Data migration into SAP CX – Part II

This is part 2 of the data migration blog post, in which I cover how to migrate your data into the SAP CX service cloud and the best practices of data migration.  You can find part 1, in which I covered the basics of data migration into C/4HANA systems.

Data Workbench:

This feature or tool is to take you through the process of importing data into and exporting your data from SAP CX systems. Data migration requires special user authorisation. Your administrator can grant the required authorisation in the application and user management work centre.  When your assigned business role has access to the ‘Data Workbench’ work centre/view name, you shall be able to perform the data load activities.

Data Load:

Business case: For example, our business requirement is to load the external account/organisation data into the SAP CX service system.  In most circumstances, it is a business responsibility to supply the source data in a required format and the functional expert to load them into the SAP CX cloud system(s).

Step 1:  Download migration template

Migration templates are provided by SAP and can be download directly from SAP CX systems. As per our business scenario, the object we are going to load is account/organisation. From the import work centre, select the account object and download the template.

Step 2: Populate the source data to the template file

The data must be in a correct format; otherwise, the target system will not accept it.  So, it is essential to validate and check the consistency of the source data. It is also required to convert the values, where necessary, by pre-defaulting the code list mapping data. For example, the ‘CountryRegion’ column in the below picture must be the ‘Internal code’ data from the ‘CodeList_CoutryRegion’ standard SAP file.

Step 3: Import source data

Select the import option and follow the guided process steps.

Note: It is recommended to select the simulation mode when loading data for the first time. Simulation mode will ensure no errors appear during the import.

Step 4: Monitor data load

Here you can see the actual number of record(s) successfully loaded or failed.

If successful, the account/organisation will be displayed and available in the accounts view.

With custom development, it is possible to store the external data into a custom business object using the import operation. It is also possible to apply any transformation logic when loading the data into SAP CX cloud systems.

Using ABSL (Advanced business script language) and MDR (Mass data run) approach, you can group, schedule, and load the data in a background job/activity.

Data migration best practices: Following are the most common best practices when migrating data into SAP CX systems

1. Relevant and required data to be imported: It is crucial to determine what data needs to be imported into the SAP CX system. It may not be essential to load the closed or cancelled tickets/service requests but rather the in-process/in-flight open tickets/service requests into the SAP CX service cloud.
2. Data cleansing: It is essential the legacy / external data must be cleansed before loading into the SAP CX system.  I always say to my client, “Rubbish in rubbish out”.  It is a cost-effective activity to cleanse the duplicate / incorrect data from the source system/file rather than the target system.
3. Data sequence: It is required to load the master data (example organisation & customer) prior to migrating the transaction (opportunities, tickets etc.) data.
4. Data consistency: Ensure all the mandatory fields and their corresponding data are required in the target system. It is important to produce a mapping file & document the source, target data, and data structure. Populate the default values when there is no corresponding field(s) available in the source system.
5. Turn-off settings: It is recommended to turn-off the following default system settings.
   1. Turn-off notifications
   2. Turn-off feeds
   3. Turn-off address checks
6. Create a support incident with SAP: Prior to the dry-run and cut-over, it is recommended to raise an incident with SAP and advise them to monitor the load and system performance.
7. Load using a small set of data: Before attempting for a mass data load, it is advisable to load a small set of data to verify and check the data quality.  Always test and make sure the data is correctly loaded and the expected fields are being updated in the target SAP CX systems.  It is also important to verify & move the downstream steps up to the completion.  For example, from ‘in-process’ status to ‘closed’ or ‘cancelled’ migrated tickets.
8. System/tenant lifecycle management: Check all relevant object(s) data loads are performed correctly in the test tenants prior to loading them to production.  It is highly recommended to perform a test / dry run with a like to like volume of production data into one of the non-productive tenant systems.  This will help identify the system performance and will measure the time it takes to perform the mass data load.

Andrew Alexander

Senior Application Consultant

Andrew is a Senior Application consultant in the SAP Customer Engagement Team, UK. Andrew has over 9 years of consultancy and extensive SAP implementation experience from blueprinting to go live and support. His current engagement as a lead migration consultant, implementing solution using the SAP CX Service Suite.