By Nathan Dukes
What do you do when you face a problem in your SAP system?
Do you attempt to work around the issue on the live system? Do you recreate the data in a test system? Unfortunately, both of these options carry an element of risk and take time- a luxury not everyone can afford.
But a third option is available: the Nexus Suite HCM Suite Data Replication Module, from TIK Consulting. As the title suggests, the Data Replication Module allows users to make a clean copy of the data from one system to another.
Most commonly, the module can be used in situations where a problem exists in the system, and you want to copy the data back to a test system to recreate the issue and find a solution.
The benefits of this tool stack up, says Spencer Kewin, Partner at TIK Consulting.
“If you aren’t able to test in a live system, it can take you hours and hours to accurately re-create that data back in your test system to test your problem. At a click of a button you can copy the data across to a test system using the data replication module,” he said.
But the module has proved itself useful in other situations as well.
One SAP customer in New Zealand faced the challenge of migrating their data from ECC 5 to ECC 6. Due to a number of structural changes, the organisation needed to re-implement the solution rather than undertake a straight technical upgrade.
“There are structural changes in the data between ECC 5 and ECC 6. For example, employee records have additional fields in ECC 6 that weren’t there in ECC 5. It’s not a direct process of picking it up from one system and dropping it into the next,” Spencer said.
The time frame offered by the customer and the minor differences between ECC 5 and ECC 6 posed a challenge for the module, but the migration was a success.
The replication module also stood up to the sheer size of the migration. A total of 14,300 employees with over 10 years of payroll history were replicated into ECC 6, and the customer credits the Nexus Suite HCM Suite Data Replication Module as a critical factor in the project.
Earlier this year the replication module was selected by the implementation partner as the tool of choice for Forestry Plantations Queensland’s upgrade to ECC 6 from 4.6C.
Again, the customer elected to re-implement the solution rather than upgrade, and the Nexus Suite HCM Data Replication Module was integral to the project plan and its ultimate success.
Highlighting the value provided to customers by the module, Forestry Plantations Queensland have since signed up for the Data Replication, HCM Reporting and Payroll Verification modules.
The HCM Data Replication Module is one of several tools TIK sell as part of the Nexus Suite.
Other tools include the Data Conversion Module, Interface Module, Payroll Verification Modules, HCM Reporting Module, and the Support Pack Analysis Module, all of which have been designed to work together seamlessly to deliver operational and support solutions for SAP HCM installations.
Most recently, TIK has won a contract with Orica Ltd for the Nexus Suite Interface Module. The primary drive for Orica is to use the product to enable seamless transfer of Employee and Organisational Management data to a centralised SAP system, from external payroll systems around the globe.
However, the value-add abilities of the Interface module have come to the fore, with several unrelated data transfers already being handled by the module.
