Client-Side SI Governance for SAP Migrations

Stage 4 of 5

During the project, Allari® gives you an independent view of scope, milestones, and risk. We report to you, not the SI. We don't manage the SI's team or replace your authority.

The project is underway and ECC is supported. Now the question is: is the SI delivering what it promised, on time, at the right quality? The SI gets paid for milestones, not results.

The ISG "State of SAP Migrations" study found that weak client-side governance — not technology — is the main cause of migration delays.

Recognition Pattern

You're here if…

An SI is running your S/4HANA migration and nobody on your side checks their progress reports.
Your steering committee sees only the SI's green/yellow/red dashboards, with no data underneath.
Change orders are arriving and you can't tell which are fair.
Go-live has slipped once, or might, and there's no objective way to judge readiness.
Your only source on go-live readiness is the SI — who gets paid when you go live.
Nobody on your side checks whether test migration data matches ECC.
Audit asks whether a RACI, risk log, and acceptance criteria exist — and you don't know.
Your team is worried about the SI's go-live date but can't make the technical case to push back.

Risk Assessment

What's at risk

The biggest risk isn't the technology. It's the gap between what the SI delivers and what you think it delivers. By the time you see it — usually at the first slipped go-live — the contingency budget is gone.

Lidl: €500M over seven years before the project was abandoned.

The common factor: nobody independent watching on the client side.

What We Deliver

Architecture Review Gate

We check the S/4HANA design against your real needs and data — HANA sizing, integrations, and what stays in the core vs. BTP. Done early, while changes are cheap.

Integration Testing Review

Every interface tested under real load, not stubs. 600 RFC calls per minute is a documented threshold for lock errors — it must be tested before go-live.

Change Order Scrutiny

We log every change order with its scope, schedule and budget impact, and reason, and flag any that don't trace back to a real gap in the original contract. You keep approval.

Defect Density Tracking

Open defects by severity and age for each workstream — real data, not a colored dashboard. If the numbers don't support go-live, the steering committee hears it first.

Go/No-Go Decision Framework

Clear go/no-go tests: trial balance at zero variance, zero open Severity-1 issues, performance met under real load, business users ready, finance sign-off on data, and holiday-weekend risk called out. You decide; we bring the evidence.

Engagement Structure

How it works

Phase 1 — Embedded from SI Kickoff

We start at kickoff — reviewing architecture, roles, and the contract. The earlier we start, the cheaper problems are to fix.

Phase 2 — Active Through Build and Test Phases

Quality checks at each phase, change-order tracking, defect tracking from the first UAT cycle, and our own review of test migration results.

Phase 3 — Cutover and Go-Live

We check cutover readiness, apply the go/no-go tests, and give the steering committee an independent view before you decide.

Phase 4 — Hypercare Overlap

We stay through hypercare, giving a second opinion on defects before the SI leaves. Typical length: 6–24 months.

AUDIT TRAIL

What an OpenBook® invoice looks like

142

service requests

67.0h

measured work

submitted as a cost

See the full line-by-line ledger

Stage 4 — What happens without independent governance

Evidence

Third-party research

Market Context

Publicly reported SAP implementation failures — none of these are Allari clients; all are documented in court filings, regulatory disclosures, or public statements:

Migrations That Exceed Budget

Complete on Schedule

Zimmer Biomet Claimed Damages

€500M

Lidl Abandoned Project Cost

Deep Dive