change request and screen flows

[Former Member]

(my terminology is probably wonky)

how does SAP handle importing a change request when there is a related flow in progress ?

it must create a queue and refuse users access until the current flows are finished and the request has been processed?

[Former Member]

(my terminology is probably wonky)

how does SAP handle importing a change request when there is a related flow in progress ?

it must create a queue and refuse users access until the current flows are finished and the request has been processed?

[ThomasZloch]

I didn't get it. Which change request, imported where, what sort of flow, which queue, access to where, processed how?

Thomas

[Former Member]

I am trying to understand CTS and TMS and how it handles the typical system update scenarios that I am expecting to see

if I release a change request from QAS to PRD that contains changes to screens and programs used in a screen flow

and there are users at different stages in the flow ... how does the system apply the changes?

[former_member776318]

You should go through this documentation to have an understanding of SAP Change & Transport Management System.

[SAP Change & Transport Management System|http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_04/helpdata/EN/3b/dfba3692dc635ce10000009b38f839/frameset.htm]

Regards,

Saurabh

[Former Member]

Thanks SaurabhBuksh

I found this in the docs you linked:

>When transports are imported into an SAP System, then objects change in this system. If you are working in the system at the same time as these changes are occurring, which means different objects are being used, various (temporary) problems may arise.

>Therefore we recommend not working with the system during the import. You must stop productive use of the systems during the import

I can't accept service outages

so I will have to carefully construct my applications and change requests so there aren't "various problems" upon import

Please do not use code tags to format text.

Edited by: Rob Burbank on Jun 2, 2010 5:55 PM

[matt]

>

> I can't accept service outages

Then you're using the wrong platform. If you import a transport that has changes to any workbench objects, and those objects are in use, any user using those objects may well receive an error, and need to restart the transaction. SAP is not built for hot changes.

Anyway, as I understand it, you are using the trial Netweaver. So what do you mean "I can't accept services outages"? From a philosophical point of view, or what?

[Former Member]

So what do you mean "I can't accept services outages"?

from the point of view of evaluating SAP as a platform for future application development

"SAP is not built for hot changes"

that is what surprises me

with the ability to update code and schema atomically SAP is in a unique position to enable hot changes

I can't say to a customer "log out 400 users - I need to patch the system"

Can anybody?

[matt]

>

>
> I can't say to a customer "log out 400 users - I need to patch the system"
> 
> Can anybody?

Of course. Otherwise SAP wouldn't be one of the most successful software providers in the world, and multinationals wouldn't use it. I think you need to do some research on how SAP is actually used in the business world. It is not primarily a development platform. it is a suite of integrated business applications. Not necessarily best of breed in any one of them but taken as a whole, there's not much competition.

Most changes are applied in one specific area. If I make a change affecting warehouse management, there is no reason for the HR users to log out. There's no reason for the WM guys to log out either. They may find that their current transaction fails; you've already warned them of the possibility - they just restart the transaction. In the real world, there are few occasions when users have to log out - kernel patches, underlying OS updates, db software updates account for 99% of those times when it is necessary. When SAP service packs are applied, they can usually be done without shutting users out. They'll be done during quieter times... or in the case of a truly global company, when it doesn't annoy the biggest sector of users. I know one such company that applies all changes (except emergencies) once a month, and does it during Australia's day shift.

Further, big changes, like service packs, are planned months in advance, and go through very stringent testing, often involving full copies of the production server - several terabytes of data.

In this discussion, I'm kind of reminded of a chat I had with a VB developer, in 2000. He had a lovely little application that did some very details complicated work, that had to interface with SAP. He proudly told me that his database was almost 1MB in size. I didn't tell him that the table holding the General Ledger on my SAP system, was already pushing 38GB. He just had no grasp of the sheer scale of data and applications that SAP handles - on a daily basis.

[Former Member]

it isn't SAP that is handling the 38GB of data

it is the Database Server

SAP is only reading and writing little chunks of data at a time

if you had to run a complex query across the whole general ledger

it would be a DBA / hardware challenge not a SAP challenge

trying to achieve that with an ABAP report would not work - the whole system would collapse

written correctly a little VB app could also work just fine with 38GB or even 38TB of data!

in fact the biggest system I have worked with used VB6 services and MS SQL Server and created ~9GB of new financial data every week - but it was MS SQL and HP servers (and plenty of hard discs) that took the strain!

[matt]

I regularly write ABAP that have to process huge volumes of data - not little chunks. The bulk of my work is carried out on a few BW systems. Stick to what you know about

[Former Member]

How would you achieve this in ABAP:

select sum([Debit])

from GeneralLedger

a) use OpenSQL which would delegate the work to the Database Server

b) ?

a properly maintained db will give the result - even across 38GB in a few milliseconds

to achieve that in ABAP would require copying 1000s of records in batches across the network into ABAP for aggregation

ABAP cannot process 38GB of data

it CAN ask other systems to do the work for it

which is what it does (or should do!)

the BW will pre-aggregate the data so it is massively reduced - using the db engine to do the aggregation work for it

if you are not leveraging the database engine - your applications will not perform well

[matt]

I propose you continue this discussion on the thread which was moved to the coffee corner. I think my reply there covers all the bases.

[Former Member]

Hi,

Please visit these links:

1. http://help.sap.com/saphelp_NW70EHP1core/helpdata/en/c4/6045377b52253de10000009b38f889/frameset.htm

2.

These links gives you the idea about the flow.

May this info helps you.

Regards.

Deepak Sharma.