A focused course, tailored for you
SAP Migration Governance and Compliance Readiness
Build the data governance and audit layer into S/4HANA migrations before cutover, not after.
Compliance gaps in SAP migrations don't surface during the project. They surface three months later when the auditor asks for a field that was mapped differently, the archiving policy was never re-confirmed, or the SoD matrix in the target system hasn't been validated. By then the project team has moved on.
$199 one-time
Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.
Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.
Why this course
Migration professionals who own the technical workstream inherit a gap that no one explicitly assigned to them: compliance readiness. The functional consultant finished the data mapping. The basis team completed the technical cutover. But the governance layer, data retention policy, audit trail continuity, segregation of duties validation, and the handoff package that a customer's compliance team will actually rely on, these stay undefined until something breaks. S/4HANA transformations add complexity: the new system has different field structures, different archiving objects, and different SoD risk profiles than ECC. Building the compliance layer in retrospect, after go-live, costs multiples of what it costs to build it into the design phase.
The 12 modules
Module 1. Where Compliance Sits in the Migration Workstream
Most migration project plans place compliance review in the hypercare phase, after go-live. This module maps where governance work actually needs to begin: during the business blueprint or explore phase, when data ownership, retention scope, and SoD requirements can still be incorporated into the system design. You will build a compliance-to-workstream dependency map that makes the governance layer visible to the project manager and the customer steering committee from day one.
Module 2. Data Ownership Mapping Across the Migration Boundary
When data moves from a legacy system to S/4HANA, ownership often becomes ambiguous. The source system had an owner; the target system has a different organisational structure. This module walks through a structured ownership assignment process: identifying data objects in scope, mapping each to a business owner in the target org, documenting the assignment in a format the customer's data governance committee can sign off, and linking the assignment to the archiving and retention decisions that follow.
Module 3. Retention Policy Continuity Across ECC and S/4HANA
SAP archiving objects in S/4HANA do not map one-to-one with ECC archiving objects. FI documents, MM purchasing records, and HR data all have different archiving object structures in the new environment. This module covers how to audit the legacy retention policy, identify objects that have changed or no longer exist in S/4HANA, and rebuild the policy in ILM or an equivalent tool so that retention continuity is documented before any data is loaded into production.
Module 4. Audit Trail Continuity and Field-Level Change Documentation
S/4HANA introduces structural changes to how change documents are written, particularly in Finance and Procurement. Fields that existed in ECC tables may be merged, renamed, or moved to extension ledgers. This module covers how to identify audit-relevant fields that have changed structure, document the change for the external auditor, and confirm that change logging in the target system is enabled and covers the scope the customer's audit team expects.
Module 5. Segregation of Duties in the Target System Before Hypercare Ends
SoD in S/4HANA is not the same as SoD in ECC. New transaction codes, Fiori app authorisations, and the S/4HANA role concept mean that an ECC-era SoD matrix cannot be directly ported. This module covers how to run a pre-cutover SoD analysis using standard SAP tools and third-party GRC products, identify critical conflicts introduced by the new role design, and document the remediation plan so the customer's internal audit team has a baseline before go-live.
Module 6. Compliance Scope Definition for Data Migration Objects
Not every migrated data object carries the same compliance weight. Customer master records, vendor payment data, and financial open items have different regulatory exposure than product descriptions or planning data. This module teaches how to classify migration objects by compliance relevance, apply different validation standards to high-risk versus low-risk objects, and document the classification decision in a way that survives a post-project audit query.
Module 7. GDPR and Personal Data Handling During Migration
S/4HANA migrations move personal data across system boundaries and sometimes across regional infrastructure. This module covers the specific GDPR obligations that apply during a migration: lawful basis confirmation for data transfer, data minimisation checks before loading personal data into the new system, documenting the processing activity in the customer's record of processing activities, and confirming that deletion and anonymisation capabilities exist in the new environment for any personal data categories in scope.
Module 8. Building the Customer-Facing Compliance Handoff Package
At project close, the customer's compliance and internal audit team needs a document set they can rely on: the data ownership register, the retention policy as implemented, the SoD baseline and any open remediations, the audit trail confirmation, and the GDPR processing record update. This module covers how to structure that package, what each document must contain to be useful rather than decorative, and how to walk the customer through it in a structured handoff session that produces a sign-off.
Module 9. Hypercare Governance: What to Monitor in the First 90 Days
The first 90 days of hypercare produce real-world data that validates or breaks governance assumptions built in design. This module covers what to monitor: SoD violation rates in the new role concept, archiving job completion logs, change document volumes for audit-relevant objects, and personal data access patterns against the retention policy. It also covers how to escalate findings to the customer's compliance team without triggering unnecessary alarm before root cause is confirmed.
Module 10. Compliance Validation in S/4HANA Finance Specific Scenarios
Finance migrations carry the highest audit exposure: open items, partial payments, clearing documents, and the universal journal all behave differently in S/4HANA than in ECC. This module works through compliance validation for the Finance-specific scenarios that most commonly produce post-go-live audit queries: open item migration completeness, document splitting configuration and its effect on audit trail, and the transition from classic GL to the new ledger concept including the impact on period-end reporting evidence.
Module 11. Repeatable Governance Framework Across Customer Engagements
Once built for one migration, the governance layer should be repeatable. This module converts the work from modules 1 through 10 into a reusable framework: a project kickoff checklist that surfaces compliance scope early, template documents for each handoff artefact, and a pre-cutover compliance review agenda that runs consistently across S/4HANA projects regardless of customer industry. Repeatability lets the governance layer be included in scope and priced correctly from day one.
Module 12. Positioning the Compliance Layer as Project Value, Not Overhead
Customers treat compliance governance as a cost to cut. This module covers how to position it as delivery value: the audit risk it removes and the post-go-live stability it produces. It includes a one-page framing document for project kickoff steering committees that makes the case for building compliance in rather than retrofitting it, with reference to post-migration scenarios where skipped governance produced expensive remediation that the customer absorbed alone.
How this addresses your situation
Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.
Customer's auditor asks for a field that was restructured in the migration: Module 4 covers audit trail and field-level change documentation.
SoD conflicts discovered during hypercare after new roles were deployed: Module 5 covers pre-cutover SoD validation.
GDPR query from customer's DPO about personal data moved during migration: Module 7 covers personal data handling obligations.
Project close handoff rejected by customer's internal audit: Module 8 covers the compliance handoff package structure.
Who it is for
SAP migration consultants, program managers, and technical leads who work on S/4HANA transformations, cloud migrations, or system consolidations and who are responsible for or adjacent to the compliance and governance sign-off on the new environment.
Who this is NOT for. Compliance officers who have no hands-on SAP system exposure. Functional consultants whose scope is limited to a single module with no cross-system data flow responsibility.
FAQ
Does this cover Rise with SAP and cloud migrations or only on-premise S/4HANA?
The governance principles and artefacts covered apply to both deployment models. The module on data retention covers ILM for on-premise and the equivalent SAP BTP Data Lifecycle Manager considerations for cloud tenants.
Is this relevant if I work on the customer side rather than the consulting side?
Yes. The course is written for anyone who needs to build or accept the governance layer. Customer-side program managers and compliance leads use the same artefacts; the module on the handoff package is particularly relevant if you are the one receiving rather than delivering it.
Does the implementation playbook cover a specific SAP release version?
The implementation playbook is built for your specific context based on the information you provide at purchase. It is not a generic document tied to a specific release cycle.
