From the CEO

Having been involved in either making or managing changes to SAP systems for nearly all of my IT career, I have most definitely seen a major ramp up in the complexities of doing so in recent times.

Our team that attended SAP TechEd Las Vegas reported this is the very same observation many of you and your peers have made too.

Recently, one additional complexity has been the take up of the
5-system project/support SAP landscape, an excellent method of separating out project work from support and a recommendation from SAP for companies carrying busy project loads.

Below you can read about the types of new risks and challenges to production stability that need to be carefully managed and then download the whitepaper to read more.

Towards the bottom of this eNewsletter you will find new Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks and Rev-Trac Q & A sections. Previous tips can be found on the RSC website.

If you missed any of the RSC webinars held in early 2008, don't forget to register for the upcoming series (see side panel).

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 TechEd Las Vegas

Whilst exhibiting at SAP TechEd Las Vegas it was a fruitful exercise collating the common questions and comments to ascertain the new challenges facing SAP change teams.

You might be interested to hear what the top five were (not in order of magnitude):

• Confusion as to the nature and benefits of CTS+ as a change control tool was a clear number one observation

• Improved understanding as to what Solution Manager can and cannot do for SAP change control requirements

• Challenges around implementing change control processes for SAP Java application changes that are consistent with ABAP application changes

• Significant uptake of the 5-system support/project landscape method of project management

• The number of user organizations upgrading to ECC6 in 2009

Many attendees we spoke to mentioned the rolling out of a
5-system SAP landscape, and while few were unaware of the increased change control challenges such a solution brings, many were unsure as to how they were going to manage them. If you are unaware of these challenges, or are interested in learning more, download the following whitepaper:

"What SAP Project Managers Need to Know about Managing Changes across a 5 System Landscape"

[ Download whitepaper >> ]

Why Your Organisation Should Be Using An SAP Change Control Technology

SAP IT resource limitations

IT departments are finding it more and more difficult to control the risks and costs associated with managing changes into the SAP systems they are responsible for, leading to an increasing pressure to achieve more with less.

With the use of an appropriate SAP change control technology, the job of delivering safe, risk free changes to production systems can be managed cost effectively by the change team, without the burden of managing the change process.

[ More Reasons >> ]

SAP TechEd Berlin

RSC Booth #2.24

After an exciting and successful exhibit at SAP TechEd Las Vegas, RSC is looking forward to exhibiting at the next SAP TechEd in Berlin, Germany.

If you are attending, please feel free to drop by booth #2.24 for a chat.

SAP TechEd '08 Berlin
September 14 - 16, 2008
Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin (ICC Berlin)
Neue Kantstraße / Ecke Messedamm D-14057
Berlin, Germany

[ TechEd Details >> ]

Rev-Trac Tips and Tricks

Require multiple approvals on a single status

It is possible to configure multiple approvals on a single status via standard Rev-Trac configuration.

This can be performed at a status approver assignment level:

   Configuration > Process > Strategies
     Strategies -> Status Path -> Approver & WF message recipients

The controlling factor is the value of ‘App Type’ on an AND/OR basis.

To allow an OR scenario, enter all approvers with the same ‘App Type’.

To allow an AND scenario (requiring multiple approvals), enter each or multiple approvers with different ‘App Type’.

When multiple approval types have been assigned to a single status, the Rev-Trac request will show multiple approval nodes, displayed by approval type.

When selecting an approval node of a particular approval type,
Rev-Trac will generate the list of approvers based on only the entries with the correct ‘App type’ in the ‘Approvers & WF message recipients’ configuration for the strategy/status.

For more detail on this topic, see Tutorial 2 in the current version of the Rev-Trac Administrator guide available for download from the support area of the RSC website.

[ More tips >> ]

Rev-Trac Q and A

How do I suppress OOPS overtake alert messages occurring for a transport I do not intend to migrate?

It is common for changes to be abandoned without being migrated to production. Often these abandoned transports can trigger OOPS overtake errors as new changes effecting the same objects are migrated into production.

It is possible to prevent the OOPS overtake alerts from being displayed by quarantining the transport.

The Rev-Trac quarantining facility can be accessed via Rev-Trac menu path:

   Migration > Tools > Quarantine Transports

Effectively the facility removes the data file from the transport data directory, which allows Rev-Trac to suppress the related OOPS overtake alert.

For further information, see the heading ‘Transport Management -> Quarantining Transports’ in the current version of the Rev-Trac Administrator guide available for download from the support area of the RSC website.

[ Ask a question >> ]