SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh FAQ

Frequently asked questions on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Test data refresh provides necessary information. The purpose of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh service is to replace the existing transactional and master data in a quality system with fresh data from your production system.

FAQ

1. What is the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh service?

The purpose of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh service is to replace the existing transaction and master data in a quality system with fresh data from your production system. If required, you can also depersonalize sensitive data to support GDPR compliance by using data scrambling.

2. For which SAP products can it be used, are there limitations?

The service is currently only available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Please note that the production system must be live. The SAP S/4HANA, test data refresh service is not suitable for cleaning up a quality system.

3. What is the subscription model for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh?

The service requires an explicit subscription and can be purchased via your sales representative. Multiple service deliveries can be requested within the subscription period.

4. Where can I get more information about the service?

Please visit SAP Community page and SAP Help Portal for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh. If you cannot find the information you are looking for, you can address your questions to: mailto

5. With how many week lead time do I need to request a service delivery?

After having subscribed for test data refresh a service delivery can be requested.

As one of the first steps of the service delivery the readiness for TDR needs to be determined. Especially when requesting TDR the first time, findings resulting in action items to reach TDR readiness need to be expected.

The time needed to resolve them depends on the individual customer landscape. Sometimes is takes a couple of days. In other cases it can take some weeks even.

By the way: A standalone readiness check - independently from a service delivery - can the performed using app Check Your System Readiness - test data refresh.

6. Can I request the service at any time?

The service can be requested at any time, but it cannot be provided immediately. It is recommended to request several weeks in advance. There will be certain periods when the service cannot be executed, for example if an upgrade is in process. After receiving your service request, SAP will propose up to three possible appointments and you can choose the one that suits you best.

Please note: In an upgrade phase a request can be placed, but it cannot be followed up until the update is completed.

7. Do we need to prepare anything in advance of the service?

SAP will run a readiness check in advance of the service that determines whether your SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems meet the prerequisites for the service SAP S/4HANA Cloud, test data refresh. You can view the results of the check in a custom PDF file, including information about required action items if your system currently does not meet the prerequisites for the service.

We ask to plan proper testing (in the verification and confirmation phase, right after the data transfer) just the way you would plan regression testing after an upgrade.

8. Are there any additional customer tasks while the service is delivered?

A regression test shall be conducted like what is done after a release upgrade. Adequate test planning is needed to perform a significant number of tests. The timeframe for the verification is 48 hours.

9. Which kind of data will be transferred from the production system to the quality system?
  • Master data and transactional data only
  • Table-based migration from production to quality system
  • Business and technical configuration data will not be transferred
10. What happens to the transaction data and master data that exists in the quality system before the service execution?

This data will the deleted from the quality system before it is refreshed with data from the production system.

11. What happens with data from other SAP products like SAP Success Factors, SAP Concur?

Only data from SAP S/4HANA Cloud can be transferred from the production system to the quality system. Data from other products and solutions are not in scope of a test data refresh.

12. Can I select the data that will be transferred to the quality system?

The refresh scope is predefined. It is currently not possible to define a custom scope for the data that is transferred, for example, it is not possible to transfer data for specific business objects.

However a scoping app to include S4HANA Cloud extensibility items such as Custom Business objects is possible.

13. Is there a data depersonalization feature to support with GDPR compliance?

Yes, you can scramble personal data to support GDPR compliance by using the depersonalization feature. The usage is optional and can be asked to be deactivated in the service delivery process.

14. Will custom scripts for test automation be impacted by a test data refresh?

Script adjustments are needed if static values have been used. Add action IDs, use formular, use variables and alike instead. Generally, the usage of test data container is recommended: SAP help

15. What happens to the test data if my subscription expires?

The refreshed test data from production system remains in the quality system. The test data is not deleted from the system when the subscription expires.

16. What back up procedures are available if the transfer fails or loads incorrectly?

SAP support will handle any issues detected during the verification. In the unlikely event, the issues cannot be resolved, data will be restored using a backup which is taken at the beginning of the data transfer within the service delivery process (emergency fallback).

17. Are current settings/settings for manual rework included in the refresh?

No, the synchronization of these settings remains in customer responsibility.

18. Will communication arrangements on Q-system be affected by a refresh?

No, the communication settings remain the same. This is also valid for communication users.

19. What about business user, how are they affected?

Business users (system users, workforce persons incl. their business partners) will remain untouched on Q-system. As a result, roles and authorizations assigned are not touched either. 

20. What happens if a custom business object changed, but was not yet transported to production?
We generally suggest to prevent these situation by getting the latest changes to production. Still, if a CBO is not yet in production this won´t stop the service delivery.
21. I don´t have any custom business objects to be included in a test data refresh. Do I need to use app ‘Handle your extensions’ to consider my custom fields?
If no active configuration created in app ‘Handle your extensions’ exists, custom fields will be included in a test data refresh delivery by default.