Tidewater Migrates ECC to SAP Cloud ERP Private Without Business Disruption

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Tidewater Migrates ECC to SAP Cloud ERP Private Without Business Disruption

Talk to an Expert

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The collaboration between Protera and Tidewater was a true differentiator. Protera truly listened to our strategy and desired outcomes, delivering a solution that allowed us to modernize on our terms, without an expensive, disruptive transformation.
 
- Lee Johnson, EVP and CIO at Tidewater
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Disruption to the end-user experience

3

Days post go-live, zero open issues  

7

Month migration to Cloud ERP Private 

tidewater

 

Tidewater manages the largest fleet of offshore support vessels in the world spanning 60 countries, delivers goods to offshore oil and gas rigs, providing everything from cargo supplies to materials used in offshore drilling, and was founded in 1955.

Challenge

Tidewater, the world’s largest operator of offshore support vessels, faced a critical technology milestone: the need to modernize its core ERP platform. Their existing SAP ECC system required an upgrade to EHP8 to maintain business functionality and also comply with SAP’s mandate for all customers to be on the latest release by 2027. Beyond compliance, Tidewater needed a solution that could scale globally, strengthen cybersecurity, reduce reliance on legacy systems, and unlock new opportunities for efficiency and innovation.

The challenge was compounded by the size and complexity of the business. SAP touches nearly every aspect of Tidewater operations—from financial close, treasury, and payroll to vessel management, HR, and vendor transactions. The project scope included transitioning Brazil PeopleSoft to SAP, upgrading to EHP8 and synchronizing with the global Cloud ERP Private implementation. This was a high-risk project because any business disruption could have resulted in significant financial consequences.

A project of this scale and complexity demanded careful planning, flawless execution, and the ability to mitigate risk in real time. The Tidewater IT leadership team interviewed several existing Cloud ERP customers to understand common challenges, realized value and best practices to ensure continued SAP modernization and IT advancement. They also carefully evaluated 5+ Cloud ERP Private system integrators, ultimately selecting Protera as their partner of choice due to their: 

  • Cloud ERP Private expertise as one of the first partners to migrate RISE to the public cloud in 2022
  • Ability to understand and consult on the entire project scope to set realistic timelines, unlock cost savings, avoid security risks, and ensure a seamless end-user experience
  • Genuine interest in helping Tidewater solve their unique business transformation challenges
  • Strong collaboration across the Tidewater, consultancy, and SAP Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) teams

 

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The SAP Cloud ERP Private (RISE) upgrade was the most complex & comprehensive software release performed in Tidewater history. The environment was stabilized in record time. By day 3 of the implementation, we were able to report zero open issues. This was an amazing accomplishment, and our SAP Cloud ERP Private implementation reflects exceptional planning, adherence to best practices, clean and fully reconciled data from ECC, robust testing, mock dry runs, and effective change & risk management.
 
- Lee Johnson, EVP and CIO at Tidewater

The Protera Solution: A foundation for transformation 

Partnering with Protera, Tidewater launched one of the most comprehensive and complex upgrades in its history: the migration of ECC to SAP Cloud ERP Private (formerly RISE with SAP).


Key aspects of the implementation included:

  • Industry leading UAT best practices: Having 100+ end users (the highest level of participation in any of their global software initiatives to date) involved in the testing phase increased user confidence and decreased the margin for error.
  • Hyper Care excellence: Cross-functional teams swarmed tickets and stabilized the system within three days—a record given the scale of the rollout.
  • Clean data and strong governance: Full reconciliation from ECC ensured integrity across financials, HR, and operational processes.
  • Resilient operations: Payroll, treasury payments, and global workflows ran smoothly with minimal disruption.
  • Security-first approach: Cybersecurity patching and disaster recovery testing were embedded into the early phases of post-go-live.

Realized Benefits

Migrating from legacy ECC 6 to EHP8 on SAP Cloud ERP Private enabled Tidewater to take advantage of the latest technology and enhanced security, all while preserving core business functionality. This meant end users experienced very little disruption to their daily processes.

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On Monday morning after go-live, our end users didn’t even notice a difference in their daily operations. From their perspective, nothing changed.
 
- Lee Johnson, EVP and CIO at Tidewater

 

The project was not approached as “one size fits all.” Instead, Tidewater and its partners carefully defined the migration scope to simplify the journey, leveraging ECC on HANA as a strategic first step. The multi-faceted approach included these three operations:

  1. Upgrading ECC to EHP8 to align with the latest SAP release.
  2. Transitioning from Microsoft SQL Server to SAP HANA to improve performance and enable next-generation capabilities.
  3. Migrating from AWS Native infrastructure to SAP ERP Cloud Private to gain scalability, compliance, and operational resilience.

Within weeks of go-live, Tidewater saw tangible results:

  • Stability in record time: By Day 3, there were zero open issues—far surpassing industry benchmarks, as most RISE implementations struggle to achieve business objectives on time.
  • Business continuity: Tidewater successfully closed their first run of monthly financials in the new platform with no reported issues—a major milestone validating system performance.
  • Financial impact: Tidewater realized significant cost savings on SAP annual maintenance.
  • Cybersecurity gains: With the latest release and enhanced security features, Tidewater is better positioned to defend against evolving threats.
  • Future-ready foundation: The upgrade provided Tidewater with required business functionality and the migration to Cloud ERP Private enabled them to take advantage of advanced SAP tools, including Joule, and BTP. 

Looking to the Future

Tidewater’s Cloud ERP Private platform is more than an upgrade—it is a foundation for innovation and resilience. With stability achieved, the company is now planning additional efficiencies for global operations and preparing to leverage SAP’s AI and automation capabilities to drive further operational excellence.

Tidewater’s journey with SAP Cloud ERP Private stands as a best-in-class showcase implementation, recognized by SAP as a model for customer success. The collaboration across Tidewater’s global team, SAP ECS, and Protera not only delivered on time and with precision but also set the stage for long-term growth and innovation.

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