Overview

Land Registry Services is the custodian of New South Wales land title records — the organisation that sits behind every property transfer, title search, and ownership change in the state. Accuracy, compliance, and operational reliability are not aspirational goals here; they are foundational requirements.

When SAP announced the end-of-life of its on-premise platform in July 2026, LRS faced a choice that many organisations recognise: migrate the existing complexity into a new shell, or use the deadline as a forcing function to build something genuinely better. LRS chose transformation.

Working with EPI-USE Australia, LRS embarked on a complete modernisation of its SAP landscape, replacing its legacy SAP Business Suite with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors, and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). The programme focused on reducing technical debt, modernising integrations, streamlining financial operations, and creating a scalable platform capable of supporting future growth.

Project Scope

The Challenge

Land Registry Services faced three major challenges.

The first was technical debt. The existing SAP environment had accumulated 440 custom objects over decades. The system contained 32 custom sales order types where a single standard process could perform the same function. Every SAP upgrade required extensive impact analysis and remediation work, increasing both cost and complexity. Technical debt had become a significant operational burden.

The second challenge centred around workforce management and payroll complexity. LRS operates a unique FlexTime working policy that standard software could not adequately support. Employees managed flexible hours through spreadsheets, payroll relied on complex NSW Clerk Award configurations, and manual processes filled the gaps between disconnected systems.

The third challenge was integration complexity. More than 40 external systems connected to the SAP environment, including the Integrated Titling System (ITS), PEXA, the ATO, banking systems and broker portals. Many relied on flat-file transfers and basic authentication methods, creating security risks and limiting the organisation’s ability to support modern, real-time operations.

The Approach

LRS engaged EPI-USE Australia to replace its entire SAP Business Suite in a single transformation programme spanning Finance, Sales & Billing, Procurement, Human Resources, Time Management and Payroll. The solution was built on SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).

Rather than taking a lift-and-shift approach, the project adopted a greenfield, clean-core implementation strategy. Existing processes were challenged and evaluated against SAP standard functionality, with customisation only accepted where a genuine and unavoidable business requirement existed.

Stage 1 – Discover & Explore

Every component of the legacy environment was assessed, all 440 custom objects were reviewed, and the future-state architecture was defined. The analysis demonstrated that the gap between standard SAP capabilities and true business requirements was significantly smaller than the existing level of customisation suggested.

Stage 2 – Realise & Deploy

The second phase focused on building, testing and deploying the solution. Go-live activities were carefully sequenced to align with operational requirements, beginning with ERP, followed by HR, Payroll and FlexTime functionality.

Solution Components

SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud


  • Finance
  • Sales & Billing
  • Procurement
  • Cost & Profit Centre Accounting

SAP SuccessFactors


  • Employee Central
  • Employee Central Time
  • Employee Central Payroll

SAP Business Technology Platform


  • Custom FlexTime Application
  • OAuth-secured Integration Middleware
  • Modernised Integration Framework for 40+ systems

Additional EPI-USE solutions included Archive Central for historical data retention and Data Orchestration for automated migration of master and transactional data.

Innovation Spotlight – FlexTime Application

One of the most significant aspects of the programme was the development of a custom FlexTime application on SAP Business Technology Platform.

LRS operates a Flexible Working policy that governs how employees accrue and utilise time above and below their contracted hours across a 12-week rolling cycle. The policy includes accrual caps, half-day leave increments, mandatory meal break rules, manager approval workflows and suspension triggers.

Rather than modifying SAP core functionality, EPI-USE developed a purpose-built application that manages time entry, leave requests, accrual calculations, approval workflows, policy enforcement and 12-week cycle management.

The application enables LRS to maintain a clean-core SAP environment while supporting a highly specialised workforce policy. At go-live, all active FlexTime data was migrated into the new platform, allowing employees to transition seamlessly into a new cycle with their historical records intact.

Legacy modernisation at this scale — an entire SAP Business Suite, 40-plus external integrations, a bespoke BTP application, all delivered in ten months — demands both technical discipline and the willingness to make hard decisions quickly. Together, we never treated this as a migration exercise — we treated it as an opportunity to challenge how our systems should work, and we held a clean-core line even when it was uncomfortable. The result is an architecture built for how LRS actually operates, and a platform we can actually keep pace with.

Mark Hansen
Chief Information Officer, Land Registry Services

Key Wins

    • 440 → 10 Custom Objects
      Achieved a 97.7% reduction in customisation, significantly reducing future maintenance requirements.
    • 32 → 1 Sales Order Types
      Consolidated bespoke processes into a single standard SAP process.
    • 47 General Ledger Accounts Closed
      Introduced a cleaner financial structure based on Profit Centre Accounting.
    • 60% of Employees Freed from Manual Timesheets
      Administrative overhead was removed for salaried employees while the remaining workforce moved to the new FlexTime platform.
    • 40+ Integrations Modernised
      Legacy flat-file integrations were replaced with authenticated APIs and OAuth-based security.
    • 8+ Years of Historical Data Archived
      Compliance obligations were maintained while improving performance in the new SAP environment.

Payroll Delivered Successfully

The first live payroll was processed on schedule following two successful parallel test cycles and Payroll Control Centre validation.

Finance Modernised

Month-end reporting became cleaner, faster and more transparent through the adoption of modern accounting structures.

Clean-Core Architecture Established

Future SAP releases can now be adopted without the extensive remediation effort previously required.

Ongoing Partnership

Following the successful implementation, EPI-USE continues to provide ongoing BAU support, ensuring LRS can continue to evolve its SAP landscape with confidence.