ASAP Related

Contents:
l Advanced Customizing Tools
l Upgrades
l Preconfigured Systems

ã SAP AG 1999

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-1

 ASAP Related: Unit Objectives

Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:

l Explain what a BC Set is, how to create it, and
how to use it
l Explain the advanced tools used to describe
changes
l Describe the upgrade process using ASAP
l Outline the importance of preconfigured
systems and describe how the contents of
such systems are presented in ASAP and R/3

ã SAP AG 1999

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-2

 Overview Diagram: ASAP Related (1)

BC Set, Cross System

ASAP Related
Viewer, Activity Log

ASAP Upgrade Roadmap

Preconfigured System

Legend:
Unit
Unit
Topic
Topic

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© SAP AG ASAP92 4-3

 BC Set, Cross System Viewer, Activity Log:
Objectives

Upon completion of this topic, you will be able to:

l Define BC Sets
l Use the Customizing Cross-System Viewer
l Use the Activity Log

ã SAP AG 1999

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-4

 BC Sets, CCVS, AL

BC Set
Business
Business Configuration
Configuration Sets
Sets are
are snapshots
snapshots of
of
customizing
customizing settings
settings

BC Set
Customizing
Customizing Cross-System
Cross-System Viewer
Viewer is
is aa tool
tool to
to compare
compare =?
current =
current customizing
customizing settings
settings against
against e.g
e.g BC
BC Sets.
Sets.

History
The
The Activity
Activity Log
Log is
is aa report
report to
to see
see all
all changes
changes made
made to
to Active
an
an IMG
IMG Activty.
Activty.

ã SAP AG 1999

n A Business Configuration Set can document customizing settings right down to the field level. This
is very helpful during an initial R/3 implementation. You simply arrange the settings that you would
like to include in the “snapshot,” and press the Save button. The result is up-to-date settings
documentation that is accessible for any implementation team member.
n The CCSV then allows you to compare customizing settings across R/3 systems to identify any
inconsistencies.
n Finally, the Activity Log gives you the means to track and identify what changes to the settings were
made, when they were made, and by whom.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-5

 BC Sets: Maintenance

R/3
Business Configuration Set: Create
IMG for R/3 Customizing
R/3
BC Set: Maintenance Tool

SAP Menu Create BC Set using

Tools Implementation Guide-Hierarchy

Accelerated SAP
Roadmap Summary of BC Sets
Business Blueprint
Customizing Transport Requests
Edit Project
Project Management
Business Configuration Set

ã SAP AG 1999

n Creating a Business Configuration Set is a two-step process. The first step is to specify the header
details for the BC Set. The second step is to choose the activity or activities that you wish to capture
with the BC Set.
Ÿ Step 1: Definition of Header Data
- BC Sets are created with the BC Set Maintenance Transaction located in the Tools menu of R/3
customizing. When creating a BC Set, you first specify the header: The name of the BC Set,
The short text, where you may enter a brief description of the BC Set, The release or the release
interval.
Ÿ Step 2: Selection of IMG Activities
- Once routed to the IMG, you select the first activity the settings of which you would like to
include in your BC “Activity”. The value selection screen appears. In the group frame Tables
and views of selected cust. object, all tables and views belonging to the selected IMG activity
are automatically listed. If you want to include your own customizing tables, you simply select
the More tables button and include these tables manually.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-6

 BC Sets: Create

R/3 R/3
Business Configuration Set: Create BC Set: Create or Change
IMG for R/3 Customizing

Tables and Views

Table Fields
Activity
Copy Fix Variable

Data Records

Table/View Data

Data

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n Choose, in the group table frame (that with the Table Fields and Data records tabs), the columns and
lines of each table/view for the selected cust. object. Select the specific columns you want to include
first, and then pick the lines for parameters governing the process to be documented.
n All fields contained in the table are displayed in the Table Fields tab - Xs for key fields in key
column. Not all key fields need including in BC Set. Thus it is possible to omit location-specific
settings and focus on generic aspects of customizing, and formulate company-wide standard
customizing parameters.
n Key fields can be assigned the following three attributes: Copy (check if you want values of this
field in your BC Set); FIX (check to indicate field‘s values must not be changed); Variable (check to
indicate field‘s values can be changed when BC Set applied in R/3 system
The only field to which these attributes cannot be assigned is the “Client” field.
n FIX and Variable attribute indicators benefit a global rollout:
Ÿ A company headquarters defines, for all subsidiaries, a set of common customizing settings.
Settings assigned the FIX attribute represent the mandatory settings. Settings assigned the Variable
attributes represent settings that may be changed during activation.
Ÿ Mandatory customizing settings are fixed and not overwritten locally.
Ÿ FIX and Variable attributes do NOT influence online customizing - if values for a specific IMG
activity stored in a BC Set are marked as fixed, they can be changed in the original tables/views.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-7

 BC Sets: Transport

Tool

SAP SAP (Targ.)

System System
Customizing
Customizing BC Sets
Transport
Transport Development QS
System
System Customizing

ã SAP AG 1999

n BC sets are created at the transaction level only i.e. the lowest level. While a BC set is client
independent, its contents are client dependent customizing settings only.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-8

 Benefits of Using BC Sets

l Using BC Sets for Quality assurance in Customizing :

n Offer milestones after test phases
n Prevent project teams over-writing each other’s settings
n Make Customizing settings easier to understand
n Make Continuous Business Improvement easier

l For Global Rollout, BC Sets also allow you to:

n Encapsulate group-wide Customizing standards
n Assign attributes to individual Customizing values
n Import Customizing settings without automatically changing
the settings in the target system

ã SAP AG 1999

n BC sets can be used in Customizing for quality assurance. If you customize and test a function
during implementation, your next step should always be to create a BC set. BC set advantages:
Ÿ You can compare the system settings with the BC set using the Customizing Cross-System Viewer
(CCSV). This makes it easy to check later that the system has been set up optimally.
Ÿ You can also use this comparison to ensure that you have not (inadvertently) overwritten values
that other teams have already entered
Ÿ You can encapsulate values logically - that is, at a more abstract level, - instead of considering
each value individually. This helps customers understand their Customizing settings after
implementation and makes it easier to implement new processes or adapt existing ones when they
use Continuous Business Improvement.
n BC sets used for a global rollout also allow you to:
Ÿ Encapsulate the Customizing elements of the group template.
Ÿ Assign attributes to values. That is, you can specify that some values are “fixed” and are not to be
changed in the local entities. (At present, fixing values at global level does not automatically fix
these values in the local system. However, the attributes can be evaluated by comparing BC Sets
with the system settings using the CCSV).
Ÿ Import BC sets without automatically changing the system settings, since these settings are stored
in a container that does not affect the system‘s Customizing tables.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-9

 Cross System Viewer

Compare:
Compare:

IMG
IMG activities
activities
SAP Menu

Tools Application
Application component
component
Accelerated SAP
Roadmap
Business Blueprint
Customizing
Edit Project Further
Further selections
selections
Project Management
Customizing Cross System Viewer

ã SAP AG 1999

n This tool compares Customizing objects in two logical systems (where logical systems are either
clients in the same R/3 System, or in different R/3 Systems).

n When comparing objects, you start the Customizing Cross-System Viewer in the logon client (that is,
the client in the system where you are logged on), and then log on to the comparison client (that is,
the client with which you are making the comparison).

n For a set of selected Customizing objects, the Customizing Cross-System Viewer generates
comparison runs, which are stored as worklists in the database.

n You can perform any number of comparisons on each worklist, either in dialog mode or in the
background. Each comparison run is an overview showing differences for each object. You can also
run a single comparison for each object.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-10

 Cross System Viewer: Compare

Compare:
Compare:

R/3 R/3

Client 000
Client 000
Client 001
Client 001 Compare:
Compare:
Project IMG Client 400
Client 400 Reference IMG Client 500
Components
Transport Transport
BC Sets BC Sets
Manual selection Manual selection

ã SAP AG 1999

n The Customizing Cross-System Viewer allows you to generate comparison runs of Customizing
objects based on any of the following criteria:
Ÿ Project IMG - choose to check what has changed in your project
Ÿ Reference IMG - choose to check what has changed in the Reference IMG
Ÿ Application components - choose to compare Customizing objects in specific application areas
Ÿ Business Configuration Sets - choose to focus on Customizing settings crucial to the business of
your company
Ÿ Transport requests - choose a comparison run based on a specific transport request to find out
which objects could be overwritten by the transport
Ÿ Manual selection - In this case, you specify explicitly which objects are to form the basis of your
comparison run.
n The result of each comparison run is an overview of existing differences between the two logical
systems. This overview serves as a starting point for subsequent processing of differences.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-11

 Activity Log

History
History

Log
Log data
data changes
changes
SAP Menue Table
Table Table
Table
Tools Entries
Entries new
new Entries
Entries old
old
Accelerated SAP
Roadmap
Business Blueprint
Customizing
Edit Project
Project Management
IMG (Implementation Guide) Logging

System
System profile
profile parameter
parameter rec/client
rec/client

ã SAP AG 1999

n The AL records all changes that are made to an IMG activity. You are able to identify, for instance,
who modified a specific customizing parameter, its old value, etc. The AL ability to capture any
alterations made to settings makes it an optimal tool for investigating customizing change history.
n The CCSV allows detection of settings discrepancies between a BC Set and a system. The AL
provides an audit trail of changes to those settings.
n Before you can use the Activity Log, you have to make certain it is activated properly in your
system. Two switches need to be set for the tool to monitor customizing changes:
Ÿ The first switch is located at the table level - in the technical settings of a table in the Data
Dictionary. This switch is preset by SAP development to monitor customizing tables whose
change history should be documented. With Release 4.6, 90 percent of customizing tables will be
preset to log.
Ÿ The second switch is located at system level. With the profile parameter rec/client, you can turn on
table logging for a specific client or for the whole system. If you select a specific client, all
customizing that is made in this client and all client-independent customizing is recorded. If table
logging is turned on for the whole system, all customizing changes in the system are traced.
n The AL recognizes customizing changes at the database interface. It is therefore impossible to
change customizing information without leaving a trace in the AL. Consequently, the IMG log
contains a complete history of all customizing changes and is a perfect tool for audit purposes.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-12

 Overview Diagram: ASAP Related (2)

BC Set, Cross System

Viewer, Activity Log

ASAP Related ASAP Upgrade Roadmap

Preconfigured System

Legend:
Unit
Unit
Topic
Topic

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© SAP AG ASAP92 4-13

 ASAP Upgrade Roadmap: Objectives

Upon completion of this topic, you will be able to:

l Use the ASAP Upgrade Roadmap
l Use Release Customizing in R/3
l Explain the difference between Upgrade
Customizing and Delta Customizing

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© SAP AG ASAP92 4-14

 Defining the Points on the ASAP Upgrade Roadmap

l Initial Upgrade Project

l Planning
l Upgrade Project
Procedures
l Technical Requirements
l Planning l Upgrade and Test
l Upgrade Preparation Development System (DEV)
l Upgrade and Test
Quality Assurance System (QAS) l Project Support
l Training Upgrade Realization

Upgrade Project
Preparation Realization of
Production Go Live &
Realization of
Business Support
DEV and QAS
Blueprint l Training Upgrade
Final Preparation
l Analysis of the Productive R/3 System l Upgrade Production
l Gather Information about the Functionality System
of the new R/3 Release
l Analyze and Classify the use of new
Standard Functionality
l Define Aims of the Upgrade Project
l Training Upgrade Business Blueprint
ã SAP AG 1999

n Phase 1: Upgrade Project Preparation - purpose to provide initial planning and preparation for the
R/3 upgrade project. Although each upgrade project has unique objectives, scope and priorities, the
steps in Phase 1 help identify and plan the primary topics that must be considered.
n Phase 2: Business Blueprint - purpose to establish a common understanding in your company of how
the new R/3 release will handle your current business processes after the R/3 upgrade.
n Phase 3: Realization of DEV and QAS - purpose to perform the upgrade of all non-production R/3
Systems (normally include development (DEV) and quality assurance (QAS) systems), and to ensure
the quality of this upgrade process by comprehensive testing. You need to upgrade your DEV and
QAS systems before performing the upgrade for your production system (PRD). Furthermore, you
will develop your end user documentation and training in this phase.
n Phase 4: Realization of Production - purpose to complete the final preparation for the upgrade of the
production R/3 System, and end user training, if necessary. On the successful completion of this
phase, you are ready to run your business in your upgraded production R/3 System.
n Phase 5: Go Live and Support - purpose is the transition from your previous R/3 System to a newly
upgraded and improved R/3 System. Be aware that you must set up an ongoing support organization
to service your R/3 users, both during the first few days of your upgraded production operations, and
on an ongoing basis.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-15

 Release Customizing

Release Notes

Project Create Release

IMG Release View of
Views Project
IMG

Project IMG exists

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n The Release View for Release Customizing is generated on the basis of Release information and
the Project IMG.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-16

 Create Project View for Release Customizing

SAP Menue

Tools
Accelerated SAP
Data Scope Views Member Status
Roadmap
Business Blueprint
Country
Customizing
Edit Project
Project Management Project
Release Customizing

Keywords Docu Types Upgrade Customizing

Delta Customizing

Creation of New Project IMG View Release range

Define View by
From Release

to Release
Release Customizing

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n In case of a release change it is important to create an upgrade IMG-View so the Customizing

process and documentation tasks are supported.
n Once the upgrade Project IMG has been created, you can maintain the necessary configuration
settings, status information and documentation directly in the IMG.
n The Release view of the Project IMG contains all of the Customizing activities which will be
required at the Release upgrade. Release information can be accessed directly from the Release view
of the Project IMG.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-17

 Work with Projectview for Release Customizing

Views
Existing Release Customizing
Views
Upgrade Customizing

Delta Customizing

The R/3 System

Release range Project View
IMG for R/3 Customizing Activity
Activity
From Release
Status
to Release

General

Employee

Keywords

Memo

Note Types

ã SAP AG 1999

n In case of a release change it is important to create an upgrade IMG-View so the Customizing

process and documentation tasks are supported.
n Once the upgrade Project IMG has been created, you can maintain the necessary configuration
settings, status information and documentation directly in the IMG.
n The Release view of the Project IMG contains all of the Customizing activities which will be
required at the Release upgrade. Release information can be accessed directly from the Release view
of the Project IMG.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-18

 Overview Diagram: ASAP Related (3)

BC Set, Cross System

Viewer, Activity Log

ASAP Upgrade Roadmap

ASAP Related SAP Best Practices

Legend:
Unit
Unit
Topic
Topic

ã SAP AG 1999

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-19

 SAP Best Practices: Objectives

Upon completion of this topic, you will be able to:

l Explain the advantages of using preconfigured
systems
l Describe the differences between preconfigured
and non-preconfigured systems for an
accelerated implementation (ASAP)
l Outline the importance of BC sets for SAP Best
Practices

ã SAP AG 1999

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-20

 SAP Best Practices: Powerful Industry Expertise

Best-in-class industry expertise built into Preconfigured System

l Predefined processes l Preconfiguration

settings
n Industry-specific documentation
l Master Data
n Preanswered questionnaires
l Configuration
u Documented Business
documentation
Blueprint l Test catalogs

l Technical Infrastructure
l Workshops
l Training classes
l Additional services
l Additional industry expertise

SAP Best Practices

ã SAP AG 1999

n Benefits:
Ÿ Faster prospect/customer acceptance
Ÿ Better initial fit
Ÿ Less time to implement
Ÿ Lower Costs to implement
Ÿ Lower Risk to implement
Ÿ Earlier ROI
Ÿ Repeatability
Ÿ Faster Acceptance from the End-User
Ÿ Enabling extensive knowledge transfer
to the end-user or project team
n SAP Best Practises together with an industry-specific ASAP deliver a solution that meets the needs
of midsize customers to a great extent and can easily and quickly be tailored to the customers unique
requirements. They are scalable to meet expanding needs and are used within the implementation or
the continuous improvement phase. “Solutions” represent a natural extention to this approach.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-21

 ASAP for Industry

ASAP for Industry CD contains

M Q&Adb
Best-in-class industry expertise built into
l modelled value chains, and business
processes using industry wording

l Predefined processes l industry specific Blueprint

n Industry-specific l Documentation of Industry
documentation Value Chains
u Preanswered questionnaires l Additional Documentation
u Documented Business about Customizing, available
Blueprint BC- Sets
M BPML shows scope of
Preconfiguration
M Documentation of SAP Best
Practices in Implementation
Assistent
M Training brochures in
ã SAP AG 1999 Implementation Assistant

n Advantages of AcceleratedSAP
Ÿ Define scope and requirements quickly and stick to it
Ÿ Deliver on time, on budget, with assured quality
Ÿ Deal with the “Soft Factors”
Ÿ Predefined procedures - no need to discuss methodology
Ÿ Predefined templates - no need to „reeinvent the wheel“
Ÿ Clear and pragmatic recommendations
Ÿ Offline tools do not require R/3 in the first two project phases
Ÿ Easy to repeat methodology in subsequent projects
Ÿ Process-oriented work structure
Ÿ Phase and milestone-oriented planning
Ÿ Deliverables created quickly (without cutting and pasting)
Ÿ Elements can also be used by non-ASAP projects

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-22

 SAP Best Practices

The SAP Best Practices contain

integrated value chains covering FI, HR
and logistics:
M which are documented in Industry ASAP
SAP Best Practices
M transport requests for customizing and
test catalog
l Preconfiguration
settings M project IMG with customizing documents
l Master Data M master data creation via CATT and
l Configuration external variants
documentation
l Test catalogs
M Business Configuration Sets (BC Set)

ã SAP AG 1999

n Import of a Preconfigured System

1. Create a new client (copy of client 000)
2. Unpackage CAR-Files
(transport requests of customizing settings)
3. Import transport requests
Check all log files; appeared problems must be solved before importing master data!
4. Execute all manual steps in accordance with the installation guide
5. Import the example master data via CATT
6. Execute all manual steps after creating master data in accordance to the installation guide
n Import of a preconfigured system takes less than one day!

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-23

 ASAP Related: Summary

You are now able to:

l Explain what a BC Set is, how to create it, and
how to use it
l Explain the advanced tools used to describe
changes
l Describe the upgrade process using ASAP
l Outline the importance of SAP Best Practices and
describe how the contents of such systems are
presented in ASAP and R/3

ã SAP AG 1999
ã SAP AG

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-24

 Exercises

Unit: Accelerated Solutions

Topic: Using BC Sets, the Customizing Cross-System
Viewer, and IMG Logging

At the conclusion of this exercise, you will be able to explain and

demonstrate the following:
• How and when to use BC Sets
• How and when to use the Customizing Cross-System Viewer
• How to monitor and control Customizing changes

MSI’s SAP implementation will now be expanded to include additional

MSI locations. The MSI project team will use SAP tools to leverage
existing configuration.

5-1 Leveraging existing configuration - BC Sets

The MSI project is becoming more complex due to the global nature of the MSI
organization and the recent acquisition of the Accessories Division.
At a recent steering committee meeting, a decision was made to increase the scope
of the MSI Project and roll out SAP to all MSI locations (including Canada and the
US). Based on this decision, Project Management has decided to make the use of
predefined and fixed organizational settings mandatory at all locations. To
accomplish this, MSI has decided to use R/3’s Business Configuration Sets (BC
Sets) to store MSI’s global configuration settings for use in these group rollouts.
5-1-1 What basic possibilities are available in Customizing for creating BC Sets?
5-1-2 Use your Project IMG to record the Customizing data of MSI’s
organizational units (BC Set using IMG hierarchy). Name the new BC Set
as Y##MSI and enter a short text of your choice.

5-2 Leveraging existing configuration - Customizing Cross-System Viewer

As the MSI project expands and other MSI locations begin their Customizing, the
BC Sets housing the mandatory organizational data are being transported for use at
these other locations.
Project Management has now decided to verify that the locations are in fact using
the BC Sets and that the Customizing settings in the BC Sets have not been
changed. In addition, Project Management also wants to compare the overall
customizing of the MSI project in Germany with that of the new MSI project in the
United States.

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-25

 5-2-1 Explain the purpose and function of the Customizing Cross-System Viewer
by referring to the SAP documentation.
5-2-2 According to what criteria does the Customizing Cross-System Viewer
allow you to generate comparison runs of Customizing objects? What would
you use these for?
5-2-3 Why do you think the Customizing Cross-System Viewer is important for
an SAP implementation project?
5-2-4 (Skip this activity, because another client is not available.) Now that you
have read and understood the functionality of the Customizing Cross-
System Viewer, use the comparison status indicators to determine what
Customizing settings have been changed for the original MSI Project.
View the data transported to the test client from your Customizing client
(You will be given the client name by your instructor). Note the differences
that were detected.

5-3 Leveraging existing configuration - IMG Logging

It is important for project leaders to be continually informed about and understand
changes made to Customizing settings.
5-3-1 Explain the purpose and function of the IMG Logging tool by referring to
the SAP documentation.
5-3-2 In which phase do you record Customizing settings? How do you do this?

© SAP AG ASAP92 4-26