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The Sign-Off Table

Lesson 2 of 6

Technical validation

9 min

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Before any business user touches a converted system, Basis and the technical team must prove the conversion completed cleanly. Technical validation is the gate between "SUM finished" and "testing can start." Skipping it wastes the first days of every test cycle on symptoms of an incomplete conversion.

What the tools already check

The conversion guide describes several checks built into the process. The Simplification Item Check runs at the start of SUM, which stops on errors with return code 12, and again just before downtime, where return code 8 or higher stops the run; it includes pre-checks for controlling, general ledger and asset accounting. Within SUM, the database can be migrated to SAP HANA with the Database Migration Option, the S/4HANA software is installed, and data is converted to the new structures. These checks prevent a broken conversion from finishing; they do not prove the result is right for your business.

The Simplification Item Check guards SUM at the start and before downtime, but a finished SUM run is the start of validation, not its end.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-tst-404
  1. SUM completesLogs reviewed; no open errors or unexplained warnings
  2. Custom code adjustedSPDD during the run; SPAU and SPAU_ENH after; ATC with S4HANA_READINESS
  3. Finance data migratedMigration status complete in all productive clients; accepted errors documented
  4. Follow-on activitiesOutput management, authorizations, SAP Fiori enablement, application-specific tasks
  5. Silent data migrationAll SDMI runs finished successfully in all clients
  6. Technical smoke testLogon, jobs, RFC and interfaces, printing, key apps
A technical validation sequence after each conversion run, based on the activities in SAP's conversion guide.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-tst-404

Follow-on activities are part of the conversion

The guide lists cross-application follow-on activities after SUM, such as adapting database extensions, output management, follow-on activities for the conversion of authorizations and for SAP Fiori enablement, and adapting the user interface. Application-specific follow-on activities come from the simplification items relevant to your system. Each one should be a runbook step with an owner and a verification, not a note in someone's inbox. A missed follow-on activity typically shows up later as a "defect" that is really an unfinished conversion.

Two items deserve a special check. Silent data migration: some data conversions run after the upgrade during normal operation; the guide says to make sure all of them have been processed successfully in all clients (transaction SDM_MON shows them), otherwise the upgrade is effectively unfinished. Obsolete data: source data from simplified structures is kept after conversion and can be removed with the Obsolete Data Handling Monitor, but only after the results have been tested and validated, so it should never run before your reconciliation is signed.

Silent data migrations must finish before the conversion counts as complete, and obsolete data is only cleaned up after the reconciliation is signed.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-tst-404
CheckExample for ContosoOwner
Background jobsJob definitions from EP1 present; Technical Job Repository jobs scheduled; no mass job failuresSam
RFC and interfacesRFC destinations, logical systems and partner profiles point to the right test partners, not to productionIntegration lead
Users and rolesKey users can log on; roles adjusted; Fiori catalogs assigned for the apps in scopeSecurity lead
OutputOrder confirmations and invoices for Great Lakes Fleet Services print and email correctlyMaria with Basis
Number ranges and buffersNext document numbers continue from EP1 without gaps or overlapsFunctional leads
Custom codeNo syntax errors in active custom objects; ATC readiness findings trackedKenji

Technical smoke checks Priya requires before releasing a converted system for testing.

  1. Did SUM and the finance migration finish without open errors?Yes → continue · No → fix or document accepted errors with Dan before testing
  2. Are all runbook follow-on activities signed off?Yes → continue · No → finish them; don't log their symptoms as defects
  3. Do the technical smoke checks pass?Yes → release the system to the test team · No → Basis fixes, then recheck
The entry gate from conversion to testing.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-tst-404

What would you do?

After Mock 1, testers report that invoice output fails for all customers. The integrator wants to log it as a functional defect for Maria's team. What should Priya check first?

Key points
  • Technical validation is the entry gate from conversion to testing.
  • Built-in checks (SI-check, SUM) stop broken runs; they don't prove business correctness.
  • Treat follow-on activities, silent data migration and finance migration status as runbook steps with verification.
  • Clean up obsolete data only after testing and validation are complete.

Check your understanding · not graded

Lesson check

  1. 1. When does SUM stop on Simplification Item Check results just before downtime?

  2. 2. Which transaction shows the silent data migration runs?

  3. 3. When may obsolete data be cleaned up with the Obsolete Data Handling Monitor?

  4. 4. Why make follow-on activities runbook steps with verification?