I recently came across two customers who had not performed a single refresh in the past three to four years. As a result, they faced several issues during upgrades and migrations. I decided to write this article to help others who may not be refreshing their systems regularly.
Failing to regularly align the SuccessFactors preview instance with the production environment introduces significant risks across system reliability, security, and business operations, in my experience. Below is a prioritized summary with detailed explanations and best practices to mitigate these issues.
Testing inconsistencies and missed defects
Priority: Highest
When the preview environment is not in sync with production, new features, configurations, or integrations are tested against outdated data or settings. This compromises the accuracy of regression testing, causing critical defects to go undetected until they impact live users. The result can include system outages, HR/payroll errors, or broken business processes, disrupting operations and increasing business risk.
Security gaps and compliance risks
Priority: High
Preview environments with misaligned role-based permissions or data privacy settings lead to inaccurate access testing. This increases the risk of exposing sensitive data or granting unauthorized access. Configuration drift or unauthorized changes can also cause compliance violations and audit failures.
Data mismatch in workflows and reporting
Priority: High
Outdated organizational structures, custom objects, or permissions in preview can lead to inconsistent workflow behavior or reporting outcomes compared to production. For example, approval chains might be skipped or reports may show incorrect data, causing poor business decisions or governance violations.
Delayed go-lives and rework
Priority: Medium
User acceptance testing and deployment schedules can slip due to discrepancies between preview and production during additional module implementation or migrations. This often results in rework, hotfixes, and increased IT costs, delaying project delivery and reducing efficiency.
Stakeholder frustration and lost confidence
Priority: Medium
When business users see different results in production than they saw during testing, confidence in IT and system changes drops. This creates confusion, resistance to new features, and more support tickets, slowing adoption and weakening trust.
Inefficient release management
Priority: Medium-Low
SAP provides a 4–6 week preview window before each production release. If preview and production environments are not aligned, teams cannot properly evaluate or prepare for new features. This leads to rushed rollouts and post-release issues that could have been avoided.
Data and integration inconsistencies
Priority: Low (but cumulative)
Mismatches in data models or integrations between environments can result in end-to-end process failures, such as payroll errors or broken HR integrations. These issues may not be obvious immediately,y but accumulate over time, increasing long-term risk.
My Best Practices for Mitigation
Perform at least two preview refreshes each year: after the 1H and 2H production releases. At a minimum, do one refresh annually after the 2H release. This keeps configurations, data, and integrations aligned for accurate testing and safer deployments.
Use SAP’s 4–5 week preview period for thorough regression testing with real-world scenarios. Avoid limiting tests to isolated cases; test end-to-end business processes to catch any integration or configuration issues early.
Promote cross-functional alignment between IT, HR, Payroll, and security teams. When teams operate in silos, changes by one group can unintentionally disrupt workflows managed by others. Collaboration ensures clear communication, comprehensive planning, and coordinated execution.
Summary Checklist for Organizations
- Refresh preview at least once annually (ideally twice)
- Run full regression tests during SAP’s preview window
- Maintain alignment of roles, permissions, and configurations
- Coordinate changes across IT, HR, PY, and security teams
- Validate workflows and reporting outputs during preview testing
- Document any environment-specific differences and address them early with SAP
Misalignment between preview and production environments causes cascading risks, system outages, compliance failures, failed go-lives, and loss of stakeholder trust. Staying proactive with synchronization and cross-team coordination ensures reliable releases and protects business continuity.
