The checklist belongs to the S/4HANA transition guide. The questions first come up in the 25-minute meeting agenda; this page carries the open items forward until the legacy system goes dark.
Setting the three dates
A countdown only works when its dates are documented. Write each date and its source in the sheet before ticking anything.
| Milestone | Where the date usually comes from | If no date exists yet |
|---|---|---|
| Scope freeze for closed documents | The data migration plan or design sign-off | Ask who signs off scope, and start milestone one with them |
| Go-live | The cutover plan approved by the steering committee | Record the planned quarter and the person who sets the date |
| Legacy retirement | The sponsor's decommissioning decision, license or hosting contract end | Leave it open; the item becomes "name who decides retirement" |
SAP's published timeline is context, not one of these dates. SAP supports Business Suite 7 core applications in mainstream maintenance through 2027, with optional extended maintenance from 2028 to 2030 at a premium. Many companies use that window to plan a transition, and some keep the legacy system read-only for years after go-live. Only the company can say when its own system will be switched off.
SAPMark every item with one of three states: confirmed (the owner said so), open (with a name for who will find out), or at risk (the current plan loses it). Nothing is confirmed because a configuration screen suggests it.
Milestone one: before scope freeze
This is where the cheapest decisions sit. Once scope is frozen, adding closed documents and attachments becomes a change request.
| Confirm | Owner | If skipped |
|---|---|---|
| Which processes generate exception decisions (invoice variances, credit releases, quality dispositions, payment blocks, engineering deviations) | Process owners, via the sponsor | The exception layer is never described, so nobody notices it is out of scope |
| Which transition approach was chosen: conversion, new implementation or selective data transition | Sponsor and integrator | History handling is assumed rather than known |
| Whether closed documents and their attachments are in or out of the load scope | Data migration lead | Years of decided exceptions stay behind by default |
| Roughly how many years of exceptions the company has handled in SAP | Finance or controlling lead | The record set has no shape for any later conversation |
Selective data transition deserves its own note. SAP positions it as an alternative to system conversion and new implementation, and scope is chosen deliberately, so ask which years and company codes were selected rather than assuming all or nothing.
Milestone two: before go-live
At go-live, attention moves entirely to the new system. Confirm where the old exception evidence physically lives while the people who know are still on the project.
| Confirm | Owner | If skipped |
|---|---|---|
| Where attachments on business objects are stored (the content repository or an external document system) | Basis or infrastructure lead | Attachments are separated from the documents that explain them |
| Whether workflow history for closed items is retained in the legacy system | Workflow or IT lead | Approval comments become unreadable or are deleted at cleanup |
| Where spreadsheets and email approvals are kept, and whether they reference document numbers | AP and credit leads | Weakly linked decisions lose their only link |
| Who can read the legacy system after go-live, and for how long | Sponsor | Access lapses before anyone has described what is there |
Attachments are the item most often missed. SAP's Generic Object Services let users attach PC documents to business objects and display them later, where the application supports it, so a scanned approval may hang off an invoice for a decade without being part of any master data load. Ask where those documents are stored, not to see one.
Milestone three: before the legacy system is retired
Retirement is the irreversible step. Whatever has not been archived, described or kept is usually gone once licenses and hosting end.
| Confirm | Owner | If skipped |
|---|---|---|
| The documented retirement date or the person who will set it | Sponsor | The team learns the date after the system is down |
| Whether attachments and workflow logs go to the archive with their documents | IT lead | The archive holds documents without the decisions behind them |
| What the company must keep for tax and legal reasons, and who owns that retention plan | Finance and legal | Records kept for compliance are mistaken for records free to reuse, or the reverse |
| Who can authorize a commercial discussion about the archive | CEO, or the owner in an owner-run company | An interested company has nobody able to say yes |
Retention and licensing are different questions. IRS guidance, for example, says to keep records until the period of limitations for the return they support runs out, generally three years and longer in listed cases. A retention duty explains why a record still exists; it does not settle whether the company may license it. That is a rights review question for SourceX and the company's counsel.
The finished sheet, read back to the sponsor
Illustrative. A 650-person industrial parts manufacturer chose a new implementation; ECC stays read-only after go-live.
| Item | State | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Exception processes named | Confirmed | Invoice variances, credit releases, quality dispositions |
| Years handled in SAP | Confirmed | About twelve years |
| Closed documents in load scope | At risk | Open items only |
| Attachment storage | Confirmed | Content repository; owner named |
| Workflow history after go-live | Open | IT lead to confirm by scope freeze |
| Retirement decision owner | Confirmed | CFO |
That is a sound metadata-level description, and it took no exports. If the sponsor wants to explore licensing, disclose your interest first: you are a SourceX referral partner, and if a qualifying license completes and every payment condition is met, SourceX may pay you a reward that is funded separately and never deducted from the company's payout. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and manages agreement, rights review, data preparation, delivery and payout.
Then check fit: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license the records, and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 70% of the data is in English. SourceX's current data needs, the rights review of attached supplier and customer documents, and any offer stay unknown until SourceX reviews an application.
Sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting; attribution goes to the first valid introduction within the 90-day window, credited when the company submits a verified application, one partner per company. Illustrative only: an $800,000 qualifying first transaction would mean a USD 120,000 default reward, because 15% of that payout is more than USD 50,000 plus 5% of it; the USD 50,000 floor applies once per company, and there is no cap. A reward becomes payable after SourceX has paid the referred company under its signed agreement and the payout conditions in the program terms are met, including finance approval and your tax and payment details. The rewards page lists every condition. Send the annotated introduction email when the sponsor opts in. Related lists: the ERP data cleansing checklist, the IT handover checklist for a business sale and SAP Business One data export.
Next step
Refer a company. No cap on rewards. Default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; further qualifying transactions first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15%. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, including the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
When the sheet shows exception history at risk and a sponsor who wants to talk before retirement, register as a partner, check the company on who qualifies and read the program terms.