# Northwind Retail Group — S/4HANA Cloud Migration Project Charter

**Project:** NWRG-S4-2026 — SAP ECC 6.0 → S/4HANA Cloud Public
**Version:** 1.0 (Q-Gate: Prepare)
**Date:** 14 March 2026
**Owner:** Anika Schroeder, Program Director
**Approver:** CFO Pieter Vandermeer, sponsoring executive

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## 1. Strategic context

Northwind Retail Group operates 412 stores across 12 European country instances (BeNeLux, DACH, Nordics, UK, France, Iberia, Italy, Poland) on a single SAP ECC 6.0 system that has been live since 2008. The system is unsupported after Q4 2027 (S/4HANA 2027 EOM). The migration to S/4HANA Cloud Public is a regulatory necessity (audit trail + EU CBAM reporting) and a strategic opportunity (real-time inventory, embedded analytics, AI agent surface).

## 2. Strategic objectives

| Objective | KPI baseline | Target |
|---|---|---|
| O-1: Real-time inventory across all 412 stores | 4h refresh cycle | < 5 min refresh cycle |
| O-2: Reduce financial-close from 9 to 3 working days | 9 days | 3 days by end of fiscal year 2026 |
| O-3: Embed predictive replenishment for top 200 SKUs | none | 90 % auto-replenishment by Q4 2026 |
| O-4: Decommission 47 custom Z-transactions | 47 active | 0 active (replace with S/4 standard) |
| O-5: GDPR + CBAM compliance for cross-border supply chain | partial | full audit trail in S/4 |

## 3. Scope

**In scope:**

- Conversion of all 12 country instances to a single S/4HANA Cloud Public tenant (consolidation).
- Migration of MM, SD, FI, CO, EWM, AA, and PP modules.
- Greenfield approach for HR (move to SuccessFactors Cloud).
- Integration with Demantra (forecasting), Coupa (procurement), and Workday (consolidation).
- Data harmonisation: 412 stores × 12 country MDM regimes → single global product master.

**Out of scope:**

- Any non-SAP ERP system (we retain Workday for finance consolidation).
- Manufacturing-execution systems at 3 owned production sites (separate project).
- POS systems at store level (separate cloud-PoS programme runs in parallel).
- Production lines in Asia-Pacific (not migrated; remains on ECC).

## 4. Approach

**Methodology:** SAP Activate (Discover → Prepare → Explore → Realize → Deploy → Run).
**Strategy:** Greenfield (clean S/4 with re-mastered data); selective brownfield for FI history archive.
**Deployment:** Cloud Public, 18-month timeline split into 3 country waves of 4 (BeNeLux→DACH→Nordics+UK→France+Iberia+Italy+Poland).

## 5. Governance

| Role | Owner |
|---|---|
| Sponsoring executive | Pieter Vandermeer, CFO |
| Program director | Anika Schroeder |
| Steering committee chair | Mia Rasmussen, COO |
| Solution architect | Dr. Stefano Bassi (DXC) |
| Basis lead | Lukas Petrov (NW IT) |
| Change manager | Imogen Kaur |
| Audit lead | Jürgen Holtmann, internal audit |

## 6. Timeline (Discover → Run)

| Stage | Start | Q-Gate target | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discover | 14 Feb 2026 | 04 Apr 2026 | 7 weeks |
| Prepare | 05 Apr 2026 | 30 May 2026 | 8 weeks |
| Explore | 01 Jun 2026 | 15 Sep 2026 | 15 weeks |
| Realize | 16 Sep 2026 | 31 May 2027 | 37 weeks |
| Deploy (wave 1) | 01 Jun 2027 | 31 Aug 2027 | 13 weeks |
| Deploy (wave 2) | 01 Sep 2027 | 30 Nov 2027 | 13 weeks |
| Deploy (wave 3) | 01 Dec 2027 | 28 Feb 2028 | 12 weeks |
| Run (hypercare wave 1) | 01 Sep 2027 | 30 Nov 2027 | 12 weeks |

## 7. Budget

| Line | Amount (€ m) |
|---|---|
| SAP licensing (S/4 Cloud Public, 18 mo) | 4.2 |
| DXC consulting | 6.8 |
| NWRG internal | 3.1 |
| Tools (Signavio, Solution Manager, LeanIX) | 0.6 |
| Contingency (15 %) | 2.2 |
| **Total** | **16.9** |

## 8. Top 5 risks

| # | Risk | Likelihood × Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-1 | Data harmonisation across 12 country MDM regimes slips Explore Q-Gate | High × High | Dedicated harmonisation track starts in Discover; weekly steering review |
| R-2 | Custom Z-transactions cannot all be replaced by S/4 standard | Medium × High | Fit-to-standard workshops in Explore identify true gaps early |
| R-3 | Country-level legal review of GDPR + CBAM extends Prepare | Medium × Medium | Lawyer staffing committed for the full Prepare stage |
| R-4 | Demantra integration breaks during cutover | Low × High | Two integration test cycles in Realize; rollback plan in cutover |
| R-5 | Change adoption lags in non-DACH countries | High × Medium | Country change champions onboarded in Prepare; KPI dashboards from Day 1 of Run |

## 9. Approval

Signed: Pieter Vandermeer, CFO — 14 March 2026
Signed: Mia Rasmussen, COO — 14 March 2026
Signed: Anika Schroeder, Program Director — 14 March 2026