Thorough preparation makes migration from AG Real Estate to SAP S/4 HANA a success

Thanks to extensive preliminary research by Ctac and a strong focus on testing, AG Real Estate successfully transitioned to SAP S/4HANA. The real estate group now has a future-proof IT environment that is ready to meet new business demands, including in the field of AI.

Like many other organisations, AG Real Estate, the real estate subsidiary of AG Insurance, had to make the switch from SAP ECC to S/4HANA, as SAP ECC (ERP Central Component) will no longer be supported from 2027. Toon Sneyers, Head of IT & Organisation at the real estate group, saw the migration not only as an obligation, but also as an opportunity: ‘We had already been told several times that certain things were not possible with our version of SAP ECC with Simple Finance (SFIN). S/4HANA would allow us to utilise the full potential of the platform.’

Extensive preliminary study

AG Real Estate did not rush into this transition. ‘For almost a year, we attended all of SAP’s information sessions on BTP, the tools and modules,’ says Toon. “We also attended Ctac’s Move event. After that, we asked several SAP partners, including Ctac, for a readiness programme. Ctac has been an infrastructure and SAP implementation partner of AG Real Estate since 2015. Because Ctac has many customers in the real estate sector, the company knows the SAP Real Estate (RE) module and the business inside out.

During the readiness programme, Ctac assessed how prepared AG Real Estate was for the transition, what steps still needed to be taken for each SAP module and what added value S/4HANA would deliver. ‘The result was a clear plan, including a business case, timeline, budget and approach,’ says Vanessa Van Craen, project manager at Ctac.

Toon emphasises that Ctac’s preliminary study provided a realistic picture of what the real estate group could expect: ‘The openness from the outset, the thorough approach and their total package made the choice clear to us: we also wanted to do the implementation with Ctac.’

More than 500 test scenarios

During the preparatory phase, a lot of attention was paid to licence management. “We wanted to know exactly what each SAP module does, how many licences we have, and what would change in S/4HANA,” explains Toon.

But the biggest challenge was testing: ‘We had more than 500 test scenarios, which we manually ran through three times: in a sandbox, development and Quality Assurance (QA). That was intensive, but it contributed significantly to the success of the project,’ says Toon. For example, one component that had not been tested thoroughly enough in the sandbox and development phase caused problems in the QA phase. ‘That proved how important testing was,’ concludes Toon. Initially, AG Real Estate even had doubts about whether a sandbox was necessary, but Ctac managed to convince them. ‘Without a sandbox, the risks involved in such a conversion are too great,’ says Roel Kerkhofs, who supervised the entire process at AG Real Estate as an S/4HANA expert. ‘A sandbox gives the IT team the opportunity to familiarise themselves with complex processes before the upgrade changes things that have an impact on the business.’ ‘As a result, testing took longer and cost more, but we have more than recouped that investment,’ adds Toon.

From the outset, AG Real Estate appointed a project manager and a change manager. ‘This was necessary to make it clear to the business that there was a soft freeze and a hard freeze and that no new features could be requested for the time being,’ explains Toon. ‘Afterwards, we also challenged the business: “You’ve now been doing this for four months without the feature you requested. Do you really need it?” That was an eye-opener.’

According to Vanessa, the smooth go-live was mainly due to thorough preparation: ‘AG Real Estate allowed Ctac to conduct a much longer preliminary study than most companies, and that proved to be a success factor.’ ‘AG Real Estate had also done its homework,’ he continues. ‘All the changes they were working on had been completed or discontinued. As a result, there were no loose ends and we were able to transfer a “clean” system.’

More options

Thanks to the migration to S/4HANA, AG Real Estate can now make optimal use of SAP BTP. ‘With every new request, we first look at how BTP can support us. We are also going to investigate what AI can do for us, but we want to keep that on-premise,’ says Toon.

‘Tools such as Signavio are now also becoming more interesting because they offer more possibilities within S/4HANA than within ECC. Thanks to S/4HANA, we no longer have to wonder whether we can integrate many new tools; we have more options, and that is important for supporting the business properly.’

According to Toon, the collaboration with Ctac went smoothly from the start: “Ctac put together an experienced team that worked well together, with a project manager who communicated clearly from day one. Our corporate cultures are also a good fit. Ctac is a major player, but has an SME mentality in terms of accessibility. We could always count on transparent and open communication. With the exception of a few consultants from another partner for specific expertise, Ctac has now become a real one-stop shop for us.”