Greenfield S/4HANA Implementation for Energy Conglomerate
Global Energy & Utilities Conglomerate
Business Context
The organization and its strategic environment
A $12B energy conglomerate operating across 14 countries needed to replace its aging ECC 6.0 landscape with S/4HANA. The company faced SAP's 2027 ECC end-of-support deadline with a complex landscape spanning upstream exploration, midstream pipeline operations, and downstream retail distribution.
Technology Landscape
Systems and infrastructure before DGT
SAP ECC 6.0 (3 production instances), SAP BW 7.4, SAP PI/PO for integrations, 2,400+ custom ABAP programs, 180+ interfaces to operational technology (OT) systems, and a custom-built ETRM (Energy Trading & Risk Management) platform.
The Challenge
What the client was facing
The organization had accumulated 15 years of technical debt across 3 ECC instances with 2,400+ custom programs. A direct system conversion was deemed too risky due to the volume of custom code, data inconsistencies across instances, and the need to consolidate into a single S/4HANA tenant while maintaining 24/7 operations.
The DGT Solution
How DGT addressed the challenge
DGT designed and executed a greenfield S/4HANA implementation with selective data migration using our DataBridge accelerator. We consolidated 3 ECC instances into a single S/4HANA Private Cloud tenant, re-implemented business processes using SAP best practices, and migrated only business-critical historical data (5 years of financials, 3 years of operational data).
DGT Accelerators Used
Delivery Approach
How DGT executed the engagement
SAP Activate methodology with DGT's proprietary 'Clean Core' overlay. We ran 4 parallel workstreams: Finance & Controlling, Supply Chain & Logistics, Asset Management, and Integration/Data Migration. Each workstream had a dedicated DGT lead paired with a client process owner.
Governance Model
How the engagement was managed
Tri-level governance: Executive Steering (monthly, C-suite), Program Board (bi-weekly, VP-level), and Workstream Leads (weekly). Independent quality assurance by a third-party SAP partner. DGT served as System Integrator with full accountability.
Timeline & Phases
The execution roadmap
Discover & Prepare
8 weeksProcess mining with Celonis, custom code analysis, fit-to-standard workshops
Explore
10 weeksSolution design, delta requirements, integration architecture
Realize
16 weeksConfiguration, development, 3 integration test cycles
Deploy
6 weeksData migration (3 dress rehearsals), cutover, hypercare
Run & Optimize
12 weeksPost-go-live optimization, custom code retirement, knowledge transfer
Risks Addressed
Key risks DGT mitigated during the engagement
Why DGT Won
What set DGT apart in this engagement
Outcome Metrics
Measurable before-and-after results
| Metric | Before | After DGT |
|---|---|---|
| Custom ABAP Programs | 2,400+ | 340 |
| Annual SAP TCO | $38M | $24M |
| Month-End Close | 12 days | 4 days |
| Report Generation | Hours | Real-time |
The Impact
Headline results delivered
"DGT's greenfield approach gave us a clean foundation for the next decade. The custom code reduction alone saves us millions annually in maintenance and upgrade costs."
Rajesh Patel
CIO, Global Energy & Utilities Conglomerate