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SAP, from the S/4HANA move to a clean core.

We plan and run S/4HANA programmes, keep the core free of modifications by extending it on SAP BTP, and link SAP to the data, AI and other systems around it. You can upgrade on schedule while the business carries on as normal.

For multinationals with Irish operations, indigenous Irish groups and public bodies that run on SAP, from the group close to the public budget.

Talk to us about your projectSee the three side by side
  • SAPGold PartnerPartner status · SAP
  • ISO/IEC 27001 certified
  • 600+ European government projects
A clean S/4HANA core with its surrounding systems. In the middle is SAP S/4HANA, kept as a clean core. Above it are three layers for extensions: key-user changes inside the application, ABAP Cloud development on the same stack, and separate applications on SAP BTP. Six links run outwards from the core: to Joule and custom AI, to the data platform, to identity, to Salesforce or another CRM, to Odoo in subsidiaries, and to Revenue, Peppol and other public platforms.

When SAP is the right choice, and when it is not

A good fit when

  • Finance, purchasing, logistics and production span several companies, countries and currencies, and you need one consistent set of books.
  • You are on SAP ECC now and need a believable plan for S/4HANA before mainstream maintenance runs out.
  • Statutory reporting, audit trails and segregation of duties cannot be compromised, and Revenue’s planned e-invoice reporting will add to them.
  • A Government department or State agency needs budget control, commitments and grants held in the ledger alongside its accounts.
  • You are willing to take on standard processes instead of rebuilding the old ones inside the core.

Look elsewhere when

  • A subsidiary or smaller company needs a lighter ERP it can manage on its own. Odoo beside the SAP group core, in a two-tier set-up, often costs less to own.

    Alternative: Odoo

  • The real issue is customer contact, case handling or portals, not the ledger. Salesforce tends to make the better front office, with SAP behind it.

    Alternative: Salesforce

  • The process is particular to you and no standard model covers it. Bespoke software next to SAP keeps the core clean rather than forcing it out of shape.

    Alternative: Enterprise Software & SaaS

Our SAP work

Five types of work, usually brought together in a single programme. The same five head the columns of the capability matrix further down.

  1. 01

    Implement

    S/4HANA implementation

    Fit-to-standard workshops, configuration and master data design for finance, logistics and public sector processes, released in stages with evidence from testing.

    What you get

    • Fit-to-standard backlog
    • Configured releases
    • Test evidence
  2. 02

    Extend

    Clean-core extensions

    Key-user changes come first, ABAP Cloud on the stack where logic needs to be near the data, and separate SAP BTP applications built with the Cloud Application Programming Model. That way upgrades remain routine.

    What you get

    • Extension guidelines
    • BTP applications
    • Released-API usage only
  3. 03

    Integrate

    Integration and events

    SAP Integration Suite, APIs and business events linking SAP with the rest of your systems, and existing interfaces moved off SAP Process Orchestration.

    What you get

    • Interface catalogue
    • Monitored integration flows
  4. 04

    Migrate

    ECC to S/4HANA

    Greenfield, brownfield or selective data transition, picked according to your custom code, the state of your data and how much process change you want. Readiness checks, code fixes, rehearsals and the cut-over itself.

    What you get

    • Transition strategy
    • Custom code inventory
    • Cutover runbook
  5. 05

    Operate

    Ongoing improvement

    Once you are live we keep the system moving: monitoring, preparing upgrades, a ranked list of improvements, and new SAP features adopted when they prove their worth.

    What you get

    • Release calendar
    • Run book
    • Improvement backlog

Capability matrix

The product areas we work in and what we do in each one. Each row reads from left to right.

  • S/4HANA Finance

    Universal Journal, group close, controlling and tax localisation for each country, Irish VAT included.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Migrate
    • Operate

  • Sourcing, supply chain and manufacturing

    Purchase to pay, stock, production planning and the running of logistics.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Integrate
    • Migrate
    • Operate

  • Public Sector Management

    Funds management, budget checks and grant administration for public bodies.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Migrate
    • Operate

  • Custom code and clean core

    Analysing and fixing custom code, and moving modifications onto supported extension points.

    • Extend
    • Migrate
    • Operate

  • SAP BTP applications

    Separate applications built with CAP and SAP Build, plus extensions driven by events.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Integrate
    • Operate

  • SAP Integration Suite

    Cloud integration, API management and moving interfaces off SAP Process Orchestration.

    • Implement
    • Integrate
    • Migrate
    • Operate

  • SAP Datasphere and Business Data Cloud

    SAP data opened up for reporting and AI while keeping its business meaning.

    • Implement
    • Integrate
    • Operate

  • Joule and SAP Business AI

    Reviewing, switching on and governing the AI scenarios covered by your licence.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Operate

  • Identity and authorisations

    SAP Cloud Identity Services, role design and separation of duties.

    • Implement
    • Integrate
    • Operate

AI with SAP

Built into the platform

SAP is building AI into its cloud applications under the SAP Business AI label. Joule is its copilot: in the applications that support it, Joule answers questions about SAP data, helps people find their way and can complete transactions, and SAP is adding agents for particular business processes.

For scenarios of your own, SAP provides the generative AI hub in SAP AI Core, which gives governed access to several large language models with SAP controls on grounding, prompts and cost. Availability varies by product, deployment model and licence, so we confirm what you are entitled to before anyone builds a plan around a feature.

Built alongside the platform

Plenty of valuable scenarios cross the boundary between SAP and other systems: checking supplier invoices against contracts stored somewhere else, preparing answers from SAP data and policy documents, or spotting anomalies across SAP and non-SAP sources. We build these as services on SAP BTP or in your own cloud. They call SAP only through released APIs and events and never write straight to its tables.

Every AI component works inside the SAP authorisations you set, logs what it does and waits for approval before any posting that matters. We agree quality criteria with you, test against them before go-live and afterwards, and send uncertain cases to people.

Choosing a route

  1. 01

    Do your SAP products and licence already include the scenario as standard?

    If yes

    Switch on and govern the native feature first. It moves with SAP’s release cycle and leaves you no code to maintain.

    If no

    Consider a custom service on SAP BTP using the generative AI hub, or your own model platform.

  2. 02

    Does the use case depend on data held outside SAP?

    If yes

    Build alongside the platform and treat SAP as one governed source among others.

    If no

    Keep it inside SAP, where the native features and authorisations are already in place.

  3. 03

    Will the AI create or alter business documents?

    If yes

    Design the approval step and the audit trail before go-live.

    If no

    Begin with read-only access, measure quality against the agreed criteria, and decide after that.

Moving from ECC to a clean S/4HANA core

  1. Step 01

    Discover

    Readiness check, analysis of custom code, review of processes and data, and a list of every interface.

    • Readiness report
    • Custom code inventory
    • Interface list

  2. Step 02

    Choose the route

    Greenfield, brownfield or selective data transition; RISE with SAP or another deployment; clean-core rules for any extension.

    • Transition strategy
    • Target architecture

  3. Step 03

    Prepare

    Cleaning data, fixing custom code, redesigning interfaces, including the e-invoice and Revenue reporting flows, and automating regression tests.

    • Cleansed data
    • Remediated code
    • Test suite

  4. Step 04

    Build and rehearse

    Configuration, BTP extensions and integration, with several complete migration rehearsals.

    • Release candidates
    • Rehearsal reports
    • Cutover runbook

  5. Step 05

    Cut over

    An agreed downtime window, balances and open items reconciled, then close support with the business.

    • Reconciliation sign-off
    • Hypercare log

  6. Step 06

    Keep improving

    A regular upgrade rhythm, and then automation and AI once the core has settled.

    • Release plan
    • Operating model
Illustrative example

An Irish operation getting SAP ready for e-invoicing

01The situation
The Irish operation of an international medtech group runs SAP ECC for finance and production. It falls among the large corporates on Revenue’s planned timeline, so domestic invoices will need to leave SAP as EN 16931 e-invoices from November 2028, with data reported to Revenue, while ECC maintenance ends in 2027.
02What we would put in place
An S/4HANA move by selective data transition, with Irish VAT determination and output management designed for e-invoicing, and one integration layer on SAP Integration Suite that sends e-invoices, receives supplier e-invoices and carries the reporting data.
03Where staff decide
The finance team approves the VAT mapping of each invoice type before go-live and signs off any rejected or corrected e-invoice. Each automated posting keeps its source document and appears in the log.
04How we would judge it
Share of outgoing invoices accepted on first submission, share of incoming e-invoices posted without retyping, and days to the monthly close.

How SAP fits with your other systems

SAP is usually where money and materials are recorded, but it is hardly ever alone. We connect it through SAP Integration Suite or the integration platform you already use, relying on released APIs, business events and clearly specified file interfaces. Front offices, subsidiaries, data platforms and public services such as Peppol each receive what they need, without a tangle of point-to-point links.

Many landscapes still route their interfaces through SAP Process Orchestration, and its current release also leaves mainstream maintenance at the end of 2027. Moving those interfaces belongs in the same plan as the S/4HANA migration, and so does getting e-invoices out of SAP on Revenue’s timeline. Our integration and API team designs the two together.

Illustrative example

People and channels

  • SAP Fiori and Joule
  • Salesforce front office
  • Portals for suppliers and the public

SAP S/4HANA

Integration Suite · APIs · events

Systems and data

  • Data platform and Datasphere
  • Odoo in subsidiaries
  • Identity provider
  • Peppol, Revenue and public services
SAP and the systems it works with
Read the diagram as text

Left: people and channels, meaning SAP Fiori and Joule for SAP users, a Salesforce front office, and portals for suppliers and the public.

Centre: SAP S/4HANA, joined to every other system through one integration layer, SAP Integration Suite with its APIs and business events.

Right: systems and data, meaning the data platform with SAP Datasphere, Odoo in subsidiaries, the identity provider, and Peppol, Revenue and other public services.

SAP by sector

Public service

Public Service & Government

Funds management, budget control and grant administration in S/4HANA for departments and State agencies, linked to public platforms and to Peppol, over which contracting authorities receive e-invoices under S.I. No. 258 of 2019. Public bodies still on ECC face the same maintenance deadline as industry and must plan the move within procurement rules and the annual budget cycle.

600+

European government projects

  • Manufacturing & Industry

    Production planning, quality and plant maintenance on S/4HANA for pharma, medtech and electronics sites, with shop-floor data and AI-supported planning kept outside the core.

  • Financial Services

    Finance and regulatory reporting for banks, insurers and funds, with separation of duties, full audit trails and the operational resilience DORA requires.

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences

    Purchasing, stock and finance for hospitals and life sciences companies, with batch traceability and controlled change.

Ireland

SAP programmes in Ireland

For SAP customers in Ireland, VAT modernisation is the change to plan for now. Revenue’s published timeline has VAT-registered large corporates issuing EN 16931 e-invoices for domestic B2B trade and reporting the data to Revenue from 1 November 2028, while every business must be able to receive them from that date; PDFs will not count. From 1 November 2029 the requirement is planned to extend to businesses trading within the EU, and the legal basis is in Finance Bill (No. 2) 2026, not yet enacted at the time of writing.

That puts the S/4HANA tax set-up, output management and integration layer in scope well before 2028, and it makes sense to settle them in the same programme as the S/4HANA move. Public buyers already receive EN 16931 e-invoices over Peppol under S.I. No. 258 of 2019. Data sharing and security count as well: the EU Data Act governs how SAP data reaches other systems, and NIS2, which Ireland is transposing through the National Cyber Security Bill, sets the bar for protecting the integration layer.

SAP questions we are often asked

How long does SAP ECC mainstream maintenance last?

SAP has committed to mainstream maintenance of SAP ECC 6.0 (SAP Business Suite 7) up to 31 December 2027. Extended maintenance is available for an extra fee until the end of 2030, and SAP has announced transition options for certain customers moving to RISE with SAP.

The terms shift and depend on your own contract, so we confirm the current position with you and with SAP before any plan relies on it.

Greenfield, brownfield or selective data transition: how do we choose?

Brownfield converts the system you have and keeps its history and custom code, which is quickest when your processes are in good shape. Greenfield starts from a blank page and suits organisations that want to rethink their processes. Selective data transition is in between: a new system, with only the history and organisational units you decide to carry over.

We base the choice on evidence: how much custom code there is and how good it is, the quality of your data, how far processes have moved from standard, and how much change the business can take at one time.

What does a clean core look like day to day?

SAP code is never modified. Extensions use only released APIs and extension points, and custom logic goes in the layer that suits it: key-user tools for small changes, ABAP Cloud on the stack where logic has to sit near the data, and SAP BTP for applications with a life cycle of their own.

The reward is that an upgrade takes weeks instead of becoming a project. We write the rules up as extension guidelines and check every new piece of work against them.

Is Joule available in our SAP landscape?

That depends on the SAP products you run, how they are deployed and what your licence covers. Joule is mainly offered in SAP’s cloud applications.

We first list what you are entitled to, then advise whether to switch on native features, build a custom service on SAP BTP, or combine the two.

Can our custom code come with us to S/4HANA?

Part of it. Analysis usually shows that much of it is no longer used, some of it is replaced by standard S/4HANA functions, and what is left needs fixing or a new place as a clean extension. We measure before deciding, one object at a time.

Do you work on SAP with Irish public bodies?

Yes. SAP work for departments, State agencies and local authorities brings funds management and grants together with procurement rules, accessibility duties under S.I. No. 358 of 2020 and links to public services, from eTenders competitions to e-invoices received over Peppol. We bring what we learned on 600+ government projects across the EU, completed or under way, to SAP programmes. See our public service work.

Plan your next SAP move with us

Choosing an S/4HANA route, cleaning up a core, preparing for Revenue’s e-invoicing timeline or bringing AI to SAP: we begin with a conversation about your landscape and the dates you are working to.

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