way to fully exploit the benefits of SAP S/4HANA and achieve the desired objectives – including the removal of complex programming, reduction of demographic risk, replacement of manual process steps, and creation of a scalable and performance-oriented system landscape.

Such a future-proof and flexible system landscape – in the standard SAP system and based on the clean-core principle of SAP S/4HANA – will allow NORDWEST to continue making key business-supporting enhancements in the future and integrate new business models more easily.

"The roadmap program delivered exactly the data and facts we were looking for. The preliminary study also showed that we need to take a closer look at our SAP HR and SAP BW solutions as well as the TeamFaktor NW GmbH client, for which maintenance is also due to expire at the end of 2027. Thanks to GAMBIT and our in-house project team, we now have a clear and reliable picture based on which we can make the right decisions," says Christian Schepermann from NORDWEST.