How smartShift’s Advanced Solutions Help Teams Achieve Cleaner Core

Over the past few years, more and more businesses have started to look into Clean Core as their methodology of choice for SAP S/4HANA upgrades. Aimed at reducing technical debt and improving system agility, it’s becoming essential for future-proofing SAP environments, regardless of the industry.

That said, achieving and maintaining a Clean Core is not simple, particularly for businesses with a deep history of custom code and modifications.

And in this article, we’ll introduce how smartShift can get you started on a Clean Core. We’ll break down what makes smartShift’s solutions unique, delving into their technical automation capabilities as well as its positive impact on code management processes.

Why Clean Core Matters

Clean Core in SAP means minimising unnecessary custom code and limiting system modifications that could hinder future S/4HANA upgrades or slow down system performance. However, a lot of companies, especially in the APAC area, are dealing with a legacy of extensive custom code that can be deeply embedded in their systems. This makes it difficult to know where to start – you don’t necessarily know which customizations are still needed and how you can handle the changes without much disruption. These are the kinds of questions smartShift’s solutions are designed to address.

Getting Started with Custom Code Analysis

The first step toward achieving a Clean Core is understanding the current state of your custom code. Over time, companies tend to accumulate thousands of custom objects that might have been essential at one point but are no longer relevant. And smartShift’s Clean Core X-Ray can give them a clear, detailed view of every piece of custom code in their SAP system.

It digs deep into the system and identifies “entry points” where custom code interacts with SAP modules. Each object is then evaluated to determine its function, usage frequency, and whether it aligns with SAP’s modern standards. This means classifying the code into the RICEFW framework (Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements, Forms, Workflows), so that you can see what kind of adjustments are needed and prioritise accordingly.

Another standout feature of smartShift’s analysis is its ability to identify unused or obsolete custom code. It flags elements that would otherwise add unnecessary complexity to your SAP system and helps you trim them, reducing system bloat.

The Challenge of Custom Code Remediation

Once the analysis is complete, now it’s time to remediate the custom code to prepare it for S/4HANA. And normally, that would be a serious challenge as manually reviewing and updating thousands of custom objects is a task that drains time and resources.

smartShift, on the other hand, automates much of the custom code remediation process, correcting outdated code and bringing it in line with SAP’s best practices in just a few weeks. This is something that helped Procter & Gamble address 1.3 million code issues and save an estimated 42,000 days of manual labour. In addition, our solution made the error rate for the remediated code under 0.01%, far lower than what you’d expect from manual corrections.

Tackling Dual Maintenance During Transition

One of the trickiest parts of any long-term SAP transition is dealing with dual maintenance. When you are upgrading from ECC to S/4HANA, you often need to keep both systems running in parallel for a significant period. This means that every change made in the production environment has to be mirrored in the S/4HANA development environment to avoid discrepancies when the cutover happens. Handling these changes manually introduces significant risk – and smartShift’s Dual Maintenance solution solves this problem through intelligent automation. Every change in the production system is automatically replicated in the S/4HANA environment, eliminating the need for manual interventions, code freezes and significantly reducing the risk of errors.

Bringing It All Together: Realisation and Execution

The final phase of smartShift’s Clean Core process is what’s known as realisation. This is where all the analysis and remediation work culminates in the actual execution of the transformation. Key activities in this stage include decommissioning unused objects, replacing non-whitelisted APIs, converting tables to CDS views, and updating custom code to meet SAP’s modern standards. What makes smartShift stand out here is the level of automation involved. Rather than relying on manual processes, smartShift uses advanced automation to make these changes extremely accurately. This minimises downtime and allows you to execute your transformations without sacrificing quality or increasing risk.

Conclusion

Transitioning to a Clean Core is essential if you are looking to maintain an efficient, agile SAP system, especially as you prepare for SAP S/4HANA. And deep analysis from smartShift’s Clean Core X-Ray offers practical insights that simplifies this process from start to finish. Detailed custom code analysis, automated custom code remediation and automated dual maintenance will all keep the system stable throughout the transition and make sure that it is as future-proof as it gets.