The Big Book of SAP Upgrades
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The Big Book of SAP Upgrades Real World SAP Upgrade Tips from the World’s Leading SAP System Integrators Compiled and Edited by Panaya Inc., September 2009 In August 2009, we asked hundreds of SAP system integrators to contribute their best upgrade tips for upgrading to SAP ERP 6.0. We took the best tips we received and compiled them in this eBook. We welcome your feedback, comments, and tips for future revisions of The Big Book of Upgrades. Drop us a line at bigbook@panayainc.com Contents Planning........................................................................................................................ 2 Upgrade Scope Decisions ............................................................................................ 9 Skill Requirements .................................................................................................... 12 Custom Code .............................................................................................................. 14 Test & Automation Tools .......................................................................................... 17 Useful Transactions & Reports ................................................................................. 21 Miscellaneous............................................................................................................. 25 Contributors’ Contact Details ................................................................................... 26 About Panaya Panaya's Software-as-a-Service solutions enable companies that use SAP to save up to 50% of their application lifecycle costs and minimize the risks associated with system changes. Utilizing cloud-based simulation to analyze the impact of pending changes, Panaya automatically pinpoints which custom programs will break as a result of an upgrade or support package implementation. Panaya provides a complete solution for managing these changes, explaining how to fix the anticipated issues, suggesting the most efficient test plan, and calculating required project budget and resources. To learn more or apply for a free upgrade evaluation, click here: http://www.panayainc.com/Free-Upgrade-Analysis-for-your-SAP.html 1 Planning Tip #1: Practice 3-Level Planning Contributed by: Michael Libens, ProVize In planning the upgrade, make sure to plan at three levels: • The first level is a communicable high-level milestone plan that can be shared among all participants and stakeholders, to see the major milestones. • The second level is a breakdown of the milestone plan to major project activities to all project participants who are responsible for a delivery. This plan is used to see dependencies that are more detailed and used for detailed week-to-week planning. • The third level is your go-live plan, which typically involves all activities to prepare for upgrading the production environment, as well as the actual upgrade (on a weekend). The actual off-line upgrade typically is a 1-2 day exercise meticulously planned on timeslots down to a detail of as little as 15-minute intervals. This plan should include all activities, responsibilities, handovers between parties, go-live testing and release acceptance criteria, as well as fallback procedures. Bonus Tip: Use 3rd Part Tools for Impact Analysis Identifying the areas where the biggest impact of your upgrade is, can be very difficult and time consuming. Use a 3rd party tool – such as Panaya's – to identify the areas most likely to be impacted by the upgrade. This will be a huge timesaver and a very efficient control measure on where to spend your time safeguarding the solution and where to focus your effort on corrections as well as testing. Tip #2: Insist on Management Involvement Contributed by: Ramesh Rao Dendukuri, Zylog Systems Limited Irrespective of the CEO and top management’s busy schedule, they should be involved with the upgrade implementation company (i.e., the system integrator). Frequent meetings are required between the client and the implementation company. Bonus Tip: Keep Your Business Blue Print Online Business requirements change dynamically, so the business blue print should be maintained online for easy modifications always conflict between present business to future business Tip #3: Take a 2-Step Approach Contributed by: Robert Makin, Mercedes-Benz Australia / Pacific Pty Ltd Take the following 2-step approach and you will ensure a successful upgrade to ECC 6.0: 1. Complete the system upgrade first, ensuring all customized programs work on ECC 6.0. 2. Consider what new functionality you want in ECC 6.0. Prepare two lists: a. Functionality in ECC 6.0 that requires no configuration to start using. b. Functionality in ECC 6.0 that requires configuration in order to adopt. 3. Prioritize the new functionalities into Must Have and Nice to Have lists. Work through the Must Have list first. Always provide time to complete the required process documentation and allow time for training business users on new functionality. 2 Tip #4: Verify Memory & Storage Requirements Contributed by: Ishaam Adamson, Wave-Tec Integrated Make sure that all current environments and systems are taken into the deepest of consideration for data conversion & interfacing requirements. More importantly, be sure to allocate not just marginal additional memory and storage facilities, but rather double to almost triple what is required – as this will avoid delays, and enable accessibility speeds for information needed. Tip #5: Archive Ahead of Time Contributed by: Lynda Kershaw, Macro 4 SAP recommends archiving before upgrading in order to reduce the volume of transaction data that is migrated to the new system. This results in shorter upgrade projects, with less production downtime. Storage costs are another important consideration: SAP has found that database size typically increases by 5% to 10% with each new SAP software release – and by as much as 30% if a Unicode conversion is required. Archiving reduces the overall database size, so typically no additional storage costs are incurred when upgrading. Tip #6: Check SAP Modules for Unicode Compatibility Contributed by: Farhad Farshimi, ERPInnovation If you are doing a Unicode conversion, make sure that not only your custom programs are Unicode converted, but also ensure that all your SAP Modifications are also compliant. We upgraded from 4.6C to ERP 6.0 and missed some of the functionality (e.g., integrated planning of statistical cost element to SPL) because some of our SAP Modifications were not properly converted to Unicode. Bonus Tip: Acquaint Yourself with New Functionality The funds management functionality in ERP 6.0 has been completely revamped in comparison to R/3 4.6C. There is a new FM derivation strategy as well as a new budgeting and availability control tool (BCS). If you are using the public sector setting, make sure you read all the release notes from 4.7 up to ERP 6.0’s latest enhancement package (inclusive). Tip #7: Resolve Legacy Data Issues Before Migration Contributed by: Rolando Soriano, Freelance Consultant The challenge we encountered during the recent upgrade project that I was involved with was during the data migration and validation, while the client was upgrading from 4.7 to ECC 6.0. During the validation process, for some of the account balances, we could not match the actual balances between the figures in accounting and what was in the system. It turns out that there were still some unresolved issues from the legacy system, which were not cleansed and were migrated to the new system. What I would recommend to those planning for an upgrade is to make sure that the legacy data to be migrated has no outstanding issues that are unresolved. For example, an incorrect foreign exchange rate used or a change of currency related to some cash accounts. These issues should be resolved first in the legacy system to minimize the disruption during the upgrade. 3 Tip #8: Focus on Pre-Installation Steps Contributed by: Deepanshu Sharma, TCS Before performing an upgrade, always focus on pre-installation steps. Even a small mistake could lead to a problem. Always try to have at least one or two test runs with production data so that the errors you face in the production environment won't increase down-time and you’ll become familiar with the expected errors. Also, ensure that you have read the Upgrade Guide and that you have the correct upgrade DVDs. Bonus Tip: Check Your Pre-Requisites Check these pre-requisites for an upgrade from 4.7EE TO ECC 6.0 1. Kernel parameters to be set as per the SAP upgrade guide; 2. Upgrade DVDs to be downloaded from the market place and dumped in the system: • Upgrade Master DVD • Kernel DVD • Export 1,2, 3 & 4 DVDs • Language DVD; 3. Fix corrections to be downloaded according to the note given in upgrade guide; 4. Latest Sapup tool; 5. Java patch should be greater than or equal to 12; 6. Generate Solman (SAP Solution Manager) key; 7. Obtibiz key required (from vendor); 8. Check for sufficient space as required; 9. Latest R3 trans, tp, dboralib, brtools 700 to be installed as per the upgrade guide; 10. Download the latest ECC 6.0 support packs and uncarr them in EPS_IN; 11. New file systems to be created /usr/sap/put with a minimum free space of 30GB; 12. Keyword required for Sapup as per note 913971; 13. Stop all background jobs; 14. SPAM level to be 23; 15. Check for any terminated updated jobs. There shouldn’t be any. Tip #9: Dwell on Technical Preparation Contributed by: Peggy Reed, SITA Corp Spend time doing the following preparation work before you begin the upgrade: 1. Make sure transports are in sync across the landscape; 2. Solution manager should be installed, working, and current with support packs; 3. All your hardware and software should be consistent across the landscape (i.e., same service level, same permissions, etc.); 4. Upgrade your database prior to upgrading SAP if that is possible; 5. Make sure you have enough memory installed prior to upgrading. 4 Tip #10: Prepare ABAP Testing Environment Contributed by: Ian Henderson, T-Systems Companies should not underestimate the effort required from their functional & ABAP teams, even if only a technical upgrade is performed. The technical upgrade activities can be planned precisely and be perfected during various sandbox/test upgrades to ensure that a stable testing platform is available to these teams to work on. Thus ensuring that the correct amount of effort can be invested in ensuring that the business processes and functions are working correctly. This is often not done 100%, due to most of the emphasis being placed on the technical basis upgrade activities. Bonus Tip: Consider a Remote Upgrade Upgrades can be done remotely, reducing travel costs and ensuring that companies have access to the most experienced upgrade specialists around the world, regardless of location. With networks being as reliable as they are currently are, I have begun specializing in remotely performed upgrades, which have been successful due to the extra effort given to communication, planning, and scheduling of actions with the onsite teams (ABAP, functional, basis & customer). Actively involving the onsite basis team from the beginning of the project ensures that the changes to the system caused by the upgrade are familiar to all at the onset of the production upgrade. This significantly increases the productivity of the support team post upgrade, due to being familiar with the system, and raises the enthusiasm of the onsite basis team by keeping it involved and inducing on-the-job learning and growth. Tip #11: Archive for a Leaner Database Contributed by: Mike Lord, Open Text The process of upgrading to SAP ERP 6.0 can be streamlined by using archiving to reduce the amount of transaction data in the SAP database prior to upgrading. A leaner SAP database provides the following benefits during the upgrade process: • Reduced production downtime; • Minimized need for additional hardware and related IT infrastructure investments; • Shorter duration of overall upgrade project. Bonus Tip: Archiving is Cost Saving Archiving data before upgrading your SAP ERP application can also help generate long-term cost savings. In addition to simply moving data from the production SAP database to less costly storage devices, archived data is also compressed by a factor of five relative to the space it would take up in the production database. This compression results in dramatically reduced space consumption on the archive storage media. Based on average customer experience, moving data from the production system to the archive and simultaneously compressing it can reduce hardware requirements by as much as 80% or 90% and cut administration time and costs in half. Storing data on less costly long-term storage media reduces total cost of ownership while providing users with full, transparent access to archived information. 5 Tip #12: Perform Two-Way Interface Tests Contributed by: Andrew Chen, SAP 1. If you have ERP systems not using Unicode, always make plan a two-way interface test; 2. Start to compose your cutover plan as early as possible, make it as detailed as possible, and constantly update it. This will save unexpected downtime during your production upgrade; 3. Send your test upgrade result (log files and upana.htm file) to SAP for optimization. Usually you will be surprised by how dramatically your downtime can be decreased. Tip #13: Understand the Implications of SAPRouter Contributed by: Pedro Bonniz, RealTech Portugal Watch out for the assumptions and requirements on your commercial proposals for upgrades to ECC 6.0. Recently we had to overcome severe problems on an upgrade to ECC 6.0 with Unicode conversion. Fortunately, we were able to get things straight, thanks to the expertise and experience of our consultants. We’re still trying to figure out what was the root cause for the problem because the client had no SAPRouter installation at all. As is commonly known, once you have a problem, there’s no way SAP will intervene without being able to get into the system via SAPRouter. We failed to mention the existence of SAPRouter as an assumption (or requirement, if you like), and so we were on our own the whole time and had to figure out how to overcome the problem ourselves with no help whatsoever from SAP! If you are an SAP client, make sure your SAPRouter is working properly prior to engaging in an upgrade to ECC 6.0. Even if you have no problems during the upgrade process, once you're on ECC 6.0, you won't be able to benefit from SAP support or updates (e.g., support packages and enhancement packages) without properly using SAPRouter and SAP Solution Manager. Tip #14: Match Development and Production Environments Contributed by: Audrey Neser, Mondial IT Solutions A few general tips and technical things to consider when upgrading and patching: 1. For a technical upgrade, ensure the development environment in which you do the initial upgrade is as close to your production environment as possible. This means that all unused objects in the development environment need to be undone to the way they were in production or QA (if you still have developments that need to be moved to the production environment at a later stage). This will enable less risk in finding new issues in QA and or production; 2. Ensure you have clean data in the development environment to compare results with (interfaces, etc.). Sometimes, it becomes impossible to determine what results were before the upgrade. Therefore, having development in line with at least QA will allow comparison between old and new results - which will make the determination and identification of business impact easy; 3. Ensure in advance that all transports in the receiving system are also released (when development is implemented, as well as when QA and/or production are upgraded). This will prevent loss of time due to transports “locking” objects that need to be changed. This also enables quick identification of transports done to facilitate business requirement fulfillment; 4. After the development upgrade, all open transports needs to be implemented in QA after QA patching, and before QA testing begins. This saves a lot of time when moving thru the landscape. 6 Tip #15: Clean Your Data Contributed by: Peter van Engelen, Strategic Supply Chain Management Data cleaning, data cleaning, and more data cleaning of the master files. If you have the data cleanup efforts under control, you know when you’re ready to cutover. Bonus Tip: Implement Advanced Supply Chain Solutions (Re-)Implement (for once!) the advanced supply chain solutions provided by ERP 6.0. Many companies did a poor job defining the supply chain relations with regards to demand planning, forecasting, MPS, MRP, inventory, etc. Tip #16: Plan Your Post Go-Live Support Contributed by: Gary Hart, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consider post go-live support when making all changes. Often times we are solely focused on the short-term implications with the goal of releasing our project and moving onto the next big project. In doing so, we often neglect the true client ROI which should incorporate the total costs over the lifecycle (5-10 years or more) and not just up to the GA release points. Be aware that your clients may often incur 2X-4X additional costs in post go-live support. Considerations of project design with this long-term view in mind will lead to higher quality and lower TCO with improved ROI in the end. Tip #17: Use This Checklist Contributed by: Amit Lal, Independent SAP Consulting This is a must-have technical upgrade checklist for basis managers and upgrade teams: Although it is clearly explained in the SAP Guide, I saw teams getting versions mixed up and getting into a lot of trouble. 1. Make sure the same version of SAPup and FIX are used before initiating subsequent up-grades for the entire landscape; Don’t attempt to change SAPup once you are done in the development system; 2. SPAM level on all source systems should be updated to the latest version; This helps minimize the errors during the upgrade process; 3. SPAM level and SP level or EHP stack should be same in every target system in the ERP landscape during an upgrade; 4. Make sure you generate a 'Revision list' from the first upgrade and during subsequent upgrades; This report helps you calculate each phase’s timeline and plan your cutover timings, too; 5. Do not attempt to clean the transport directory before you go live; 6. If you are planning dual development during the course of an upgrade, you need q robust transport methodology for the entire system; 7. If you are deploying SAP enhancement packages in integration with the upgrade, your source system should communicate with SAP Solution Manager to generate the ‘XML Stack file’; If communication is not possible, then you are required to generate the ‘XML Stack file’ manually and provide its path during the “prepare” phase. The upgrade will be much easier if Solution Manager is configured and communicating with your source systems. 7 Tip #18: Don't Spare ERP 6.0 Resources at Project Start Contributed by: Mark Rittmayer, CSC Asia Pacific LTD Change Management – Add seasoned ERP 6.0 resources in all modules required, regardless of cost, and monitor and pull them off as the project heads to go-live, thereby reducing the overall projected spend after the deliverables are securely in hand. Trying to reduce costs at the start of the project, while seemingly smart, actually increases the risk and reduces the overall team incentive, as the project is “just an upgrade”. 8 Upgrade Scope Decisions Tip #19: Justify Enhancement Pack Implementation Contributed by: Pradeep Khanna, Infosys NetWeaver and EhP: Most clients go for NetWeaver and EhP installations “Since it is there, why not install them?” However, that is not a great idea. Before the organization decides to go for a Java stack and an EhP installation, you must have a rock-solid NetWeaver strategy and sufficient business reasons for installing an EhP. Tip #20: Upgrade BI Data Sources Contributed by: Bikas Panigrahi, Capgemini BI Data sources should be upgraded to the latest version in the connected BI systems. Tip #21: Review Support Package Contents Contributed by: Antti Glad, Aditro HRM Oy Review support package contents for critical functionality (e.g., payroll) in addition to release notes and other upgrade related material. Support packages may contain, for instance, manual steps that you need to implement. Tip #22: Adjust Legacy Programs to SAP Standards Contributed by: Johnny Khoeblal, BIGS IT Consulting (Thailand) PLC Decrease maintenance costs by adjusting current programs to SAP standard and use of SAP NetWeaver and eSOA Technology Bonus Tip: Investigate New Features Improve management reporting by the use of new standard features (e.g., SAP BW, Visual Composer). Tip #23: Limit the Upgrade Scope Contributed by: Jonathan Rimmer, Deloitte Consider your scope carefully. Are you trying to recreate existing processes in ECC 6.0 or improve existing processes, and add additional functionality? Strong management of the upgrade is needed to prevent each functional area from having scope creep. Bonus Tip: Give Yourself Time Plan sufficient time for testing interfaces, logical systems, partners, and middleware. 9 Tip #24: Understand Your Upgrade Reasons Contributed by: Reza Roslan, ISS Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd Why do you really need to upgrade? What is the purpose of your upgrade? • If you are upgrading because your SAP system is not supported anymore, you need to identify only the gaps between your current practice and the newly offered practice; • If you are upgrading because you want to have the new functionality of ERP 6.0, you need to identify the compatibility of your current processes with the new process requirements of ERP 6.0; • If you are upgrading because your hardware system is obsolete but your ERP version is still supported, a copy to a new hardware system is probably sufficient. As long as the new hardware will support ERP 6.0 in the future, you are safe; • If you don't have any of the above reasons, don't upgrade just yet. Bonus Tip: Clean Your Old Data When upgrading, make sure your data in the old system is cleaned. Most companies have messy and unwanted data such as old material code. Cleaning your data before upgrading smoothes the process of the upgrade and helps reduce project duration. Consider archiving if needed. Most of my clients have small performance changes when they don’t clean their data properly. Once that is done, you can consider improving the business process you have to a better one in ERP 6.0 (as a second phase). Make full use of the upgrade and enjoy a new and more powerful system that can take your business to the next level. Tip #25: Treat Users to Added Functionality Contributed by: Kay Tucker, VIP Global I think the best advice I can give would be to try to incorporate and include any changes that would make the system easier for the end user in the upgrade process. In other words, is there some function that the users wanted that did not make the prior installation? Can this be incorporated into the upgrade process without adding major costs? If the users are getting something they have requested in the deal, the participation during the whole upgrade process is less painful. Bonus Tip: Think About Reporting Reporting seems to get left to the very end in many of the upgrade projects, yet this is the portion of the system that impacts a majority of the users. Some of the simple things like transporting variants for the users make a huge impact on user acceptance. Tip #26: Consider Re-implementing Custom Code Contributed by: John Santos, Awsome Systems Don’t upgrade blind. If lack of functionality in a previous release caused ABAPs to be written with their associated Z-tables, it may be time to revisit the business requirements and see how the new functionality matches those requirements. In the long run, this may be a more economical solution than having to keep migrating the old functionality. 10 Tip #27: Focus on End User Functionality Contributed by: Andrew Petersman, IBM When it comes to your EAM – Enterprise Asset Management footprint (PM, MM for MRO, PS, Mobile) you want to ensure you focus on the processes and functionality that provides the end users with the functionality they need to accomplish their mission. Then, develop solid solutions that allow maintenance and operations to satisfy the financial requirements of the new system (FI, CO, AM, MM, AR, AP, etc.). Your best solution may include an integration strategy or a consolidation strategy, depending on the needs of the business end users. To focus on financial requirements from a top-down approach often times loses or minimizes the underlying requirements, compared to the bottom-up approach. There are many ways to meet or exceed your financial requirements using SAP ERP. Make sure your project meets the business needs of the users in the field. 11 Skill Requirements Tip #28: Use Internal Resources for Project Management and External Resources for Technical Aspects Contributed by: Aseem Gupta, SAP Upgrade is a kind of project that requires a very specific skill set that is now easily available in the market. My advice to the customer is to understand the upgrade process first and then hire a company/individual for the job. A project like an upgrade does not require great management skills; I feel the customer should look only for technical experts with upgrade experience and manage the project themselves. Tip #29: Consider Using SAP Business Technology Factory Contributed by: Gregory Thompson, SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG SAP’s Business Technology Factory offers different services at a fixed price. A local resource along with a remote delivery model gives you access to the technical experience available from SAP while supporting you throughout the project planning and implementation. SAP’s Business Technology Factory was developed to provide a faster, lower risk route for completing various projects at a competitive price. Find out more at http://www.sap.com/germany/services/consulting/upgradefactory/index.epx Tip #30: Get More Out of Your Support Team Contributed by: Steve Procopiou, CSC Don't assume that you'll need a dedicated functional team to do the upgrade. The technical team will end up doing most of the work, but for the functional people it will be sporadic work until you get into integration testing. Therefore, the best people to do this work will be your support team. They are used to working on several issues at the same time and there won't be a lot of support work anyway because you've frozen development until after the upgrade. Haven't you? Tip #31: Get CEO Sponsoring for Your Upgrade Project Contributed by: Alejandro Cepeda, Novis S.A. If you are involved in an upgrade project, it is highly recommended that the CEO of upgrading company sponsor you. This is because upgrades need full regression tests to be successful, and best results are obtained by involving end users in this activity. They have business and organizational knowledge that external consultant can't provide. End users need to feel they are an important part of the project, in order to obtain their commitment and achieve the best results. In my opinion, technical issues are important, but the most important thing is teamwork between internal users and the consulting team. 12 Tip #32: Involve the Entire Project Team Contributed by: Ayesha Ahmed, Eglobalservices LLC Ensure an openness to communicate across SMEs, key users, and consultants. Collaboration and readiness for change should be channeled to better usability, better business enablement, and ROI. Make sure all project participants understand the project value and feel secure about keeping their jobs after the project is over. Tip #33: Involve Your IT Team Early Contributed by: Jeff Gongas, Sparta Consulting Involve your IT technical team as early as possible in the initial planning phase. The landscape strategy, hardware requirements, 3rd party systems, etc., all have to be determined prior to determining an accurate timeline for the project. Bonus Tip: Do Not Underestimate Security Issues Do not underestimate the SAP security effort needed in an upgrade (transaction SU25). Regardless of source and target releases, security will be affected, and a plan needs to be created to address the adjustments and testing needed to ensure that the target release has minimal or no security related issues. 13 Custom Code Tip #34: Study All Custom Code Carefully Contributed by: Anjali Butley, L&T Infotech Study client-specific changes made in the SAP standard code, as well as all the customized programs that will be impacted due to the upgrade well in advance. Check these against the release notes and SAP announced bugs and the latest OSS Notes on the new upgrade release of ERP 6.0. Bonus Tip: Check New Screens Study functionality changes in depth, familiarizing yourself with the look & feel of the screens in the new upgraded version. Users are very fussy about the look & feel of the SAP screens that they are familiar with on the old release. Tip #35: Beware of Clones Programs Contributed by: Sergio Ferrari, Techedge I experienced that most of the upgrade problems are related to SAP standard ABAP objects copied to customer objects (clones). After the upgrade, the custom objects become unstable, since it still contains the old standard coding that needs to be adapted to the new version. To generate a list of possible clones, refer to the Weblog "Simple ABAP Clone Hunter" at https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/13657 Bonus Tip: Smarter Table Analysis When migrating from SAP R/3 4.7 to ECC 6.0, integration engine tables (SXMS*) that in 4.7 were client independent, became client dependent in ECC, so the field MANDT is part of the table key. Technically, the client is available in 4.7 as well, but it is an attribute of some tables (CLIENT in SXMSPMAST). During the upgrade procedure, the conversion of these tables (in particular SXMSCLUP and SXMSCLUR, which contain the message payload as a raw string) can require a lot of time. For these reasons, it is necessary to keep them as small as possible in order to minimize downtime. We estimate that it takes more or less one hour to convert 300K messages in SXMSCLUP. For this reason, it is necessary to analyze tables in 4.7 to see the number of records in each table, to be able to separate records related to messages of different clients and records related to messages older then a specific period. For messages older then x days, it is necessary to group them by their status in order to understand why they were not deleted by the archiving/deletion procedure and how to correct or flag them for archiving/deletion. Table analyzer (transaction TAANA) and SE16 are not enough, because of filtering conditions and joins between different tables. Additionally, you might need to be able to see all this information quickly and daily to keep the evolution of tables under control. For this reason, I have developed a report that does exactly this analysis, playing around with tables: SXMSPHIST(2), SXMSPMAST(2), SXMSPVERS(2), SXMSPEMAS(2), SXMSPERROR(2), SXMSCLUP, and SXMSCLUR. Refer to https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/Snippets/Integration+Engine+Tables+Analyser 14 Tip #36: Go Back to Standard Contributed by: Mangesh Kulkarni, EMC When going through an upgrade to ECC 6: 1. First point out your business processes & try to implement them with SAP standard processes; 2. Take the unnecessary customization and delete it when upgrading; This gives you a clean slate to work on for any new configuration needs in the future. Tip #37: Consider Rewriting Rather Than Adapting Contributed by: Yann Szwec, ECIR Consulting Between ECC 6.0 and previous versions, the SAP modules have been written into AOOPS (ABAP objects). Sometimes it is worth the while to rewrite a program than adapt an old program. In most cases, performance and maintainability will be improved. Tip #38: Inventory Your Custom Code Programs Contributed by: Soumya Sarkar, TATA Consultancy Services As part of your upgrade activity, keep a detailed inventory of your custom code. For example, know which custom programs are more likely to contain SAP constructs that will become obsolete. This will help you and/or the upgrade partner proof your custom programs in the future. This will also help in prioritizing code and impact analysis. Bonus Tip: Use a Tool-Based Approach Invest in smart upgrade solutions that use a tool-based approach to determine exactly where custom programs will be affected due to an upgrade. Pinpoint accuracy will go a long way in reducing your time to upgrade. Tip #39: Consider Using ES Instead of BAPIs Contributed by: Andreas Ohlsson, q2d Solutions Consider the use of ES (Enterprise Services) instead of traditional BAPIs to access SAP functionality from outside your ERP system. With every EhP this feature gets better and better. Tip #40: ESS/MSS Processes Need Redefinition Contributed by: Richard Honnor, ROC There has been a step change in Self Service functionality (ESS and MSS) between the ITS based approach and the ERP 6.0 approach. This means that all ESS / MSS processes will need to be re-defined and all custom developments re-coded (they cannot be migrated as with core ABAP code). So if you are migrating ESS / MSS functionality you must be prepared for significant changes. Bonus Tip: Get to Know NWDI If you need to make customizations to Employee Self Service (ESS) and / or Managers Self Service (MSS) in ERP 6.0 then the NetWeaver Development Infrastructure (NWDI) is needed. This is an additional SAP instance that will need to be incorporated into your landscape and that needs specialist WebDynpro Java skills to use. 15 Tip #41: Get Rid of Unused Z-Trans Contributed by: Renee Lentz, BusinessGenetics, Inc Use this opportunity to understand your existing application environment: What processes are defined in your current system, which transactions are you using, who is using what transactions. This information will allow you to streamline your upgrade. Get rid of z-trans that no one is using; don't bring them over: they may no longer be necessary or new functionality in SAP may replace them. Don't upgrade SAP trans if they are not being used. In some of my projects, we found that over 50% of the existing z-trans were not being used. Why waste time regression testing them? Fix compliance issues by streamlining security. I have found that roles had trans that they didn't need. Why maintain them and risk compliance issues? Bonus Tip: Organizational Readiness is a Major Success Factor Even in an upgrade, be sure to document any business processes and/or transaction usage changes. Use this information to define and implement required organizational readiness processes, procedures and policies. Make sure there is adequate training for the business clients. Just because this is still SAP doesn't mean that the impact on the business and how it does work is non-existent. Adequate organizational readiness could be a major success factor in your upgrade. Tip #42: Understand ERP 6.0 Enhancement Possibilities Contributed by: Anuj Agrawal, TCS All customer modifications should be revisited. The enhancement framework in SAP ECC 6 allows customers the flexibility of modifying SAP programs as enhancement without worrying about upgrade issues in the future. 16 Test & Automation Tools Tip #43: Use Testing & Automatic Correction Tools Contributed by: Javier Esteban Ponce de Leon, Hewlett Packard Test, test, and test. Use the right approach to test all SAP transactions & programs, using effective tools like Quality Center. Use automated tools to identify errors and differences between the old releases and the new one. These tools also provide automated correction for Unicode programs that can save up to 75% of your programmers' effort. Try to involve key users at the beginning of the project. Bonus Tip: Shrink Your Upgrade by Cleaning Your Code Clean up your system as much as you can before and during the upgrade project, by archiving and deleting obsolete programs. The potential savings are tremendous. Tip #44: Go Through One or Two Test Upgrades Contributed by: Jan de la Rey, GijimaAst Do at least one (if possible even two) test upgrades in a lab environment starting with an exact copy (hardware, operating system, database and SAP version). Document each step and test as you go along. This ensures that everyone from SAP technical (basis and programming), consulting (all modules) and super users know exactly what to expect, what needs to be done, and the timeframes involved when starting with the upgrade of the live landscape. Tip #45: Study SAP and 3rd Party Compatibility Contributed by: Sharad Singh, Wipro Conduct a detailed study of 3rd party application interfaces and their compatibility with your SAP target version. There are very useful tools to analyze such dependencies. ERP 6.0 compatible 3rd party interfaces may need to be procured in advance from the vendor so that the new version can be tested during the upgrade. Tip #46: Explore the Cloud Contributed by: Christopher Carter, HiLn Upgrading our SAP solutions was made a lot easier by using a cloud-based solution for SAP. We now have 75% of our SAP landscape, which was deemed non-mission-critical, hosted in the cloud and we were able to get rid of nearly $1M in hardware, operating system, database, and human cost so far. The process was easy and made a great impact on my life as a basis manager. 17 Tip #47: Automation Can Save You Time and Money Contributed by: Bob Levy, Advanced Technology Solutions Inc Understand what automation is available to assist the effort of an upgrade as well as maintenance. You will reduce the effort, the elapsed time, and improve in quality by understanding everything that must be changed and in what sequence and priority. Tip #48: Get the Support of Business Users Contributed by: John Weiss, The Baer Group Getting business users to support an SAP upgrade is a critical success factor, even for a "technical only" upgrade. Start with the VPs or C-level leaders of each of the functional areas (Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, etc.) and hold regular meetings to get "buy-in" and support throughout the project. Use Panaya tools to show real-time progress reports for each business/functional area, especially in the testing phases, to ensure risk-free business user support of your SAP upgrade. Tip #49: Use Test Automation to Reduce Test Duration Contributed by: Yuval Donskoy, Edge Consulting We found that in the majority of projects the main cost is in the testing. Concentrate on reducing test time. Manage your testing scenarios carefully. Use testing tools to automate the process and save time in the repetitions. Test automation can and will be used in future upgrades and patch implementation giving an even higher ROI to the automation costs. Bonus Tip: Team for Success In upgrade projects as in other SAP projects the level of the team is crucial to the success. Tip #50: Consider Adding an Additional Test Environment Contributed by: Michał Jasiński, BCC A typical upgrade landscape includes one Development/Quality assurance system and a Production system. It is strongly suggested to add an additional Test system to that landscape (a copy of test system) in order to ensure an environment, which can be used for identification of critical issues and collecting lessons learned. The advantages of that approach: Detailed assessment of upgrade impact on system functionalities without disturbing ongoing system usage and maintenance, especially in environments with a high number of extensions and modifications. Disadvantages: You’ll need to repeat the adjustments in the test system, again in the development system, and you’ll need additional infrastructure. Bonus Tips: Testing tools bundled with SAP Take advantage of test automation tools (i.e., eCATT) available from SAP to speed up the upgrade process (applicable also for standard change flow). Note that in ERP 6.0, SAP introduced Enhancement Packages (EHP) that come with “Test Catalogs” including test case templates that allow tests of new functionality, but not regression tests. Therefore, automatic tests are still the best and most effective way of implementing regression testing. 18 Tip #51: Build a Better Sandbox System Contributed by: Tomas Krojzl, IBM Ideally, your sandbox system should have the same HW configuration, same SAP/DB parameters, and same OS level configuration as your production system. One approach to achieve this (at least on an AIX system) is to perform a direct copy of the whole SAP/DB file systems preserving file attributes (or restoring whole file systems from backup tapes). From the upgrade-test perspective, this approach is much better than a classical installation from SAP CDs. A new installation is usually very clean and the upgrade will go well, while the filecopy approach will "transport" errors along with the system allowing you to discover these issues long before the production run. Bonus Tip: With Upgrade Documentation, More is More Focus on documentation. Document everything, even that some checks were done (like version of OS, required packages, user limit settings, etc.) and the result was positive. During the project execution these things might easily change and repeating the checks if you have proper documentation is very easy while investigating why you have a problem can be very time consuming. Some upgrade projects are so long that it is difficult to remember what exactly was done on the development system and repeat it in exactly the same way on the production system. Tip #52: Budget Your Testing Automation Separately Contributed by: Arvind Narasimhan, Keane When dealing with a highly customized code base, plan your test automation strategy. It will take a lot of the pain and effort out of repeated rounds of testing. Budget for this effort independently of the core upgrade effort, since the automated solution will be of value also in future projects. Tip #53: Use Solution Manager's Upgrade Functions Contributed by: AJAY Vonkarey, Alpha Sirius Inc. Explore Solution Manager’s upgrade functions. The value can extend beyond the upgrade to optimizing operations. Follow the right methodology and best practices to build a solution, identify the version delta, and upgrade to a new version faster by using SAP Solution Manager. Bonus Tip: How to Create a Solution Quickly Use tools like SolDocA (Solution Documentation Assistant) to populate your current business processes and create a Solution. This becomes the baseline and foundation for on-going operations and optimization. 19 Tip #54: The Best Time to Execute a Payroll Run in a Clone System Contributed by: Gaetano Palummo, SAP Italia Consulting S.p.A. (An IBM Company) As part of the upgrade strategy, usually you will be asked to execute a payroll run in a clone system (already upgraded) and to compare the results with the results of the original system (to be upgraded). This kind of parallel run can be executed only if the clone system was created before the posting of the month to which you should compare the PY results. The reason is simple: Suppose that the PY run to compare is related to March; The March PY run has already been executed on the original system; The posting of the March PY run has been already executed on the original system; The clone system is created after the previous step; The idea is to delete the March PY results on the clone system and to execute again the March PY on that system; The deletion of the already existent March PY results on the clone system is not possible because of the already executed posting. In fact, the SAP system does not allow the deletion of PY results if the related posting has already been done. This kind of problem can block a crucial phase of the upgrade plan. Avoid this problem by ensuring the creation of the clone system before the posting execution. Tip #55: Check Interfaces and Technical Impact on Infrastructure Contributed by: Carl LaFoe, Protera A couple of specific areas we would call attention to would be the interfaces and technical impact to infrastructure and support. We recommend you spend the appropriate amount of time on interfaces. Most companies take the interfaces for granted when doing an upgrade but the interfaces are the areas that most often need good preparation and testing, long before moving into the functional areas. Our team leverages the Panaya toolset to help expedite the documentation and change planning required to successfully complete an upgrade on time and on budget, every time. We recommend Panaya for all upgrade projects - the Panaya tool helps you to identify custom code, user exits, and interfaces that may break during an upgrade. Secondly, engage a technical expert to help define the future landscape and hardware requirements. It will pay off in the end with happy users and a stable system. Tip #56: Plan Your Cutover in Extreme Detail Contributed by: Sriramachandra Parasuramuni, Infosys Technologies Limited Plan your mock runs on systems that are exact replicas of the production system. Do at least three mock runs, which will help you to fine-tune the process. Your cutover plan should detail all the activities, however small. The activity may be like call XXXX person to do YYYY activity. Document everything. Cutovers can be stressful and it’s easy to miss a step. Tip #57: Use Panaya Upgrade Automation to Reduce Risks and Project Duration Contributed by: Emren Ertugrul, Zorlu Group of Companies (VESTEL) Our SAP system contains so many customer programs that reworking them and retesting would have been very hard and complicated. We had difficulties in estimating the duration of rework and assigning the tasks to people. We had a hard time planning the expected project duration. Also, the upgrade cost-benefit analysis was not satisfying for our IT managers. By using Panaya, we gained optimal project planning, tasks were assigned to the right people, and finally we upgraded our SAP system successfully in a shorter time than expected. Panaya minimized the project costs and prevented us from spending more time on the project. Our IT managers were able to observe the tasks conveniently. 20 Useful Transactions & Reports Tip #58: Be Aware of OSS Note #1370698 Contributed by: Siva G, Cognizant Transaction code 'S_ALR_87012177' outputs the forecast value in a truncated currency format, which is not what we expected. We faced this issue in our upgrade and raised an OSS to SAP and SAP came back with a new OSS Note (1370698). Bonus Tip: Say Goodbye to TVARV Table TVARV is replaced with a client-specific table TVARVC in ECC because of multi-client capability (see Note 557314). A conversion report RSTVARVCLIENTDEPENDENT needs to be executed which writes TVARV entries in TVARVC in all clients. Tip #59: How to Adjust Users' Views After an Upgrade Contributed by: Aleksandra Skotarczak, Business Consulting Center sp. z o.o. After technical upgrade operations, users’ views do not look like they used to before the upgrade in the PTMW transaction. The configuration is not changed, but columns look different. The solution: run the RPT_TMW_CUST_UPDATE_TCVIEW program for every view. Bonus Tip: Overcoming Wrong Entry Date After technical upgrade operations, your system displays a wrong 'Entry date' for an employee number (in the header line and standard HR reports). The solution: check the feature: ENTRY, which is overwritten during the upgrade. Tip #60: How to Mass Syntax Check Contributed by: Siarhei Mahulenka, IBA Group There is a very useful tool in ERP 6.0 – mass syntax check. Just run the program RFREDSRS01 for your development objects to find objects with errors or warnings. I suggest you exclude old and unused objects first, to reduce the list length. Bonus Tip: Start with OSS Notes I suggest you make sure your folks start by determining problems found in tests from searching for OSS Notes. It really helps, because you may find a solution there and it will save you a lot of time. For example, some config approaches in SAP have changed (example text determination in SD) and you'll need to run a conversion program provided by SAP to move the config from old to new config tables. All this info can be found in OSS Notes. 21 Tip #61: Clean Up Your Code in Advance Contributed by: Michal Kunze, BCC New releases of SAP bring small changes to the rules of ABAP syntax check. In some cases, statements that were invalid in the old release but raised only a warning, raise an error in the new release. You can limit the risk of running into such cases if you proactively clean up the code of your programs – and you can start this activity a long time in advance, at any time, before the upgrade. Use transaction SAMT (ABAP program set processing), create a program set with all Z* and Y* programs, and execute the 'Syntax check' step. Now you can schedule the task to clean up all syntax warnings (and of course errors, if any) for your development team, to minimize the risk of colliding with the more strict syntax check of the new release. Bonus Tip: Create Flexible Program Logic If you are developing solutions in ABAP in the old release and you are already aware of different requirements of the program logic after the upgrade (e.g., field size changes or a function module signature is going to change), you can create flexible program logic to react based on the system release that it is running in, by checking the SY-SWREL system variable, which returns the release of the application server. By incorporating statements such as: IF SY-SWREL <= '46C'. ... logic for R/3 4.6C goes here ELSE. ... logic for ERP 6.0 goes here ENDIF, you can prepare your programs to behave correctly before and after the upgrade, a long time in advance. This approach limits the number of adjustments to your development needed during and immediately after the upgrade. 22 Tip #62: Unicode Conversion Tips for Asian Language Users Contributed by: Sanujeet Puhan, Spring Consulting Unicode conversion: This issue attracts a lot of debate during upgrade. Particularly if there was no need for Unicode in the past and none in the foreseeable future. Hence, the battle rages between saving the extra cost of the conversion and getting future-ready and support from SAP. A slightly different debate occurs where the SAP operation is multilingual and monolithic, meaning that MDMP or blended code pages have been used as alternatives to Unicode. There the contention is how practicable is the conversion, which brings in the risks of data corruption, long testing, and production downtime. Not without its reasons, the conversion process is perceived as tedious, sometime scary. Ways to automate the tasks need to be explored. Consider a case of an Asian MDMP system, where several thousand words of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese coexist with Western European languages. Transaction SPUMG identifies such words. Assigning them to the correct language is still a chore, which is traditionally solved by using vocabulary hints. The risk is that if a word gets assigned to a wrong language, data get irreversibly corrupted after conversion. Hence, the word-language assignment needs to be reviewed by respective linguists before going further, which is a time consuming, manual task. SAPGUI scripting is very handy for automating such cases. Consider the following: Download the list of words from SPUMG to an Excel sheet. Mind the 65,536-row limitation in Excel. So download specific ranges in separate worksheets, if the vocabulary is large. Send these to linguists with instructions to review the words and assign a suitable language wherever required. On completion, create a script to iterate the Excel sheet, find the word in the SPUMG list, and then assign the language field as in the Excel sheet. This saves a lot of tedious and error prone manual work on the part of the administrator. On the other hand, the linguists need not come into the SPUMG transaction. From our experience, it is quite cumbersome for remote collaborative working. For example, guiding someone sitting in China through the steps in SPUMG, when he sees the screens in a different language. Moreover, this way a vocabulary list is created, which can be refined, as one moves through a three-system landscape. Because the vocabulary tables also get converted, one cannot rely on reviewing the list inside SPUMG after conversion. Does SAPGUI scripting have the features to do this? Certainly. Sophistications such as reading from an Excel sheet, writing a log file, etc. may be a little outside the standard SAPGUI scripting. But in a single VB Script, all that can be conveniently put, as well as the SAPGUI script part. A few more words before jumping to it: SAPGUI scripting is deactivated by default on the server. Simply change the profile parameter "sapgui/user_scripting" to "true" in transaction RZ11, log off and then log on to get going. Of course, for a permanent solution, you should save it in the instance profile. That is if others do not shout "security risk; people running own scripts on server". Then, such scripting uses the local GUI on the user PC, which may vary in version, personalization, and discrepancies at Microsoft Windows level. Hence, instead of wasting effort on creating a universal, reusable, run-anywhere script, it’s better to concentrate on accomplishing the task at hand. 23 Tip #63: Be Familiar with OSS Note #900607 Contributed by: Jaychand Tatineni, Hewlett Packard When you upgrade from a version lower than 4.6c to a higher version, the text types will be missing in sales order, delivery, billing, and customer master. You can correct this by implementing OSS note 900607. Implementing this note is a simple exercise: 1. In the old system you see what text procedure is used (if you have to check for the area where you have the problem; e.g., customer master text, sales header text, sales item text, etc.). If you are looking for sales document header text, then select the sales document header radio button in VOTX (VOTXN for the new system), click on the text procedure push button, then double-click on the text procedure you are using (say Z1) and it will take you to the next screen where the text types assigned for that particular text procedure are defined; 2. Now, in the upgraded system, execute the SDTXT1AID program. This will show what the missing entries in table TTXERN are. Select the text types you found in step 1 and save; 3. Once you complete step 2, the text entries will appear in the sales document, customer master, etc. but if, for example, the text needs to be copied from one document to other documents, e.g., from a sales document to a delivery document, then you have to generate an Access Sequence – Transaction VOTXN: Menu "Texts > Generate access". Tip #64: Use the Latest Solution Manager Contributed by: Venkata Arikirevula, Cognizant Technology Solutions Ensure that Solution Manager is patched to the latest version with Support Packs so that the Bind patch XML, which can be supplied during the upgrade process, is correctly created. Solution Manager is fast becoming mandatory for all upgrades. 24 Miscellaneous Tip #65: Create a Requirements Table for HR/Payroll Contributed by: Damian Duff, IBM Australia Ltd For HR/Payroll you need to create a requirements table/matrix to use in testing and confirming that the upgrade has been successful and that existing business processes are the same or have been replaced with new SAP functionality. Bonus Tip: Verify Your Upgrade Partner’s HR Experience For HR/Payroll make sure that your upgrade consulting partner has the experience in the release that you are upgrading to. Tip #66: Deal with Authorization Roles Contributed by: S. Madsen, Ciber ERP 6.0 contains many new authorization objects. Ensure they are added to the respective roles. This will allow your users to conduct their duties without any disruption of access of new functionality. 25 Contributors’ Contact Details Company Aditro HRM Oy Advanced Technology Solutions Inc Alpha Sirius Inc. Awsome Systems BCC BCC Name Antti Glad Bob Levy Ajay Vonkarey John Santos Michał Jasiński Michal Kunze BIGS IT Consulting (Thailand) PLC Business Consulting Center sp. z o.o. Johnny Khoeblal Aleksandra Skotarczak BusinessGenetics, Inc Renee Lentz Capgemini Cognizant Cognizant Bikas Panigrahi Krishnan GS Siva G Cognizant Technology Solutions Venkata Arikirevula CSC Steve Procopiou CSC Asia Pacific LTD Mark Rittmayer Deloitte Dimension Consulting Services, Inc. ECIR Consulting Jonathan Rimmer Kent Ripley Yann Szwec Edge Consulting Eglobalservices LLC EMC ERPInnovation Freelance Consultant Yuval Donskoy Ayesha Ahmed Mangesh Kulkarni Farhad Farshimi Rolando Soriano GijimaAst Grayson Technology Partners - A Rev-Trac Premiere Partner Hewlett Packard Jan de la Rey George Burmeister Hewlett Packard HiLn Javier Esteban Ponce de Leon Jaychand Tatineni Christopher Carter IBA Group IBM Siarhei Mahulenka Andrew Petersman IBM IBM Australia Ltd Tomas Krojzl Damian Duff Infosys Infosys Technologies Limited ISS Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd Keane L&T Infotech Macro 4 Pradeep Khanna Sriramachandra Parasuramuni Reza Roslan Mercedes-Benz Australia / Pacific Pty Ltd Mondial IT Solutions Robert Makin Arvind Narasimhan Anjali Butley Lynda Kershaw Audrey Neser Title SAP HR Consultant Senior Consultant Country Finland USA E-mail antti.glad@aditro.com boblevy2inf2know.com Phone Project Manager Project Manager Project Management Office Manager Practice Manager SAP Upgrades Leader of Personnel Development Team Sr. Director Operations-SAP UK Poland Poland avonkarey@alphasirius.com jmc_santos@hotmail.com Michal.Jasinski@bcc.com.pl michal.kunze@bcc.com.pl +1-646-232-5487 +44 7771 848 927 +48 61 827 70 01 Thailand jakhoeblal@gmail.com +66869137873 Poland aleksandra.skotarczak@bcc.com.pl USA renee.lentz@businessgenetics.com +1-708-799-6527 Web Site www.aditro.com www.inf2know.com www.bcc.com.pl www.bcc.com.pl www.bigs-it-consulting.com www.bcc.com.pl +1-480-266-1024 businessgenetics.com www.capgemini.com saikrish@yahoo.com SAP ABAP Consultant SAP Consulting/COE Practice Head SAP Solutions Architect CFO/CIO, SVP of Systems Implementations Manager Consultant ABAP and CRM expert Senior Consultant SMS SCM Consultant SAP FI Functional Consultant Managing Partner HP SAP Upgrade Program Manager. Sr.SAP Consultant SAP BASIS Team Manager Team Lead Program Manager - EAM Systems SAP Consultant Senior Managing Consultant Upgrade Consultant Technical Team Lead Marketing Manager ITM SAP Project Manager India www.cognizant.com venkata.arikirevula@cognizant.com UK sprocopi@csc.com +44 7747 455869 csc.com Hong Kong mark@rittmayer.info +8564293522 www.aiawealth.com UK USA kripley@dimensionconsulting.com +1-408-221-8697 www.dimensionconsulting.com France yann.szwec@ecir.fr Israel USA yuvald@edgeconsult.co.il ayesha@eglobal-services.com +972-52-2385048 +1-512 924 4248 www.edgeconsult.co.il Eglobal-services.com Canada Philippines camb99@gmail.com rollsoriano@gmail.com +1-6132605232 +63918 547 1007 www.erpinnovation.com South Africa USA george.burmeister@gtechpartners.com +1-678 580 1904 www.gijima.com www.gtechpartners.com EMEA esteban@hp.com +34609482023 www.hp.com India USA jaytatineni@rediffmail.com cmc@hiln-solutions.com +1-4147553212 www.hiln-solutions.com Belarus USA smahulen@iba.by Andrew.Petersman@us.ibm.com +375-17-217-3282 +1-281 795 1412 www.ibm.com Czech Republic Australia krojzl@centrum.cz damiendu@au1.ibm.com +420 777 678 887 +61411 043 026 www.ibm.com India India Pradeep.Khanna@hotmil.com parasuramuni@gmail.com +911722693515 +919885244322 Malaysia reza.roslan@issconsulting.net www.ecir.fr www.iss-consulting.com arvind.narasimhan@keane.com +91 984 037 8590 UK lynda.kershaw@macro4.com +44 (0)1293 872 000 Australia grmakin@optusnet.com.au +61 412 508 878 www.macro4.com South Africa 26 Company Novis S.A. Open Text Name Alejandro Cepeda Mike Lord Ordina Belgium PricewaterhouseCoopers Protera ProVize q2d Solutions RealTech Portugal ROC Sven De Leeuw Gary Hart Carl LaFoe Michael Libens Andreas Ohlsson Pedro Bonniz Richard Honnor SAP SAP Andrew Chen Aseem Gupta SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG SAP Independent Consulting Gregory Thompson SAP Italia Consulting S.p.A. (An IBM Company) SITA Corp Gaetano Palummo Sparta Consulting Spring Consulting Strategic Supply Chain Management TATA Consultancy Services Jeff Gongas Sanujeet Puhan Peter van Engelen TCS TCS Techedge The Baer Group Deepanshu Sharma Anuj Agrawal Sergio Ferrari John Weiss T-Systems Ian Henderson Unicroft Vektora Information Technologies VIP Global Srinivas Dasu Turgay Piyadeoglu Wave-Tec Integrated Ishaam Adamson Wipro Zorlu Group of Companies (VESTEL) Zylog Systems Limited Sharad Singh Emren Ertugrul Amit Lal Peggy Reed Soumya Sarkar Kay Tucker Ramesh Rao Dendukuri Title Country CHILE Australia E-mail alejandro.cepeda@noviscorp.com mlord@opentext.com +61419564175 Director VP SAP Hosting Director USA USA Denmark gary.e.hart@us.pwc.com carl@protera.biz mll@provize.dk +1-8178772298 +1-321 544 6662 +4520448428 Sales Manager Technical Change Consultant Portugal UK pedro.bonniz@realtech.com richard.honnor@roc-group.com +351 217997132 +44 (0) 870 2414349 SAP Technology Architect India aseemgupta10@gmail.com +91 9971108388 Sr. SAP Netweaver Technology Consultant Upgrade/Unicode Conversion Senior SAP HCM Consultant Senior SAP Consultant USA amitlal@live.ca +1-904 864 8289 Italy gpalummo@yahoo.com +39 334 1149750 USA peggyreed@woh.rr.com Sweden USA sanujeet.puhan@springconsulting.com petervanengelen@aol.com +46708649083 +1-619-846-1638 www.springconsulting.se India soumya.sarkar@tcs.com +919052001975 www.tcs.com India deepanshu_sharma@yahoo.com +919885592468 Italy USA sergio.ferrari@techedge.it john.weiss@baergroup.com South Africa ian.henderson@t-systems.co.za +27 795192233 USA Turkey vedantavenky@yahoo.com turgay.piyadeoglu@vektora.com +1-510-870-4736 Director, SAP LoB ASIA, Pacific & Japan Sr. Project Manager - SAP Manager - SAP Presales - Asia Pacific ITA Director of SAP Upgrades SAP Basis Consultant Manager Project Manager/Sr. Consultant SAP Strategic BI Specialist Phone Web Site www.novis.cl www.opentext.com www.protera.biz www.provize.dk www.q2d.com www.realtech.com www.roc-group.com www.linkedin.com/in/amitlal www.sitacorp.com www.techedge.it www.baergroup.com www.vektora.com ktucker@vip-global.com South Africa info@wave-tec.co.za +27 741148568 www.wave-tec.co.za nag.ramesh@gmail.com +919490190815 www.zslinc.com www.zylog.co.in India SAP-Consultant India 27 About Panaya Panaya's Software-as-a-Service solutions enable companies that use SAP to save up to 50% of their application lifecycle costs and minimize the risks associated with system changes. Utilizing cloud-based simulation to analyze the impact of pending changes, Panaya automatically pinpoints which custom programs will break as a result of an upgrade or support package implementation. Panaya provides a complete solution for managing these changes, explaining how to fix the anticipated issues, suggesting the most efficient test plan, and calculating required project budget and resources. To learn more or apply for a free upgrade evaluation, click here: http://www.panayainc.com/Free-Upgrade-Analysis-for-your-SAP.html 28
