The Importance of Safyr in Scoping SAP S/4HANA Migrations

Apr 7th, 2025

With the 2030 deadline for SAP S/4HANA migration looming, organizations are under increasing pressure to transition efficiently. 

However, a recent Horváth study reveals that over 60% of companies face budget overruns, delays, and quality issues during their migration projects. 

These challenges highlight the critical need for better planning and scoping tools—such as Safyr—to ensure a smoother, more controlled transition.

The High Cost of Poor Migration Planning

The Horváth study surveyed 200 SAP user companies and found alarming trends:

  • Only 8% of completed migrations stayed on schedule.
  • 65% faced severe quality deficiencies post-migration.
  • 40% significantly exceeded their budgets.

Key pain points included:

  • Uncontrolled scope expansion
  • Weak project management
  • Underestimated testing and data migration efforts
  • Poor decision-making and misjudged complexities

Christian Daxböck, study director and Horváth partner, attributes these issues to an incorrect program setup, where companies underestimate complexity while overestimating internal capabilities.

The Role of Safyr in Mitigating Migration Risks

One of the biggest hurdles in SAP migrations is understanding the full scope of customizations, dependencies, and third-party integrations. 

Without clear visibility, organizations struggle with:

  • Unplanned work due to undocumented processes
  • Integration blind spots with non-SAP systems
  • Resource misallocation from poor role definition

Safyr addresses these challenges by:

1. Accurate System Discovery & Documentation

Safyr automates the extraction of SAP metadata, providing a comprehensive view of tables, fields, programs, and interfaces. This eliminates guesswork and ensures all dependencies are mapped before migration begins.

2. Streamlined Scope Definition

By identifying redundant customizations and obsolete processes, Safyr helps organizations reduce migration scope—something 30% of surveyed companies wished they had done.

3. Improved Data Migration Planning

With insights into data structures and relationships, teams can optimize testing and data migration phases, which are frequently underestimated in SAP projects.

4. Enhanced Decision-Making

Safyr’s structured visibility into the SAP landscape enables informed prioritization, preventing the “too many goals at once” pitfall highlighted in the study.

Planning an SAP data migration to S/4HANA or ERP? Data errors, missed dependencies, and compliance risks can derail your project. Our SAP Data Migration checklist gives you a step-by-step roadmap to migrate confidently, with insights on SAP tools and third-party options like Precisely and Safyr.

Conclusion: A Proactive Approach to SAP Migration

The Horváth study underscores that successful SAP migrations require more than just technical execution—they demand strategic scoping, clear documentation, and disciplined project management.

Tools like Safyr provide the foundation for a controlled, efficient migration by eliminating unknowns and ensuring that organizations:

  • Stay within budget
  • Meet deadlines
  • Deliver high-quality results

With the 2030 deadline approaching, companies can no longer afford to rely on manual assessments or incomplete data.

Safyr offers the clarity needed to turn a high-risk migration into a well-managed transformation.

To arrange a Safyr evaluation please contact us.

Source: Horváth Study (2025) on SAP S/4HANA Migration Challenges