Given the two sets of objects (in-use and changing) it’s easy to assess the impact. You just look for the intesection between the two sets.

However, there are real problems with this approach. In no particular order:

* trace is used very sparingly because of the load it puts on a system. I think it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll turn on trace for a representative set of users long enough to build up a reliable profile of the in-use objects.

* you need a representative in-use objects set before you can begin the analysis. Assembling that will probably take longer than your traditional manual approach of test everything.

* trace on anything but production is going to give you a false sense of security that your ‘in-use’ object set is accurate.

* every SAP environment is dynamic which means you have to maintain the recording of in-use objects.

In fact you can do this sort of analysis today without waiting for BPCA. The changing object set can be downloaded from SAP’s service desk and you can turn on trace anytime you like.

For sure, since I’m the CTO of IntelliCorp I’m sure you expect me to say that LiveCompare’s intelligent impact analysis is the superior solution. That being said, on the evidence that’s available, BPCA does not support credible Change Impact Analysis.