At the end of 2020, the UK left the EU. Until shortly before the end, it was unclear how things would continue in 2021 and what contractual arrangements the EU and the UK would agree on. Thus, until December 24, 2020, the working basis for the conversion of the SAP systems was the hard Brexit. With the deal, however, other requirements then applied, which had to be implemented accordingly.

The changes to be implemented are diverse and affect a wide range of customer ERP systems, whether SAP ECC 6.0 or S/4HANA. To name just a few examples of necessary adjustments in SAP due to the Brexit:

• System configurations (e.g. remove the EU marking from the country setting for Great Britain or store a new tax number field for Northern Ireland in all relevant applications)
• Master data adjustments (e.g. tax data of customers/suppliers, correction of price and tax conditions, procedure of tax determination)
• Reporting (e.g. Intrastat reports, recapitulative statements and adaptation of customer-specific developments with regard to tax number selection)
• Forms (e.g. printing or hiding of EU-relevant information such as the tax number or the reference to intra-Community supply)

It was important to DATAGROUP to sensitize customers to the effects of the Brexit at an early stage and to inform them in advance about the upcoming changes they would have to make in their system. For this purpose, DATAGROUP developed a guideline that covers a range of different customer situations:

1. All customers with SAP Business Suite or SAP S/4HANA ERP systems
2. Customers without GB company code(s) and) with business partner(s) in GB
3. Customers with GB company code(s) and with business partner(s) in GB
4. Customers with GTS systems for which the above points 2 or 3 also apply.

With the Brexit guide, DATAGROUP was able to proactively approach customers, offer them appropriate support, and tailor the installation of the notes provided by SAP and necessary manual adjustments to the specific customer situation. The guide was continuously updated based on new developments.

DATAGROUP organized consulting and analysis meetings, assisted both in identifying the adaptation requirements relevant for the customer in each case and in the subsequent implementation in the SAP system. In addition, DATAGROUP was also the first point of contact for any queries during the complete test process and the subsequent live operation.

This approach enabled our customers to go live with the implemented SAP adjustments in time for the UK’s exit from the EU.