Upgrade to ERP 6. Does SRM 4 also require upgrading?

[Former Member]

Hi there,

I was wondering could someone help me please by answering the below questions?

A system currently is on Enterprise 4.7 and SRM 4.0.

1) If we were to upgrade 4.7 to ERP 6, would an upgrade of SRM 4.0 also be neccessary?

2) If not, what would need to be done to ensure the upgraded system works in harmony with SRM 4.0? Vice, versa.

3) If an upgrade of SRM was required, for what reason and would it be better to upgrade to the latest version of SRM as opposed to SRM 5.0? Also, what would be the typical length of time needed to perform a standard upgrade of the SRM system? Obviously, there are custom developments that would also need to be taken into account and factored into the overall upgrade estimate.

I would greatly appeciate a quick response.

Thank you in advance for your help,

Niall

Edited by: niall baxter on Sep 11, 2009 5:17 PM

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Jason,

Thank you very much for your reply. It's exactly the information I was looking for.

One last thing, would you know the typical amount of time it would take to upgrade SRM 4 to SRM 7?

As mentioned previously I know alot needs to be taken into account, custom developments, client processes, etc. but to upgrade assuming standard functionality how long would it take?

Many thanks,

Niall

[jason_boggans · Accepted solution]

Hi Niall,

Thats a difficult question to ask! In terms of the requirements of upgrading from the technical perspective there is of course a lot of upgrading required there as your SRM_SERVER currently runs on the 640 Basis release, this will be upgraded to 701 before moving the SRM_SERVER components to 700 release.

Then there is the additional functionality to consider in SRM_SERVER 700 where it is optional to 'switch on' lots of extra features like PPS (Procurement for Public Sector' etc based on existing licencing agreements.

Also in terms of the effort required in training to upskill consultants and staff to use of the new Portal/WebDynpro/Floorplan Manager driven SRM_SERVER itself is no easy task and should not be seen as an unimportant step in the upgrade process, the technology between SRM 4.0 and SRM 7.0 is fundamentaly different and even the SRM persistency layer has received a makeover.

I would look to your company to engage SAP in an upgrade assessment whereby the relevent consultants will review your system setup and determine the average time to be taken in upgrade based on existing/future hardware resources etc

Sorry I can't really give any hard and fast guidelines as to time estimates but this is really not my area at all

Regards,

Jason

[Former Member]

Hi Jason,

Thank again for the information. I think I'll just ask the question so that others who may have done this can reply. We're not at the point yet where we would engage SAP on this. We are just looking at a ball park figure at the moment.

Thanks,

Niall

[jason_boggans]

Hi,

See note 931020 for details on SRM compatibility with ECC releases.

Regards,

Jason