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Avoid These 7 Costly Mistakes During Your SAP GTS E4H Migration

Updated: Sep 5


When embarking on SAP Global Trade Services, Edition for SAP HANA (GTS E4H), organizations must keep one principle front and center: Avoid These 7 Costly Mistakes During Your SAP GTS E4H Migration. This migration is a pivotal step for any business determined to sustain compliance and global trade resilience, especially with mainstream support for SAP GTS 11 scheduled to end on December 31, 2025. Moving too quickly, or overlooking fundamental factors, can result in unnecessary expenses, declines in operational productivity, and exposure to regulatory risk.


Below are seven frequent pitfalls encountered during migration, and actionable guidance on how to navigate each to ensure a smooth transformation.


1. Failing to Define the Right Migration Approach

A common mistake is selecting a migration strategy prematurely, such as adopting a brownfield method without examining the intricacies of your current systems and customizations. This can result in obsolete elements or incompatible features being transferred, which may undermine efficiency and compliance.

Recommended Action: Begin with a comprehensive assessment of your SAP GTS environment: catalog current modules, licenses, custom integrations, and legal controls. Choose a migration path that matches your operational needs—brownfield for preserving existing frameworks, greenfield for starting anew, or bluefield to blend both approaches for optimal outcomes.


2. Overlooking Proper HANA Sizing

Some organizations presume that sizing used for legacy systems will suffice for GTS E4H, but this can cause either performance issues from undersized databases or unnecessary expenses from oversizing.

Recommended Action: Analyze transaction volumes, compliance screening activities, and analytics requirements. Use SAP sizing tools and consult official guides to determine a HANA configuration that aligns with your organization’s actual usage patterns.


3. Neglecting Pre-Migration Data Cleanup

Migrating all historical data, including redundant or obsolete records, can overload your new SAP GTS E4H implementation, prolong system conversion, and drive up storage costs.

Recommended Action: Audit and archive legacy customs documents, SPL logs, and outdated declarations following regulatory retention requirements. Only relevant, up-to-date data should be moved to the new system for a leaner, more efficient operation.


4. Disregarding System ID Consistency in Cloud Transitions

Moving to cloud environments like SAP RISE and changing system identifiers (SIDs) without mapping their impacts can sever communication between GTS and interconnected modules, disrupting business processes.

Recommended Action: Whenever possible, maintain consistent system IDs across SAP systems during migration. Verify connections for critical components and ensure Remote Function Calls (RFCs) and Application Link Enablement (ALE) settings remain valid post-transition.


5. Relying on Inadequate Testing Protocols

Standard test scripts alone may miss hidden issues affecting real business scenarios, especially for intricate legal controls, trade preference logic, and partner screening cases.

Recommended Action: Design a robust testing framework that covers simulations for legal controls, SPL workflow blocks and releases, preference determinations, and custom declaration processes. Employ a mix of unit, integration, and user acceptance testing (UAT) to verify reliability from all angles.


6. Underestimating Planned Downtime

Failing to anticipate realistic downtime and cutover demands, particularly in multi-system migrations, can jeopardize daily trade operations and threaten compliance with regulatory timelines.

Recommended Action: Work closely with SAP technical and migration teams to model downtime in sandbox settings. Plan migrations during low-activity windows, such as weekends, and consider phased deployment to minimize business interruption.


7. Misunderstanding Licensing Requirements

Assuming that GTS 11 licenses apply to E4H can result in gaps that delay the project or cause compliance liabilities.

Recommended Action: Consult SAP’s licensing documentation for GTS E4H, including new user or engine-based license models and advanced modules. Engage with your SAP account executive early to confirm entitlements and avoid last-minute licensing surprises.


Conclusion: Success Lies in Preparation

Transitioning to SAP GTS E4H is a business-critical objective, not simply an IT upgrade. Avoiding these seven mistakes will help organizations safeguard compliance, optimize performance, and achieve a strong return on investment. Starting with strategic planning and a clear timeline, well ahead of the year-end deadline. will position your company for a successful migration and sustained global trade excellence.


Need help planning your GTS E4H migration?

Let our SAP GTS experts help you navigate the complexity.

 

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