value potential, best practices, and sap recommendations

GettinG Started with an UpGradeValue Potential, Best Practices, and saP recommendations

SAP Business Suite

4 Why Upgrade Your SAP Software?

4 Why upgrade to saP erP 6.0 now? 4 upgrade as an opportunity

6 Identifying the Value Proposition and Justifying the Upgrade

6 discovery Process 8 essentials of an upgrade

Justification 9 reasons for upgrading 9 risk of Postponing an upgrade 10 operational excellence 16 Business strategy 19 sustainability 20 total cost of ownership

21 Planning an Upgrade 21 assessing the impact of

the upgrade on Your existing solution 22 technical Prerequisites and limitations 22 upgrade Paths for saP

Business suite applications 24 upgrade Paths for unicode 26 scheduling an upgrade 26 determining an upgrade strategy 26 Phase 1: technical upgrade 27 Phase 2: Functional enhancements

(new Functionality) 27 Phase 3: enterprise services (strategic

enhancements) 27 cost and effort estimation 28 Project and risk management 28 success Factors 28 standards and Procedures 28 Project duration and sequencing 29 upgrade management tools and assistance 29 saP solution manager 30 saP upgrade road map 31 external assistance

32 Executing an Upgrade 32 it infrastructure adjustments 32 resizing the application server 32 deploying new saP Front-end components 33 making network adjustments to

maintain system Performance 33 upgrading or migrating Your operating system

and database Platform 33 converting to unicode 33 technical deployment 33 Benefits of system switch technology 33 enhancement Package installer 33 minimizing downtime 34 application and modification adjustments 35 adjustments to saP software modifications 35 adjustments to custom developments 35 upgrade customizing for existing Business

Processes 35 adjustments to interfaces or connected applications 35 testing 36 user training

37 Tomorrow’s Solution Today 37 Key messages for it decision makers 37 Key messages for Project managers and technical

Project leaders 38 Further information 38 upgrade information center 38 community network 38 Help Portal 38 upgrade competency centers 39 identifying the Value Proposition and Justifying

the upgrade 40 Planning an upgrade 42 executing an upgrade 45 Public information sources

46 Index

COntent

as the business world changes, saP develops new releases of its software to accommodate your organization’s evolving business needs and help you remain competitive. in line with this strategy, saP has introduced the saP® Business suite 7 software. saP Business suite provides better insight and visibility across organizations, improves operational efficiency and effectiveness, and increases the flexi-bility to address business change.

saP Business suite 7 is a set of saP applications supporting a wide range of industry and business support pro-cesses for large enterprises, with a stable core and the infrastructure for continuous, minimally disruptive innova-tion. the applications include these go-to releases:• saP erP 6.0 with saP enhancement

package 4• saP customer relationship

management (saP crm) 7.0• saP supplier relationship

management (saP srm) 7.0• saP supply chain management

(saP scm) 7.0• saP Product lifecycle management

(saP Plm) 7.0• industry applications and supplemen-

tary applications

saP Business suite 7 synchronizes all applications into one united release strategy and schedule that is docu-mented in saP’s release strategy for large enterprises (www.service.sap.com /releasestrategy).*

saP will use enhancement packages – introduced with saP erP 6.0 – to deliv-er minimally disruptive innovation for all core applications. saP enhancement package 5 for saP erP 6.0 and saP enhancement package 1 for each of the other saP Business suite core applications are planned to be in unre-stricted shipment in 2010. in addition, saP will continue to deliver new and improved functionalities through new releases of the industry applications and supplementary applications. With saP enhancement packages, you can deploy saP Business suite software in a stepwise manner to address specific business challenges along your own timelines and without costly upgrades.

Why Upgrade to SAP ERP 6.0 Now?

saP erP 6.0 with saP enhancement package 4 is part of saP Business suite 7. an upgrade to saP erP 6.0 is the natural first step to create the foun-dation for leveraging the benefits of saP Business suite, including in partic-ular saP enhancement packages, sup-

port for end-to-end business process-es, and service-oriented architecture (soa) enabling the use of enterprise services.

Upgrade As an Opportunity

upgrading applications is an important issue for many saP customers, but an upgrade to any of the latest releases of the applications in saP Business suite should not be perceived as a neces-sary evil. rather, it is a valuable oppor-tunity to maximize the value of your saP investment. to take advantage of this opportunity, all that’s required is appropriate planning and management.

upgrades must be well integrated with-in an organization’s overall it strategy and planning, which is why release and upgrade management for saP soft-ware has become a topic of strategic importance, having high visibility among senior managers.

why UpGrade yOUr Sap® SOftware?an oPPortunitY to maximize tHe Value oF Your saP inVestment

“SAP Business Suite 7 provides another incentive for customers to upgrade and to expand their footprint of SAP solutions.”Paul D. Hamerman and R. “Ray” Wang, “saP Harmonizes Portfolio with Business suite 7,” Forrester research (march 2009)

*this document contains the most current information on saP’s release strategy for the product portfolio for large enterprises. corresponding documents for the product release strategy for small businesses and midsize companies can also be found at www.service.sap.com/releasestrategy. in addition, a release strategy brochure is provided that focuses on the saP® Businessobjects™ portfolio of solutions. all three brochures are designed to give saP customers, salespeople, consultants, and partners a comprehensive view of the saP portfolio, its release and maintenance strategy, and the corresponding release plans.

4

www.service.sap.com/releasestrategy


Given the inherent volatility of informa-tion technology, an upgrade can be seen as a normal business activity – an investment necessary for maintaining a stable it environment. an upgrade can also bring significant benefits to your organization by extending the function-

ality and improving the performance of your saP software. Far from purely a technical issue that can be left entirely in the hands of it departments, an saP software upgrade is vital to the daily business operations of your organiza-tion and can bring about significant improvements in business efficiency.

Prompted by the importance of the upgrade topic and the widely divergent understanding of it within the saP com-munity, saP has compiled this “getting started” guide. directed to it decision makers and project leaders, the guide is designed to help you assess the val-

ue potential of upgrading to the latest saP Business suite applications. it also summarizes best practices, saP recommendations, and a range of saP tools and services that can assist you with the upgrade project across its entire life cycle – from discovery to evaluation to implementation (see Figure 1).

this guide answers the following questions:• How can my organization evaluate

and justify an upgrade?• How can my organization plan an

upgrade?• How can my organization execute

an upgrade?

at the end of this document, the “Further information” section lists useful resources that detail specific aspects of an upgrade, such as upgrade guides and the saP notes service.

“Companies need to plan for periodic updates just to ensure the reliability of mission-critical applications. Perhaps even more im-portant is the role that upgrades play in adding new functionality [and] improving business processes.”Jim Shepherd, “reduce the Pain of erP upgrades with Better Planning,” amr research (June 2007)

Figure 1: Three-Phase Upgrade Life Cycle

Plan Build

Upgrade Discovery Upgrade Evaluation Upgrade Implementation

5Getting started with an upgrade

saP Business suite 7 provides saP customers with a wealth of opportuni-ties for improving their businesses. the latest releases of the saP Business suite applications lay a stable techno-logical foundation that covers legal and compliance requirements while giving

you the flexibility to innovate. With saP Business suite 7, you can meet your particular business needs and imple-ment new functions at your own pace. combining an upgrade with other it initiatives – for example, replacing lega-cy systems, consolidating the system landscape, or reducing the level of soft-ware modification and customization – can also help you lower the total cost of ownership.

When justifying an upgrade to the lat-est releases of the applications in saP Business suite 7, you need to weigh the potential benefits and risks in light of your organization’s specific circum-stances. each saP customer faces a unique situation in terms of the cover-

age and maturity of its saP software. customers use saP solutions in very different ways. and each has different needs, goals, and priorities as it works to achieve improvements in operational excellence or equip itself for future business innovation. a good upgrade justification does not usually depend upon a single decisive factor or “killer feature” but rather on a combination of interrelated factors that can benefit a wide range of business areas and improve processes across the business.

When determining the value of an upgrade, saP recommends combining two approaches: bottom-up and top-down:• Bottom-up approach (technology

inspired): this is initiated by the it department, which investigates new technology or functionality and cre-ates a case for how it can be used for business improvements. new technology or functionality is the key driver. the focus is on developing use cases for opportunities identified in the available technology. this approach leverages it’s insights into technology and its unique end-to-end view of processes.

• top-down approach (business requirement driven): this occurs when resolving a key business prob-lem leads to requirements for a changing level of it-based process automation. the business value of an upgrade can be derived from responding to the many real-world issues (for example, demographic changes, business network risks, and

environmental and sustainability chal-lenges) that have an impact on your business and can require you to change your organization, business rules, and processes. this approach is typically triggered by business challenges and can include organiza-tional, process, and it changes.

Discovery Process

Because of the intricacy of an upgrade justification, it is worthwhile assessing the value potential of the latest releas-es of saP Business suite applications using a clear procedure and methodolo-gy, as described here.

the following six-step approach is con-sidered best practice among saP cus-tomers and takes into account both a bottom-up and a top-down methodolo-gy for upgrade value determination.

1. Gathering preliminary information – the it department gathers product information from a variety of sources such as saP Web sites, release notes, and white papers. it should also participate in saP events to get a basic understanding of new saP products. this step should focus on investigating what new functionality is available and what has technically changed since you last upgraded to, or implemented, your current system.

2. Involving stakeholders – the it department and representatives of the various business units cooperate to assess the value proposition of an upgrade and build consensus.

identifyinG the ValUe prOpOSitiOn and JUStifyinG the UpGradecomBine Bottom-uP and toP-doWn aPProacHes For Best results

“The software helps us to achieve cost savings through easier release management and to further broaden the functional support in areas like treasury, talent management, and supply chain control.”Jennifer Allerton, cio, roche

6 Getting started with an upgrade

this step involves determining who within the business can benefit from an upgrade. You should ensure busi-ness executive sponsorship and user involvement to secure commitment and support for the upgrade project. since an upgrade justification is unique to each customer situation, saP has developed tools and services to help in this process. For example, saP has developed a solution browser tool for saP erP that enables it organizations to include respective business units in these discussions. For other saP Business suite applications, you should compare older releases with the respective latest release using delta information that can be found in the release notes (www.service.sap.com/releasenotes).

3. Determining the business value of new functions – Business units gath-er in-depth information about the spe-cific features of saP Business suite applications that could be useful to them. this is a crucial step during which the business case is made for implementing new functionality. it requires thorough understanding both of the benefits of the features and of the requirements of the business that can be satisfied by implementing the features. You should analyze the environment in which you do busi-ness and determine whether unavoid-able business reasons for an upgrade exist. Business units must determine the availability of the required func-tionality to realize their requirements. Value comes from the potential for innovation and business transforma-tion. the saP upgrade value assess-ment service can help you determine the detailed value proposition and business case for an saP upgrade.

4. Organizing delta workshops – it departments organize workshops showing the difference, or delta, between releases with saP software experts, who come from either saP itself or from a partner organization. these focused delta workshops allow business process experts to assess the value potential of new saP soft-ware functions in more detail and also help them understand the possi-ble implications of these functions on business operations.

5. “Test-driving” new functions – to become familiar with new functions in an upgraded system, the it depart-ment sets up a demo or “sandbox” system for trying out new functions. this sandbox system has many uses throughout the upgrade project, but its initial purpose is to provide the first opportunity for it and business users to try out new functionality in the context of their own organization. You can set up the environment to mirror the processes and require-ments of the production system, pos-sibly using a copy of production data. this is an ideal way to determine the value of an upgrade in relation to implementing new functions and fea-tures. it gives you hands-on experi-ence with new functionality intro-duced through the upgrade. You can use the sandbox system to review current business processes and how they will be affected by the upgrade.

Solution Browser Tool for SAP® ERPthis tool allows you to identify new features and functions and their business benefits in a given release of the saP® erP application and enhancement packages. it gives business process experts the opportunity to map current busi-ness requirements with the latest functions available in saP erP. You can access the tool directly at http://erp.fmpmedia.com or from www.service.sap.com/upgrade.

Upgrade Value Assessment Servicethe upgrade value assessment service enables it and business users to collaborate on assessing the business value of an upgrade to the saP erP 6.0 application and adoption of saP Business suite 7 software components, along with estimating the roi of the project. it also helps in the creation and updating of a value-based road map around saP solutions. the service provides a methodology, tools, con-tent, benchmarks, and references to enable customer self-service for value assessment.

7

www.service.sap.com/releasenotes

http://erp.fmpmedia.com

www.service.sap.com/upgrade

6. Finalizing a justification – the busi-ness units and the it department discuss the merits, costs, and risks of an upgrade and produce a justifica-tion for the upgrade. Here you should combine the bottom-up approach – where it identifies functional improve-ments in the software – with the top-down approach – where the business units identify new business process-es that require changes in the soft-ware. as part of the upgrade justifica-tion process, you should develop an initial cost estimate. this is an impor-tant input to the business case and is the initial step in determining the upgrade project budget. the quick upgrade analysis service for saP erP and for saP crm help you determine high-level costs for, and benefits of, an upgrade for each of these applications.

this six-step approach helps to quantify in concrete terms the potential gains of upgrading to saP erP 6.0 or any other saP Business suite 7 application. it also identifies areas in the business where process change or improvement is required.

Quick Upgrade Analysis Servicesdesigned to get you started with an upgrade assessment, these saP® services for the saP erP and the saP customer relationship manage-ment applications provide a high- level savings estimate as well as an estimate of the project’s roi, an assessment of the upgrade complexi-ty (giving specific information on the level of modifications in your solu-tion), an effort estimate for each phase of the upgrade project, and a sample project plan.

Quick Upgrade Analysis Service for SAP Business Suite1 the new quick upgrade analysis ser-vice for the saP Business suite applications helps current saP cus-tomers running two or more saP Business suite software compo-nents to plan an saP software land-scape upgrade and estimate poten-tial effort involved in an upgrade. For example, you will get information about the specific impact of an saP software landscape upgrade, depen-dencies between software compo-nents when upgrading, transparency of software system landscape com-plexity, and the upgrade sequence of saP software components based on their technical dependencies.

Essentials of an Upgrade Justification

For an efficient and accurate justifica-tion of an upgrade, you should ensure that:• You have assessed core business

processes supported by the existing saP software landscape.

• complementary and competing proj-ects that might affect the core busi-ness processes and connected saP software systems are transparent.

• You have identified the key value drivers for the company’s business model and key improvement opportu-nities in current business operations.

• You are familiar with the functionality of the latest releases of the saP Business suite applications, including the functionality available in saP enhancement packages.

• You have identified and mapped business requirements to the func-tions of the new saP Business suite applications. (note: this establishes what tangible benefits can be gained from an upgrade and enables the creation of a business case.)

1. at the time of publication of this document, this service was in the global pilot phase.

8

Reasons for Upgrading

each organization has different reasons for considering an upgrade. For a well-oriented justification process, you and other decision makers in your organiza-tion should create a detailed summary of what benefits you expect or would like to derive from an upgrade. some of the most common reasons for con-sidering an upgrade are:

• Business user demand for new func-tionality to improve operational excel-lence, enable innovation, and support new business models

• desire to increase process efficiency and thus reduce the total cost of ownership (tco), particularly in terms of the total cost of operations – for example, by returning saP soft-ware modifications and custom devel-opments to saP standard functions

• requirements from it, such as planned infrastructure updates and consolidation projects that can be combined beneficially with an upgrade

• Vendor’s release schedule or support policies

Figure 2 gives the results of an saP survey in which customers were asked about what improvements they antici-pated from an upgrade to saP erP 6.0. the figure shows the level of inter-est (given as a percentage of those surveyed) in specific benefits.

risk of Postponing an upgradeFrom another perspective, postponing upgrades may expose your company to risk, such as failure to meet legal and compliance requirements; techno-logical obsolescence; or incompatibility of your current hardware, operating systems, and database versions. these risks can be only partially covered by paying extended maintenance fees to software vendors. minimizing them is an important, though often underappre-ciated, factor in justifying a software upgrade. ignoring the risks is unaccept-able in the long term. so when consid-ering an upgrade, the question you need to ask is not simply “should i do it or should i not?” but rather “should i do it now or later?”

in the following sections, the benefits of upgrading are analyzed in detail from four perspectives:• operational excellence• Business strategy• sustainability• total cost of ownership

60% 70%50%40%30%20%10%0%

end of standard or extended maintenance use of latest technology enhancement packages end of old hardware servers replacing custom development and modifications empowering new business (soa) thorough implementation of function enhancements achieve enhanced user experience consolidation of system landscape legal compliance

62%

42%

41%

32%

17%

24%

13%

20%

20%

Figure 2: Business Benefits SAP Customers Expect from an Upgrade

“We upgraded to SAP ERP to pursue our operational excellence. . . But we have achieved much more. We have improved the overall efficiency of company operations.”Massimo Battaglioli, director of information systems and innovation technology department, manutencoop Facility management spa


operational excellenceall of the latest releases of saP Business suite applications deliver a large number of functional enhance-ments and benefit from an increased level of integration. Furthermore, the new enhancement package technology makes it easier to implement new features across saP Business suite applications.

Because every customer uses a differ-ent saP software landscape, key value drivers and tangible benefits of the new saP software must be identified and mapped to business needs on an indi-vidual basis. You can use the summary of enhancements shown in the follow-ing tables to identify the relevance of specific features and functions for your organization and to drive an internal discussion among business units.

using the following lists to map the specific business requirements and val-ue drivers to the features and functions of the saP Business suite applications should help reveal the concrete bene-fits that contribute significantly to an upgrade justification.

SAP ERP 6.0saP erP 6.0 with enhancement pack-age 4 provides many functional enhancements that can improve pro-cess efficiency. in addition, it integrates the functions of most saP industry solutions so that these solutions no longer must be installed and set up separately. the new software also sim-plifies daily business tasks through more appealing and integrated user-interface concepts that increase user productivity and satisfaction – for example, by enabling the use of duet™ software for integrating microsoft applications. With saP enhancement

packages, you can deploy saP Business suite software in a step-wise manner to ad-dress specific business challenges along your own timelines and with-out costly upgrades.


Business Challenges SAP® ERP 6.0 Application with Enhancement Package 4: Enhancements

Features and Functions

user productivity • new application interfaces• updated role-based access• Greater use of adobe interactive forms

• employee self-service• manager self-service• employee interaction center

reporting and performance management

• Better planning and forecasting tools• Greater ability to account for investments• improved product costing module

• express planning• Business consolidation• Product design cost estimate

accounting and financial reporting compliance

• automated allocations and balancing using multiple dimensions

• improved closing process and preparation; local close across closing periods and subsidiaries

• smooth bank connection; ability to track the entire pay-ment life cycle and improve internal compliance

• accelerated invoicing processes to reduce days sales outstanding and improve integration between treasury and accounting at lower total cost of ownership

• new general ledger• Financial accounting – closing cockpit• treasury – bank communication

management• Financial supply chain management

talent attraction and retention • improved support for recruiters• improved online learning resources• enhanced performance management and objective-

setting functions• new e-learning portal role for training administrators –

simplified training organization and delivery, and improved training staff efficiency

• enhanced compensation management

• recruiting• e-learning• Knowledge management• Workforce performance management• succession management• compensation management

shared services for Hr • improved ability to operate an Hr shared service center• easier access to Hr data and services such as perfor-

mance appraisals• ability to standardize and automate business processes

• Hr administration• time management• Human capital management self-service

Procurement and logistics execution

• improved purchasing self-service functions• enhanced services procurement• streamlined invoice management• ability to standardize and automate procure-to-pay

processes

• e-procurement• Project self-service

Product life-cycle management (Plm)

• ability to automate product labeling process• ability to collect, adjust, and finalize technical product

data to prepare exact product labels• integrated product and process engineering and cad

integration

• recipe management• Plm integration

sales and order management • improved order-entry process• improved support for internet sales• enhanced pricing and configuration

• order and quotation management• selling via eBay• internet pricing configurator• comprehensive support for supplier and

customer returns• sales order entry via the saP® customer

relationship management application


SAP SCM 7.0the following table highlights the main enhancements in each of the components of saP scm 7.0: the saP advanced Planning & optimization (saP aPo) compo-nent and the saP extended Warehouse management (saP eWm), saP event management, and saP supply network collaboration (saP snc) applications.

Business Challenges SAP® Supply Chain Management Application: Enhancements


Globalization and outsourcing saP® advanced Planning & optimization (saP aPo) component:cross-location planning with characteristics

• enablement of characteristic-based capable-to-match planning

• enhanced production planning and detail scheduling (PP/ds) to simplify cross-plant planning

avoiding poor customer service

saP aPo:enhancements in demand planning

• new forecasting algorithm for better use of Pos data

• Better recognition of structural changes in the past

lack of visibility beyond the four walls

saP aPo:improved demand collaboration through vendor-managed inventory (Vmi) and customer forecast management

• customer Vmi (support for consignment stock scenario, customer master data integration)

• new process: customer forecast management

complex production planning and scheduling for process industries

saP aPo:• modeling restrictions of the flow of product through the

plant based on the physical abilities to connect resources• allowing process-oriented companies (such as chemi-

cal, consumer products, pharmaceutical, oil, or mining) to model and plan for tank restrictions within their pro-duction process

• introduction of resource networks for precise modeling of resource connections

• enhanced PP/ds optimizer• enhanced master data integration for tank

planning via new-product storage definition

Warehouse management saP extended Warehouse management (saP eWm) application:• Production integration• improvements in radio frequency execution• Graphical display of the warehouse• support for enhanced cross-docking scenarios

• opportunistic cross-docking and merchandise distribution

• Production supply• Graphical warehouse layout

managing storage and mate-rial staging of products in con-nection with production and process orders

saP eWm:integration of production supply into the processes of the warehouse (with saP eWm and the saP erP application )

Production supply

Warehouse and yard visibility saP eWm: Graphical display of the warehouse and yard Graphical warehouse layout


Business Challenges SAP® Supply Chain Management Application: Enhancements


reducing handling costs, operating costs, and material storage

saP eWm:cross-docking

opportunistic cross-docking and merchandise distribution

Picking by customer, by line, by article, or by product; flexibly planning and control-ling your flow of goods

saP eWm:merchandise distribution and retail cross-docking (with saP eWm and saP erP)

merchandise distribution

user productivity saP eWm:new Web user interface coming with a broad set of built-in features

• Web access• user productivity work list

supplier collaboration saP supply network collaboration (saP snc) application:• Quick view (dashboard)• up- and download center for file exchange

(microsoft excel)• supplier self-service–enhanced Po work list functionality• improved saP snc and saP erP integration• extended partner user management

• Purchase order collaboration• supplier-managed inventory• dynamic replenishment• Partner user management

outsource manufacturing saP snc:• improved supply, demand, and inventory monitoring for

contract manufacturing• Batch traceability• Work-in-process integration with controlling (saP erP)

• Work order collaboration• supply network inventory

customer collaboration saP snc:• decision-support enhancement of responsive replenish-

ment overview monitor through additional key figures• additional mass maintenance of location products• additional rounding logic for replenishment orders and

transport load builder• additional selection criteria, safety stock calculations,

and improved promotion handling

responsive replenishment

electronic Product code information services (ePcis) compliance

standard capture and query interface; improved master data, security, usability, and reporting

saP auto-id enterprise offering: saP auto-id infrastructure offering and saP object event repository

unique item identification support of unique item identifiers throughout: from supply chain (using saP auto-id enterprise) to asset management (saP erP)

saP auto-id enterprise: saP auto-id infrastructure and saP object event reposi-tory support for unique item identifiers


SAP SRM 7.0the following table highlights the main enhancements in saP srm 7.0.

Business Challenges SAP® Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) Application: Enhancements


user productivity • Personalized, intuitive user experience• Greater user efficiency and faster task completion• upgraded, user-friendly work center

• Flexible user interface• role-based access• Portal business content• Personal object work list

operational procurement • enhanced requisition handling through team purchasing and delivery date configuration

• streamlined purchase orders

• requisition handling• Purchase order processing

self-service procurement • enhanced authorization concept, invoice accuracy, and support for flexible integration scenarios

• automatic back-end enterprise resource planning purchase order or contract creation based on an accepted quote in saP® srm

• Procure-to-pay cycle• Purchase order and contract creation

Plan-driven procurement • Better identification and automated handling of exception situations

• enhanced integration with the saP erP application

• exception handling• saP erP integration for purchase

requirements, text transfers, revisions, and Po transfer consistency checks

services procurement • support for model specifications and service hierarchies

• saP srm master data management (mdm) catalog access for purchaser and bidder as a repository for service specifications

• centralized repository of services functionality

• saP srm mdm catalog

catalog management • ability to import content (purchase information records and contracts) from saP erP

• catalog interface for supplier-provided content• ability to publish catalog content on the Web

• catalog content management• Web publishing

centralized sourcing • response modification within request-for-x (rFx) documents

• enhanced analytics to support bid selection (bid com-parison view and weighted sourcing)

• real-time auction monitoring and bidding

• rFx bid processing• auction management

centralized contracts • single, central contract in saP srm shared via integra-tion with saP erP

• multiple alert thresholds, such as expiration date, target value, and target quantity

• saP erP integration• contract management

supplier collaboration • ability to submit services procurement requisition responses, confirmations, and invoices

• supplier-provided catalog content

supplier self-service


SAP CRM 7.0the following table highlights the main enhancements in saP crm 7.0.

Business Challenges SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) Application: Enhancements


user productivity • enhanced user interface (ui)• improved user guide guidance, assistance, and

navigation• Visualizing table content in a pie or bar chart

• a new Web client user interface in saP® crm

• smart value help• recent objects• table graphics

contract life cycle • automation of contract activation processing• enhanced package pricing and follow-ups creation• consolidated change processes for all contract types

advanced contract management

improving sales performance • ability to set revenue and units targets (overall, by product, and by product category)

• simulation of opportunity changes and what-if scenarios for closing pipeline gaps

• authorizations based on territory assignment• Possibility to model and evaluate territory rules

• Pipeline performance management• territory management

Building stronger relationships with consumers

• improved segmentation scalability for high volumes of customer data

• lean high-volume campaign execution for e-mail and file export

• Handling of temporary address data• setup and maintenance of loyalty programs• setup and maintenance of loyalty rules and conditions

• Professional call center• High-volume marketing• segmentation, campaign execution,

and address list handling• loyalty management• Program management, rewards,

memberships, and processing

delivering service excellence • saP erP application integration of functional locations and bill of materials

• credit card payment in saP crm billing functionality• service transactions that inherit reference objects and

categorizations to the item level• controlling and cost information displayed in

transactions• improved serial number integration• enhanced authorizations for installed base

• communication-enabled business processes

• advanced contract management• shared service centers• information technology infrastructure

library–compliant it service management• resource optimization


SAP PLM 7.0

Business Challenges SAP® Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) Application: Enhancements


user productivity • easier-to-deploy and intuitive new user interface (ui)• ui for material master, bill of materials, document man-

agement, and engineering change management• improved navigation• improved search usability and performance

• Web ui• ui support for existing objects• saP® Plm object navigator• search functionality

Product intelligence context-sensitive embedded analytics and supplemental area in ui

Product-centric view

collaboration and access control

increased security to protect intellectual property • context-based authorization• secure collaboration architecture

document management • simplified, intuitive handling of documents• Group structures to facilitate team and group working

saP easy document management 7.0 application

Business strategyin an increasingly global economy, flexi-bility has become a more important fac-tor in business success. organizations seek to shorten product innovation cycles, respond more quickly to dynam-ic market conditions, and continuously adjust their business model to stay ahead of the competition. However, many business applications are embed-ded in complex software environments that offer limited flexibility and little sup-port for global business transformation. saP is constantly developing measures to make it easier to manage saP Business suite applications, to help customers implement future functional enhancements with little disruption and effort, and to facilitate future business innovation.

SAP Enhancement Packagesafter you upgrade to the latest releas-es of the saP Business suite applica-tions, you can enhance the functionality of your applications without performing further upgrades thanks to a new deployment technology: saP enhance-ment packages. these packages sim-plify the way you manage and deploy new software functions for saP Busi-ness suite applications. they enable you to take advantage of the latest software innovations while minimizing disruption to ongoing operations.

currently four enhancement packages have been delivered for saP erP 6.0, and there has been one enhancement package for the saP netWeaver® tech-nology platform. in the future, enhance-ment packages will be delivered for saP crm 7.0, saP scm 7.0, and saP srm 7.0 to build on the stable underlying core of these applications.

saP enhancement packages are cumu-lative. this means when implementing an enhancement package you will get all the innovation delivered with the previous enhancement packages. For example, if you implement enhance-ment package 4 for saP erP 6.0, you get, and can activate, all innovation that has been delivered with enhancement packages 1 to 3 for saP erP 6.0 as well.

Selective Installation and Activationusing saP enhancement packages, you can implement selected software innovations from saP and then activate selected functions and enhancements on demand to meet your business requirements.

the following table highlights the main enhancements in saP Plm 7.0.


the key innovations of enhancement packages are:• selective installation of business

functions – install only the new and improved business functions that you require. after installation, no user interface (ui) or process changes take place.

• selective activation of business func-tions – activate only the business functions that you require. new func-tionality must be explicitly switched on to become active in the system, with predictable changes restricted to the activated areas.

this unique delivery and deployment method for enterprise software, enabled by the flexibility of soa, lets

you access new functions while holding on to your core functions. as a result, you can isolate the impact of software updates and quickly bring new func-tions online through shortened testing cycles without impeding core business processes.

Figure 3 shows a road map for enhancement packages for saP erP 6.0, outlining the most important areas of innovation.

SAP ERP 6.0 with Enhancement Package 4an upgrade to saP erP 6.0 is the first step to create the foundation for leveraging the benefits of the saP enhancement package concept and saP Business suite 7.

if you run the saP r/3® 4.0B software or above, you can directly upgrade to saP erP 6.0. to benefit from saP Business suite 7 and saP enhance-ment packages, you must upgrade to saP erP 6.0 with saP enhancement package 4. Hence, when planning an upgrade to saP erP 6.0, you should include saP enhancement package 4 (or the latest available saP enhance-ment package) for saP erP in your upgrade project to minimize efforts and maximize benefits. customers already running on saP erP 6.0 can leverage available saP enhancement packages. You can start to update specific pro-cesses instead of doing traditional upgrades and continue to increase your footprint in saP Business suite.

Figure 3: Road Map of Enhancement Packages for SAP® ERP 6.0

Human Capital Management

Operations

Financials

Corporate Services

* showing core content, without industry-specific content ** Planned enhancement package: subject to change

Enhancement Package 1

HR shared services

Credit and collections

Adaptive manufacturing


Talent management: learning

Bank communication management

Order-to-cash simplification

Travel management simplification


Talent management: e-recruiting

Financial closing

Procure-to-pay simplification

Environmental health and safety simplification


Talent management:new user experience

Treasury and risk management; master data governance

Outsourced manufacturing

Service sourcing and recycling administration


Q4 2006 Q3 2007 Q4 2007 Q4 2008 2010**Enhancement Packages*

Talent manage-ment: onboarding and analytics

Financial shared services

Global process integration and traceability

Enterprise asset management simplification


Combined Installationit is now possible to embed saP enhancement packages into the upgrade. combining the technical upgrade with enhancement package installation allows for one upgrade downtime – that is, without separate installation of the enhancement pack-age after the upgrade (although this is also possible). including the imple-mentation of an enhancement package into an upgrade has no impact on the technical downtime. (Beyond this, enhancement packages can be installed any time after application installation or upgrade.) By embedding enhancement packages, you are in an advantageous position for activating the relevant innovations at any later point in time. if you install all parts of an enhancement package, you can choose from all business functions delivered. if you install only some of the technical

usages from an enhancement package, the number of business functions is reduced accordingly.

SAP Enhancement Packages and Support Packagesthe delivery of saP enhancement packages is synchronized with the delivery of support packages. support packages deliver all legal changes and corrections and can be installed inde-pendently of enhancement packages. this means that you can maintain core applications by applying support pack-ages and can optionally add functional-ity through enhancement packages. to minimize effort (especially regarding potentially needed modification adjust-ments and testing), you apply enhance-ment packages within one installation queue, together with the required sup-port packages. using this strategy, enhancement packages can be installed without causing disruption, as a normal maintenance activity in one downtime.

the installation technology, now imple-mented through a maintenance opti-mizer (in the saP solution manager application management solution), and the new saP enhancement package installer have improved the upgrade and installation procedure.

Compatibilityas a rule, existing processes will work with new saP enhancement packages and application releases. in some cases, to use new processes you may need to implement the new application releases or enhancement packages and activate new functional-ity. For details on integration rules, refer to saP’s release strategy for large enterprises.

Service-Oriented ArchitecturesaP Business suite 7 applications are fully soa-enabled. soa helps you shorten application innovation life cycles and implement strategic busi-ness innovations quickly and with mini-mal effort by reusing components at the macro level. soa brings simplicity and transparency to your saP soft-ware, enabling you to adapt it to suit the business needs of your organization.

soa improves the design, composi-tion, and management of Web services to address enterprise requirements. an enterprise service can combine a series of Web services with business logic to be accessed and used repeat-edly to support a particular business

“We anticipate that the enhance-ment package strategy will remove the upgrade barrier and help us to more efficiently deliver the innovation we need for continued success. With all components of SAP Business Suite on the same release cycle, the costs associated with implementation and testing of new functionality are greatly reduced.”Ed Toben, senior VP, Git and Business services, colgate-Palmolive company

“The support packages in our productive SAP software system are normally updated on an annual basis. Now, with the in-stallation of an enhancement package, we can combine this process without any additional efforts. This means that the latest SAP functionality and technology is always on hand. We simply need to activate functionality on request from our business community.” Dr. Marco Lenck, cio, rhein chemie rheinau GmbH


process. aggregating Web services in this way facilitates the task of automat-ing enterprise-scale business scenarios. saP publishes all enterprise services that support saP Business suite func-tionality at the enterprise services Workplace site in the saP developer network (sdn) site. every productized enterprise service for saP solutions is available here for exploration, test-driving, and consumption.

these are some of the potential bene-fits you gain by using soa:• ability to flexibly design a business

process such as an order-to-cash process

• Potential to implement shared service centers

• more reliable business insight• Better integration of saP Business

suite applications with additional applications from saP partners

although soa is not currently consid-ered a primary driver for upgrading, the innovation and flexibility that soa enables should be considered a major contribution to justifying an saP soft-ware upgrade.

sustainabilitysaP Business suite applications inte-grate operations with financial and Hr processes. they must cover regular changes in legal requirements (such as tax adjustments) as well as newer com-pliance standards developed to meet the needs of a global economy. newer standards include those issued by the u.s. Food and drug administration and those published in the sarbanes-oxley act and Basel ii accords.

Covering New Legal and Compliance RequirementssaP provides updates for legal changes as part of the mainstream or extended maintenance agreement for saP Busi-ness suite 7 applications (as it does for the previous releases of saP software replaced by later releases). With previ-ous releases, the outdated underlying software technology may impede the implementation of effective solutions for meeting current compliance standards.

Ensuring Business and IT System Stabilityrunning a productive business on an saP software landscape is a major it commitment. any disturbance or insta-bility in the landscape can affect the performance of the entire company. Furthermore, saP software must remain compliant with your company’s underlying technology, including your operating system, database version, and hardware. operating systems and database versions usually have shorter maintenance periods than saP soft-ware releases and require more regular upgrades than saP applications. thus, older releases of saP software may not be compatible with newer operating systems and database versions or may not be able to use the enhanced func-tionality and performance of the newer versions. By upgrading, you can stay up-to-date with the underlying technolo-gy and help ensure business continuity and system stability.

Providing Continuous System Support and MaintenancesaP’s “7–2” maintenance strategy applies to core application releases of

saP Business suite 7. in particular, for saP crm 7.0, saP scm 7.0, saP srm 7.0, and saP Plm 7.0, saP will offer mainstream maintenance to december 2015 and extended mainte-nance for two additional years to december 2017. in parallel, mainte-nance for saP erP 6.0 and saP netWeaver 7.0 has also been adapted to this strategy. this means that main-stream maintenance for these releases is extended from march 2013 to december 2015, and extended mainte-nance will be offered to december 2017.

For other saP Business suite applica-tions (for example, industry applica-tions and supplementary applications), the maintenance dates are aligned with the maintenance dates for the core application release or saP netWeaver release they are based on. details of the 7–2 maintenance strategy for saP Business suite 7 and the unchanged maintenance strategy for saP r/3 4.6c, the saP r/3 enterprise soft-ware, and the mysaP™ erP 2004 appli-cation, can be found in saP’s release strategy for large enterprises and on the saP service marketplace extranet (www.service.sap.com/maintenance).

the benefit of paying the extended maintenance fees on previous releases of saP Business suite applications – perhaps to wait for the next major release – is limited. Furthermore, employing internal staff or hiring con-sultants to maintain outdated releases is very expensive. it’s important to con-sider these potential cost savings – as well as the operational benefits of the latest saP software – in your upgrade business-case calculation.


www.service.sap.com/maintenance

Licensing Aspectsthe introduction of saP Business suite 7 does not influence the license model and pricing. customers will continue to license saP application users and packages. existing customers will get access to relevant saP Business suite 7 innovation according to the extended maintenance agreement. For further details, contact your local account executive.

total cost of ownershipmarket studies show that up to 80% of it budgets are spent as cost of operations. one of the major contribu-tors to the high cost of operations is a software landscape that is unnecessar-ily complex. an upgrade to the latest releases of the saP Business suite applications, when combined with other it initiatives, can reduce tco, mainly in terms of operations costs.

Reducing the Level of Modification and CustomizationBecause the architecture and technolo-gy of saP software is very flexible, some saP customers invest heavily in modifications of saP code and in cus-

tom developments (customization). While it is possible to continuously adjust your software system to meet new business requirements, the life-cycle management and maintenance of highly modified saP software sys-tems becomes increasingly expensive and difficult. saP internal estimates indicate that up to 60% of custom developments are not even being used. according to a customer survey con-ducted by saP in 2008, 32% of cus-tomers take the opportunity of an upgrade to clean up their software sys-tems by eliminating unused modifica-tions and custom developments. the cost savings achieved by reducing these modifications can make a con-siderable contribution to the upgrade business case.

Consolidating the Software Landscapeconsolidation of your software land-scape can provide a good opportunity for upgrading your saP software, since both types of projects require a detailed analysis of the landscape and can be implemented simultaneously to minimize disruption. depending on your it strategy, you can run centralized or decentralized saP software systems. While some multinational companies run saP software in a single-client mode, others allow their decentralized it and business units to run individual software systems. With the increasing pressure to reduce it expenditure, there is a trend in the saP community to consolidate saP software land-scapes and replace legacy systems to streamline hardware and server infra-structure and reduce overhead costs. consolidation projects are usually

planned over several years, with the goal of achieving a consolidated landscape on a unified target, usually the latest available release of saP software.

a more consolidated saP software landscape increases business efficien-cy and flexibility and reduces the com-plexity and expense of future imple-mentation projects. consolidating your software landscape also makes future upgrades considerably easier.

Lowering the Cost of Operationsconsolidating saP software land-scapes reduces the number of saP software systems and servers as well as the number of modifications and custom developments. this, in turn, reduces the effort needed for ongoing system administration tasks (such as providing backups or applying new sup-port packages). and using enhance-ment packages to deploy enhanced functionality reduces the need for future upgrades and can also reduce the cost of operations.

Beyond those cost savings, there are additional opportunities to increase the efficiency of it operations by using the synchronized tools and infrastruc-ture available in saP Business suite 7. For example, by using the software’s robust and automated administration features and functions or using inte-grated functions such as root-cause analysis, you can reduce manual sys-tem maintenance tasks. and saP solution manager provides monitoring, service delivery, and system adminis-trator–related work centers that further improve efficiency.


after the discovery and initial evalua-tion phase, which produces a high-level definition of business and it require-ments as well as a business case, you enter a more detailed evaluation and planning phase.

in a survey conducted by saP in 2008, 69% of respondents said that cost and effort estimates are the major chal-lenges they face during the upgrade planning phase, and 46% said that project management factors are the major challenges. the definition of an upgrade strategy and development of a schedule are also significant challenges during planning and evaluation, espe-cially in large organizations. this sec-tion outlines challenges, best practices, and saP recommendations for these and other important planning factors.

Assessing the Impact of the Upgrade on Your Existing Solution

even in the planning phase, you should perform an early risk and impact assessment to produce an accurate picture of cost drivers for the project(s). the risk, difficulty, and dura-tion of upgrading to saP Business suite applications vary greatly, depend-ing on the source release and the sys-tem landscape.

For example, upgrading from saP r/3 4.6c or higher is considerably easier and involves lower risk because it requires only limited code changes to the central component of your current erP software. For releases below saP r/3 4.6c, upgrades to saP erP 6.0 involve a higher risk and may require more application adjustments, testing, and user training.

typically, saP Business suite applica-tions are part of an saP software sys-tem landscape that contains various interconnected systems. Business processes can run across the various systems. When planning an upgrade of the systems in your landscape, you must know whether this will have an impact on other systems in your land-scape – that is, whether the upgrade requires changes to other systems in the landscape as well. in general there are no dependencies – but if there are, saP can help with the right set of tools.

the level of risk and the need for appli-cation adjustments and user training also increase with the complexity of the software system landscape and your levels of customization and modifica-tion. Good it housekeeping (archiving, documentation, and regular system maintenance) can also significantly increase the efficiency of an upgrade. and the use of saP industry solutions based on saP r/3 may increase the effort involved in the project.

SAP recommendation: to achieve a detailed and reliable assessment of the risk and complexity of an upgrade project, you should carry out an impact analysis for at least one typical soft-ware system as a reference and as the basis for an initial technical risk assess-ment. such a procedure is essential for calculating required resources and preparing your organization to deal with challenges.

planninG an UpGrade strateGY and manaGement to maKe tHe ProJect run smootHlY

Upgrade Information Centera single point of access for upgrade-related information across the entire upgrade life cycle – general and solution specific – is available at www.service.sap.com /upgrade. this Web site contains information for various target groups (with technical and business focus) in english and Japanese and is updated regularly. informa-tion specific to the saP® Business suite applications can be found at:www.service.sap.com /upgrade-erpwww.service.sap.com /upgrade-crmwww.service.sap.com /upgrade-scmwww.service.sap.com /upgrade-srmwww.service.sap.com/plm

Upgrade Dependency Analyzer You can use the upgrade depen-dency analyzer to check the exis-tence of upgrade dependencies between two separately installed saP software systems in your sys-tem landscape. For details, see www.service.sap.com/uda.

21

www.service.sap.com/plm

www.service.sap.com/uda

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-erp

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-crm

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-scm

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-srm

Technical Prerequisites and Limitations

When upgrading to the latest release of any of the saP Business suite appli-cations, there are technical prerequi-sites that you must take into account. this section highlights some of the important prerequisites and indicates where to find more information for each application.

upgrade Paths for saP Business suite applicationsFigure 4 gives an overview of the direct upgrade paths to the latest releases of the saP Business suite 7 applications.

to upgrade to the latest releases of the saP Business suite applications, you may need to:• upgrade to a source release from

which you can perform a direct upgrade to the latest release

• change your hardware, operating system, or database platform

• Perform a unicode conversion if you use multiple-display, multiple- processing (mdmP) technology or blended code pages to display lan-guages with different character sets

to minimize technical dependencies between saP netWeaver, earlier components of saP Business suite,

and saP enhancement package 4 for saP erP, saP recommends installing saP enhancement package 4 for saP erP and saP enhancement pack-age 1 for saP netWeaver, as well as upgrading to the go-to releases of the saP Business suite core applications.

the following table provides upgrade and installation notes that contain technical limitations and prerequisites for each of the saP Business suite applications.

SAP® Safeguarding for UpgradesWith the saP® safeguarding for upgrades portfolio of services, saP offers a holistic approach for technical risk mitigation in saP software upgrades. it focuses particularly on the initial technical risk assessment and tailors this to your specific situation (see www.service.sap.com /safeguardingupgrade).

¹ direct upgrade from these source releases to the go-to releases of saP Business suite 7 applications is supported by saP.

² if you upgrade from saP crm 4.0 or 5.0 to saP crm 7.0, customer-specific uis (including the underlying ui-related coding) must be migrated separately.

³ most industry and supplementary applications are shipped with the saP Business suite applications and are included in the respective upgrade. For the versions of industry and supplementary applications that are part of saP Business suite 7 but are not shipped as part of saP erP, saP scm, saP Plm, saP srm, or saP crm, refer to saP’s release strategy for large enterprises at www.service.sap.com/releasestrategy.

install saP enhancement package 4 for saP erP

upgrade to saP erP 6.0 and include enhancement package 4 for saP erP

saP® erP 6.0

saP r/3 4.0B1 and above

saP Plm 4.01 and above0

saP crm 4.01,2 and above

saP srm 3.01

and above

saP scm 4.11 and above

core applications of s

aP B

usiness suite 7

3

saP erP 6.0 plus enhancement package 4 for saP erP(including saP Plm)

saP Plm 7.0

saP crm 7.0

saP srm 7.0

saP scm 7.0

upgrade

upgrade

upgrade

Figure 4: Direct Upgrade Paths for SAP Business Suite Applications

www.service.sap.com/safeguardingupgrade

www.service.sap.com/safeguardingupgrade

Technical Upgrade Notes for SAP Business Suite Applications

SAP® Business Suite Application Notes

saP® erP 6.0 application if you run the mysaP™ erP 2004 application or an older release, you must upgrade to saP erP 6.0 before being able to use the saP Business suite 7 applications and saP enhancement packages.

if you are planning an upgrade to saP erP 6.0, you should include saP enhancement package 4 for saP erP into your upgrade project to minimize efforts and maximize benefits.

the former product saP internet transaction service (its) has been integrated into the saP netWeaver® technology platform. the stand-alone its product is no longer support-ed by saP. if you have been using advanced features of this product and want to continue using them, you need to perform a migration to the latest release of the saP netWeaver Portal component. if you want to continue using the basic features of the its product, you must perform a migration to the its software that is now part of saP netWeaver. For details, see saP note 709038: “saP integrated its.”

For release restrictions, see saP note 852235.

saP customer relationship management (saP crm) 7.0 application

saP Gui is only supported for administrative tasks. the people-centric ui (Pc ui) is no longer supported. the new Web client user interface in saP crm was introduced in saP crm 2007. For more information, see saP note 1118231.

if you upgrade from saP crm 4.0 or 5.0 to saP crm 7.0, a technical upgrade is available, but an automatic ui migration of customer-specific uis (including the underlying ui-related coding) is not possible.

For details of ui migration, see the saP crm 7.0 upgrade master Guide.

saP Product lifecycle management (saP Plm) 7.0 application

to use saP Plm 7.0, you must install enhancement package 4 for saP erP 6.0, or upgrade to saP erP 6.0 and include enhancement package 4 in the upgrade.

saP Plm 7.0 also requires enhancement package 1 for saP netWeaver 7.0, saP netWeaver Portal, and text retrieval and information extraction software.

the viewer used in the new saP Plm ui must be installed on each front end, where the viewer will be used. to do this, download the installation file from the saP service marketplace extranet and execute it locally. For details, see saP note 1179524: “installation note for Viewer in saP erP eHP4.”



saP supplier relationship management (saP srm) 7.0 application

in addition to being available as a stand-alone application, saP srm 7.0 is also available as an add-on to saP erP 6.0 (saP srm on one client) with functional limitations.

saP srm 7.0 on one client in saP erP is available with saP erP 6.0 enhancement package 4 with saP netWeaver 7.01.

if you have an existing saP srm 5.0 one-client installation on an saP erP 6.0 software system, you can upgrade to saP srm 7.0 on one client after the installation of saP erP 6.0 enhancement package 4 (with saP netWeaver release 7.01).

For details of the limitations of saP srm 7.0 on one client, see saP note 963000: “usage and release of srm as add-on to ecc in saP erP 6.0.”

saP supply chain management (saP scm) 7.0 application

the following applications are components of saP scm 7.0 and are included in the upgrade to saP scm 7.0:•SAPAdvancedPlanning&Optimization(SAPAPO)component•SAPExtendedWarehouseManagement(SAPEWM)application•SAPEventManagementapplication•SAPSupplyNetworkCollaboration(SAPSNC)application

For release restrictions, see saP note 1284461: “release restrictions for saP scm 7.0.”

saP eWm, saP event management, and saP snc can also be installed as add-on components to saP erP 6.0 with enhancement package 4 or saP netWeaver 7.0 with enhancement package 1. For details, see saP note 1173386: “installation/upgrade from scm eWm 7.0 to erP 6.0 eHP4”; saP note 1173567: “installation/upgrade scem-srV 700”; the saP snc 7.0 upgrade master Guide; and saP note 1173389: “installa-tion/upgrade scmsnc 700 on nW 7.0 eHP1.”

When upgrading, you may encounter the following limitations:• limited availability of country ver-

sions or third-party products – archiving tools, for example

• compatibility problems with other saP applications or third-party products (for example, those not compatible with unicode)

You can find comprehensive informa-tion about the release restrictions and technical limitations for each saP Busi-ness suite application in saP notes.

SAP R/3 Plug-Innew and extended interfaces for inte-gration between saP erP 6.0 and other saP Business suite applications are no longer delivered with their own add-on – the saP r/3 plug-in. the saP

erP central component 6.0 now automatically contains all integration interfaces that were previously contained in the saP r/3 plug-in.

upgrade Paths for unicodeFor all saP Business suite applica-tions, a unicode conversion is only necessary for those customers using mdmP or blended code pages. However, some organizations may


want to perform a unicode conversion to provide future support for languages with different code pages – for exam-ple, for users in asian or eastern european countries.

note: saP recommends that you perform a unicode conversion for all saP Business suite 7 applications.

the previous saP technologies have become obsolete for a variety of rea-sons – for example, they do not enable proper communication with Java-based applications.

For details of the requirements to convert to unicode, see the following saP notes:• saP note 73606: “supported

languages and code Pages”• saP note 745030: “mdmP –

unicode interfaces: solution overview”

• saP note 79991: “multilanguage and unicode support of saP applications”

more details on procedures for per-forming a unicode conversion with an upgrade to the newest saP software are given in the respective saP notes listed at the end of this document (see “Further information”). and you can find general information about unicode and saP Business suite applications at www.service.sap.com/globalization.

the following table provides unicode conversion notes for each of the saP Business suite 7 applications.

Unicode Conversion for SAP Business Suite Applications


saP® erP 6.0 customers running saP r/3® software with multiple-display, multiple-processing (mdmP) technology or blended code pages must combine their upgrade with a unicode conversion.

saP customer relationship management (saP crm) 7.0

• customers with single code page technology who want to expand their business into additional countries that require additional code pages must switch to unicode.

• customers with mdmP or blended code page technology must perform a unicode conversion.

• note: if you want to perform a unicode conversion for saP crm, you have to do it before or after the upgrade – the unicode conversion is independent from the saP crm server upgrade.

saP Product lifecycle management (saP Plm) 7.0

as an add-on that is included in enhance-ment package 4 for saP erP 6.0, saP Plm 7.0 is subject to the same unicode requirements as saP erP 6.0.

saP supply chain management (saP scm) 7.0

if you want to upgrade from a non-unicode saP scm software system to a unicode saP scm software system, you must perform a special procedure called “com-bined upgrade and unicode conversion” (cu&uc).

saP supplier relationship management (saP srm) 7.0

if you want to upgrade from a non-unicode saP srm software system to a unicode saP srm software system, you must perform a cu&uc.


www.service.sap.com/globalization

Scheduling an Upgrade

there are many factors to be con-sidered when you are developing a detailed schedule to meet your specific needs – a schedule with optimal timing and sequencing of the individual upgrade projects. a transition to the latest saP Business suite applications is rarely a single project. it is generally a program that covers several produc-tive saP software systems over sever-al months or even years. But regard-less of the extent of the upgrade, the timing of the upgrade is critical given the effort and downtime it involves. therefore, an upgrade must be coordi-nated with your it planning group. the following factors influence the scheduling of an upgrade:

• complexity of the existing it land-scape and the number of saP software systems to be upgraded

• schedule and overlap with other it projects such as global rollouts, ongoing innovation projects, or con-solidation projects

• upgrade strategy and project scope

if you have more than one saP soft-ware system, such as a production system and a development system, you must consider the entire system group. it is recommended that you upgrade your systems in the same sequence in which you transport your modifications.

SAP recommendation: to identify dependencies with other it projects, you should carry out an inventory on all running projects and ensure that the project timelines are compatible. schedule an upgrade for a period of low business activity and look for favor-able windows for the downtime phase.

Determining an Upgrade Strategy

successfully executing an upgrade requires a well-defined upgrade strategy encompassing an approach and project

scope based on the circumstances and aims of your organization. the proj-ect strategy has a great effect not only on project duration and effort but also on the immediate roi of the upgrade. the upgrade strategy usually consists of several stages that progressively expand functionality, increase business value, and prepare the organization for the transition to enterprise soa while minimizing risk. this process typically lasts three to five years and consists of three distinct phases: the technical upgrade, functional enhancements, and strategic enhancements.

Phase 1: technical upgradethis initial phase involves a purely tech-nological upgrade whose major goal is the implementation of the new soft-ware release as the foundation for all subsequent improvements. the impact of this phase on your business and business processes is very limited:• Previously used business functions

are retained.• modifications and custom develop-

ments are reduced (which reduces cost of operations and system complexity).

• unicode conversion may take place.

managing saP erP 6.0 upgrade Projectsthis book, published by saP Press, is the consultant’s and project team’s guide to smooth and successful saP® upgrade projects. it covers:• upgrade planning: strategy,

scheduling, staffing, and cost estimation

• executing the upgrade: system landscapes, unicode, testing, and training

• upgrade tools: saP solution manager application management solution, upgrade assistant, and application-specific upgrade toolbox

managing saP erP 6.0 upgrade Projects guides you through all phases of the project and gives insight on project management approaches, best practices, possible errors, resources, and tools.

•Getridofunusedmodifications•MovetoSAP®standardfunctionality•Createstablefoundationforfurther

improvement

Focus on currently used functionality

•Implementnewandenhanced saP standard functionality

•Implemententerpriseservicesto optimize business processes

•Innovateandbeflexibletobusinessneeds

implement new functional requirements from the business

Technical upgrade New functionality Enterprise services

Figure 5: Upgrade Strategies

the technical upgrade simply creates the basis for functional and strategic enhancements.

note: For saP crm 7.0, a technical upgrade from saP crm 4.0 or 5.0 must be combined with a functional migration to the new Web client user interface in saP crm. the upgrade and migration processes are described in the saP crm 7.0 upgrade master Guide.

Phase 2: Functional enhancements (new Functionality)directed toward business benefits, this phase focuses on increasing business value by implementing the most valu-able functions of the new software and laying the foundation for future busi-

ness innovation and improved process automation. during this phase, saP software modifications and custom developments are replaced with (new) standard saP software functions. operational excellence is improved by picking and implementing “low-hanging fruit” – functions that offer the greatest business benefit with the least effort. even though this phase can be com-bined in a single project with the techni-cal upgrade, statistics show that more than 80% of saP customers approach this second phase as a separate proj-ect, to be conducted after a technical upgrade has been completed and over-all stability has been reached.

Phase 3: enterprise services (strategic enhancements)Phase three involves implementing new and optimized business processes and scenarios that fully exploit new functions and enable soa. it may include implementing other software systems or components and is very much dependent on the business needs of your organization. soa enables you to shorten application innovation life cycles and implement strategic business enhancements at your own speed.

Cost and Effort Estimation

large organizations running multiple upgrade projects usually start with a high-level cost and effort estimation for a company-wide upgrade program. this estimation is based on results from a reference upgrade – usually performed on a copy of a typical productive saP software system. saP customers may

also use experience from previous upgrade projects and benchmark data from analysts or saP to detail the upgrade costs in major cost categories. after the high-level estimate, cost and effort factors should be considered in detail. assuming the project scope is only a technical upgrade, these are some of the indicators and examples used in cost estimation:• costs of internal it and business

staff– General project and change man-

agement aspects (involves about 10% of the total project effort)

– time for general project application adjustments (for example, one hour for each simple adjustment of saP software modifications or custom developments)

– testing effort (involves up to 40% of total project effort, depending on the degree of application adjust-ments and the maturity of existing test procedures)

– training effort, if applicable – depends on the number of users affected, the training concept used (classroom versus e-learn-ing), and the extent of functional enhancements

• costs for external assistance • additional hardware costs, if applica-

ble (for example, server adjustments – of the cPu, hard disk, or memory)

• additional license costs for third- party or saP software, if applicable (and if the costs are not yet covered by contracts for saP Business suite applications)

Upgrade Experience Database saP customers planning an upgrade project often request benchmarking data or project statistics gathered from upgrades completed by other customers. saP stores this data in a database that includes information about:• Project duration • Business downtime • reasons for upgrade • satisfaction with the upgrade

to learn about the experiences of other customers, see www.service.sap.com/upgradedb.


the high-level cost estimation usually results in a basic cost assumption per business user affected. analyst reports, such as amr and Forrester studies, offer number ranges as a guideline.

SAP recommendation: For a detailed cost and effort estimation, the results of a test upgrade and an in-depth sys-tem analysis of the level of complexity are recommended best practices. the individual conditions of each system to be upgraded, specific risk factors, and technical limitations may become potential cost drivers. therefore, you should establish assumptions for signif-icant cost drivers and apply them to the specific conditions of your existing solution.

Project and Risk Management

once the detailed project-specific cost and effort estimation is completed and approved, you need to determine a

governance structure and then allocate the necessary resources. at the end of this preparation phase, you can set up a project kickoff meeting during which the team can agree on other standards, procedures, and milestones. in subse-quent project phases, a project manag-er should conduct progress tracking, budget monitoring, capacity and resource management, efficient escala-tion management, and communication and change management, as well as coordinate the application and technical teams.

success Factorsthese factors are critical to the suc-cessful management of an upgrade: • appropriate governance structure

and top management commitment, which ensure involvement of it and business units; fast escalation and issue-resolution procedures; alignment with other it initiatives; required resources; and so forth

• sufficient capacity

• Project team with suitable skill set• adherence to project standards and

guidelines • clearly defined project scope and

reliable change management proce-dures, especially for the handling of the code-freeze period (note: the code freeze is the point in an upgrade project from which the source code cannot be changed until the produc-tive system goes live.)

standards and Proceduresto ensure the efficiency and transpar-ency of the critical project tasks and overall progress of the project, these comprehensive standards and proce-dures are necessary:• standards for project documentation,

problem solving, progress tracking, and procedures for escalation

• Project approach and scope (for example, technical upgrade only)

• roles and responsibilities of the inter-nal and external resources involved

• setup of project landscape and code-freeze procedures

• Guidelines and procedures for testing and training strategy

saP solution manager and the saP upgrade road map content can help you define standards and procedures and help ensure they are adhered to.

Project duration and sequencingas shown in saP’s upgrade experience database, the average duration of a technical upgrade to saP erP 6.0 is about three to five months. Figure 6 outlines saP’s recommendation on how to divide the upgrade effort into different phases for a four-month upgrade project.

Technical Upgrade Planning for SAP® ERPthis saP® service allows you to eval-uate your upgrade project through the combination of remote analysis and a two-day on-site workshop that covers a cost estimate, an estimate of effort required, and a milestone plan for executing your upgrade proj-ect. the service results in a “deci-sion document” that can serve as a foundation for a fixed-price saP pro-posal for technical upgrade execution.

Upgrade and Migration Assessment for SAP CRMif your organization intends to upgrade your saP customer rela-tionship management (saP crm) 3.1, 4.0, 5.0, or 2007 application to the new release of saP crm, this service will show the benefits or value in upgrading and how the upgrade will help you to meet busi-ness objectives. the service is designed to help saP customers prepare and plan for a successful and optimal upgrade. By analyzing the current saP crm application to be upgraded, the service deliv-ers various assets for planning your upgrade.

SAP recommendation: there are various strategies for sequencing the activities involved in an upgrade. to help ensure the best possible mainte-nance (such as corrections and code changes) of your productive saP soft-ware landscape, saP recommends that for each productive software system, you perform a test upgrade by building up a “project system” from a copy of the software system. Working with a project system allows you to test-drive the majority of project tasks, such as application adjustments and unit test-ing, before the actual project landscape (including development and quality assurance systems) is upgraded.

this risk-minimized approach also reduces the code-freeze period.

Upgrade Management Tools and Assistance

to keep your upgrade on track, take advantage of saP solution manager,

saP upgrade road map, and – when needed – expert outside assistance.

saP solution managerYou can use saP solution manager to help with:• implementation and upgrade of

saP solutions• implementation of saP enhancement

packages• monitoring your solution• accessing services and support• managing project documentation

efficiently• documenting business processes

affected by the upgrade• accessing integrated testing

and user training functions

using saP solution manager through-out the life cycle of your saP applica-tion leads to a faster implementation and more efficient operation of the saP application by providing all imple-mentation and upgrade content for commonly used standard processes.

in addition, projects become more transparent, having up-to-date central project documentation all in one place at any point in time.

For technical reasons, you require an saP solution manager software sys-tem to upgrade your saP application. during the upgrade process you will be prompted to enter an saP solution manager key. Without this key, the

Figure 6: Milestone Planning in a Techni-cal Upgrade Project

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40calendar week

5 weeks 1 Project preparation

2 Blueprint3 Realization

4 Final preparation for cutover

5 Going live and support

overall project duration: about 4 monthsProject characteristics: assumed start release saP® r/3® 4.6c; assumed target release: saP erP 6.0

3 weeks

2 weeks

Code freeze

April May June July August September

“With SAP Solution Manager we can test system adjustments far more quickly than we used to be able to. Test distribution, performance, checking, and validation are also a lot more transparent now.”Detlev Voss, test manager, südwestfalen energie und Wasser aG

8 weeks


upgrade process cannot continue. therefore, you should install or upgrade to the latest release of saP solution manager.

Maintenance Optimizer for SAP Solution Manager the maintenance optimizer for saP solution manager is the central tool for planning, executing, and managing the installation of support packages and patches across the entire saP solution landscape.

during the installation of saP enhance-ment packages, the maintenance opti-mizer also helps you to find and down-load the necessary bundles of software components and provides the informa-tion to the implementation tools. When you combine the installation of enhancement packages with the instal-lation of support packages (as recom-mended by saP), there are mutual dependencies to be taken into account. these dependencies are handled auto-matically by the maintenance optimizer.

saP upgrade road mapthe saP upgrade road map content is delivered with saP solution manager. it provides a standard methodology including best practices for all project management, technical, and business aspects of a technical upgrade project. With its checklists, templates, and how-to descriptions, the road map aims to provide guidelines to the project manager and the application and tech-nical teams to help them accelerate and optimize primary project activities.

the road map (see Figure 7) is struc-tured in five phases and provides access to further tools, such as the solution browser and the application-specific upgrade toolbox from saP.

saP upgrade road map 3.2 includes upgrade content for the entiresaP Business suite, including saP netWeaver.

For offline use, saP upgrade road map is also available in Html format. You can download it from www.service.sap.com /upgraderoadmap.

Usage Guide: upgrade Projects with the saP solution managerthis document (available at www.service.sap.com /upgraderoadmap) helps you decide how the saP® solution manager application management solution can be beneficial during an upgrade of saP software. the guide details all functions that support upgrades.

Plan

Upgrade Discovery Upgrade Evaluation

document current solution and set up project

specify imple-mentation scope and solution adjustment needs

implement and adjust solution

Perform inte gration and system tests and plan cutover

execute production system upgrade and support

Project Preparation

Blueprint realization Final Preparation for cutover

Production cutover and support

Build

SAP® Upgrade Road Map

Upgrade Implementation

Figure 7: SAP Upgrade Road Map Content

www.service.sap.com/upgraderoadmap




external assistanceif your internal resources are limited or your staff lacks the skills required for an upgrade to any of the saP Business suite applications, there are coaching or specialized services available to help you avoid surprises and keep your project on time and within budget. saP surveys indicate that most saP customers rely on some external assis-tance to help ensure the best outcome for their upgrade projects. Figure 8 shows the proportion of customers who use external assistance in the vari-ous areas of an upgrade.saP supports its customers with tai-lored expert services. it also provides holistic engagement concepts such as the saP safeguarding for upgrades portfolio of services or upgrade coach services. With the coach services, an saP coach experienced in all aspects of project management and technology assists you with your upgrade.

Figure 8: Customer Use of External Assistance for an Upgrade

60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

47%

53%

59%

6%

35%

18%

Yes – to provide project management for all project phases Yes – to provide migration services Yes – to assist in correcting development objects Yes – to assist in the project planning phase Yes – to execute the technical upgrade no – covered with internal resources only


the improved technology that saP introduced with the upgrade to saP r/3 enterprise makes upgrading con-siderably easier. this applies to all saP Business suite applications. according to recent results from saP’s upgrade experience database, current upgrade procedures for the technical execution meet or exceed customers’ expecta-tions in 86% of the upgrades to saP erP 6.0. nevertheless, you and your organization must be prepared for chal-lenges in each project phase to help ensure your upgrade runs smoothly.

a survey conducted by saP in 2008 reveals which areas are perceived to be major challenges during the upgrade implementation phase and what per-centage of survey participants found them particularly challenging:• it infrastructure adjustment (39%)• downtime minimization (54%) • application and modification

adjustments (48%)• efficient testing (64%)• user training (39%)

this section provides details, best practices, and saP recommendations for each of these areas.

IT Infrastructure Adjustments

saP’s upgrade experience database shows that 40% of saP customers do not need to adjust their hardware con-figuration for an upgrade. However, in most cases they do find it necessary to make adjustments to their it infrastruc-ture. these adjustments may include resizing the application server, deploy-ing new front-end components, making network adjustments to maintain

system performance, upgrading or migrating your operating system and database platform, and converting to unicode.

resizing the application serverYou should check whether you have sufficient hardware resources, such as cPu, main memory, disk space, and swap space. For more information about sizing, see saP service market-place at www.service.sap.com/sizing. the sizing guidelines provide informa-tion on how to perform a delta sizing for technical upgrades (without func-tional extensions).

For new releases of saP Business suite applications, saP provides details of delta sizing requirements in the saP notes. saP also provides Quick sizer, a free tool to help you get an initial sizing assessment.

as a rule of thumb, with each new release of saP erP, the demands on hardware for the application server increase about 10%. upgrading to saP erP 6.0 from start release saP r/3 4.6c increases the demands on appli-cation server memory by 55% and on the application server cPu by 22%.

saP crm 7.0 is a much-optimized release and requires fewer resources, compared to saP crm 2007, in sever-al key processes. For example, in the sales-order creation process, under internal test conditions, database load was 20% less. application server and memory requirements remain almost constant.

deploying new saP Front-end componentssaP recommends you use and deploy the latest release of its graphical user interface (saP Gui), which is down-ward compatible with previous saP applications. to run the latest Gui, you may need to upgrade hardware or the operating system of user Pcs. more tips and tricks on the cost-efficient deployment of the saP front end are contained in the saP front-end deploy-ment strategy document (see “Further information”).

With saP Business suite 7, the appli-cations’ user interfaces have been har-monized. a new visual design (“signa-ture design”) provides a common look and feel for the standard saP clients, which include:• saP netWeaver Portal• saP netWeaver Business client

software• a new Web client user interface in

saP crm• saP Gui for Windows

Web dynpro development environment aBaP™ programming language is the standard ui technology for all new user interfaces in saP Business suite 7 applications except saP crm, which has its own Web client user interface framework technology. as of saP crm 2007, the saP Gui is no longer the client for accessing saP functions in saP applications. it is replaced by the new Web client user interface in saP crm (although saP Gui is still required for system administration functions and maintaining application customizing).

exeCUtinG an UpGrademeet tHe cHallenGes successFullY WitH tested recommendations


www.service.sap.com/sizing

For more details of user interfaces in saP Business suite, see the Wiki at: www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path= /display/Found/simplified+user+ experience+in+saP+Business+suite.

making network adjustments to maintain system Performanceto avoid performance bottlenecks after an upgrade to saP Business suite applications and help ensure your system performs the same as or better than it did before, saP offers the white paper Front-end network require-ments for saP Business solutions, which summarizes key recommenda-tions for an optimized network configu-ration. the guide includes requirements for all individual saP applications such as the Web client user interface in saP crm, and saP netWeaver Por-tal. However, it is strongly recommend-ed that you conduct measurements on your actual system to perform ade-quate network sizing.

upgrading or migrating Your operating system and database Platformthis is a potential prerequisite for per-forming a technical upgrade. Further-more, some customers see the upgrade project as an opportunity to change their operating system or data-base vendor to reduce their cost of operations.

converting to unicodeif you are converting to unicode with the going-live phase of the upgrade project, you need to consider additional sizing requirements such as those described in the dedicated saP notes (see “Further information”). the notes also explain the reasons for a unicode conversion.

Technical Deployment

With the upgrade to saP r/3 enter-prise software in 2003, saP significant-ly improved its upgrade procedures by introducing system switch technology. today this technology is used consis-tently for all saP Business suite appli-cations based on the aBaP program-ming language, as well as for Java-based applications.

Benefits of system switch technologyWith this technology, you can “switch” one release of an saP software sys-tem (for example, an older release of saP r/3) to a target release level (for example, saP erP 6.0) in a one-step procedure. in contrast to migration techniques, the switch technology adjusts the new saP software, the underlying database, and related data structure in an “in-place” procedure without moving data outside the data-

base. compared to the previous upgrade technology, system switch technology moves major activities from the downtime to the uptime phase. For example, for saP erP 6.0, this reduc-es the average “technical downtime” of an upgrade (which averages about eight hours) by more than 50% com-pared to previous upgrades from releases of saP r/3 to saP r/3 4.6c. Because the central component of saP erP remains stable, the technical upgrade is also much more predictable and simpler than upgrades to previous saP r/3 releases.

enhancement Package installerthe new enhancement package install-er tool is available as of enhancement package 4 for saP erP 6.0. the install-er aims to be reliable and intuitive by building on the mature, stable, and optimized system switch procedure. it provides an improved user experience due to its intuitive guided procedure. this results in a streamlined installation process. saP recommends that you always use the latest enhancement package installer version that is avail-able on saP service marketplace.

to minimize the effort of installation and testing, saP recommends that you should combine the application of both enhancement packages and support packages in one queue.

For more information on saP enhancement packages, visit www.service.sap.com/erp-ehp.

minimizing downtimetotal downtime is divided into technical downtime and business downtime.

SAP® GoingLive™ Functional Upgrade Check Service this service can help you prevent unforeseen costs before, during, and after your upgrade:• during the upgrade, it estimates

the need of it infrastructure adjustments and provides a ser-vice plan with recommendations – for example, how to minimize cost-intensive system downtimes.

• after the upgrade, you benefit even further with optimal use of your system resources.


http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path=/display/Found/Simplified+User+Experience+in+SAP+Business+Suite



www.service.sap.com/erp-ehp

Technical downtime is time during which the software system cannot be used productively. it does not include time for data backup, testing, and so on. Business downtime is the time (planned and unplanned) that the soft-ware system or solution is not available to users. it includes technical downtime plus the time necessary for the data backup and final tests.

You can reduce technical downtime by:• choosing a “downtime-minimized”

instead of the “resource-minimized” strategy. (this is determined by the preconfiguration mode during the technical upgrade. For details, see information on the upgrade guide for each application.)

• doing a preupgrade cleanup of data-base tables affected by data conver-sion activities during the downtime

• using the saP transaction code for incremental table conversion, icnV, during uptime for tables with an altered structure. the system switch upgrade enables you to use transac-tion icnV for tables that have been modified by support packages, add-ons, or customer developments.

• upgrading after hardware infrastruc-ture has been reconfigured, enhanced, or resized (if you are per-forming any of these tasks), which increases the speed of database-related activities in particular

• ensuring you always use the latest patch of the upgrade tool

the size of the database has no direct impact on the duration of technical downtime.

total business downtime can be influ-enced by additional factors such as:• Backup strategy – depending on the

amount of time available, using an online backup instead of an offline backup strategy can further reduce total downtime, while technologies such as split-mirror backup can reduce backup downtime to zero.

• Postupgrade activities – the time required to prepare the system for release to users can be increased depending on the languages installed, the other transports you want includ-ed in the system, and the duration of user acceptance testing. the upgrade guide for each application describes the follow-up activities that you need to perform after you have upgraded your saP software system.

each saP software system is highly individual in terms of its configuration and application data. therefore, an accurate forecast of total duration of the upgrade and downtime is only possible after you have analyzed the results of a test upgrade with a repre-sentative hardware configuration and a volume of data.

Application and Modification Adjustments

using a project system (a test-drive system), you can readily identify all relevant saP software modifications and necessary adjustments. as a result, you can minimize the time it takes to make the actual adjustments to the development system.

application adjustments for a technical upgrade involve four major areas: adjustments to saP software modifica-tions; adjustments to custom develop-ments; upgrade (delta) customizing for existing business processes and standard saP software functions; and adjustments to interfaces or connected saP applications and third-party products.

in the future, saP enhancement pack-ages are expected to minimize the need for application adjustments, since new functions can be selectively acti-vated with very limited impact on the application in use. Building on a stable core significantly reduces the need for application adjustments.

Application-Specific Upgrade Toolboxthe application-specific upgrade toolbox can also help you with all postupgrade activities. When you upgrade an saP® software system, in addition to the actual technical upgrade, you often have to perform additional application-specific steps before and after the upgrade. the toolbox enables you to recog-nize the necessary steps and perform them in the system in a controlled manner. the toolbox is integrated with the upgrade Gui and can also be accessed from the saP upgrade road map content (www.service.sap.com /upgraderoadmap).

34



adjustments to saP software modificationsthe upgrade process replaces modified saP objects with standard saP objects. modifications that are still needed after the upgrade must be adjusted. You can readily identify and handle all relevant saP software modifications as well as related database and data structure changes by using the tools saP pro-vides for modification adjustment.

adjustments to custom developmentsin contrast to modified saP objects, custom software developments are not directly affected by the technical upgrade process. However, since these custom developments are embedded in other saP objects and often refer-ence standard objects that might have changed during the upgrade, they also require adjustment activities. saP release notes are the primary informa-tion source for identifying if and how much custom code must be changed to remain compliant with the standard functions provided in saP Business suite applications. these adjustments can be done using the standard saP development tools. Furthermore, saP offers a custom development optimi zation package to help you han-dle custom developments effectively during an upgrade and over the entire solution life cycle.

SAP recommendation: if saP software modifications and custom develop-ments are no longer in use, you should eliminate them as part of the applica-tion adjustment activities in the devel-opment system to decrease future maintenance costs. saP statistics

show that many custom developments and reports are not used in any case. saP uses standardized tools (as part of the quick upgrade evaluation ser-vice, for example) to analyze system-specific conditions. this helps you assess the impact of the upgrade and provides a reliable foundation for a cost and effort estimation.

upgrade customizing for existing Business Processesin most cases, there is no need to change customizing settings for existing business processes after an upgrade. However, in certain areas, specific customizing adjustments may need to be performed to help ensure existing business processes and stan-dard saP functions are running proper-ly. in this case, the necessary custom-izing adjustments can be highlighted in the implementation guide for upgrade (delta) customizing (see the “Further information” section).

With the upgrade, some transactions may become obsolete, replaced by new functionality. information about further application adjustment require-ments is collected and delivered to saP customers via the application- specific upgrade toolbox.

adjustments to interfaces or connected applicationssince certain business processes run across systems or use third-party prod-ucts, it is important to ensure that all interfaces are documented properly prior to the upgrade so they can be checked effectively during the upgrade project.

For saP crm, saP note 1037748 describes how to display fields in the new Web client user interface in saP crm that have been enhanced in a tool called the easy enhancement workbench.

Testing

thorough testing is critical to minimiz-ing the risk of business disruption in any saP project, even in purely tech-nical upgrade projects. Based on a sur-vey conducted by saP in 2007, 68% of saP customers claim testing is a major cost driver and challenge in upgrade projects.

the need for and the effort involved in testing is determined by the level of application adjustments and the func-tional scope of the project. the effort can be reduced through organization and preparation. the focus of testing in upgrade projects should be on core business processes including interfac-es, forms, authorizations, and develop-ments. the manual effort and user involvement in testing can be reduced by developing comprehensive proce-dures and ensuring the transparency of existing business processes. However, reducing by too much the time and money spent on testing – or neglecting to implement adequate testing stan-dards and procedures – can jeopardize critical business processes. often, insufficient transparency of critical pro-cesses or an incomplete test catalog prevents saP customers from perform-ing accurate testing.


saP provides tools for planning and executing tests in a streamlined and cost-efficient manner to help you strike the balance between high-quality test-ing and affordable effort. saP solution manager provides integrated access to a test organizer and extended comput-er-aided test tools. For example, it can help organize test cases and provide transparency on available manual or automated test cases by documenting the cases according to major business processes. these test cases can be used for unit tests and to define test plans for regression and integration testing in the upgrade project. saP solution manager can also reduce manual testing effort considerably and help guarantee high-quality testing results and transparent test progress even beyond the saP software upgrade. test automation, especially for regression testing (which is also relevant when applying support pack-ages for saP applications), can be a significant testing accelerator and con-tributor, reducing manual testing effort by up to 40%.

SAP recommendation: For saP soft-ware upgrade projects of about four months’ duration, at least three weeks should be dedicated to regression and final integration testing.

if you need to build up test systems or other nonproductive systems more often, the saP test data migration server software can help ensure con-sistent and high-quality test systems by minimizing hardware investment. in addition, partner tools and dedicated

saP service offerings can help optimize the entire test management process. (For details, see www.service.sap.com/upgradeservices.)

User Training

as with testing, the user training effort very much depends on the upgrade’s functional scope and the extent of application adjustments. the effort involved also depends on your com-pany’s organizational readiness to deal with this topic (for example, by using accurate and complete training material).

a purely technical upgrade has limited impact on the interfaces employees are using. Where the source release is saP r/3 4.6c or higher, an upgrade to saP erP 6.0 will barely affect users, since saP erP 6.0 employs the same user interface. For releases below saP r/3 4.6c, the impact could be consid-erably higher, because some crucial saP transactions were redesigned in saP r/3 4.6c. With saP crm 7.0, you may need to migrate to a new user interface depending on the upgrade source release; the new Web client user interface in saP crm was intro-duced with saP crm 2007.

SAP recommendation: For a cost-effective execution of delta training for users, saP suggests investigating alternatives to standard classroom training – for example, employing a train-the-trainer concept to multiply knowledge provided to users via busi-ness process experts in a cascading

process. if there are only limited user interface changes but a high number of users across the globe who need train-ing, an e-learning approach could also enable more streamlined training.

You can find details of the courses offered for saP Business suite appli-cations at www.sap.com/services /education/index.epx. For an upgrade to saP erP 6.0, the upgrade course finder helps you locate courses that train your project team to introduce employees to saP erP: www.sap.com /services/education/catalog/erp /coursefinder.epx.

saP also offers e-learning solutions and a documentation tool integrated with saP solution manager to provide methodology support and expert guidance to suit your specific needs.


www.service.sap.com/upgradeservices


www.sap.com/services/education/index.epx

www.sap.com/services/education/index.epx

www.sap.com/services/education/catalog/erp /coursefinder.epx



saP Business suite 7 applications pro-vide great potential for improving your current business operations, expanding your current functionality, and helping you innovate to meet changing busi-ness requirements. current through 2015, the go-to releases of the saP Business suite applications also help ensure a stable, long-term it platform that minimizes risk and maintenance, enabling your organization to keep up in a dynamic and competitive business world.

satisfaction with saP software upgrades has increased significantly over the past 10 years thanks to the robustness and stability of the core applications, improvements in saP upgrade technology, and the assistance saP provides in all areas of an upgrade. sensitivity to the potential challenges of an saP software upgrade and knowledge of how to master these challenges by using best practices and establishing standards and procedures should make the transition to saP Business suite 7 smooth and straight-forward. thus, there is little reason to postpone an upgrade. now is the time to start maximizing the benefits of your saP investment.

Key Messages for IT Decision Makers

an upgrade to the latest release of an saP Business suite application offers significant advantages for your organi-zation in several areas if you prepare for it appropriately:• Wide-ranging benefits – the new

software provides a stable, flexible foundation with a wealth of new fea-

tures and functions that maximize your existing saP investment. How-ever, do not expect to find a single decisive factor to justify the upgrade. instead, take a holistic approach and analyze the wide range of benefits an upgrade can bring to various areas of your organization.

• Business-driven justification – identify your crucial business require-ments and the aspects of your business model that could change or be improved, and then map your needs to the functions available in saP Business suite 7 applications. the tools and services offered by saP can help you identify the con-crete benefits of the upgrade.

• Inclusive evaluation process – there is potential for both business units and it departments to derive great value from saP Business suite 7 applications. ensure cooperation and consultation between these areas, and weigh opportunities against potential risks.

• Coordination with IT strategy – executing saP software upgrades has become much more straightfor-ward and predictable in recent years. However, you should make sure an upgrade fits your overall it strategy and does not conflict with other it projects.

Key Messages for Project Manag-ers and Technical Project Leaders

the following are key messages for project managers and technical project leaders involved in an upgrade:• Take upgrades seriously – Plan and

manage upgrades as carefully as you do other saP projects, such as by

establishing comprehensive project standards and procedures. saP solution manager can help you plan and manage an upgrade.

• Prepare your system(s) – cleaning up modifications and performing selective archiving can reduce the effort of an upgrade considerably.

• Test the upgrade – Get prepared by doing at least one test upgrade in the early planning phase to identify potential risks, technical challenges and limitations, and cost drivers.

• Take a multistep approach – Perform a technical upgrade first, and then implement new functions or business innovations in subsequent projects.

• Leverage improved upgrade tech-nology – upgrading involves signifi-cantly lower impact, less effort, and shorter downtime than upgrades to previous releases of saP Business suite software.

• Plan comprehensive testing – do not underestimate the effort involved in testing. testing effort will be determined mainly by the need for application adjustment and the functional scope of the upgrade.

• Train users – the need for user training depends on how much new functionality is implemented. consider using alternative training concepts such as e-learning or a train-the- trainer approach.

• Ask for expert help as needed – consider using external assistance (including offerings from saP) to complement your internal resources in specific areas (for example, for a unicode conversion) rather than endanger the project.

tOmOrrOw’S SOlUtiOn tOdayWHY Put oFF tHe adVantaGes an uPGrade oFFers Your orGanization?


Further Information

the resources outlined in this section provide more specific or detailed infor-mation on upgrading to saP Business suite 7 applications. in the following tables, most of the online resources listed take you to saP service market-place, which requires registration. saP notes are also published on saP ser-vice marketplace, which can be accessed at www.service.sap.com.

upgrade information centerthe upgrade information center desti-nation on saP service marketplace (www.service.sap.com/upgrade) is the location you should go to first to look for more information on the upgrade topic. the upgrade information center contains a variety of brochures, pre-sentations, and dos and don’ts, as well as region-specific sites.

community networkthe community network is an online reference and collaboration resource consisting of the saP developer network, the Business Process expert community, and the saP Businessobjects™ community. You can access these resources at www.sdn.sap.com.

Help Portalthe help portal at http://help.sap.com provides Web-based documentation for all saP solutions. it also has additional information about documentation, edu-cation services, and information design at saP.

upgrade competency centersthe upgrade competency centers in aPJ, emea, and north and latin america are centers of expertise for customer upgrades and strengthen the upgrade support within the regions. it is their mission to drive a coherent set of upgrade-focused products, tools, and services to support customers and partners. the upgrade competency centers in each region can assist in a quick start on an saP erP 6.0 upgrade and help with any saP Business suite and saP enhancement package topic.

contact the upgrade competency center closest to you:• aPJ: [email protected]• emea: [email protected]• latin america: [email protected]• north america: [email protected]

“Upgrading to SAP ERP 6.0 was quick and painless, and the functional enhancements have provided significant business value.”LaBaugh Stansbury, director it, Pittsburgh Water & sewer authority


www.service.sap.com

www.service.sap.com/upgrade

www.sdn.sap.com

http://help.sap.com

mailto:[email protected]




Identifying the Value Proposition and Justifying the Upgrade

Understanding the Release Strategy for SAP® Business Suite and Determining the Value Proposition

Topic Further Information Sources

maintenance timelines for the saP® Business suite 7 applications

saP maintenance strategy:www.service.sap.com/maintenance

saP release strategy saP’s release strategy for large enterprises:www.service.sap.com/releasestrategy

overview of saP Business suite 7 applications and enhancement packages

overview of saP Business suite: www.service.sap.com/businesssuite

• application-specific overviews – saP erP: www.service.sap.com/erp – saP customer relationship – management (saP crm): – www.service.sap.com/crm – saP supply chain management – (saP scm): www.service.sap.com –/scm

– – saP supplier relationship – – management (saP srm): – – www.service.sap.com/srm– – saP Product lifecycle management

(saP Plm): www.service.sap.com/plm

– – saP netWeaver® technology platform: – – www.service.sap.com/netweaver• enhancement packages for saP erP:

www.service.sap.com/erp-ehp• What it Professionals need to Know

about saP enhancement Packages for saP erP: www.service.sap.com/ ~sapidb/011000358700001166742007e


www.service.sap.com/maintenance

www.service.sap.com/businesssuite

www.service.sap.com/erp

www.service.sap.com/crm

www.service.sap.com/scm

www.service.sap.com/scm

www.service.sap.com/srm

www.service.sap.com/plm

www.service.sap.com/netweaver

www.service.sap.com/erp-ehp

www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001166742007E

www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001166742007E

Understanding the Release Strategy for SAP® Business Suite and Determining the Value Proposition


services provided by saP for all upgrade phases, address-ing all business needs across saP Business suite

saP upgrade services:www.service.sap.com/upgradeservices

delta functionality of latest saP erP release

solution browser tool for saP erP:http://erp.fmpmedia.com/

application-specific upgrade information • saP erP: www.service.sap.com/upgrade-erp• saP crm: www.service.sap.com/upgrade-crm• saP scm: www.service.sap.com/upgrade-scm• saP srm: www.service.sap.com/upgrade-srm• saP netWeaver: www.service.sap.com/upgrade-nw

Defining a Business Case


Value assessment services from saP upgrade value assessment:overview

Planning an Upgrade

Assessing the Impact on Your Existing SAP® Software and System Landscape


overview of technical aspects of the upgrade “transition and upgrade to saP erP”:saP standard presentation

saP® tools that support your upgrade from a functional and technical perspective, including testing

saP upgrade tools:www.service.sap.com/upgradetools

technical prerequisites and limitations of saP Business suite applications

Product availability matrix:www.service.sap.com/pam

need for unicode conversion for saP Business suite applications

unicode:www.service.sap.com/unicodewww.service.sap.com/unicode@sap

availability of country versions localization:www.service.sap.com/localization

compatibility issues with other saP applications, supported business scenarios, and processes

saP process component list:www.service.sap.com/scl

limitations for the former product saP internet transaction server

saP note 709038: “saP integrated its”



http://erp.fmpmedia.com/

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-erp


www.service.sap.com/upgrade-scm

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-srm

www.service.sap.com/upgrade-nw

https://websmp102.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000896092007E

www.service.sap.com/upgradetools

www.service.sap.com/pam

www.service.sap.com/unicode

www.service.sap.com/unicode@sap

www.service.sap.com/localization

www.service.sap.com/scl


Assessing the Impact on Your Existing SAP® Software and System Landscape


saP tools for the technical execution of an saP upgrade • saP upgrade tool and Gui for the aBaP™ programming language: saPup/saPjup

• application-specific upgrade toolbox

assessing the impact on other systems in your landscape saP upgrade dependency analyzer: www.service.sap.com/uda

Estimating Costs and Effort


consider benchmark information for project duration, project effort, and so forth in preparing for final cost and effort estimation

saP’s upgrade experience database:www.service.sap.com/upgradedb

use the tailored value assessment service from saP to estimate cost and effort

• technical upgrade planning for saP® erP application: overview • upgrade and migration assessment for saP customer relationship

management application: overview

Managing Upgrade Projects Successfully


Project plan, standards, and guidelines saP® upgrade road map content:www.service.sap.com/upgraderoadmap

saP solution manager application management solution as a project documentation tool and advanced life-cycle management platform

usage guide for saP solution manager in upgrade projects

external assistance (including saP offerings) to cover need for expert knowledge or to fill resource gaps

saP global upgrade services portfolio:www.service.sap.com/upgradeservices


https://websmp106.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000327932009E>

https://websmp106.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000308622009E>

www.service.sap.com/uda

www.service.sap.com/upgradedb




http://www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001226592007E


information on hardware sizing and the Quick sizer for all saP Business suite applications

• sizing guidelines: www.service.sap.com/sizing• Quick sizer: www.service.sap.com/quicksizer

requirements for and impact on network bandwidth network sizing guide:Front-end network requirements for saP Business solutions

unicode conversion and related impact on sizing saP note 79991: “multilanguage and unicode support of saP applications”

implications for operating system and database Product availability matrix: www.service.sap.com/pam

unicode hardware sizing saP note 1139642: “Hardware requirements in unicode systems”

saP Goinglive™ Functional upgrade check service saP Goinglive Functional upgrade check: www.service.sap.com/goinglive-fu

Executing an Upgrade

Determining the Need for IT Infrastructure Adjustments


updating desktop Pcs because of new saP® Gui saP Front-end deployment strategy

requirements for and impact on network bandwidth network sizing guide:Front-end network requirements for saP Business solutions

application server resizing for the saP erP application as a rule of thumb, servers must be resized about 10% for each higher release. see these saP notes on delta sizing for previous releases of saP erP software:• 89305 (source release 4.0B)• 113795 (source release 4.5B)• 178616 (source release 4.6B)• 323263 (source release 4.6c)• 517085 (source release enterprise 1.10)• 752532 (source release enterprise 2.00)• 778774 (source release ecc 5.00)• 901070 (source release ecc 6.00)


www.service.sap.com/sizing

www.service.sap.com/quicksizer

http://www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700003943521999E>

www.service.sap.com/pam

www.service.sap.com/goinglive-fu

http://www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001216462007E.PDF>

http://www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700003943521999E>

Performing the Technical Deployment


upgrade guides, upgrade master guides, component up-grade guides, and migration guides

comprehensive technical documentation, including installation and upgrade guides for all saP® Business suite applications and industry solutions:www.service.sap.com/instguides

enhancement package installation How to install enhancement package 4 for saP erP 6.0:How to install eHP4: a Practical Guide

Handling Other Technical Considerations


technical prerequisites for using the saP® solution manager application management solution for generating the installation key for setting up an actual application solution landscape

saP note 805390: “saP solution manager is required for saP software”

upgrade and migration guide for the new Web client user interface in saP crm

• saP crm 7.0 upgrade master Guide• saP note 1118231: “supported user interfaces for saP crm”

unicode conversion and upgrade • saP note 928729: “combined unicode conversion and upgrade”• saP note 959698: “twin upgrade and unicode conversion”

unicode-related downtime optimization saP note 857081: “unicode conversion: downtime estimate”

identifying the required software components to be upgrad-ed in order to use specific enhancements

saP note 1165438: “enhancement Package 4 for saP erP: required software components”


www.service.sap.com/instguides

http://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700000293582009E

Performing Efficient Application Adjustments, Testing, and User Training


analyzing and adjusting saP® software modifications and custom developments

• Quick upgrade analysis service and technical upgrade planning service: www.service.sap.com/upgradeservices• saP software release notes: www.service.sap.com/releasenotes

application adjustments and upgrade customizing use the saP implementation guide – upgrade customizing. (note: this is not a document but a system tool that is installed and handled by the system administrator.)

additional application adjustments • saP note 623723: “upgrade: application-specific Problems”• saP note 1000009: “application-specific upgrade toolbox 2008”

saP testing tools to execute tests through the upgrade and afterward

saP testing tools: www.service.sap.com/upgradetools

using the saP solution manager application management solution to increase efficiency of business-related upgrade aspects such as testing or user training

usage guide for saP solution manager in upgrade projects

details of courses and education offerings from saP • training catalog for saP Business suite applications: www.sap.com/services/education/catalog/index.epx• course finder for upgrades and delta training for the saP erP

application: www.sap.com/services/education/catalog/erp/coursefinder.epx



www.service.sap.com/releasenotes

www.service.sap.com/upgradetools

http://www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001226592007E

www.sap.com/services/education/catalog/erp/coursefinder.epx

www.sap.com/services/education/catalog/index.epx

Public Information Sources

the analyst reports below are available on the internet, as is the article from raad studie. the saP presentations can be accessed online at saP service marketplace, www.service.sap.com. this site requires registration.

Analyst reports:• amr research: “reduce the Pain of

erP upgrades with Better Planning,” June 2007

• Forrester research: “saP Harmonizes Portfolio with Business suite 7,” march 2009

• Forrester research: “enhancement Packages improve saP upgrade Value,” may 2008

• raad studie: “it-markt deutschland,” december 2008

SAP presentations:• “saP upgrade experience

database,” march 2009• “saP transition and upgrade to

saP erP,” march 2009

SAP white paper:saP standard for upgrades, april 2007

SAP Press book:martin riedel, managing saP erP 6.0 upgrade Projects, april 2009, isBn: 978-1592292684, saP Press


www.service.sap.com

note: saP product and service names are indexed under the first word following “saP” (for example, saP erP 6.0 is listed as “erP 6.0”).

A

application server resizing, 42application-specific upgrade toolbox, 34, 41, 44

C

compliance, 19cost estimation, 27cost of operations, 20crm – easy enhancement

workbench, 35– Field enhancements, 35

crm 7.0, 15, 23, 25crm Web client user interface, 15, 23, 27, 32, 43custom developments, 35, 44customizing 35, 44

D

discovery process, 6downtime – Business downtime, 34– incremental table conversion, 34– minimizing, 33– technical downtime, 34

E

effort estimation, 27, 41enhancement package installation, 18, 43enhancement packages, 16– compatibility, 18– embedded installation, 18– erP 6.0 with enhancement

package 4, 10, 17 – installation, 16, 18, 34– support packages, 18enterprise services, 19, 27erP 6.0, 10, 23, 25, 26external assistance, 31, 41

F

Front-end deployment, 32, 42

G

Goinglive Functional upgrade check, 33, 42

I

incremental table conversion (icnV), 34interfaces, 33, 35it infrastructure adjustments, 32, 42

L

legal requirements, 19licensing, 20

M

maintenance optimizer, 30maintenance strategy, 4, 19, 39modification, 20modification adjustment, 34

P

Plm 7.0, 16, 23, 25Project– duration, 28– Procedures, 28– sequencing, 28– standards, 28– success factors, 28Project duration, 28Project sequencing, 28

Q

Quick upgrade analysis service, 8, 44

Quick upgrade analysis service for saP Business suite, 8

R

r/3 plug-in, 24release strategy, 4, 39

index


S

safeguarding for upgrade, 22saP Gui, 23, 32scheduling an upgrade, 26scm 7.0, 12, 24, 25service-oriented architecture, 4, 18software landscape– consolidation, 20

solution browser tool, 7, 40solution manager, 29, 41, 43, 44– maintenance optimizer, 30srm 7.0, 14, 24, 25success factors, 28support packages, 18system landscape– dependencies, 21system performance, 33system switch, 33

T

technical deployment, 33, 43technical limitations, 22technical prerequisites, 22, 40, 43technical upgrade planning and implementation for – saP Business suite, 40test data migration server, 36testing, 35– test data migration server, 36total cost of ownership (tco), 9, 20

U

unicode conversion, 25, 40, 42, 43upgrade and migration assessment for saP crm, 28, 41upgrade dependency analyzer (uda), 21, 41upgrade experience database, 27, 41upgrade information center, 21, 38upgrade paths, 22upgrade road map, 30, 41upgrade scheduling, 26upgrade services, 40– Goinglive Functional upgrade

check, 33, 42– Quick upgrade analysis, 8, 44– safeguarding for upgrade, 22– technical upgrade planning

and implementation for saP Business suite, 40

– upgrade and migration assessment for saP crm, 28, 41

– upgrade value assessment, 7, 40upgrade strategy, 26upgrade tools, 26, 40– application-specific

upgrade toolbox, 34, 41, 44– solution browser tool

for saP erP, 7, 40– solution manager, 29, 41, 43, 44– test data migration server, 36– upgrade dependency analyzer, 21, 41– upgrade road map, 30, 41upgrade value– determining, 6upgrade value assessment service, 7user training, 36, 44

W

Web dynpro aBaP, 32


www.sap.com/contactsap

50 082 075 (07/09) ©2009 by saP aG. all rights reserved. saP, r/3, saP netWeaver, duet, Partneredge, Bydesign, saP Business Bydesign, and other saP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of saP aG in Germany and other countries.

Business objects and the Business objects logo, Businessobjects, crystal reports, crystal decisions, Web intelligence, xcelsius, and other Business objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business objects s.a. in the united states and in other countries. Business objects is an saP company.

all other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. national product specifications may vary.

these materials are subject to change without notice. these materials are provided by saP aG and its affiliated companies (“saP Group”) for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and saP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. the only warranties for saP Group products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

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