WHAT IS THE RELEASE STRATEGY?

The standard migration path supports R/2 Release 5.0D or later to R/3 Release 3.0. The English version of the migration product will be available in the second quarter of '96.

SAP is committed to supporting 4.3 and 4.4 customers as well, but in several applications like RV Pricing, RM Plant Maintenance, RM Production Orders, RK Orders/Projects/Product Calculation and RP, significant structural changes between the functions of R/2 Release 5.0 and the 4.x releases exist, which do not allow the use of the same migration rule types as from Release 5.0.

ALTERNATIVES FOR 4.3 AND 4.4 INSTALLATIONS:	

1)From 4.3 or 4.4 via a non-productive 5.0 to R/3 3.0B
Upgrade the production environment to Release 5.0 first with available and proven upgrade programs from SAP before migrating from 5.0 with the standard migration package to R/3.  This 5.0 system will not necessarily become productive, but can serve as an intermediate step before the data migration process to the R/3 System takes place.  R/2 Release 5.0 has to be installed and partially customized, especially the ATAB tables that are used by the conversion programs. Optimization of the available time window for productive data migration may be difficult in this "two-step" path, and it may depend on the data volumes to be migrated and the length of time available during which the production systems can be shut down.  If you use one or more of the restructured applications listed above, we recommend using this alternative.

2)From 4.3 directly to R/3 3.0B
SAP plans to support a direct migration from R/2 4.3 to R/3 3.0.  Because of the restructuring of the applications listed above, the migration package can not provide equivalent support for all the applications in this method.  The 4.3 applications RF, RA, RK-S, RM-MAT will definitely be supported.  For the modules RP, RK-P, RK-K, and RV Pricing, direct migration is not planned or not possible.  The migration of all other applications is currently under investigation, but no decisions have been reached yet.  An initial version of the migration package for the applications RF, RA, RK-S, and RM-MAT is planned for release in the second quarter of '96.

3)Business Reengineering in R/3
A new start with the R/3 System that reflects the extended functionality of almost every application in R/3 and makes use of new technologies like the optimization of business processes with workflow tools.  The tools from the migration package and R/3 batch input programs can be used to transfer the necessary master data.  No archived data and no document data from R/2 will be migrated in this approach.
HOW WILL YOU DEFINE YOUR MIGRATION STRATEGY?

The transition from a mainframe based system to a client/server environment represents a paradigm shift of your company's entire IT/IS infrastructure.  It requires a vision and a strategy adapted to the specific needs of your company, and should particularly reflect your commercial, organizational, and technical requirements.

ALTERNATIVE CUSTOMER MIGRATION STRATEGIES

1)Using R/3 satellite systems as a first step while R/2 is still productive enables you to gain experience with the new R/3 technology, such as Human Resources Management, Treasury Workstation, Warehouse Management, Consolidation, EIS 

2)The "Big Bang" approach:  1:1 migration of all data and functions to R/3 on a key date

3)Migrate a single company/client structure to R/3 first before migrating the majority of your group

4)Redesign/business re-engineering in the R/3 system with minor master data migration

5)An R/2 system may be linked with an R/3 system to a certain degree by using SAP's ALE technology (Application Link Enabling) and it's "ALE business scenarios for R/2".  A customer-specific model has to be developed together with an SAP ALE consultant. Prerequisites for this alternative are the releases  >5.0G and 3.0B.