Minimum Risk and Maximum Reliability The Blue Ocean Upgrade from HCL

Presented By: Vijay Deep and B S Bhalla

Achieving Higher Reliability in Upgrade Lifecycle

SAP Upgrade Lifecycle
Upgrade Planning

Upgrade Implementation

Upgrade
Evaluation

Project
Preparation

Blueprint

Final Preparation
For Cutover

Realization

Business Case

Project Management

Upgrade
Assessment
Hardware Sizing
Upgrade Strategy / Upgrade Landscape
Change Management

OS / DB Migration

Testing
Training & Documentation
Application Optimization

Phases

Production Cutover

Processes and
Functions

Production
Downtime
Adopt Best Practices for All Processes and Functions in the Upgrade Lifecycle

Production
Cutover
and Support

Upgrade Planning Common Challenges

Develop
Upgrade
Business Case

Perform Detailed
Upgrade
Assessment

Business Case Importance

Alignment of SAP strategy with overall business strategy
Define a roadmap for future projects leveraging ERP 6.0
Communicate that SAP is a strategic asset supporting
mission critical processes
Important to have a SAP upgrade strategy
Facilitates buy-in and involvement of rest of the
organisation
Facilitates review of applications and infrastructure
products and services strategy
Generation of feasible options and selection of most
optimum alternative
Leads to definition of upgrade project scope and
performance metrics

Business Case - Best Practices

Start Early

SAP
Technical
Upgrade

3 5 years Horizon

Holistic Approach

Senior Management Commitment

Replace Customization with Standard Processes

Implement Valuable Enhancements and Projects

Enterprise SOA /
Business Process
Platform

SAP Application Maintenance & Support

Infrastructure Management

TCO Reduction

Business Benefits

Risk Reduction

Lower Implementation Costs

Accurate Estimation with Automated

Tools for Upgrade Assessment

Tangible and Intangible

NPV / Break-even Analysis

Value Engineering Tools

Strategic
Business Benefits
Involve SAP

Upgrade Approaches
Technical Upgrade

Functional Upgrade
Strategy:
Implement new ERP 6.0 functionality
Convert the customized business
process
to standard available functionality
Reduce System Complexity

Strategy:
Focus on Technology Upgrade
No Change in existing functionality
Review Usage of Custom Objects
Can replace only some modifications
with standard processes which require
less effort

Risks: Very High

Risks: Very Low

Value: High

Value: Low
Business Case:
Staying in mainstream maintenance
Foundation layer for functional upgrade
TCO Reduction

Business Case:
Quick return for high business value
areas
Greater reduction of TCO
Greater ROI calculation

Market Adoption:
Majority go for technical upgrade first

Market Adoption:
Only few go for Functional upgrade first

Upgrade Assessment
Perform Upgrade Impact Assessment to
Determine Dependencies between Applications
Accurately determine effort & cost estimates and develop detailed project plan
Minimise project risks and increase project reliability
Enable right utilisation of resources for critical processes

Project Costs

Ensure Stability of Production Environment and Smooth Cutover

Pr

ec
j
o

tL

le
c
y
c
ife

Perform Proof of Concept

Upgrade
Involve Business
Analysts
Involve Hardware Supplier for
Accurate Sizing and HW Costs

Upgrade
Assessment

Perform Upgrade Simulation

Using Automated Tools

Project Risks
7

Upgrade Assessment Outputs

As-Is Analysis

Upgrade Impact Analysis

Technical Deliverables
Upgrade Approach

To-Be Analysis

Project Management Deliverables

Upgrade Strategy

Project Scope

All SAP Applications Compatibility Analysis

Effort Estimates

3rd Party Applications Compatibility Analysis

Project Plan

System Landscape Strategy

Project and IT Resource Requirements

Hardware Sizing

Cost Estimates

Infrastructure Recommendations

Testing Approach

Impact on Standard Functionality

Risk Analysis & Mitigation Plan

Impact on Custom Developments

Project Team Training Plan

Impact on Interfaces

Support Team Training Plan

Impact on Authorisations & Security

Project Organisation

Performance Assessment

RASCI Chart
8

Project Management Select Best Practices

Upgrade Roadmap
Project
Preparation

Upgrade
Blueprint

Upgrade
Realization

Final
Preparation
for Cutover

Treat Upgrade as a full fledged project

Use SAP Solution Manager Upgrade Roadmap
Appoint a dedicated Project Manager early for the entire lifecycle
Ensure all stakeholders are involved
All team members to constantly refer to the integrated project plan
Manage "scope creep" and implement a clear scope control process
Maintain up-to-date, detailed application documentation
Practice, practice, practice
Monitor resource requirements continuously
Keep buffer for testing activities
Perform Project Issue Management and Risk Management

Production
Cutover &
Support

Change Management
Changes Required in
SAP Upgrade Projects

Modifications
Adjustment
(1 Transport
each for all
SPAU, SPDD
Adjustments)

Repair of Standard
SAP transactions
(Look for OSS Notes
before making
any custom
modifications)

Repair of Custom
Developments
(Enhancements and
User-Exits, Interfaces,
Unicode, Workflow,
Modifications to
Standard) Replace
impacted BDCs
with BAPIs

Security Changes
/Rebuilding Security

Regular updation of delta changes in relevant documents

Synchronization of Landscapes before Integration Testing

10

On-going
Developments
and Fixes in
Production
Landscape

Change Management
Challenges
Protecting the
PRD System

Maintaining an
accurate audit trail

Managing
abandoned changes

Synchronization of
PRD landscape
and Upgrade landscape

Tracking
Record Changes
Track Location of
Changes
Change History

Risk
Management

Report Failed
Transports

Based upon business

priority & usage

Maintain TR
sequence

Change Frequency
Most changed last

Change
Authorization

Start major tasks first

Workflow within
Change Team
IT Team
Business Team

Communicating
11

Prioritising

Change Management
Production & Upgrade Landscape Synchronization
Production
Landscape

QAS

DEV

PRD

Upgrade
Landscape

Control Point 0:
Control Point 1:
Control Point 2:
Control Point 3:
Control Point 4:

DEV

QAS

Transports to be
released at go-live

Development Freeze after Integration Testing begins

Track all transports moved to current production boxes using weekly transport list
Upgrade Systems (ERP 6.0): Mandate developer of original transports to re-key &
rework the changes in upgrade DEV box
Peripheral Systems : Move transports from Production Landscape to DEV and QAS
systems in Upgrade landscape
Ensure unit testing of re-keyed transports is done before approving for migration to
upgrade QAS box
Ensure QAS re-testing is done for all re-keyed transports. If a transport needs to be
corrected or backed out, it should be overlaid by a new transport; and both
transports should be pushed to production at go-live.
12

Importance of Testing Process

Upgrade
Execution
Challenges

Realisation
Efforts
Distribution

13 %
11 %
60%
16%

13

Testing Processes

System
Integration
Testing
Development Unit Testing
Test
Planning

Functional Unit Testing

Regression
Testing
User
Acceptance
Testing

Security Testing

Performance
Testing
Mock Cutover
Testing

14

Business
Validation
Testing

Testing Best Practices

Testing
Execution

Test
Planning
Involve Business Users in Updating Test
Plans
Validate all business scenarios are
covered
Prioritize Business Processes by
Criticality Usage
Fix Automated Scripts

Dedicated person to drive all testing

Submit request to get user logins long
before integration testing
Regression testing of parallel initiatives
and production support in Upgrade
landscape to be done by Support Analyst
Performance test to determine
performance under load and monitor
hardware resources to determine
adequate sizing
Using Computer-Aided Test Tools (CATTs)
or other automated testing tools for
Cutover testing

15

Training & Documentation

Upgrade Roadmap
Project
Preparation

Planning for
Project Team
Training
Project Team
Training

Upgrade
Blueprint

Final
Preparation
for Cutover

Upgrade
Realization

Creation of
Documentation
Guidelines

Develop
Training Materials

Creation of
Training
Curriculum

Tailor SAP
System
Operation
Manual

Production
Cutover &
Support

Conduct End
User Training
Training for
Operators

Continuous
Learning

Blended Learning Approach

Self Study
(eLearning)

Classroom
(Traditional
or Virtual)

Coaching
(Traditional
or Virtual)

On-line
Performance
Support

Training & Documentation

Risk:

Risk:

Content Requires Constant Updating

End User Adoption & Proficiency Shortfall

Best Practices:

Best Practices:

All documentation managed in

single place

Adopt a delta training approach

All documentation to be changed in a

Synchronized manner

Users are to be included in the design stages

of the project
Create personalized curriculum based on
roles & usage
Consider investing in a training simulation tool
Provide a practice environment
User acceptance testing to be compulsorily
performed
Super Users and Project team members to
perform Classroom trainings

17

Application Optimization

Representative Usage Statistics of Standard and Custom

Programs in SAP Environment

Developed Custom Objects Vs Used Custom Objects

Performance Optimization

Custom Object Clearing

Reduction in
Data Corruption
Risk from
Uncleared objects

Reduction in
Security Risk
from
Unused Objects

Lower Cost of
Maintenance
Lower TCO

18

Savings in
system
resources

Enhanced
Productivity of
end users

Upgrade Landscape Strategy

Prototype Strategy

Dual Landscape Strategy

Production
DEV

QAS

PRD

DEV

QAS

Upgrade

PRD

Cutover
STG

UPD

UPQ

UPD

UPQ

Consolidated
DEV

QAS

PRD

PRD

System Landscape Challenges:

Optimisation of System Landscape

Minimum business downtime
Landscape Synchronization
Support On-going Production activities
Support On-going Upgrade changes
contd.

HW Architecture compatibility with new release

(32/64 bit, Unicode / Non Unicode)
Dependencies and compatibility issues with
Non-SAP system landscape (Bolt-On,
Interfaces, Middleware)

Dual Landscape System Build

Build Option 1

DEV

QAS

PRD

UPD

UPQ

PRD

Build Option 2

Production Support Landscape

Option 1 Build DEV/QA from Production
Pros
Synchronizes DEV &
QA with PRD
Higher degree of
Assurance same
changes moved to
PRD
Reduces Testing
Time in DEV

Cons
Requires higher
storage capacity
Increases risk of data
security data is
exposed in DEV
Versioning is lost

Upgrade Landscape
Option 2 Build DEV/QA from respective DEV/QA
Pros

Smaller boxes with

less storage space
Versioning of
development objects
is retained

Cons

Test Data to be
created if not
available
Requires more
efforts to perform
Testing

Dual Landscape Synchronisation

Points to Consider:

Transport Process
Development Freeze and Emergency Fixes
Interfaces, internal and external email notification
Security (user login/role)
Historical tracking of versions for audit purpose
Backup and restore

Production
Landscape

BD1

BQ1

BP1

Upgrade
Landscape

BD2

BQ2

Transports to be
released at go-live

Synchronisation Process:

Track all transports moved to current production boxes using weekly transport list
Developer of original transports to re-key & rework the changes in upgrade BD2 box
Ensure unit testing of re-keyed transports before approving for migration to upgrade BQ2 box
Ensure BQ2 re-testing is done for all re-keyed transports.
If a transport needs to be corrected or backed out, it should be overlaid by a new transport; and both
transports should be pushed to production at go-live.

OS/DB Migration

Optimisation

Considerations
Hardware Scalability
Performance Improvements
Availability of New Technologies
Platform
Administrative Efficiency
Maintenance Cost Reduction
Manage very large size data volumes
System Reliability & Continuity
Standardizations of IT Policy

Performed OS & DB Migration

separately
Enhance Hardware Resource
Run Optimization Tool
Migration Tool
Package Splitter Tool
Table Split
Distribution Monitor
Unsorted Export
Loadprocedure fast for import
Adapt database export/import tuning
parameter
Adapt parallel export/import process
Export/Import large table first

22

Upgrade Strategy

Strategy
Advantages

Downtime-minimized

Resource-minimized

Short downtime
Medium amount of space

No additional system resources

Disadvantages

Increased demand on system

resources due to parallel operation
of production and shadow
instances

Longer downtime

Recommendation

Suggested for Production System

upgrade

Suggested for Development QA

System upgrade

23

Hardware Sizing
Importance of Sizing:
Additional hardware resource requirement for ERP 6.0
Minimize Upgrade downtime
Improve system performance
New enhancements and rollouts
Future growth of data

Method 1 SAP Quick Sizer

User Based
Throughput Based (preferred)

Method 2 Hardware partners SAP load assessment service

(recommended)
Factors to Consider
Future load of application implementation
Interfaces and other applications interacting with SAP
Historical and future growth of data
Data safeguarding (RAID, High Availability)
Assure scalability of the Servers

Upgrade and Unicode Environment Sizing

Delta sizing based upon SAP Guidelines
SAP Release Upgrade
Additional Hardware Requirements
CPU

10-30% increase

Memory

15-55% increase

DB Size

0-25% increase
Unicode Conversion
Additional Hardware Requirements

CPU

30-50% increase

Memory

50% increase

DB Size

36% (UTF-8/CESU-8) increase

60-70%(UTF-16) increase

25

Elements of Production Downtime during Upgrade

Up

Down

SAPup:
PREPARE
&
repository
import

Up
SAPup:
conversion,
XPRAS,
etc.

Transports
&
manual
tasks

Business
validation
tests

Down
Go/No-go decision

Upgrade technical runtime (SAPup)

Post-upgrade transports & manual adjustments
Business validation & acceptance testing
Pre and post-upgrade system backups
Business ramp-down & ramp-up

Factors Affecting Downtime and Runtime

Long business / operations down time and the risk of unanticipated system failures
is a serious challenge during SAP system upgrade

No. of installed
languages

Hardware /
Operating
System

No. of Clients

No. of Modifications
Produc-tive
Applica-tions &
Add-Ons

Production
Downtime /
Upgrade
Runtime
Depends on

Hard Disk
configu-ration

No. of Data
Structure
conver-sions

Database
Upgrade
Strategy

Production Downtime Reduction

Production Downtime Reduction Best Practices

Planning

Services

Tools

Hardware

Use Downtime
Minimization strategy

Functional Go Live
Upgrade Check

Use latest
Upgrade Tools

Use New Backup Tools

Delete unnecessary
clients

Downtime Optimization
Service

Auto Correction Tools

Faster CPUs

Split time period for

OS/DB Upgrade and R3
Upgrade

Upgrade Coach

Transports Scripts for

automatic adjustments

Decoupling OS/DB
Migration project with
R3 Upgrade

Customer Based
Upgrade

ICNV

Decouple Archiving
project from R3
upgrade

Production Cutover Best Practices

Plan the execution of upgrade process according to available business downtime window
Start Planning Early - Communicate to Business Users about downtime
Detailed Cutover Plan with detailed tasks, responsibilities, dependencies
Finalize business contingency plan
Communicate and confirm SAP support during Production Server Upgrade
Automate Transport of Modification / Change Requests to Production System
Automate transport of Authorization Roles
Finalize backup strategy before and after Production Server Upgrade
Setup Help Desk service to support users

Summary

Perform Upgrade assessment soon and prepare a business case

Treat Upgrade as a full fledged project
Ensure all stakeholders are involved
Practice, practice, practice
Adopt best practices in various processes for achieving higher reliability

For more information, please contact:

Vijay Deep
B S Bhalla
vijayd@hcl.in
bbhalla@hcl.in
HCL SAP Upgrade Competency Center
SAP Upgrade MOVE Program Partner