Industry
Wholesale
Locations
In 14 countries
Employees
Over 1,000
Headquarters
Vienna
Consumers
647 million
SRB Solution
SAP S/4HANA transformation between Greenfield and Brownfield
The SAP ECC landscape of the Europapier Group, developed over decades, encompassed 11 countries, 22 company codes, and more than 40 connected systems. Different processes and complex data structures posed high demands on the upcoming SAP S/4HANA transformation.
Modernisation and harmonisation of the existing SAP landscape while ensuring business processes. Established logistics processes should be maintained, financial processes optimised, and a future-proof basis for further growth created.
SAP S/4HANA transformation using Shell Conversion with selective data migration. The combination of established processes, targeted modernisation, SAP Activate, and agile project management successfully transformed the complex international system landscape.
Successful Big Bang Go-live in 11 countries within the planned time and budget framework, with full delivery capability from the first productive day. The result: harmonised financial processes, a significantly leaner system landscape, and a modern SAP S/4HANA platform for future innovations.
The Europapier Group is the largest paper wholesaler in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. With over 1,000 employees in 14 countries, the company supplies a market of around 650 million people with paper, packaging, and visual communication solutions. To ensure that all processes—from procurement and logistics to finance and reporting—function smoothly, Europapier has relied on SAP as its digital backbone for decades.
However, with the impending end of support for SAP ECC 6.0 and the desire to future-proof its system landscape, it was clear: the next major technological leap had to come. Together with the SRB consulting team, Europapier opted for an SAP S/4HANA transformation—not classically as a Greenfield or Brownfield project, but with a hybrid approach: a so-called Shell Conversion.
The result: a successful Big Bang Go-live across 11 countries, a significantly streamlined system, harmonised processes, and an SAP S/4HANA system that today forms the basis for future innovations.
The initial situation was complex. The existing SAP ECC system involved a total of 11 countries, 22 company codes, 77 plants and warehouses, around 800 users, and more than 40 connected systems. At the same time, different requirements had to be considered. While in logistics, existing processes should remain largely unchanged, Europapier wanted to modernise and harmonise specifically in the financial area.
“Our goal was clear: in logistics, we wanted to be 100 percent delivery-capable again on the first productive day. At the same time, we wanted to seize the opportunity to eliminate legacy issues and introduce new standards, especially in finance,” explains Mario Schick, Head of IT at the Europapier Group. Therefore, the decision was made for a Shell Conversion. The existing ECC system was copied, cleaned of master and transaction data, and then converted to SAP S/4HANA. The existing business logic was retained while processes and data were specifically modernised and harmonised.
The project was much more than a technical upgrade. The transformation was used to fundamentally tidy up the SAP landscape developed over decades.
For example, old organisational units were removed, unused plants and warehouses deleted, outdated suppliers and articles cleaned up, unnecessary characteristics removed, the authorisation concept completely rebuilt, reporting harmonised, margin analysis introduced, and SAC reporting established instead of existing BEx solutions.
The scale of the project was evident even in the data volumes: 66 data objects, 5.1 million pricing conditions, 270,000 customers, and around 100,000 material masters had to be analysed, cleaned, and selectively migrated in part. “After 30 years, we finally have a current, clean, and significantly leaner system. This is a real added value,” summarises Mario Schick.
Together with SRB, Europapier relied on a combination of SAP Activate methodology and an agile approach. The project was implemented iteratively and continuously tested together with the key users.
Particular attention was paid to test management, with a four-month user acceptance test phase, around 3,500 test cases, 130 local testers, five complete test migrations, coordinated by a dedicated test manager and supported by the country teams on-site.
Communication also played a central role. Already at the beginning of the project, Europapier, together with SRB, organised an international roadshow through all subsidiaries to present the project and create acceptance. “This was our project, not just an IT project. This message was extremely important,” recalls Mario Schick.
The go-live took place on the first weekend of May 2025 as an international big bang across all companies. During an extended holiday window, the productive system was shut down, data migration was carried out, final tests were implemented, open documents were taken over, and the system was released for production.
The result: Already on the first working day after the go-live, Europapier was able to deliver fully again. "We were live, we were within scope, and we were within budget. That we were fully capable of delivery from the first working day was a huge success," says Mario Schick.
For Europapier, choosing the right implementation partner was a central success factor. During a selection process, the company consciously chose SRB Consulting Team.
Decisive were the SAP S/4HANA expertise, the collaborative approach, experience with complex international projects, and close cooperation on equal terms. "We felt that competence, commitment, and collaborative work were best represented at SRB. And that was confirmed in the project," emphasises Mario Schick.
Martin Kasper from SRB Consulting Team also sees the collaboration as a key success factor: "The close cooperation, clear governance, and strong involvement of the specialist departments were crucial for the successful implementation of this project in this quality."
Today, Europapier benefits from a harmonised finance landscape, a significantly reduced database size, better system performance, higher usability, modern reporting options, standardised processes, and a clean basis for future rollouts and innovations.
The project tools and methods used, including Jira, XRay, and modern test management processes, are now also being used in subsequent projects. The SAP S/4HANA transformation thus marks not only a technological milestone but also an important step towards future digitalisation and scalability within the entire Europapier Group.
The success of the SAP S/4HANA transformation was also acknowledged beyond the company: At the Confare CIOSUMMIT Salzburg 2026, the Europapier Group was awarded theConfare LivinIT Trophyin the category "Best International Transformation Implementation."
The award highlights the successful implementation of a complex international transformation project, where Europapier successfully combined technological modernisation, process harmonisation, and the requirements of ongoing business operations together with SRB Consulting Team.
The Europapier Group is the largest paper wholesaler in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, serving a market of around 650 million people with over 1,000 employees in 14 countries. The company offers solutions in the areas of paper, packaging, and visual communication, focusing on the highest quality, efficient logistics, and modern digital processes. More about Europapier atwww.europapier.at.
SAP S/4HANA shell conversion with selective data migration, combined brownfield and greenfield approach, SAP Activate methodology, and agile project and test management.
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