- Yoav Bernstain, CPA(Isr.)
Case Study: Upgrading to SAP Suite on HANA & EHP8 in Hadassah Hospital
SAP system began its way in Hadassah Hospital during 2004, ever since the organization relies on the system to run all administrative activities. However, for several years the system was not upgraded, neither application nor infrastructure.
When the current upgrade was considered, the organization understood that SAP World is moving to SAP HANA and that is why it was chosen, even when taking into consideration the implications of significant hardware and system changes.
Allegro-Pro has been supporting the organization's financial systems for many years, due to the satisfaction of the joint operations, it was decided to appoint Yoav Bernstain as project manager.
The goal was to deliver the project with limited budget, aiming for efficiency, especially given the current business environment in the hospital. The organization decided to upgrade to SAP HANA EHP8 relying as much as possible as on internal resources.
The project was launched in October 2016.
The upgrade to SAP HANA with EHP8 required an enormous commitment to the process from the entire team, as well as working closely with the business owners to perform acceptance tests and to prepare everyone for the big event. Temporarily disabling the system for the upgrade, in an organization that uses operation rooms based on SAP, was very challenging and required creative solutions and quick response to critical organizational points around the clock.
Finally, the system went live after a particularly challenging weekend on 15.01.2017.
As one might expect zero failures upgrade is usually impossible, especially with very limited resources, however we can certainly say that after over a month, and beside a few localized failures, the project is considered a very successful one.
Among the main benefits: returning to standard solutions, improved performance and speed, the possibility of implementing new applications on the system.
Infrastructure benefits:
Upgraded level of infrastructure - moving to up-to-date operating systems including the transition to a virtualized infrastructure.
Increased durability and availability of the system - creating a mechanism for disaster recovery (DR).
Better performance - upgrading to the most advanced database SAP HANA.
Application benefits:
Many additions and updates included in EHP8 comparing to the old version the organization used. This version contains major improvements at all levels:
Operational efficiency - built-in routines based on experience of mass clients in the various areas of ERP.
Standard support to localization regulatory requirements.
Improved user experience:
Ability to create interactive and more friendly UI.
Significant better system run time
Accessibility through mobile solutions.
Data analysis through BI infrastructure.
In conclusion, we believe that the success of this project is a proof that an internal dedicated team and professional staff along with the commitment of all levels of organization enables organizations to avoid the high costs of SAP systems, as we often read in the news. This view also allows upgrading in shorter periods of time, so that the organization will be able to take advantage of the evolution of SAP system without getting left behind…
You are welcome to read more about the benefits of the Business Suite on HANA in this interesting article: https://blogs.saphana.com/2014/08/29/the-benefits-of-the-business-suite-on-hana/
For more information please contact us: info@allegropro.co.il
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