Author Archive

In my article on SAP Change and Transport Management, I discuss the topic of “measures that ensure horizontal and vertical consistency.” After attending the TechEd Berlin 2008, it appears that SAP and its Enhanced Change and Transport System CTS+ remain unwilling to accept this challenge but instead prefer to leave it up to customers and [...]

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Accompanied by considerable fanfare, SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker introduced an SAP Solution Manager module called the SAP Business Process Change Analyzer (SAP BPCA) at this year’s TechEd in Berlin. So, what’s behind it? Can the Business Process Change Analyzer fulfill the expectations that its name suggests?
The fact that SAP has even introduced the BPCA seems [...]

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I was fortunate to attend various presentations on the topic of SAP’s solution management at SAP TechEd 2008 Berlin.
My expectations regarding SAP solution management would be that SAP could finally take on the task of solution management for specific customer implementation scenarios, and that it would do so in a comprehensive manner. Sadly, this has [...]

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Whereas ERP is a synonym for software-supported Enterprise Planning and Controlling, ERP4IT stands for software-supported IT Planning and Controlling (ITPC).
Those who are looking for solutions will without much doubt check out the ERP4IT offerings of the leading ERP system manufacturer SAP. SAP seems to be the only ERP software vendor for managing one´s own customer [...]

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As its name suggests, the SAP Solution Manager is designed to provide support for the management of SAP customer implementations. Does it perform this task? Or is it just one of SAP´s marketing instruments?
Missing Functions for Complex System Landscapes
When discussing the pros and cons of SAP Solution Manager, we must first of all give SAP [...]

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On Friday, October 26, 2007, inside-it.ch reported that OC Oerlikon will stop its super SAP project. The new approach is said to provide a „more intelligent, more flexible and cheaper solution that integrates all ERP systems of the business units using a central SAP consolidation tool“.
This seems to simplify things, but why is it that [...]

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A comprehensive configuration management is the most important basis of SAP Change and Transport Management. For ABAP code, this is accepted as general practice and supported by suitable tools. But how about configuration management for SAP customizing?
From our experience, the major part of changes transported across a SAP system landscape are customizing changes. Not surprisingly, [...]

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Business Technology Optimization as a Challenge
Business Technology Optimization (BTO) targets at a closer collaboration of IT and business – nothing really new, just a daily challenge to the CIO. To support SAP IT organizations in reaching this target, beteo has designed the beteo Impact Hourglass.

With the beteo Impact Hourglass, principally all objects of the business [...]

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Successful IT Planning & Control must include not only IT Service Management and Project & Portfolio Management, but also Application Lifecycle Management in order to be of lasting benefit. The following illustration by Gartner clearly demonstrates this.

Considering the support of the various areas and, above all, of the interfaces between them, it is obvious that [...]

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In order to be able to successfully manage the Application Lifecycle, the Cycle above the individual development and problem solving cycles, the stage must be set in three areas:

Comprehensive support of all steps of the development cycle
The methods and supporting tools used for the entire development cycle from the user to the various IT areas [...]

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