SAP Enhancement Packages not a “Panacea” after All02/23/2009 by Dieter Steiger
The new concept of the Enhancement Packages (EhPs) from SAP is ingenious from a technical perspective. It’s actually too bad that SAP, the supplier par excellence for business software, has taken so long to create this software logistics concept. Based on the time and effort they’ve put in, any SAP CIO can tell you what [...]
How Tool-based SAP Change Control Helps SAP Customers01/29/2009 by Peter Helfenstein
HP PPM in combination with beteo’s SAP Change Control Current Practice can help SAP customers to reduce cost and risk the SAP change process.
This article summarizes the potential benefits, challenges and approaches of implementing a SAP change control solution based on HP PPM and beteo SAP Change Control Current Practice as well as illustrates a [...]
SAP Consolidation – a Challenge to Further Development?01/09/2009 by Dieter Steiger
In a highly interesting and descriptive blog posting on the SAP Community Network, Tao Zhang, who works for Benteler Group, discusses the SAP consolidation process. His article focuses on the challenges and potential benefits, approaching the issue from the company’s perspective.
New Challenges
As I see it, the biggest challenges facing SAP system environment consolidation projects in [...]
Transport Management – SAP CTS+ will hardly straighten it out11/24/2008 by Dieter Steiger
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 [...]
SAP Business Process Change Analyzer – Does It Analyze Business Processes?11/18/2008 by Dieter Steiger
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 [...]
Fresh from SAP TechEd Las Vegas: Panaya 3.209/19/2008 by Marcel Morf
At SAP’s TechEd conference, the new releases of Panaya Support Automation 3.2 and Panaya Upgrade Automation 3.2 have been announced.
Panaya 3.2 Overview
Upgrade Automation is the fast and accurate way to control the impact of SAP projects and SAP changes in general. It automatically analyzes SAP systems and changes and provides online services to answer key [...]
SAP Solution Manager – More Than Just SAP Marketing?07/28/2008 by Dieter Steiger
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 [...]
HP BTO Software Centers – Overview07/24/2008 by Peter Helfenstein
HP offers a number of BTO Centers. These software packages support in the context of a BTO strategy specific phases of the application lifecycle. The following overview is meant to shed light on the HP BTO jungle.
IT STRATEGY
Project and Portfolio Management Center (CIO Office)
The IT management solution enables control and documentation of the enterprise [...]
SAP Change Impact Management – PHW Business School and beteo study06/30/2008 by Marco Gerussi
In collaboration with the PHW Business School, Zurich, Switzerland we are conducting a study in the IT Change Impact Management area.
We are analyzing a specific challenges of international corporations using SAP as their corporate software globally and specifically the challenges of their IT development organization because of impacts given by system consolidaton centralization efforts.
Fundamentally we will [...]
Configuration Management for SAP Customizing?06/27/2008 by Dieter Steiger
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, [...]