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Transport Management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 3-System Landscape: From Basics to Complex

ThomasSchneider
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
‎03-01-2024 8:23 PM

3-System Landscape and the Transport Tools

As of 2022 SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is available with much broader scope in terms of functionality and extensibility (developer extensibility is added). This includes the provisioning a 3-system landscape (3SL) which consists of a development, test, and production system.

The purpose of this blog is to provide an overview on the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 3SL transport management and guide you through the existing documentation.

The 3-system landscape is described in the SAP S/4HANA documentation.

The documentation explains the development, test, and production system (and the starter system, which is not covered by this blog) and the different tenants. In the section Tools and Apps, the tools and apps that are relevant for transport management are described:

  • Transport Organizer in Eclipse-based in the ABAP Development Tools (ADT) for managing transport requests for developer extensibility.
  • SAP Fiori app Export Software Collection: With this app, you can create collections of key user extensibility objects (items) and export them.
  • SAP Fiori app Export Customizing Transports: With this app, you can manage and export customizing transport requests. Here, we have two types: SAP Central Business Configuration (CBC) transports, which are created and populated by SAP Central Business Configuration during CBC deployment and Business Configuration (BC) transports, which are created by users during finetuning activities.
  • SAP Fiori app Import Collection: With this app, you can import and forward collection versions. The term “collection version” here may refer to a developer extensibility transport requests, a key user software collection version, or a CBC/BC transport request. In other words, you can import all kind of collections/transports with this app. It is available in the test and in the production system. It is also used for forwarding of collection versions from test to production system.

Material:

Starting Simple

What are the minimal tasks you must do in transport management?

  1. Manage the SAP Central Business Configuration (CBC) transport requests:
    1. In your SAP Central Business Configuration workspace, you do your initial scoping, and later scope, organizational or country enhancement.
    2. Once you finish a project milestone, you deploy the workspace to the customizing tenant in the development system and a CBC transport request is created for you.
    3. This transport request appears in the SAP Fiori app Export Customizing Transports. You must now take over the request and release it.
    4. Next, the transport request appears as collection in the SAP Fiori app Import Collection in the test tenant. You can now import it to your test tenant.
    5. Once ready with testing, you must forward the collection/request to the production tenant in the same app.
    6. Then the request appears in the SAP Fiori app Import Collection in the production tenant, where you can import it.
  2. Manage the CBC transport requests for SAP content updates
    1. SAP provides regular updates of the business configuration content via SAP Central Business Configuration. The details about the SAP content update strategy are explained in the documentation (https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/b249d650b15e4b3d9fc2077ee921abd0/638379d9db2847989d56836d... ).
    2. The SAP content update is merged with your custom configuration content in your SAP Central Business Configuration workspace, and the delta is automatically deployed to the customizing tenant in the development system, and it is – by default – automatically released.
    3. This transport request appears as collection in the SAP Fiori app Export Customizing Transports with status “released” under the name “BC Upgrade”
    4. It appears in the SAP Fiori app Import Collection in the test tenant, where you can import and forward it to production. Here you must again import it.
    5. If you have an open (status: modifiable) CBC transport in your customizing tenant, the request will be not automatically released. Here, you must release the earlier requests first. The same sequencing rule applies for import and forward: CBC transport requests must be moved in the sequence of their creation (can be simply recognized by an increasing transport request number).
  3. Manage the Business Configuration (BC) transport requests:
    1. You will then start your Configuration Activities phase in your implementation project. Here you will create your customer-specific configuration in the customizing client.
    2. Most of the configuration activities are recorded on a business configuration transport request. You must create the request and tasks for all project team members are involved in doing configuration activities. Once ready, the team members must release their tasks and one responsible team member must release the transport request (in the SAP Fiori app Export Customizing Transports).
    3. Then you follow the same procedure as for CBC transport requests.
  4. Manage the key user extensibility collections:
    1. You will also do some extensibility in the key user extensibility app in the customizing client.
    2. All extensibility items will appear in the Fiori app Export Software Collections in the customizing client. If you want to transport them, you assign them to a software collection, and later export the software collection.
    3. A new version of the collection appears in the SAP Fiori app Import Collections in the test tenant, where you can import and forward it to production. There you must again import it.
  5. Configure the transport automation:
    1. In the Settings of the SAP Fiori app Import Collections, you can configure the schedule for automatic import and forward of collections/transports. SAP provides default settings; you should review and adapt the settings according to your needs. See the documentation: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/b249d650b15e4b3d9fc2077ee921abd0/94f67439ffce48fcb4019892...  

Tips for an easy start:

  1. Use only one BC transport request at a time (marked as “default” in the Export Customizing Transports app). Once you have reached an implementation milestone, release the BC transport request and all open CBC transport requests. In the Import Collection app, you can import multiple collections (transports) in one import. Use this option to import the collection (CBC, BC and Key User Extensibility) that belong together to avoid problems with sequencing of transports.
  2. Use two collections for key user items: one collection for business roles, spaces and pages (see documentation: How to Import and Export Business Roles | SAP Help Portal) and one collection for all other key user items.
  3. Note that you must move the transport request through your landscape timely. There are two boundary conditions that arise from the fact that SAP continuously delivers innovations (software and business configuration content):
    1. You must move SAP content updates through your landscape (this means import to the production) until the next SAP upgrade. 
    2. You must move transport requests through you landscape in the same or the next release. You cannot import a transport request that was exported in a release that is more than one release old.

Material:

Working with Multiple Transport Requests, Sequencing and Dependencies

In larger projects, you will start working with multiple BC transport requests and collections for extensibility items in parallel. For example, you will split your configuration activities by application area (financials, logistics, etc.) or country. If the content in the different transport requests does not depend on each other, you can transport (release, import, forward) them independently. The transport management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud has implemented a list of dependency checks, that help you to prevent errors and glitches that may occur because of a wrong transport sequence:

  • CBC transport requests can only be transported in the sequence of their creation.
  • All other transports requests can in principle be transported in arbitrary order. However, dependency checks prevent export and/or import if critical dependencies are detected.
  • Please be aware, that these checks cannot ensure that the content of a transport request is consistent (including semantical consistency). This means when working with multiple open transports at a time, you must ensure via testing that the respective transport requests and sequence is consistent.

Let me give some examples for dependencies:

  • In business configuration: As a first step, you create a condition type (Define Condition Types) in conditions and account determination. Second, you create a condition group and assign it to the condition type. Here, the condition group depends on the condition type and must be transported in the same transport with the condition type or in a subsequent transport.
  • Key user extensibility and business configuration: As a first step you create a new form template in the Form Templates key user tool. Second, you use the form template in the configuration of output determination (e.g. use the form in specific country, for a specific customer group, etc.). Here, the output determination configuration depends on the form template and must be transported in the same transport or in a subsequent one.
  • Key user extensibility and business configuration: You create a custom field using the key user Fiori app Custom Fields. Then a developer uses the field in a CDS view she creates.  The CDS view depends on the custom field and must be transported in the same transport or in a subsequent one.

In these examples, the dependencies are clear. When you attempt to transport in the wrong order, error messages will show the respective object dependencies. These examples shows that you should have an overview on the dependencies that may occur in the transports. 

Tips:

Material:

Managing the Complexity: SAP Cloud ALM

When working with multiple open transports at a time, you should have an overview on which transport request belong together (e.g. to a particular milestone). You can use the Feature Management in SAP Cloud ALM to manage the complexity.

An example: You are doing a scope extension which covers change project in SAP Central Business Configuration (which results in a CBC transport request), some configuration activities (which are recorded in a BC transports) and some key user adaptation, for example a new form template or custom field (which result in a new software collection version). During test, you find out, that something is missing. This leads to a correction (e.g. of the configuration or the extensibility items). These corrections are again recorded in transport requests (or collection versions).

To manage the various transports, you can create a new feature in the feature management application in SAP Cloud ALM. In the feature you can manage requirements, documentation, testing etc. You can also assign the related transports or collection versions to keep an overview on the transports or collection versions that belong together. After your tests of the feature are finished you can set the quality approval status on feature level in SAP Cloud ALM and all assigned transports will be forwarded to the production system. 

  • Material: SAP Cloud ALM: Features: Documentation: https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-alm/applicationhelp/features?locale=en-US, see in particular the sections “Transport Section” and “Quality Approval for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition”. Note that not all features that are described in the general SAP Cloud ALM - Application Help are enabled for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

Parallel Project Line (PPL) (Labs preview)

SAP will introduce the Parallel Project Line (PPL) to enhance the implementation experience of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. With PPL, customers of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition can now leverage a Parallel Project Line (PPL) on the 3-system-landscape. By providing an additional customizing and testing environment, the PPL allows customers to separate their subsequent implementation projects from continuous innovations in their existing productive environment, which increases the flexibility and accelerates implementations. In addition, customers can use PPL to explore new scope or can engage in a "trial and error" approach to test functionality, such as data migration.

Outlook: Once PPL is available, you should run bigger change projects in the PPL and keep you mainline for smaller improvements and “fixes” that can transported fast from development to test and production.

Official documentation is not yet available.

Developer Extensibility

When using developer extensibility, you must manage developer extensibility transport requests. They are created in the transport organizer in the ABAP Development Tools (ADT). Here, you can also manage and finally release them. You can import and forward them to the test and production system with the Import Collection Fiori app, together with CBC, BC and key user extensibility transports.

Tips:

  • Manage your developments and transports in milestones or tacts. See also section 3.

Material

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