From the CEO

Firstly, let me wish you a Happy New Year from all at Revelation Software Concepts. We trust the year has started well for you and your family.

In this newsletter, our first for 2008, we bring you SAP change control articles on the new SAP CTS+ feature, the emerging top SAP change control requirement and we announce an exciting new RSC webinar series around topics we have been told are most challenging by our customers. Also included is a Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks and recently asked Rev-Trac Question sections.

Future issues of SAP Change Control News will have several exciting product announcements, customer contributed articles, interesting change control statistics and a range of whitepaper releases.

By the way, RSC will be once again exhibiting at ASUG/SAPPHIRE '08. We will be at Booth #778, so be sure to call by if you are attending.

As always, we continue to lead innovation in SAP change control, developing innovative software solutions to boost your competitive edge with SAP.

David Drake, CEO and Founder

Rev-Trac and CTS+

Rev-Trac, Revelation Software Concepts' SAP change control application, fully utilizes CTS+ functionality allowing for deployment of dual stack ABAP and Java changes transports or single stack Java change transports.

With Rev-Trac, users can:

• Associate both single or dual stack Java package CTS+ transports and ABAP CTS+ transports with a Rev-Trac change request, and automatically deploy these to any combination of destinations following approval ; and
• Specify and enforce sequence dependencies between single or dual stack Java package CTS+ transports, or between these and ABAP CTS+ transports.

ABAP transports and separate non-ABAP transports can be managed as a 'unit' of work to guarantee synchronized deployment without the need to embed the Java changes into the same transport as the ABAP changes. Thus providing more flexibility and control over how Java packages are managed and synchronized.

Additionally, by utilizing Rev-Trac dependency management, Rev-Trac can enforce predetermined dependencies between any Rev-Trac change requests with a CTS+ transport containing Java packages and any other change request with an ABAP transport to ensure one is not deployed out of sequence with the other.

All CTS+ transport movements are automatically monitored meaning users can be certain of all locations of all CTS+ transports at any time by system and by client.

To read more about CTS+ and Rev-Trac, download the whitepaper.

[ Download a copy of the presentation >> ]

Top ten change control application requirements

Here at RSC, we are on the receiving end of a growing number of Request's for Proposal for an SAP Change Control Application and thought you might be interested seeing the top requirements we are being asked for at the moment.

Here are the top 10 (not in any particular order):

1. Does your application support all SAP applications ERP, BI, CRM, APO, HCM etc through the one system?
2. What kind of J2EE change support (CTS+ and other) is provided by your solution?
3. How does your solution manage and control transport dependencies?
4. Can your solution proactively manage and control parallel development?
5. What kind of collision protection is provided by your application – can it provide proactive notification prior to migration?
6. Is your solution fully integrated into SAP TMS and does it provide transport migration automation, transport scheduling and transport grouping?
7. In what way does your application assist with SOX audit requirements and in particular manage segregation of duties?
8. Does your application provide for flexible workflow and approval path configuration?
9. Is process enforcement available?
10. Can the solution integrate with other 3rd party applications and/or Solution Manager?

If you are getting ready to evaluate an SAP change control application, then you may well find many of the above in your list of requirements.

For additional information on selecting an SAP Change Control Application, download our '10 questions' whitepaper.

[ Download whitepaper >> ]

Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks

Do you want to force a user to add collateral to a Rev-Trac request prior to signing a status?

Rev-Trac administrators can configure rules that prescribe the following before a request of a particular type and project reaches a particular status:

• Which Rev-Trac request fields must be completed
• Which types of attachments must be added
• Which types of references must be added

This makes it possible to configure rules such as the following for a request of a particular project and type:

• Before the request reaches the status "Budget approved", the "Estimated" field must be completed, and a reference of type "Help desk" should be attached
• Before the request reaches the status "In progress", the user should be prompted to complete the Programmer field, and a reference of type "Help desk" must be attached

For more detail on this topic, see the section "Request completion rules" in the current version of the Rev-Trac Administrator guide available for download from the support area of the RSC website.

Rev-Trac Q and A

Is it possible to create a template for use when attaching a document to a Rev-Trac request?

Users may design and load into Rev-Trac their own attachment templates which can be used when attaching a document to a Rev-Trac request.

You could for instance load an attachment template to be used for such things as:

• Functional specifications
• Test results

Use the following menu path to load an attachment template:
Configuration > Tools > Load template

When creating an attachment select the "Template" radio button on the Create attachment dialog.

It is also possible to enforce rules related to a particular attachment type by configuring a suitable "Request completion rule".

For more detail on this topic, see the section "Request completion rules" in the current version of the Rev-Trac Administrator guide available for download from the support area of the RSC website.

[ Ask a question >> ]