11.8 Data Migration with the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit and Testing in SAP Cloud ALM

Data Migration with the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit and Testing in SAP Cloud ALM

The last two units of the S4C03 course cover the final steps before go-live: loading business data into the new system and proving that the configured processes work. Both matter to a sales consultant, who typically owns migration objects such as customers or open sales orders and writes the test cases for order-to-cash processes.

The SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit

The SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit moves data from as many SAP or non-SAP legacy systems as needed. It is opened with the Migrate Your Data app in all deployments of SAP S/4HANA, although the functions and available templates can differ by deployment. You need authorization for the app and for each type of data, because the cockpit uses the same APIs and checks as the business apps; creating a bank through migration is checked like creating it in Manage Banks. Single master data records can instead be created with the master data scripts provided as accelerators in SAP Signavio Process Navigator.

Guided Procedure with Staging Tables

1. Create a migration project and select the migration objects. The objects offered depend on the business processes active in the system, and the rule of thumb is to migrate all of them, because each supports processes. Check each object's documentation for the app that validates the result, and migrate predecessor objects first.
2. Download the template: XML includes two information tabs with tips on common errors, while CSV leaves more room for data. A single file, or a ZIP file, may be at most 100 MB. Paste values only, because copied formatting corrupts the file.
3. Upload the filled template and prepare the staging tables.
4. Process the mapping tasks: value mapping (target value for each source value) and fixed values (defaults for target fields).
5. Optionally simulate, then migrate; both steps can be cancelled. By default, 8 jobs run in parallel so that other users are not affected; Job Management can change this.
6. Check the migration results through the links to the relevant apps, create a correction file if errors occurred, and close the project, optionally setting a data retention period.

Status, Statistics, and Extensibility

The Data Migration Status app summarizes all migration objects and uses Situation Handling to notify you when a simulation or migration has finished, so you can work on other tasks meanwhile (SAP Note 2681413). Its extended statistics, active by default, show source values, mapped target values, and target IDs for validation and auditing; switching them off for an object also deletes the statistics already collected. Custom fields that are enabled for APIs in the Custom Fields app are added to the relevant migration object automatically. The Migration Object Modeler changes source and target structures and their mapping; never change template headers or columns in Excel, because that corrupts the file.

Test Strategy

The customer experts from the workshops are the best UAT testers: they reported the requirements and already know how to navigate the system. If an upgrade happens before go-live, the partner team pauses the implementation to test the processes built so far against the new release. When custom logic changes a standard process, the standard test case must be adapted as well, so that automated tests check the custom outcome. The Scope and Dependencies spreadsheet in SAP Signavio Process Navigator (Accelerators → Getting Started) helps plan the tests.

Test Management in SAP Cloud ALM

1. Test Preparation app: create test cases from the finalized scope. For SAP Best Practices processes, the titles of the test procedures are pulled in from the process's test script. Give the case a title such as the process name plus "UAT", select the scope, the solution process, and its process flow diagram, choose the activities in scope (small changes to the steps are possible), set the status to Prepared, and save. Testers still need the test script itself from SAP Signavio Process Navigator; custom processes can be uploaded as custom test cases.
2. Test Plans app: group one or more test cases, for example into an end-to-end test plan for a line of business, assign a tester and a time window, and set the status to In Testing. The plan then appears as a task in the tester's Overview app. Testers must exist as SAP Cloud ALM users, which the IT Contact arranges.
3. Test Execution app: record whether each test procedure passed or failed and, if not, why.

Tricentis Test Automation for SAP is available to SAP Enterprise Support customers for automated tests of SAP user interfaces and APIs, and it comes with test automation content for regression tests of new cloud releases. SAP Cloud ALM remains the orchestrator of test management and the application lifecycle, while Tricentis executes the automated tests. It is activated with the wizard Set Up Tricentis Test Automation for SAP in the administration area of SAP Cloud ALM.

Worked Example: Order-to-Cash Data and Tests

A sales consultant prepares go-live for order to cash.

1. In Migrate Your Data, the consultant creates a project with the objects for customers (business partners), products, sales prices, and open sales orders, respecting that customers and products must exist before open orders. Templates are filled in XML format, kept under 100 MB, uploaded, mapped, simulated, and migrated.
2. Data Migration Status sends a notification when the open sales orders are migrated, and the extended statistics show how many records were loaded per sales organization.
3. In Test Preparation, the consultant creates a test case "Sell from Stock - UAT" with the relevant test procedures and sets it to Prepared.
4. In Test Plans, the case is assigned to two customer sales experts with a one-week window and set to In Testing. They record the results in Test Execution, and open issues are fixed before the Deploy phase.