Mastering the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Release Readiness Check: What Every Customer Should Know

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As SAP Cloud ERP formerly also known as SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition continues to evolve at a rapid pace, staying current with biannual upgrades isn’t just important—it’s essential. Each release brings powerful innovations, new capabilities, and improvements across lines of business. But with every upgrade comes an opportunity—and a responsibility—for customers to prepare their systems, integrations, and teams to ensure a smooth transition.

That’s exactly where the Release Readiness Check comes in. Delivered as part of the SAP Preferred Success offering, this proactive report empowers customers to detect potential risks in their landscape before they surface in production. From open transports and deprecated objects to test automation gaps and process vulnerabilities, the report provides clear, usage-based insights that help you act early—and upgrade confidently.

Customers who subscribed for  Preferred Success in SAP Cloud ERP can request this report directly from their Customer Success Manager (CSM). While the report can be requested at any point in time, it’s most effective when reviewed well before an upgrade window—giving your team enough lead time to interpret the insights and act accordingly. For example, if your upgrade is scheduled for August, it’s ideal to request this service in May, June, or early July.

In this blog, we’ll break down the key sections of the Release Readiness Check report, explain what each tile means, and share how you can leverage these insights to make your upgrade cycle more predictable, stable, and risk-free.

1.  Open CBC Transports – Why It Deserves Your Attention

This tile is relevant if you’re operating in a 3-system landscape (3SL) for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

Let’s add some background: With the 3-system landscape for SAP Cloud ERP, SAP introduced content decoupling during update and upgrade cycles. This means that while the software code is updated first, content is delivered separately through SAP Central Business Configuration (CBC) and deployed automatically to the development system. You, as the customer, could then transport it to the test and production systems using available apps.

This feature lets you to temporarily opt out of content updates or upgrades. Consequently, transport requests may remain in your 3-system landscape for too long and could result in a situation where it can't be imported by you, violating the "downward compatibility rule"

The downward compatibility rule, also known as the n+1 rule, allows you to import content from the current (n) or previous (n-1) release, but not older (n-2) releases.

Here, "n" represents the release number, such as 2502. "n+1" refers to the next release, such as 2508. Importing content from older releases (n-2) isn't possible without SAP support.

You may be flagged in the report if:

• You released an SAP CBC transport request for the n-1 release and did not import the transport into the test system
• You released an SAP CBC transport request for the n-1 release and imported the transport into the test system. However, you did not forward it to the production system, even though the production system exists.
• You released an SAP CBC transport request for the n-1 release and imported the transport into the test system. However, you did not yet forward it to the production system, because the production system was not yet provisioned

For you the action - Identify the transports at risk and import them before it’s too late.”

Find some more details on the same here : https://me.sap.com/notes/003610869

2. Deprecated Objects – Plan Your Cleanup Early

This tile flags SAP-deprecated objects still in use in your production system. These might include apps, APIs, CDS views, or other entities that SAP has announced as obsolete.

What to Do

Use the Release Assessment and Scope Dependency (RASD) tool (https://sap.com/rasd)  to:

• Review the deprecated items flagged.
• Find their successors.
• Check the deprecation timeline and announcement details.
• Use the "Successor Companion" tab in RASD for migration and remediation guidance. (Ensure you select the latest release in the filters to have this tab visible)

This is your chance to avoid broken links post-upgrade and streamline your business architecture.

3. Process Automation Bots – Test Before It Breaks

If you’re using SAP Process Automation bots, some may rely on screen scraping or UI recording. When UI layouts or field IDs change with an upgrade, such bots can fail.

Recommended Action

• Check for the bots in your Business Technology Platform environment
• Investigate whether a standard API exists and switch to that if possible.
• Ensure all flagged bots are included in your regression testing scope before the upgrade hits production.

Don’t wait for a post-upgrade surprise—validate your bots early.

4. Test Automation Tool – Your Regression Testing Companion

SAP strongly recommends running regression tests after every release to proactively catch issues before they impact your production environment. The Test Automation Tool plays a vital role in this process, allowing you to validate your critical business processes efficiently and consistently. As part of the Post-Upgrade Test service, automated tests can be initiated either by SAP or by you as the customer, provided you have granted consent within your SAP Cloud ERP quality or test tenant.

These tests can include standard SAP-delivered test scripts as well as custom automates that reflect your unique business processes. The Release Readiness Check helps you assess two key areas: whether you have opted into this post-upgrade testing service, and your actual usage of the tool over the past six months. This insight is crucial, especially if your regression testing efforts have been minimal or inconsistent.

Neglecting regression testing puts you at risk of post-upgrade disruptions, such as broken processes, failed integrations, or compliance gaps. If you’re unsure how to set up the tool or want to expand your testing scope, SAP Preferred Success offers expert guidance on strategy, setup, and execution. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager to make test automation a core part of your upgrade readiness journey.

Wrapping It All Up

The Release Readiness Check is more than a technical report—it’s your early warning system to ensure your SAP Cloud ERP landscape is stable, supported, and ready for what’s next.

Key Takeaways:

• Open CBC Transports must be proactively managed to avoid version-locks.
• Deprecated objects should be cleaned up to prevent process failures.
• Process automation bots should be revalidated to avoid runtime errors.
• Test automation is not optional—automate early, test smartly.

Let’s work together to make every upgrade a moment of opportunity, not anxiety. Raise a request with your Customer Success Manager to get this report for you SAP Cloud ERP landscape.

If you’ve received the report and need help interpreting any of the tiles, reach out to your SAP Customer Success Manager. We're here to help make your journey risk-free, future-ready, and fully supported.