- SAP Managed Tags
Release management plays a critical role in ensuring your SAP system is always up to date, stable, and performing optimally. Particularly in the cloud environment, knowing when to expect new innovations and how to adopt them helps businesses prepare for updates, implement new features smoothly, and avoid disruptions in operations. Let's dive deeper into why release management matters and how to do it effectively.
Importance of Release Management for a Cloud Product
In a cloud-based environment, the software is continuously updated. These updates ensure your system is running with the latest features, security patches, and performance improvements. Release management is key because it provides structured and predictable updates that businesses can prepare for.
Unlike on-premise products, where companies control when and how to install updates, cloud-based products operate on automatic update schedules managed by the provider (in this case, SAP). This makes it essential for businesses to stay informed about release cycles to avoid disruptions.
Why Release Management is Critical During Implementation
During implementation, release management becomes even more crucial. Knowing when a new release is scheduled allows project teams to plan around potential downtimes and align project milestones with the release cycle. Ignoring the release schedule could lead to disruptions or delays that can throw off an entire project timeline.
For example, if a significant feature or functionality is released while the team is testing or finalizing system configurations, it could lead to unforeseen issues or require rework. Incorporating release management into your project plan helps avoid these pitfalls by ensuring you're prepared for scheduled changes.
Finding Release Schedules and Enablement Content
Successful Release Management means staying up to date on all the upcoming innovations for the products you are using. The more products you use, the more content you need to keep track of: Release schedules, blog posts, newsletters, videos, podcasts, webcasts, social media channels, webpages, e-learning… there’s a long list of excellent and helpful content out there to inform and enable you but sourcing it for each release can require some time.
For an efficient and convenient way to find all available release information, you can use the release navigators by SAP Enterprise Support.
Example release navigator for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition
This tool consolidates key resources on feature releases from various SAP teams in one easy-to-use web application per solution area, including:
- Release dates and schedules
- Release blogs, webinars, e-learnings, newsletters, videos, podcasts…
- Resources curated in collaboration with Product Management, Product Engineering, User Assistance, Learning, Enterprise Support, Onboarding…
- Guided Tours and Navigation Tips to ensure great user experience
Links and content within the release navigators are continuously updated to reflect the latest release.
Example release navigator page for SAP Integration Suite within the release navigator for SAP BTP
The release navigator is available to all customers as part of their SAP Enterprise Support offering and to all SAP partners.
The solutions covered include:
- SAP Business Technology Platform
- SAP Customer Experience
- SAP Human Capital Management
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition (Private Edition coming in HY1 2025)
- SAP Supply Chain Management
- Spend Management & Business Network
All release navigators can be accessed via the Release Ready page in the SAP Support Portal.
The Release Ready page within the SAP Support Portal directs users to all available release navigators.
To learn more about the release navigators, we recommend to read the SAP Community blog posts under the tag “Readiness@Scale”.
Release Management Post-Go-Live
After your system goes live, release management doesn’t stop. In fact, it becomes even more important to ensure the long-term stability and performance of your SAP system. Your technical administrator should always be aware of upcoming releases and, if necessary, plan for regression testing before each update.
Equally important is communicating the update schedule to end users so they can prepare for any temporary system unavailability or changes in functionality.
Another important reason for continuous release monitoring is to avoid that users are unaware of a new and improved feature and miss out on significant improvements to their landscape and user experience.
Conclusion
Release management is an integral part of ensuring the smooth functioning of your SAP environment, especially in a cloud setting. By understanding the release process, staying up to date with SAP’s release schedules, and leveraging the tools available like the release navigator, you can effectively plan for updates, mitigate risks, and ensure your system continues to perform at its best.
Keep in mind that effective release management is not a one-time task but an ongoing process—one that helps secure the long-term success of your SAP deployment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out other blogs from the series: Customer Onboarding at SAP.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the author:
Chris is a Release Advisor for SAP BTP at SAP’s Readiness@Scale/Enterprise Support team, specializing in helping customers adopt innovations quickly and efficiently. Chris has been instrumental in the launch and continuous improvement of the Release Navigator for SAP BTP and aligning SAP BTP release processes, e.g. regarding release schedule communication and consistent baseline release information. With a strong background in digital learning for SAP BTP, years of experience in learning and enablement roles as well as an organizational psychology degree, Chris is dedicated to enhancing customer enablement and driving successful outcomes.
Having questions, comments or feedbacks? Don't hesitate to comment down below or contact @chriskollhed .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
