S/4HANA Release Change: What Happens to Migration Objects?
Large S/4HANA programs do not always start and go live on the same product version. SAP explicitly documents the scenario where migration planning begins on one S/4HANA version but go live is planned on the next, and provides release comparison information so teams can check whether Migration Cockpit templates have changed.
From a technical migration perspective, the first thing to understand is how SAP handles migration objects. When a migration object is added to a Migration Cockpit project, SAP uses the predefined object as a template and creates a copy inside the project. If SAP later delivers an updated version of that migration object, the copy already contained in your project is not automatically updated.
Updated migration objects can be delivered when the S/4HANA system is upgraded, when a feature or support package is implemented, or through an SAP Note transport based correction instruction.
A migration object selected at the start of the program may not be the version you should use at go live.
That distinction matters when the target release changes during the program.
SAP can assign several statuses to existing migration objects. A project may show New Version Available, where SAP recommends using the latest version, especially after an upgrade. It can also show New Mandatory Version Available, in which case the existing version can no longer be used for migration. Migration objects can also become Deprecated or Retired. A deprecated object can still be usable depending on its status, while a retired object can no longer be used for migration.
SAP provides release comparison documentation specifically to identify new, changed, deprecated, deleted and unchanged migration objects. For staging table migration, SAP also provides detailed comparisons of migration object templates. Separate comparison documentation exists for Direct Transfer migration objects.
When the target S/4HANA release changes, migration content needs to be revalidated before execution continues.
So what should a migration team do when the S/4HANA release changes?
SAP's guidance is clear: after upgrading to a new S/4HANA release, it strongly recommends creating completely new migration projects, because using older projects may result in technical issues. If an updated migration object needs to be used in an existing project, SAP documents the option to create the newer version from the template using the Migration Object Modeler.
The practical message is simple: do not assume that the migration objects selected earlier in the program are still the versions you should use at go live.
When the target S/4HANA release changes, the migration content should be checked against SAP's release comparison and migration object status documentation before proceeding.
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