Discovering the Key Steps for Legacy System Decommissioning Project

According to a recent study, organisations spend almost 40% of their IT budget on maintaining legacy systems. Instead of spending so much just to keep them running, why not simply retire these old systems? Well, this is where SAP legacy decommissioning comes into the picture. This transformative process helps organisations free up valuable resources as well as infrastructure costs. In this article, let's discuss some of the key elements of the process and how to begin and complete it. Keep on reading to learn more.

System decommissioning: An overview of the process

The process of system decommissioning involves the discontinuation and complete shutdown of legacy systems or the IT infrastructure, which is no longer actively in use. In this process, the legacy data, which basically means the data stored in the old systems, is extracted and saved in flat files as tax archives. Moreover, this data can be accessed when needed to fulfil the audit requirements with the help of legacy system applications.

The decommissioning process is an essential part of the system lifecycle management process, which helps businesses optimize their resources, reduce maintenance costs, and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations. Furthermore, this process also allows companies to eliminate security risks associated with legacy systems. That's why understanding how to decommission SAP legacy systems becomes critically important.

Why do systems become legacy applications?

There are multiple factors that lead businesses to remove or replace their obsolete legacy systems, some of which are:

Outdated technology: Legacy systems use outdated technology that is difficult to maintain, which makes them a liability rather than an asset to organisations.

Maintenance costs: Maintaining and supporting old systems can be costly, which puts significant pressure on company resources.

Lack of scalability: Modern businesses heavily rely on systems and technologies that are easy to scale and flexible, which makes keeping legacy systems challenging, as they are inflexible and difficult to scale.

Security risks: Due to their inactive status and the difficulty of updating, legacy systems are often vulnerable to security threats. Cyber attackers can use such systems to penetrate an organisation's IT infrastructure and use it for illicit purposes.

Why is it important to retain data from legacy systems?

Now that you've explored the key elements behind SAP legacy system decommissioning and why they become legacy systems, let's explore why it is critical to retain the legacy data from these systems:

Even though it puts a sizable burden on companies, they continue to maintain old legacy systems. Having said that, it is crucial to retain access to old data, because:

• The old data is important to meet compliance requirements

• The legacy data is a necessary asset to respond to tax or audit requests, or else, it may lead to hefty penalties from the authorities

• You can leverage the old data to analyse trends from the past, supporting the decision-making process

• This data is critical to retain, which can be further used to fulfil business requirements

Key steps on how to decommission legacy systems

Let's go through some key steps that organisations must follow to thoroughly understand how to decommission SAP legacy systems:

Critical assessment

The first step involves conducting a comprehensive assessment of all legacy systems in use within the company environment. Evaluating your legacy systems functions, dependencies, and purposes and making a detailed list of such applications is critical.

Setting up priorities

After analysing the entire legacy system inventory, the applications should be prioritised. In this process, you can evaluate which systems are more important to the business operations. It is highly recommended to begin with systems that pose critical security risks or have the most significant impact on company operations.

Creating a migration plan

A comprehensive migration plan is pivotal to ensuring the seamless transition from legacy applications. This plan must include project timelines, responsibilities, and implementation schedules.

Finalising a replacement solution

Before starting your SAP legacy system decommissioning process, you must consider finding a suitable replacement system that would fit your business requirements. This might be an upgrade of your existing legacy system or an entirely different solution.

Testing and validation

Before completing the decommissioning process of legacy systems, replacement solutions must be comprehensively tested and validated. This ensures that they meet organisational needs and ensure a smooth transition.

Training your employees

Employee training is one of the most critical steps in the decommissioning process, because they are the ones who regularly interact with your legacy systems. That's why acknowledging them about the decommissioning process is critical to ensure the complete transition and avoid resistance.

Monitoring and completion of the process

During the transition phase, decommissioning should be closely monitored to locate and resolve discrepancies accurately. Once you have completed the migration process, your legacy systems should be appropriately shut down, and all the data should be preserved to meet regulatory standards.

How can an expert help with this process?

You must already know that every process requires a particular set of skills and domain knowledge, and the SAP legacy system decommissioning process is no exception. For a successful decommissioning project, you need an expert who understands every aspect of the process and can help you navigate the complexities of the project.

The right partner will first collaborate with relevant stakeholders who are part of the process, learn about the company requirements and business requirements, and then come up with a proof of concept for effective implementation and execution of the project. With all the above factors in mind, the right partner can also provide continuous monitoring and documentation of the project. That's why you need a team of professionals to carry out this complex task for you, leaving you with peace of mind.

Conclusion

This article discusses some of the most critical elements of the decommissioning process and allows you to fully understand how to decommission SAP legacy systems. As already mentioned earlier, completing such projects requires relevant experience and knowledge; you must reach out to an efficient partner who can help you with the project implementation and bring desirable outcomes.