Resulting Deliver an Out of This World Phase Zero for the European Space Agency

The Challenge

ESA is operating within a complex organisational, technical and cultural landscape that requires careful navigation to progress toward an S/4HANA migration. This includes a multi-directorate structure, a long-established SAP landscape, understandable uncertainty around large-scale transformation, and intergovernmental priorities that place a strong emphasis on compliance and traceability over traditional ROI metrics.

ESA’s procurement capabilities are mission-critical and projects can span decades; supplier markets are limited and often highly specialised and processes need to be tightly mapped with signatures and approval included.

The organisation’s ongoing growth and program complexity requires a modern, scalable and compliant digital core. ESA therefore needs to define a clear migration journey and path to implementation that is compatible with its regulatory and compliance-driven environment.

The S/4HANA migration also presents the opportunity to streamline shadow IT systems and consolidate ESA’s landscape while keeping business disruption to a minimum and maintaining the current levels of service to its stakeholders.

Resulting Solution

Resulting ran a Phase Zero engagement to prepare ESA for a successful SI selection and S/4HANA implementation.

Resulting began with a preliminary ignition phase to capture how ESA operates today ahead of the full discovery phase. They used executive interviews and targeted workshops to document end-to-end business processes and establish a shared understanding of requirements and constraints.

In parallel, Resulting baselined ESA’s “as-is” SAP landscape, documenting applications, integrations, reporting, data, and security using FusionGraph.

Resulting then began to understand the business’s priorities through conducting executive interviews, strategy reviews and using a heatmap to identify their key processes. This view was then used to explore potential “to-be” future-state scenarios aligned to ESA’s goals.

The outputs of Phase Zero were consolidated into an intermediary ignition report to gain early feedback from the client, followed by a full solution briefing document, which set out clear findings, defined the current state, and outlined the practical options for moving forward, including what the future state could look like and what would be required to get there.

The Phase Zero approach was designed to embed change management principles and business alignment into every activity, rather than treating change as a standalone activity.

From this, Resulting provided structured recommendation areas, which were:

• Business process solution map
• Migration approach
• Integration platform
• Change, learning and adoption
• Code remediation and clean core
• Target platform definition
• Deployment approach
• Implementation cost and timeline
• S/4HANA opportunity identification

These recommendations provided ESA with a clear, evidence-based foundation for decision-making and planning, enabling the program to move forward with confidence and realise tangible benefits from the outset.

Benefits Delivered

Together, Resulting and ESA completed Phase Zero, delivering a comprehensive, business-focussed S/4HANA migration report covering financial management, procurement and purchasing, human resources, industrial policy, technical, and reporting and analytics.

Resulting provided a range of Phase Zero deliverables, including a solution briefing document, heatmapped process framework, RACI, and change-impact analysis. These deliverables highlighted areas of complexity and customisation, providing ESA with a clear and shared understanding of its current SAP landscape and what would be required from an S/4HANA implementation which would inform successful systems integrator selection.

Resulting also provided Phase 0.5 recommendations for ESA so they could optimise and de-risk the implementation ahead of beginning work with their chosen SI. 

Executive interviews conducted early in the engagement helped establish a common language across stakeholders and align understanding of current challenges, future ambitions, and the scale of change involved. This early alignment supported stakeholder engagement and helped address historic resistance to SAP change.

Resulting also provided additional value through RFP and procurement advice, SAP licence support (including BOM review, shelfware identification, and audit readiness), ROM estimates, Level 1 planning, and access to Resulting’s wider expert network.

As a result of these activities, ESA is well-positioned to move into the next phase of its S/4HANA journey. Once a delivery partner is selected, ESA will do so with a clear definition of its SAP requirements, an informed stakeholder group, and increased confidence in the direction and feasibility of the programme.

Conclusion

ESA needs to transition from ECC to SAP S/4HANA but faces challenges related to complex governance, stakeholder alignment, and change management requirements informed by previous SAP initiatives.

Resulting delivered a Phase Zero engagement that clarified strategic options, defined scope, documented business processes, and outlined the technical landscape. This approach provided ESA with a structured view of its current position and a clear understanding of the changes required to move forward.

As a result, ESA now has a defined strategy and a credible investment case to progress confidently into partner selection and implementation.

In complex, multi-directorate organisations such as ESA, governance clarity and stakeholder understanding are as important as technical planning. A multi-step Phase Zero approach enables informed decision-making, builds organisational confidence, and supports sustainable progress through large-scale SAP transformation programmes.