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From the CEO
Welcome to our seventh SAP Change Control eNewsletter for 2009.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is something that is becoming 'top of mind' for CIOs of large organizations lately, so we have provided a few thoughts around the topic in this newsletter for your interest.
We have also been hearing a lot about the need for a 'Single Source of Truth' when it comes to managing SAP infrastructure and the role of the Customer Center of Expertise (Customer COE) in providing this 'single source', and so have included a brief overview of the role Rev-Trac would play in a Customer COE.
Once again the Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks and Q & A sections are included, and I trust you will find them of value. Remember that if you have any of your own you would like to add, please submit them.
As always, we continue to lead innovation in SAP change control, developing software technology to help you reduce the risks and lower the costs of introducing changes into your SAP systems.
David Drake, CEO and Founder
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Integration
According to recent Gartner research, increased change volumes, globalization of delivery teams, greater regulation, and a need to improve productivity and quality means the need for systemized and, as far as possible, automated ALM has become an important consideration for those responsible for serving the business with IT systems and infrastructure.
To manage an SAP ERP application there are a range of tools and options available to enable the IT department to best manage its application lifecycle. Typically an IT department will use, for example, a tool for testing, a tool for data management, another tool for analysing impact, a tool for code control and code management and yet another for overall change management.
The role of change control technology in ALM integration
Since tools to control and manage every aspect of ALM according to an IT department's preference are unlikely to be found within the one technology, one answer is an integrated approach through a third technology.
In managing change from concept through to delivery any number of ALM tasks may be required to take place. It makes sense then to employ a change control technology to facilitate the integration of ALM tools and activities.
By integrating the use of disparate ALM tools throughout the change control process an opportunity exists for maximized automation of the ALM process, the enforced use of ALM tools in critical applications and the full documentation of change related use and results of each.
RSC's Rev-Trac SAP change control technology has already been integrated with ALM products by its customers, including HP Quality Center and the Remedy service desk, with such integrations becoming a future requirement of almost all recent Rev-Trac acquisitions.
In anticipating the future need to integrate change control with other ALM activities RSC developed its add-on suite for Rev-Trac including the Rev-Trac Connections Package, RT-Connect. Designed to simplify integration and ensure ease of use of other application APIs, RT-Connect is available and ready for your SAP ALM integration project.
For more information about RT-Connect or the Rev-Trac Add-on Suite, please click here >>
Rev-Trac and your Customer Center of Expertise (Customer COE)
Did you know that by implementing Rev-Trac SAP change control technology you can meet several of the Advanced Customer COE requirements?
In order to help its customers develop more robust SAP support centers for its business customers, SAP are encouraging its customers to establish a Customer COE to manage quality and collaboration between all parties involved to manage its mission-critical operations effectively and efficiently.
The Customer Center of Expertise (Customer COE) organization is envisaged as a team acting across all business units and located in a company's application management unit that will bring all stakeholders to the table to resolve challenges and issues. It helps manage mission-critical operations, providing:
- Solution documentation
- Change management and test management
- Top-issue management
- End-to-end quality management
In addition, the team manages quality gates and makes sure that innovation is drawn directly from SAP to avoid unnecessary modification.
More information on the Customer COE can be found at the SAP Support Portal https://websmp102.sap-ag.de/coe (SAP Service Marketplace login required)
The role of change control technology in the Customer COE
Among a comprehensive range of certifiable criteria from within five categories, to receive Advanced Certification of a Customer COE an integrated tool set to record, track and report changes in your landscape, such as SAP Solution Manager ChaRM or a third-party equivalent (such as Rev-Trac), is a requirement.
Specifically, required are:
- Standardized methods for Change Request Management are to be adhered to throughout the entire application management lifecycle and there is a single change management process.
- For each change request, there is transparency on its full documentation and link to a corresponding change request.
- Automation enabling scheduling according to priority, category and possible impact; and that, following an established workflow; only changes which are approved and tested come into production.
Rev-Trac has been selected by some of the largest SAP user organizations in the world to automate and enforce its SAP change control activities and processes. To learn more about how Rev-Trac change control technology achieves this, please please visit the
RSC website
Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks
Granular Authorisation – Rev-Trac Queue management
The ability to access and manipulate the Rev-Trac Migration Queue is considered an expert function that should only be performed by an appropriately authorized member of an organization.
As this is an expert facility Rev-Trac will limit the ability to edit the queue to users with specific administrative authority. In situations where a company may have strict guidelines regarding segregation of duties it is possible to allow access to this facility without allowing the user to have full administrative authorization for other Rev-Trac functions.
Two different settings affect whether or not a user can modify the Rev-Trac Migration Queue:
SAP User Authorization Profile
Add a profile based on the sample profile Y/RSC/ADM04 (Admin: Migration Queue) to the user's SAP user master record (adjusting the target group limitations and potentially the project/request type to the organizational requirements).
When used in conjunction with the appropriate user AdminAuth, this authorization may be used to allow a user to edit, remove and manipulate items within the Rev-Trac migration queue.
For further information on authorization granularity, please consult the Rev-Trac Administrator Guide. The latest copy of the guide can be downloaded from the support area of the RSC website.
[ More tips >> ]
Rev-Trac Q & A
Is it possible to approve a Rev-Trac request via Blackberry?
If setup correctly, it is possible to perform approvals via Blackberry, however this would require utilization of the email approval option in the Rev-Trac xPack add-on.
Setup requirements:
The Rev-Trac web application and xPack add-on are required to be installed and associated with the Rev-Trac master system.
Also if the user was on the road they would either require VPN access to an organizations network or a port would need to be opened to the Rev-Trac web application, in order for the web approval to work.
There are a few limitations implemented mainly for security purposes, which prevent a remote user from approving Migration or Post migration status.
For further information on Rev-Trac add-on functionality, please visit the RSC website or contact our support team.
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