The Custom Code Challenge

Organizations undertaking SAP modernization initiatives commonly face daunting obstacles:

• Legacy, complex custom code with minimal documentation 
• Extended project timelines creating business disruption
• Difficulty achieving Clean Core compliance when migrating to S/4HANA
• High costs associated with traditional transformation approaches

These industry-wide challenges prompt enterprises to seek innovative solutions that can accelerate SAP modernization while reducing risks, costs, and implementation time.

Kyndryl’s Implementation Project

The implementation focused on two heavily utilized legacy ABAP applications essential for Kyndryl's daily operations—one running on ECC and another on S/4HANA. These applications are complex: spanning 33,000+ lines of custom code, with a lot of complex SQL queries and business logic. Nova AI executed a complete transformation of these applications into fully Clean Core RAP and CAP solutions in just ten business days, delivering immediate business value.

The business case metrics were exceptional: Nova AI's transformation process automated approximately 75% of the traditional workload, reducing an estimated 375 consultant-hours to just 85 consultant-hours. The transformed applications achieved 100% Clean Core compliance, eliminated direct table reads, moved from SAPGUI to Fiori, and reduced transformation costs by 50%. This efficiency was largely driven by Nova AI’s multi-agent system. Nova AI’s documentation and fit-gap-analysis agents produced over 100 pages of documents, requiring minimal human oversight and remediation, and Nova AI’s coding and testing agents produced 3,500+ lines of code, with only ~200 requiring edits from Nova AI’s subject matter experts.

"What Nova AI achieved - exceptional transformation quality at a dramatically reduced timeline and cost - is something I previously thought impossible," said Bernd Schaefer, Senior Vice President for Applications, Data & AI at Kyndryl. "This breakthrough AI-driven approach opens entirely new possibilities for SAP modernization."

How Nova AI's AI-Driven Solution Works

Nova AI's unique solution leverages specialized AI agents working collaboratively with their SAP experts to accelerate the SAP custom code modernization process. During the discovery phase, AI agents rapidly analyze legacy systems to create comprehensive documentation and understanding of existing applications — completing in hours what typically takes days or weeks. These agents then perform intelligent fit-gap analysis by cross-referencing functionality against SAP Best Practices and standard functionalities to identify which elements can leverage existing functionality versus requiring custom development. When rebuilding these applications to be Clean Core compliant, Nova AI’s agents autonomously find and test appropriate APIs, generate Clean Core compliant artifacts using ABAP Cloud / RAP, CAP, Fiori and other modern technologies, and continuously self-test to ensure business requirements are met. SMEs provide expertise at critical points throughout the process, with manual edits required for only about five percent of the total code. This human-AI collaboration ensures both technical excellence and business alignment, delivering solutions that are not only Clean Core compliant but also optimized for the organization's specific needs.

Conclusion

This initial collaboration between Kyndryl and Nova AI demonstrates that SAP modernization led by Nova AI's experts using their proprietary multi-agent AI technology delivers transformative business results. Through this partnership, Kyndryl has achieved:

• Superior solution quality with 100% Clean Core compliance, reducing technical debt and total cost of ownership
• Combined 75% reduction in implementation effort and 50% reduction in costs, delivering immediate ROI
• Future-proofing of applications, enabling continuous innovation, simplified upgrades, and significantly improved usability

Nova AI’s approach fundamentally changes the economics and timeline of SAP modernization, enabling organizations to tackle custom code transformation projects that previously seemed too risky, costly, or time-consuming.

Connect With Us

Nova AI and Kyndryl will showcase this innovative approach at SAP Sapphire in Orlando (May 19-21) and Madrid (May 26-28). Explore ways to connect with Kyndryl at Sapphire here. Organizations looking to accelerate their SAP Clean Core journey can request a meeting or request the full case study by reaching out to contact@novasoftware.ai.