Advantages and Disadvantages of Brownfield Projects

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At this point, I would also like to show you why a brownfield approach can be the right choice in many cases, and in some cases should even be the right choice!

Carrying out a brownfield project offers a number of advantages

Lower migration costs: Implementing a completely new system from scratch can be expensive, while upgrading an existing system can be much less expensive.
Shorter time to transition: A brownfield approach allows the team to build on the existing infrastructure and code base, reducing the time to get the new system up and running.
Low change effort: Both the technical and the business project members are familiar with the current processes and no new processes need to be introduced into the organization, apart from some mandatory changes.
However, brownfield projects also have their disadvantages, including:

Technical debt: In the first step, I am not in a worse position than before germany consumer email list the changeover. However, you miss the opportunity to clear up the technical debt in one big step. Because with a brownfield changeover, the shit-in-shit-out principle applies and you only benefit from a few system-side improvements in the first step.
Gap to the current state of development: Since new developments are constantly being released in S/4HANA, it is difficult to close the gap to the standard. It is possible that functions were already developed in the past that are now available in the standard and you either have to actively switch over again or continue to maintain them.
The advantages and disadvantages of a brownfield approach also apply to a greenfield approach. Why and when should you, as an IT manager or CEO of a company, actively consider a brownfield approach? Even in small companies, a greenfield introduction means that teams have to deal intensively with their own processes. This inevitably means that tasks of day-to-day business or business development may fall by the wayside.

Let us now put ourselves in the position of a manufacturing company with well-filled order books or a plant manufacturer that is planning on 200 percent capacity utilization for the next few years anyway. They are not in a position to deal with a system changeover so intensively.