How a 9,000-employee European pharmaceutical manufacturer consolidated SAP ECC and Oracle Hyperion EPM onto independent third-party support — achieving a 65% combined saving with full GxP validation compatibility confirmed before go-live.
The client is a mid-sized European pharmaceutical group with manufacturing sites in Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland, producing branded prescription medicines and contract manufacturing services for global pharma majors. With approximately 9,000 employees and annual revenue of €2.3 billion, the group runs a mature SAP ECC landscape as its core ERP and Oracle Hyperion EPM as its financial consolidation and planning layer.
In 2024, both vendors escalated simultaneously — and for different commercial reasons. SAP issued a formal S/4HANA transition assessment, positioning SAP ECC mainstream maintenance end (January 2027 under standard terms) as a hard deadline requiring immediate project initiation. Oracle communicated that Hyperion EPM System 11.1.2.4 would enter the final phase of Sustaining Engineering at end of 2026, with a strong push toward Oracle EPM Cloud as the "only supported path forward."
The group's Group CIO and CFO faced a potential combined vendor migration budget of £18M–£32M over three to five years, with no certainty on business benefits and significant disruption risk to GxP-validated financial processes. An independent assessment was commissioned to evaluate the third-party support alternative.
For pharmaceutical manufacturers operating under FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EU GMP Annex 11, the question of whether a change to the software support model constitutes a "change" for CSV (Computer System Validation) purposes is critical. A CSV-triggering change would require revalidation of validated systems — a process that, for a system of SAP ECC's scope, could cost £500K–£2M and consume 6–12 months of regulatory affairs resource.
The GxP determination was completed in four weeks. The documented rationale — software version unchanged, no functional modification, support provider change classified as administrative — was reviewed by the group's Qualified Person (QP) and confirmed as compliant. The assessment was filed in the system validation file for SAP ECC, Oracle Hyperion Planning, and Oracle HFM respectively.
The group's SAP landscape comprised SAP ECC 6.0 (EHP 8) across three production systems covering manufacturing (PP-PI, QM, WM), supply chain (MM, WM, SD, GTS), and finance (FI-CO, CO-PA). Critical elements of the SAP estate with pharmaceutical sector significance:
The Oracle EPM estate provided the group's financial consolidation layer: legal entity consolidation under IFRS, currency translation, intercompany elimination across 14 legal entities, and statutory reporting formats for Germany, Netherlands, and Ireland. The estate comprised:
Annual saving vs. SAP SnS (65%)
Annual saving vs. Oracle SnS (64%)
| Metric | SAP | Oracle EPM | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor SnS (annual) | £2,374,000 | £1,338,000 | £3,712,000 |
| TPS cost (annual) | £830,000 | £482,000 | £1,312,000 |
| Annual saving | £1,544,000 | £856,000 | £2,400,000 |
| Saving % | 65% | 64% | 65% |
| 3-year saving | £4,632,000 | £2,568,000 | £7,200,000 |
The group's independent assessment of the vendor migration alternative produced the following cost projection:
"We modelled SAP and Oracle migration on every reasonable set of assumptions. Every model produced the same conclusion: if there is no strategic imperative to migrate within five years — and there is not — third-party support is the only rational commercial decision."
— Group CIO, European Pharmaceutical GroupInternal validation team and external regulatory affairs consultant confirmed TPS classified as administrative change. GxP determination documented and filed. Approved by QP.
SAP Enterprise Agreement — 90-day cancellation notice served. Oracle SnS — 30-day cancellation notice served. Both served in the same week to align transition dates.
SAP estate discovery — system landscape, transport routes, custom ABAP inventory, QM/PP-PI integration points. Oracle EPM discovery — HFM metadata, Planning application structure, FDMEE integration, Essbase outline. Monitoring agents deployed across all systems.
P1/P2/P3 SLA parameters confirmed. 24/7 coverage confirmed for SAP QM and HFM (period-end criticality). Hypercare period — daily check-ins with TPS support team for first 4 weeks post-go-live.
First full-year financial close under TPS — HFM consolidation, intercompany elimination, IFRS statutory reporting — completed without incident. SAP QM batch release cycle (quarterly product review) completed without incident.
After 12 months under combined SAP and Oracle TPS, the group reported the following outcomes:
For detailed coverage of the technical and regulatory considerations behind this case study, see the following GoVendorFree resources:
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