Introduction
Migrating from SAP PI/PO to SAP CPI is a major transformation for enterprises that depend on integration to keep critical business systems connected. SAP Integration Suite provides a modern cloud-based integration platform, but successfully moving a large PI/PO landscape requires more than technical knowledge of integration flows.
The right SAP CPI Migration Partner can help an organization assess its existing landscape, identify migration risks, modernize legacy interfaces, execute testing, manage production cutover, and establish a reliable support model.
Choosing the wrong partner, however, can lead to unnecessary redevelopment, project delays, unexpected costs, and disruption to critical business processes.
This guide explains the key factors enterprises should evaluate when selecting an SAP CPI Migration Services provider.
1. Look for Proven SAP PI/PO Migration Experience
The first factor to evaluate is actual experience with SAP PI/PO to SAP Integration Suite Migration.
SAP PI/PO migration is different from implementing a new CPI integration from scratch. A migration partner needs to understand legacy PI/PO architecture, communication channels, adapters, mappings, custom developments, routing, and existing dependencies.
Ask potential partners:
- How many PI/PO migration projects have you completed?
- What versions of PI/PO have you worked with?
- Which industries have you supported?
- How do you handle complex interfaces?
- Can you provide relevant project references?
- How do you approach custom mappings and legacy code?
A partner should be able to demonstrate experience with real migration scenarios rather than only general SAP integration expertise.
2. Evaluate Their Migration Assessment Approach
A strong migration partner should begin with assessment rather than immediately starting development.
SAP’s Migration Assessment capability can extract information from supported SAP Process Orchestration environments, evaluate integration scenarios, and estimate the potential technical effort required for migration.
Your partner should use assessment findings to build a realistic migration roadmap.
The assessment should identify:
- Existing interfaces
- Connected systems
- Communication protocols
- Adapters
- Complex mappings
- Custom developments
- Migration feasibility
- Potential migration blockers
- Modernization opportunities
SAP categorizes scenarios based on their migration readiness, including statuses such as “Ready to migrate” and “Adjustment required.”
A good partner should explain these findings in business-friendly language instead of simply handing over a technical report.
3. Make Sure They Can Modernize, Not Just Migrate
Migration should not mean copying every legacy PI/PO design into SAP CPI.
SAP’s own transition guidance describes the move in terms of assess, transform, and move, with transformation providing an opportunity to improve existing integration scenarios and adopt modern approaches.
Your migration partner should identify opportunities to:
- Simplify complex interfaces
- Remove obsolete integrations
- Replace unnecessary point-to-point connections
- Introduce API-led integration
- Use event-driven integration where appropriate
- Reuse integration components
- Improve monitoring
- Strengthen security
This approach can deliver much more value than a simple lift-and-shift migration.
4. Check Their SAP Integration Suite Expertise
SAP CPI is only one part of SAP Integration Suite.
Depending on business requirements, an enterprise may need capabilities such as:
- Cloud Integration
- API Management
- Integration Advisor
- Event Mesh
- Open Connectors
- Hybrid integration
- Edge Integration Cell
SAP describes Integration Suite as a broader enterprise integration platform with capabilities for applications, APIs, events, and hybrid environments.
Your partner should understand these capabilities and recommend the appropriate technology based on your requirements rather than forcing every problem into a standard CPI integration flow.
5. Assess Their Understanding of Your Business Processes
Technical integration knowledge alone is not enough.
A failed interface can affect:
- Order processing
- Invoicing
- Payments
- Procurement
- Inventory
- Employee processes
- Customer operations
- Financial reporting
Your migration partner should understand which integrations are business-critical and prioritize them accordingly.
For example, a low-volume reporting interface should not necessarily receive the same migration priority as an interface processing customer orders or financial transactions.
The partner should work with business stakeholders as well as technical teams throughout the migration.
6. Ask About Their Migration Methodology
A professional SAP CPI Migration Company should have a clearly defined methodology.
A typical migration lifecycle may include:
Discover → Assess → Rationalize → Design → Transform → Build → Test → Migrate → Monitor → Optimize
SAP’s migration guidance similarly describes project phases such as discovering the current landscape, preparing the migration strategy, and defining the target architecture.
Ask the partner to explain exactly what happens at each stage.
If the methodology is simply “extract interfaces and rebuild them in CPI,” that may indicate insufficient focus on modernization and risk management.
7. Evaluate Their Testing Strategy
Testing is one of the most important parts of any SAP CPI Migration Project.
A good partner should have a structured testing strategy covering:
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
- End-to-end testing
- Regression testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- User Acceptance Testing
SAP specifically recommends testing migrated content, and its migration guidance highlights test automation as a way to reduce risk to critical business processes and reduce manual testing effort.
Ask potential partners how they will compare the old PI/PO behavior with the new CPI implementation.
For critical interfaces, the partner should also have a clear process for validating message transformations and business results.
8. Check Their Approach to Business Continuity
A migration partner should be able to explain how they will minimize business disruption.
Ask about:
- Phased migration
- Parallel validation
- Cutover planning
- Message synchronization
- Rollback procedures
- Production monitoring
- Incident response
For business-critical interfaces, the partner should have a documented rollback strategy before the migration reaches production.
The goal should be to move integrations without unnecessarily interrupting business operations.
9. Review Their Security and Connectivity Expertise
Enterprise integrations often involve sensitive business data.
Your partner should understand:
- Certificates
- OAuth
- Authentication
- Authorization
- API security
- SSH keys
- Secure protocols
- SAP Cloud Connector
- Network connectivity
- Hybrid architectures
Security should be designed into the migration from the beginning rather than addressed just before production deployment.
For B2B environments, the partner should also understand relevant protocols, certificates, partner connectivity, and authentication requirements. SAP’s migration guidance specifically recommends documenting connected systems, communication protocols, certificates, and authentication methods during assessment.
10. Ask About Migration Tooling
SAP provides Migration Tooling within the Cloud Integration capability to help migrate supported integration objects from SAP Process Orchestration and Process Integration into Integration Suite as integration flows.
A capable partner should understand when this tooling can help and when manual redesign or development is more appropriate.
Migration tooling should not be treated as a guarantee that every interface can be automatically migrated.
SAP itself recommends assessing migration feasibility first, and migrated content may still require manual adaptation, configuration, or fine-tuning.
11. Evaluate Their Documentation Standards
Documentation is critical in a large enterprise migration.
Your partner should document:
- Current-state architecture
- Target architecture
- Interface inventory
- Integration flows
- Mapping logic
- Security configuration
- Connectivity
- Testing results
- Deployment procedures
- Monitoring procedures
- Support processes
Good documentation ensures your internal team can understand and maintain the new environment after the migration project ends.
12. Look Beyond the Migration Project
Your relationship with a migration partner should not necessarily end when the final PI/PO interface is switched off.
Ask whether the partner provides:
- Post-migration support
- SAP CPI monitoring
- Performance optimization
- Integration enhancements
- Security support
- Incident management
- Managed services
- Knowledge transfer
A long-term support model can be particularly valuable during the first few months after migration when teams are still becoming familiar with the new environment.
13. Evaluate Knowledge Transfer
Your internal SAP team should not become completely dependent on the external partner.
A good SAP CPI Consulting Services provider should transfer knowledge throughout the project.
This can include training on:
- Integration flow development
- Monitoring
- Error handling
- Security
- API Management
- Troubleshooting
- Deployment
- Support procedures
The objective should be to leave your organization with the skills required to operate and enhance the new integration environment.
14. Compare the Commercial Proposal Carefully
Price should not be the only factor when selecting an SAP CPI Migration Partner.
Compare proposals based on:
- Assessment methodology
- Migration scope
- Number of interfaces
- Complexity
- Testing approach
- Project timeline
- Resources
- Support model
- Knowledge transfer
- Deliverables
- Change management
- Post-migration services
A low initial quote may become expensive if important migration activities are excluded from the scope.
Ask every partner to clearly identify assumptions, exclusions, dependencies, and additional costs.
15. Use a Practical Partner Evaluation Scorecard
Before selecting a partner, enterprises can score candidates against important criteria.
Evaluation Area | Importance |
PI/PO Migration Experience | Very High |
SAP Integration Suite Expertise | Very High |
Migration Assessment Capability | Very High |
Modernization Strategy | Very High |
Testing Approach | Very High |
Security & Connectivity | High |
Business Process Understanding | High |
Cutover & Rollback Planning | High |
Documentation | High |
Post-Migration Support | High |
Knowledge Transfer | Medium |
Commercial Model | Medium |
This provides a more objective way to compare multiple SAP CPI Migration Services providers.
Questions to Ask Before Selecting a Migration Partner
Before signing a contract, ask:
- How will you assess our existing PI/PO landscape?
- How will you identify interfaces that should not be migrated?
- Which SAP migration tools will you use?
- How will you handle unsupported or complex interfaces?
- What is your approach to modernization?
- How will you test migrated interfaces?
- How will you minimize production downtime?
- What is your rollback strategy?
- How will you handle security and certificates?
- What documentation will we receive?
- How will you transfer knowledge to our internal team?
- What post-migration support do you provide?
The answers to these questions can reveal whether a provider has a structured enterprise migration methodology or is simply offering development resources.
Conclusion
Choosing the right SAP CPI Migration Partner is one of the most important decisions in an SAP PI/PO modernization project.
The right partner should bring more than SAP CPI development skills. They should understand the existing PI/PO landscape, use a structured assessment process, identify modernization opportunities, manage complex integrations, perform comprehensive testing, protect business continuity, and provide support after migration.
SAP’s own migration guidance emphasizes assessing the current landscape, transforming integration scenarios, and then moving them to SAP Integration Suite.
For enterprises, the best migration partner is therefore not necessarily the company offering the lowest project price. It is the partner that can demonstrate a clear methodology, proven PI/PO migration experience, strong SAP Integration Suite expertise, transparent scope, effective testing, and a long-term approach to integration modernization.
A well-chosen partner can turn the migration from a support-driven technology project into a broader opportunity to build a simpler, scalable, secure, and future-ready enterprise integration architecture.
