SAP Upgrades & Recycling Project Artifacts
In my previous post on SAP upgrades I discussed how to get started on your project and to determine whether you are doing (ahem!) just a technical upgrade or intend to venture into deploying additional standard functionality, too. In this post I’ll talk about how you can plan, anticipate and potentially accelerate some of the execution activities to verify the upgrade is working.
21 Things to Remember for Your Next SAP Upgrade
Is it time for your company to consider an SAP Upgrade?
The choice to upgrade your company’s SAP platform is a very important business decision. Many criteria need to be considered when determining if an SAP upgrade is the right move and, if so, what type of upgrade needs to take place (ECC 6.0, Enhancement Packs, etc.). A successful SAP upgrade requires the determination of your upgrade requirements, proper planning, and an assessment of technical and functional risk. Below is a sample of our SAP Upgrade Checklist white paper:
Determine Your Upgrade Requirements
- What are the business reasons for upgrading? Support from the business for an upgrade project is most important. If there are no business reasons for upgrading, then you should probably not do it. Included here are the business risks incurred by not upgrading.
- What are the technical reasons for upgrading? Included here are the technical risks incurred by not upgrading. (Posture increasing maintenance fees for old versions or complete support withdrawal as a business risk – not a technical risk.)
For the complete list, download the full white paper:
SAP Upgrade Checklist
Related Links:
SAP Upgrade Project Management Considerations
This is the first in a series of posts that I will write regarding upgrading your SAP system. 2010 is anticipated as the year of the upgrade (you heard it here first – maybe not) as many SAP customers saw an upgrade as an easily avoidable expense in the midst of the economic carnage of the last 12-18 months. Also, SAP is on a push to get customers off earlier releases and up to ECC 6.0 and various EHP (enhancement packs) to make upgrades a thing of the past.
Excuse a note of skepticism about the end-of-upgrades-as-we-know-them, I suspect the path and the mechanism to get new functionality will change. The text book methodology and approach will change, but I suspect SAP customers will be hesitant to let go completely of previous approaches to upgrades. Sounds like a topic for a future blog post.
In these posts I’ll address some of the upfront considerations before you embark on an upgrade, then progress on to ways to leverage some of your existing assets to make the process as successful as possible. Along the way I’ll discuss the impact on your SAP landscape, non-SAP systems, and other ongoing projects you may have in motion. As a wise man I once worked for said–and I’m paraphrasing–“we don’t want to rebuild the plane in midair.” Trying to get it in the hangar without passengers onboard is a noble goal, but perhaps not completely realistic.
This discussion is pitched at a fairly high level although an in depth discussion is easily set up by clicking here to contact us.
For more on SAP Upgrades download the white papers:
SAP Upgrade Checklist
Customization Risk Analysis in an SAP Upgrade Project
As always, comments and feedback are welcome, but I ask you to be civil. Your experiences are not the same as mine, I can learn from you and I hope you can learn a little from me. Let’s begin.
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SAP TechEd 09 Demo Jam Liveblog Recap
This blog is a recap of the liveblog of the SAP TechEd 09 conference Demo Jam. To read in chronological order, start from the bottom and work your way up.
SAP TechEd 09 Keynote Address Liveblog
Liveblogging SAP TechEd 09
Are you stuck in your cube while Bob from BASIS is heading to SAP TechEd 09 in sunny Phoenix? Are you afraid that you’ll miss out on all the sun and fun? While we can’t send the sun, we’ll try to bring you the fun. DataXstream will be liveblogging at SAP TechEd 09.
Head over to live.dataxstream.com on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 to get up to second updates from the show. We will be getting our liveblog on starting at 8am PDT (that’s 11am for you right-coasters) for the general keynote session. We’ll also be liveblogging from SAP TechEd 09 Demo Jam at 8pm PDT on Tuesday. The Demo Jam promises to be a great time, so plan to join us online after you put the kiddies to bed!
This is our first foray into liveblogging. Hopefully it will go off without too many technical glitches. We hope you’ll enjoy following the events with us!
SAP Testing Preparation – Due Diligence
This entry sounds like project management 101 and can be summarized as: don’t assume because when you do… and you know the rest of that one. The trick is to uncover your implicit assumptions, the explicit ones are easier to identify, whereas the ones lurking in your subconscious may only want to come out when they can trip you up.
SAP Testing Terminology – Common Understanding on Your Project is Crucial
There are many ways to start an argument on an SAP project and here’s another one to add to the list: define these terms – unit testing, system testing, integration testing, regression testing, scenario testing, end-to-end testing, end user testing, user acceptance testing, stress testing, load testing, performance testing, string testing, usability testing, security and authorizations testing, cut over testing, dry run testing, application testing, interface testing, day-in-the-life testing. I probably missed a few testing types, but the point is there are many kinds of testing and the same testing may be referred to by different names.
