Staffing Your SAP Master Data Migration Project
- May 7, 2025
SAP master data migration projects are high-stakes endeavors that can make or break your digital transformation initiative. Whether you’re implementing SAP S/4HANA or consolidating disparate systems, the accuracy and quality of your master data migration is critical. And while tools and methodologies matter, your project’s success will ultimately hinge on one thing: the people.
In this eBook, we break down the essential roles and skills needed to staff a successful SAP master data migration project as well as explore staffing strategies that can help minimize risk while maximizing business value.
Why Staffing Matters in SAP Master Data Migration Projects
A master data migration project involves extracting, cleansing, transforming, and loading foundational business data—customers, materials, vendors, finance objects—into your new SAP environment. Errors in this process can lead to delays in go-live, post-launch issues like incorrect pricing or fulfillment failures, and compliance risks.
Staffing appropriately ensures you have the expertise to:
- Understand business rules and data dependencies.
- Translate legacy structures into the SAP data model.
- Implement robust data governance.
- Test and validate data to meet quality benchmarks.
- Maintain accountability and ownership throughout the process.
Key Roles
1. Data Migration Lead
A data migration lead serves as the cornerstone of the migration initiative. This individual is responsible for the end-to-end data migration strategy and execution plan. Acting as a liaison between business stakeholders, IT, end users, and external partners, the data migration lead ensures alignment across teams, manages timelines, mitigates risks, and oversees quality standards. They develop the overall approach, create and manage project plans and timelines, and track data readiness and migration status across waves. They are also responsible for setting the cadence for reconciliation and testing and serving as the central point of communication for leadership on all things data migration.
2. Master Data Business Owners
Master data business owners bring critical domain expertise to the project. These individuals, often coming from departments like finance or supply chain, define the business rules that govern master data and validate that the migrated data supports day-to-day operations. They establish the requirements for how data should be structured and maintained, approve data mappings and transformation logic, review mock loads to confirm usability, and more. Business owners are also essential for resolving cross-functional issues and stewarding data quality beyond go-live by taking accountability for ongoing governance in their domain.