From the CEO

Welcome to our final SAP Change Control eNewsletter for 2008. If you feel anything like I do, then you will be wondering where the year went!

From RSC's perspective, it has been a great year with a record number of new customers selecting Rev-Trac, the release of a range of enhanced Rev-Trac functionality, the joining with Panaya to create in-line automated impact analysis available to Rev-Trac customers and the expansion of the Rev-Trac Add-on Suite. All helping to ensure Rev-Trac remains the technology of choice for SAP change control. See the RSC end of year press release >>

We have completed the second of our three part webinar series on managing change in complex SAP environments and I trust you managed to make it to at least one webinar. If not we will be running more throughout 2009. Towards the bottom of this eNewsletter you will find new Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks and Rev-Trac Q & A sections.

As always, we continue to lead innovation in SAP change control, developing software technology to help you to reduce the risks and lower the costs of introducing changes into your SAP systems.

David Drake, CEO and Founder

SAP Change Control in 2008

During 2008 it was evident a surge in interest in SAP change control was underway and so we recently analyzed a range of RFP (Request for Proposal) technology requirements to find out why.

Upon completion of the analysis it was obvious that there were several clear drivers behind the surge. These being:

• A rapid expansion of the number of SAP user organizations deploying complex system SAP landscapes, in particular the temporary and permanent ‘5 system’ landscape.
• The increasing number of SAP user organizations deploying mixed technology stack applications (ABAP and Java).
• The general increase in external pressures for tighter corporate governance and compliance.

For those who settled on Rev-Trac as their chosen SAP change control technology, such as Anglo American (LSE: AAUK), one of the world's largest mining and natural resources companies, managing the risks presented through parallel development, and keeping their production and project systems reliably in sync, were key drivers when they moved to a third-party change control solution.

These particular change control needs have been a common theme and since the SAP environment is unlikely to become any simpler to mange anytime soon, I expect the surge in interest to continue into 2009 despite capital being a little more difficult to come by.

Download the 2008 RSC Market Trends Press Release.

[ Download Press Release >> ]

Change Control and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)

Some time ago during a conversation with a Gartner Analyst the topic of tying together ALM third party tools, applications and technologies to achieve a fully automated approach to ERP maintenance and management came up.

This was around 12 months ago and since then it has been very interesting to see how many Rev-Trac Proof of Concept criteria include integrating with the customer’s Help Desk, Testing Tool and non SAP change control applications.

For Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation (JSE: HVL) who also needed to integrate change control with its current ITIL Service Desk this was an important factor in choosing Rev-Trac. When deciding on how to manage change within their new SAP solution-based environment, they were looking for a solution that was certified for integration with SAP solutions, mature and multifaceted.

With the addition of Rev-Trac web services (available as part of the Rev-Trac Add-on Suite) tying together other third party ALM applications is a relatively simple matter. Exchanging information between the application and Rev-Trac can ensure that all the relevant information is captured and managed accordingly, that appropriate test scripts are run, impact analysis takes place or change status information is published to the Help Desk for business users, for example.

To read more about the Rev-Trac Add-on Suite and RT-Connect download the Add-on Suite data sheet.

[ Download Datasheet >> ]

Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks

How to prevent deleted Rev-Trac requests from locking objects

It is not possible to delete a Rev-Trac request. Instead, Rev-Trac requests can be assigned to a deleted status (DELT). This is an auditing requirement for many customers.

A Rev-Trac request with status DELT may continue to lock objects which are included in its transports.

To prevent Rev-Trac requests with status DELT from locking objects, check the following configuration from the Rev-Trac console menu:
Configuration > Process > Strategies > Statuses

Look for "DELT" in the Status column:
- The "Lock mode" entry for "DELT" should be 1
  (Don't lock objects on Rev-Trac requests in this status)

[ More tips >> ]

Rev-Trac Q and A

What is the difference between a ‘No Approver’ and an
‘Auto-Approver’?

There are two circumstances where it can be desirable to have
Rev-Trac automatically approve a status:

• Automatic approval of a ‘post migration’ status
• Automatic approval of a ‘non post migration’ status

There are two automatic approvers built into Rev-Trac:

• (AM) Auto Approver
• (NO) No Approval Required

The following is an overview of the two different automatic approvals and the correct approver to use in each case. It is important to use the appropriate approver.

Automatic approval of a ‘post migration’ status
An example of this could be the automatic approval of the ('post migration') status 'In QAS' after transports have been successfully migrated to QAS. The approver will be shown as AUTOMIG.

In this case the (AM) Auto Approver should be included as an approver of the post migration status. This makes sure the approval is dependent on the successful migration of transports initiated in the previous step.

Note: a status should always include at least one real person approver able to approve the status should manual intervention be required to correct a failed migration.

Automatic approval of ‘non post migration’ status
The (NO) No Approval Required is typically used to automatically approve statuses NEW and COMP. In this case Rev-Trac will detect that no approver is required, and automatically approve the status.

NOTE: The (NO) No Approval Required should be used with caution, as it may have undesired results if used incorrectly.

Where do I configure this?
From the Rev-Trac master console, you can access this area of configuration from the menu:
Configuration > Process > Strategies > Strategies > Status Path Approvers & WF recipients (Position).

For further information refer to the Rev-Trac Administrator Guide, under section autoapproval. Also search for "NO>". The Administrator Guide is available for download from the support area of the RSC website.