Lesson 4 of 6
Readiness check and simplification list
7 min
With hundreds of simplification items, nobody reads them all. SAP provides tools that work out which ones apply to your system. Business users rarely run these tools, but they should know what comes out of them, because the output becomes their to-do list.
The tools
| Tool | What it is | What the business gets from it |
|---|---|---|
| Simplification Item Catalog | SAP's searchable online catalog of simplification items per target release, each with a description, business impact and related SAP Notes | An explanation of each change in plain functional terms |
| SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA | An analysis of your ECC system: relevant simplification items, custom code impact, add-on and business function compatibility, recommended Fiori apps, sizing and business process analytics | A system-specific list of what applies to you, with an effort indication |
| Simplification item checks | Technical checks run before and during conversion to find data inconsistencies and blockers per simplification item | Early warning of data that must be cleaned up (often master data) |
| Custom code analysis | Checks your own programs against the simplification list | A list of custom reports and enhancements that need change or retirement |
The main SAP tools that surface the impact of a move.
From technical finding to business requirement
A Readiness Check result is written in SAP terms. To be useful, each relevant item has to become a business question with an owner and a decision. That translation is where business users add most value early in the program.
- Readiness Check resultItem "Credit Management" is relevant: FI-AR-CR in use
- Catalog and notesRead the item: replaced by SAP Credit Management
- Business questionHow do we score customers and release blocked orders today? What must work on day one?
- Requirement and ownerCredit process owner decides scope; data owner prepares credit limits
- Test and training impactCredit test cases updated; analysts trained
Reading a Readiness Check report as a business user
- Start with the simplification items section and filter to items marked relevant. Group them by process area (sales, purchasing, finance, manufacturing).
- For each item, note whether it is mandatory, whether it needs pre-conversion work, and whether it changes what users do.
- Check business process analytics: it shows which transactions and processes your system actually uses, which helps you ignore items for processes you never run.
- Look at custom code findings for reports and forms the business depends on, such as the Contoso finance analyst's custom margin reports.
- Check add-ons: an incompatible add-on that supports a business process (for example tax or EDI) is a business risk, not just an IT one.
When to run it
The Readiness Check is most useful early, during discovery and preparation, when it shapes scope, plan and budget. It is commonly run again later, against a fresher copy of production, to catch changes since the first run. Each run is a snapshot: if your ECC system keeps changing (new custom code, new add-ons, new business functions), the findings change too. Ask when the report you are reading was produced, and against which target release; an item list for one SAP S/4HANA release is not automatically right for another.
What would you do?
Contoso's Readiness Check lists 140 relevant simplification items. The project manager emails the full report to all process owners asking them to "review it". A week later nobody has responded. What would move things forward?
- The Simplification Item Catalog explains each change; the Readiness Check tells you which apply to your system.
- Simplification item checks and custom code analysis find data issues and code that must change.
- Business users turn technical findings into business questions, owners and decisions.
- Every relevant item should have an owner, a decision, and a test and training impact.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What is the main purpose of the SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA?
2. Where do you read a plain functional explanation of a simplification item?
3. Which Readiness Check area shows which transactions your system actually uses?
4. What should exist for every relevant simplification item before design sign-off?