ChaRM implementation at

Foodstuffs North Island

NZSUG
November 24, 2015
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
ChaRM - Overview
• Change Request Management methodology provided by SAP
with you SAP license
• Is a part of SAP Solution Manager
• Uses the SAP CRM Web-UI as user interface (No SAP GUI
log on)
• Once activated it handles all transports and transport releases
ChaRM Brief - Overview
ChaRM Brief - Overview
ChaRM Brief - Overview
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
FSNI Situation before ChaRM
• ChaRM was in place in the old SAP landscape a widely
appreciated by the internal consultants and Business Analysts
• SAP Basis team is handling a large amount of transports on a
regular basis due to frequent unit testing in TST causing
multiple transports for one change
• Transports got missed in deployments or overtake each other
• Roadmap for System Landscape in process
• Change procedure in place for all systems (non SAP and
SAP); Request for Changes are documented and signed off in
Service Manager (non SAP application)
• Desire to re-implement ChaRM as part of the wider picture for
a future landscape
• Test Managers in control of TST systems
FSNI SAP System Landscape
SAP Systems at start of project
• SAP ECC (3 Tier)
• SAP BW (3Tier)
• SAP PI (3 Tier)
• SAP CRM (3 Tier)
• SAP Solution Manager (2 Tier)
• SAP IDM and GRC
FSNI SAP System Landscape
(core systems)
Situation before project started

DEV TST PRD

Planned Future Layout (at the time)

DEV TST PRD

P-DEV P-TST
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
Realisation - Objectives
• Get Going! Any time is a good time to start
• Get started for BAU on existing 3-Tier landscape
• Familiarise developers with ChaRM on existing landscape
• Implement Urgent Change only until systems are available for
Project and Normal change
• Do not change current RfC process, Charm is seen as a
technical implementation
• Stay as close to Best Practice as possible
• Get feedback to be included in future Phase(s)
• Learn to walk before running
FSNI SAP System Landscape
(core systems)
Phase 1 ECC only

DEV TST PRD

Phase 2 – Extend & Roll out to further systems
Urgent Change
DEV TST PRD BAU

P-DEV P-TST Project

Normal Change / Project
Implementation
1. Set up a dummy landscape to be controlled by ChaRM
2. Set up standard “vanilla” ChaRM
3. Walk through session through the system “who, when, what”
4. Decide on screen modifications, additional fields and
mandatory / optional steps
• Decisions made:
o Hide non essential fields in the Web-UI
o Add 2 custom fields
o Allow skipping of steps in the ChaRM RfC document
o New Role to match FSNI approval for production
5. Document, Train and Roll out
Implementation Challanges
Technical
• Monitored system set up not optimal
• Previous configuration “attempts” lingering in the system
• Transport layer of the dummy landscape not working properly
• Short dump during field activation made custom fields
unavailable
Organisational
• Process between SAP ChaRM and external Service Manager
remained unclear
• Role mapping between ChaRM roles and business structure
not 100% clear
• No future landscape model signed off
• General resistance to ChaRM from some consultants
Going Live
• No disruption to ongoing developments. No issues to attach
existing transports to new ChaRM change documents
• Some users needed a bit of familiarisation to the Web UI
• Minor issue with time outs during the release of transports
with authorisation objects (time out)
• Import buffer to the TST system still contains a lot of
transports
• No deployment of roles through IDM
Feedback from the user Base:
• ChaRM is easy to handle
• Duplication of administrative tasks with ChaRM and Service
Manager
• Easy release to TST and set back to development
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
Pre-Production Scenario - Overview
• The envisioned system landscape was not signed off, instead
it was decided to introduce a Pre-Production system to the
landscape
• ChaRM Roadmap had to be adjusted to implement
functionality for the Pre-Production system first before
continuing with Phase 2
• Standard ChaRM functionality does not suit the FSNI
requirements
• Test Managers control the release into and through Pre-PRD
FSNI SAP System Landscape
(core systems)
Situation before project started

DEV TST PRD

Planned Future Layout (at the time)

DEV TST PRD

P-DEV P-TST
FSNI SAP System Landscape
(core systems)
Situation before project started

DEV TST PRD

New Layout (at the time)

DEV TST Pre-PRD PRD

Pre-PRD implementation - Impact
• Requires change of action profiles, status schema, roles,
action definitions
• Adjusted roles to be deployed by IDM
• Additional system has to be added to the maintenance project
• First closure and re-opening of maintenance cycle
• New training documents and guides required
• Testing had to take place without actual transports because
dummy landscape was decommissioned
Result:
• Some authorisation issues after Go Live
• ChaRM issue in case a change is moved back to
development from Pre-PRD
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
Lessons learnt – The Bad
• ChaRM process and internal change process overlap
• Training was too much focussed on ChaRM, not enough
focus on the change process as a whole
• Roles and Responsibilities were not understood during Go
Live, leading to a lot of questions and on the spot support
• Authorisation issues after Pre-PRD release
• Some users see ChaRM as adding complexity
• Growing demand for added ChaRM functionality (systems,
Projects and Normal Change)
• Still a scary number of transports (pre-charm) in the buffer
Lessons learnt – The Good
• Consultants appreciate the possibility to control their change
until testing is finished
• No missed transports anymore
• Combination of ChaRM and Pre-PRD adds release security
• Full visibility of how many changes are under way
• Full visibility of status of each change
• Test managers have visibility of which changes and transports
are in TST / Pre-PRD
• Reporting functionality extensively used
• Easy deployment of changes for SAP Basis
• ChaRM is accepted as a useful change management tool at
FSNI with a high demand to extend it’s functionality
Statistics
• Close to 500 change documents since 22/06/15 (100 per
month or 5 per day)
• 350 Changes imported into production
• Up to 20 transports included in one change document
• 115 users set up for ChaRM
ChaRM document
Simple Reporting
Agenda
• ChaRM Overview
• Reasons at FSNI to start the project
• Realisation Phase 1
• Pre-Production Scenario
• Lessons Learnt
• Going Forward with ChaRM at FSNI
Future of CHaRM at FSNI
• Phase 2 started to enhance functionality and roll out ChaRM
across system landscape
• Use Normal Change and Projects
• Introduce regular maintenance cycles (fortnightly) aligned with
FSNI release cycles
• Utilisation of cCTS and CTS+ for cross system locks,
downgrade protection and non ABAP systems
• Pre-Population of fields in Request for Change and Change
Document
• Re-Establish Dummy Landscape
• Review Change Process in itself
Final thoughts
• Despite multiple design and system changes the
decision to get started with ChaRM is seen as
the right choice
• ChaRM on Solution Manager 7.1 (SP12) offers
flexibility while keeping a tight change control
(Preliminary imports, roll over to new change
cycle, Re-assignment of transports etc.)
• It was important to get started, no matter what
the future landscape will look like
Thank You for your attention
• Questions?