Customized objects in SAP Migration Cockpit - More flexibility for complex data migrations
- andreashalusa5
- May 14
- 3 min read
Updated: May 15
What It's About
Customized objects are essential for complex migration projects
Successful implementation requires close cooperation with the specialist department
Customized migration objects increase data quality and reusability
The migration to SAP S/4HANA is much more than a technical project - it is an opportunity to clean up, standardize and modernize the system landscape. While the SAP Migration Cockpit provides a large number of predefined standard objects, many companies quickly reach their limits when it comes to customer-specific data structures. In this article, we show how customer-specific objects can be integrated into the SAP Migration Cockpit - and what needs to be taken into account.
Why customer-specific objects?
In practice, hardly any SAP system has been set up without deviating from the standard. Over the years, many companies have established their own tables, fields and logics - whether to extend existing business processes or to map industry-specific requirements. When migrating to SAP S/4HANA, this customer-specific data must be migrated just as completely and consistently as standard objects.
The good news is that the SAP Migration Cockpit offers the option of defining your own migration objects to cover these requirements.
Procedure: Creation of customized objects
The migration object modeler (Transaction LTMOM) can be used to create individual migration objects or extend existing objects. The typical process:
Analysis of the source data structure
The specialist department and migration team jointly identify the relevant fields and dependencies.
Definition of migration objects (LTMOM)
Tables, relationships (e.g. header item) and validations can be defined.
Transformation (field and value mappings, joins, selection criteria)
Mapping is carried out using prepared templates (e.g. Excel XML), which can also contain customer-specific fields. In an ETL tool, the source data can be selected and transformed according to specialist requirements. This means that the source data structure is mapped to the S/4 HANA data structure, the values are mapped to the customizing of the target system and joins to other data sources are performed. This prepares the data for loading into SAP S/4 HANA.
Test and load cycles
Data is tested in the simulation and productive load, validated and gradually transferred to the target system.
Possibilities of customized objects
As part of SAP data migrations, the SAP Migration Cockpit offers different ways to fill migration objects with source data - both for predefined standard objects and for customer-specific objects. Depending on the complexity, degree of automation and technical environment, companies can choose between manual and automated procedures.
The SAP Migration Cockpit provides a large number of predefined migration objects for central master data and transaction data - for example for materials, business partners or accounting documents.
2. customer-specific migration objects based on standard BAPIs/ Function Modules (FM)
If standard objects are not sufficient or do not exist, you can define your own migration objects - for example to extend existing fields or to adapt to company-specific processes. SAP standard BAPIs/FMs can still be used as the technical basis.
3. customer-specific migration objects based on extended or newly developed BAPIs/FMs
For particularly complex or proprietary data structures, it may be necessary to develop customer-specific BAPIs/FMs or to extend existing functions by ABAP developers.
3a SHDB records
SHDB records can also serve as a basis for programming - these are typically created in close cooperation between data specialists and specialist departments, from which a BAPI/FM is generated that can be used in the Migration Cockpit.
3b ABAP development
The migration objects can be based on BAPIs/FMs that have been newly created or extended by developers.
Success factors from practice
Object-based migration offers decisive added value compared to migration at table level:
At dataXcellence, we regularly support customers in the design and implementation of individual migration objects. Our experience shows:
Early involvement of the specialist departments is crucial in order to define mappings correctly.
Documented detailed concepts, field and value mappings are indispensable sources of information.
Reusability of objects is particularly worthwhile for international rollouts.
Conclusion
The SAP Migration Cockpit is much more than a tool for standard migrations - with the targeted use of customer-specific objects, even complex, individual requirements can be elegantly mapped. This means that migration is not a hurdle, but a catalyst for consistent and structured data in your new S/4HANA environment.
Are you planning a migration with customer-specific requirements?
The dataXcellence team will support you with technical expertise, process understanding and proven templates. Get in touch with us!
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