SAP ERP Upgrade and Unicode Conversion with Minimized Downtime

Case studies

WMS

SAP ERP Upgrade and Unicode Conversion with Minimized Downtime

Case study showing how Heidelberg University Hospital reduced SAP ERP upgrade and Unicode conversion downtime from 54 hours to 10 hours using SAP minimized downtime service.

Published

June 4, 2026

Read time

3 min read

Source

SAP

Heidelberg University Hospital upgraded two SAP ERP installations covering six systems and converted 4.2 terabytes of data to Unicode. Using SAP Digital Business Services minimized downtime methodology, the hospital performed upgrades on cloned systems while production remained live. Only 10 hours of downtime occurred on a Saturday, enabling continued hospital operations with read-only emergency access. The project established prerequisites for SAP HANA and future S/4HANA migration.

Key takeaways

Reduced system downtime from 54 hours to 10 hours during major ERP upgrade and Unicode conversion

Performed maintenance on clone systems while production remained operational with near-zero downtime techniques

Converted 4.2 terabytes of data across two SAP ERP instances covering administrative and clinical processes

Completed full project including testing in six months with zero issues during cutover

Established technical foundation for SAP HANA platform and planned S/4HANA migration

Market overview

SCR methodology note

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