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From the CEO
Welcome to our fifth SAP Change Control eNewsletter for 2009.
It's great to be back at the desk following another US ASUG SAPPHIRE Conference in which it was, as always, a pleasure meeting current and prospective Rev-Trac users.
This year we announced the pending release of Rev-Trac GlobalView, the new online Rev-Trac usage analysis tool that we have been very excited to share. We believe it will make a real difference to the value and ROI you get from Rev-Trac and so I encourage you read more about it below.
We also added to our knowledge base of your current and emerging SAP change control needs and have a few words written below about this too.
Be sure to look at the Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks and Q & A sections. If you have any of your own you would like to add, be sure to 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
ASUG SAPPHIRE 09
Although ASUG SAPPHIRE 09 attendance was down this year, interest in SAP change control technology was noticeably higher than in the past.
The sharp increase in interest by SAP customers in change control technology solutions is no doubt fuelled by the growing awareness of the availability of SAP Solution Manager Change and Request Management (ChaRM).
However, in listening to how SAP change control teams are assessing whether or not the generic SAP Solution Manager offering will meet their specific requirements, it emerged that four key variables are helping to determine its suitability or whether they need to look beyond to specialist third party offerings.
These four key variables are as follows.
- Degree of regulation to be complied with (e.g. SOX, FDA)
- Volume of change (Transports per month)
- Complexity of SAP environment (Landscapes and systems)
- Complexity of change control process (Simple / Complex)
For those SAP customer organizations making few changes, running relatively simple SAP environments and using few or simple change control processes, the SAP Solution Manager offering was reported as an adequate change control solution.
However, for those making many changes across large SAP environments, usually with both ABAP and non-ABAP technologies, and using complex change control processes, the need for a proven third party specialist change control technology was evident.
Reasons cited included the need for process and workflow flexibility, ease of use, enforcement of process, visibility across SAP solutions, ability to manage both ABAP and non-ABAP changes easily and simply, quality and system safety requirements, automation, integration with other third party ALM products and a preference for specialist support.
To learn how Rev-Trac can meet these requirements, download the Rev-Trac datasheet.
Rev-Trac GlobalView Now Released
In the February edition of this eNewsletter, we mentioned that RSC Support would soon be releasing GlobalView. We are happy to announce that GlobalView is currently being Beta tested by several Rev-Trac customers. Their feedback will help with product finalization with general availability to follow soon after.
With GlobalView, customers can manage their costs and risks by analyzing their Rev-Trac change control configuration and usage using a secure portal to access a series of analysis areas via an easy to use dashboard. Available views include:
- A process viewer with interactive flow charts that provide instant graphical visibility into all configured change control processes
- A feature usage analysis that shows which Rev-Trac features are in use and, more importantly, which are not and how to activate them to get full value
- A system health analysis that identifies configuration problem areas, providing advice on appropriate solutions
- An interactive landscape viewer that shows system and landscape details and structure
- A viewer that shows the configured organizational and team structures, specifying each team member's approval level/responsibilities
- Usage statistics that cover the number of transports managed, transport migrations, signatures received, change requests, documents attached, and more, enabling users to quickly gauge their Rev-Trac ROI3
GlobalView runs independently of an organization's SAP software implementations, using only the customer's Rev-Trac configuration information to produce its analyses. As a Rev-Trac analysis tool, it will be included as part of normal Rev-Trac annual support.
To learn more, ask for a demonstration of Rev-Trac GlobalView today by contacting us.
[ Download Datasheet >> ]
[ Download Press Release >> ]
Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks
Granular Authorisation - Rev-Trac Migration Workbench
The Rev-Trac Migration Workbench is an expert tool that allows an authorized user to:
- Migrate transports in the foreground
- Send transports to the Rev-Trac migration queue
- Perform "what if" OOPS checks to determine if migrating transports in a particular sequence will result in overtaking and overwriting
- Create transport lists from text files for later re-use
As this is an expert tool the use of the tool is limited to users with specific administration authority. In situations where a company may have strict guidelines regarding segregation of duties it is possible to allow access to this tool without allowing the user to have full administrative authorization for other Rev-Trac functions.
Two different settings affect whether or not a user can access the
Rev-Trac Migration workbench:
- The authorisations included in the SAP user master record
- The user's Rev-Trac AdminAuth setting.
Together with the user master, this setting helps to determine whether the user is permitted to perform administrative functions.
This setting is located at Rev-Trac Console > Configuration > Process > Organisations > Users.
SAP User Authorisation Profile
Add a profile based on the sample profile Y/RSC/ADM05 (Admin: Migration Workbench) to the user's SAP user master record (adjusting the target group limitations to your requirements).
When used in conjunction with the appropriate user AdminAuth, this authorization may be used to allow a user to add items to the Rev-Trac migration queue and to migrate items in the foreground or to perform immediate manual migrations using the Migration Workbench.
Rev-Trac AdminAuth setting
Ensure the user has a setting of AdminAuth = 01 in the Rev-Trac user configuration area.
This setting is located at Rev-Trac Console > Configuration > Process > Organisations > Users
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
How will the application of an SAP support pack affect my installation of Rev-Trac?
As Rev-Trac resides within its own SAP namespace (/RSC/), Rev-Trac software and data will not be affected by the import of a SAP support pack.
However, by ensuring that your Rev-Trac installation is always on the latest Rev-Trac Support Package Stack your installation will be in the best possible state regarding support if any problem does arise.
Please note: before applying a SAP support pack in any of your development systems, it is also a good idea to deactivate the Rev-Trac field exits and BADI in these systems.
The following information is available from the Rev-Trac console menu: Administration -> Read Me Before SAP upgrade.
Before performing an SAP upgrade in a development system, be sure to deactivate the Rev-Trac field exits and BADI.
If you fail to do so, you may be unable to create transports required during the SAP upgrade.
To deactivate the Rev-Trac field exits, run program RSMODPRF and deactivate field exits for data elements TRKORR and TRORDERTXT.
Deactivate the Rev-Trac BADI using transaction SE19. Depending on your installation, your Rev-Trac BADI is named either Z_RSC_EP_TX_BADI or /RSC/DEV_EP_PLUS_TX.
After completing your SAP upgrade, reactivate the Rev-Trac field exits and BADI.
If you need any help with these steps, contact support@xrsc.com. If you plan on applying a SAP support pack to the Rev-Trac master system, you will need to take some special precautions to allow for development to continue in other slave systems. For further information, please consult the Rev-Trac administrator Guide under heading: Preparing for a planned outage of the Rev-Trac master system.
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