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The S/4HANA Conversion Blueprint.

A forty-eight page conversion blueprint for ECC customers moving to S/4HANA. The brownfield, bluefield, and greenfield routes priced and compared. The FUE conversion mathematics, the indirect-access compounding through the cutover window, and the audit defence playbook for the transitional state.

Research Paper 48 pages Published May 2026 Format: PDF Access: Gated
What You'll Learn

Six outcomes from completed conversions.

  1. The three conversion routes priced like-for-like. Brownfield, bluefield, and greenfield — the licence treatment, the data migration cost, and the operational disruption profile for each.
  2. The FUE conversion mathematics. How ECC named-user populations convert to FUE counts under the standard SAP methodology, and where the customer-side recategorisation opportunity sits.
  3. The indirect-access compounding through the cutover window. Why indirect-use exposure typically peaks during the dual-running phase and how to defend through it.
  4. Custom-code remediation as a licensing question. The Z-code inventory that drives both the conversion cost and the FUE outcome — and the rationalisation opportunities most SI partners miss.
  5. Pre-conversion audit defence. SAP's audit motion typically intensifies in the 12 months before a planned S/4HANA conversion. The defensive playbook for the pre-conversion window.
  6. The cutover-day FUE settlement. The single most influential commercial conversation in the entire conversion programme, and the data products that determine its outcome.
Table of Contents

Seven chapters. Forty-eight pages.

Chapter IThe three routes: brownfield, bluefield, greenfieldpg. 5
Chapter IIFUE conversion mathematicspg. 12
Chapter IIICustom-code remediation, costedpg. 19
Chapter IVThe pre-conversion audit windowpg. 26
Chapter VIndirect access through the cutoverpg. 32
Chapter VIThe cutover-day FUE settlementpg. 39
Chapter VIIA casebook: five completed conversionspg. 44
Who It's For

Four audiences. One reference.

Chief Information Officer

CIOs sponsoring the S/4HANA conversion programme. The route-selection chapter and the cutover-day FUE chapter are the executive-level decision references.

SVP Procurement

Procurement leadership negotiating the conversion commercials with SAP. The FUE conversion chapter is the negotiation framework.

Enterprise Architects

Architects responsible for the technical conversion approach. The custom-code, indirect-access, and route-comparison chapters are the technical reference.

Head of SAM

SAM practitioners running the FUE conversion modelling and the pre-conversion data extraction work that underpins the commercial settlement.

SAP's pre-conversion audit opened at fourteen million dollars across user counts and indirect access. The cutover-day settlement closed both and reset the licence baseline at three point two.

Director, Global ProcurementGlobal Manufacturer · Cutover Q3 2025
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