TDMS 4.0 - product maturity - end-user experience ... ? Looking for info

[TomCenens]

Dears

I'm looking for community members who are using TDMS 4.0 who can tell me to what extent TDMS 4.0 is a mature product (lots of changes compared to TDMS 3.0) and to what extent the end-user experience is good or not.

Could TDMS 4.0 by used by business users? How much effort would it take to train them to be able to use TDMS 4.0?

There are also other questions like what kind of performance impact is there on production. I saw either RFC based data transfer or File based data transfer are available. The file based transfer solves some issues according to some community members. But that would imply the need for additional disk space to export to and then import from as well.

How mature is the product? Lots of bugs? Missing functionality? Yes, no etc?

According to SAP there is a decent adoption of TDMS 4.0, however, this forum / space doesn't reflect that (little available content / forum entries)?

Best regards

Tom

[Avenger_Girl23 · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

SAP TDMS 4.0 could be used easily by the Busines Users also. The new Web UI has good navigation pattern with self explanatory steps rather also application help in the Menu.

The process execution tab in every step gives details and the rate of data transfer.

The Operations Guide, Master Guide and the HOW-TO-GUIDE have made the concept easy and acceptable for the Business Users.

The Migration requirement such as Shell Creation is relevant for SAP BASIS. Rest could be done by the Business Users.

Check out the Help links: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_tdms40/helpdata/en/d6/aaffd14c0f4e728f2d5c8bb433c803/frameset.htm

http://help.sap.com/saptdm40

Regards,

Bharti

[TomCenens · Accepted solution]

Hi Bharti

Thanks for the information.

It seems the Q&A document is outdated on SAP Service Marketplace because the document seems to hint that specific training and SAP Basis skills are a prerequisite to use TDMS 4.0. Perhaps worth updating the document.

The thing I found strange is that when I ask SAP about the adoption of TDMS 4.0 they say there is good adoption but looking at this space, there is little content / few forum discussions. That seems contradictory.

Best regards

Tom

[Avenger_Girl23 · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

the Guides and HOW-TO documentation in the Service Marketplace is up to date and from 2012. The Operations Guide clearly mentions all the new Portfolio Items and Industry specific solutions..

Here please check the slides, it also shows the screen shot of new WEB UI and Iphone functionality..

http://www.sap.com.br/sapforum2012/agenda/apresentacoes/10479.pdf

It is always helpfull to have a background knowledge of Data structure or the type of tables etc.. This makes easy to use any type od Data transfer tool. However it is not mandatory to be SAP BASIS to use the SAP TDMS 4.0. It depends which Portfolio Item you want to transfer: Sheel creation, Snapshot, Client Deletion etc.

The Business Process Library helps you to transfer the business objects like Materials, Customers and Sales Orders. You do need the funtional background also.

Hope it helps you further to understand the concept of SAP TDMS 4.0

Regards,

Bharti

[TomCenens · Accepted solution]

Hi Bharti

I've attended a customer reference call along with my customer who is interested in TDMS 4 and it was very interesting so I can definitely recommend this to other customers who are looking into TDMS 4.

The customer was actively using TDMS 4 and was satisfied by it's results. They gave a good number of tips on how to go about implementing TDMS 4, the effort it takes (FTE's, time, ...) and what you can expect.

You can register for customer reference calls through your SAP account executive.

Best regards

Tom

[former_member65049 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I definitely would recommend to have a reference call or may be contact SAP to get answers to the exact questions you have.

You can put up the correct requirements and then the details clarified through the proper channels.

You can get in touch with the SAP account executives or the TQMs in your location to attend such meetings or setup such calls.

Regards,

Rupam

[TomCenens · Accepted solution]

Hi Rupam

We did and the reference call was good. Positive outcome / sentiment from the customer who is using TDMS 4.0 as well. A good approach is needed but all in all it looks promising if setup correctly.

TDMS 3.0 messed things up here and there (failed POC's etc) which sadly enough seems to hold back TDMS 4.0 because some customers fear the same end-result but it looks like TDMS 4.0 is a big improvement already compared to TDMS 3.0.

The fact that the same technology components are used for TDMS 4.0 as for extraction data from an ERP system to SAP HANA for example is also a benefit in my opinion.

Best regards

Tom

[former_member65049 · Accepted solution]

Thanks Tom. Its good to know that TDMS 4.0 is helping customers.

Regards,

Rupam

[former_member184682 · Accepted solution]

Hi Rupam, Bharti

Looking at the guides, its clear that there will be some impact to the production system performance

Could you help me understand "how much" this could be?

Would it be possible to use a standby databases instead of touching the production system to fill the role of a sender system?

Also i see the technology involved for data transfer is RFCs. So if its say 500GB - 1TB of data, we are still talking about weeks to build a test client. Or do i have a wrong understanding?

The settings mentioned in the notes for optimal performance like SCC4 settings (to keep them open) etc are also not compliant in many companies

Thanks

Chandrakanth

[former_member65049 · Accepted solution]

Hi Chandrakanth,

To answer your questions:

• It would be really difficult to say "How much" impact would be there on the production system... Basically, some jobs will be executing in the sender system mainly during Data Selection and Data Transfer activities.

         The impact depends on many factors like your system setup, performance, volume         

         of data to be transferred, number of users working on the system currently etc. 

          However, there are ways you can reduce this impact:

          - You can schedule the Data Selection and Data Transfer activities during a time when                there's less load on your system (number of users working is less, may be night time).                TDMS support team can help you with this. You need to open an OSS message in CA-               TDM* component.

          - Its possible to use a copy of the production system as the sender system. You can use                snaphot technology and use that as the sender system.

• Transferring 500GB-1TB does not always mean weeks time for building a test client. As I mentioned above, timing depends upon lots of factors like your system setup, performance of all the 3 involved systems (Sender, central, receiver), load on the systems etc.

• You can refer to the notes 1634108 and 890797 for details regarding recommended system settings. You should follow maximum recommendations as applicable to your company policy.

Regards,

Rupam

[former_member184682 · Accepted solution]

hi Rupam

Thanks for the details. Understood that performance impact depends a lot on the customers existing setup and usage and volume of data being transferred to setup the test client

but about the data transfer. Even with the best optimization possible, i still would assume that with RFC technology copying 1TB will take many days.  Please do correct my understanding with some examples from real implementations

Also is TDMS supported for SAP on HANA?

Thanks

Chandrakanth

[former_member184682 · Accepted solution]

hi Rupam

TDMS on HANA. Any comments?

Also it appears file based approach seems to be like the more feasible and isolated approach that all customers might choose in 4.0.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Chandrakanth,

TDMS and HANA compatibility is very much in place. As TDMS is independent of DB, this should not pose any problem.

Best Regards

Malthi