theguard! SmartChange Intelligent SAP change management think big, change SMART!

Transcription

1 theguard! SmartChange Intelligent SAP change management think big, change SMART!

2 theguard! SmartChange theguard! SmartChange takes an intelligent SAP change management approach. It provides maximum automation, comprehensive object checks, and a complete documentation of all activities down to the object level, allowing companies to benefit from the increased availability of their SAP applications, greater efficiency in their SAP change management, and reliable audit trails. Rudolf Kubica, Product Manager, REALTECH SAP application not at all static Applying service packs, meeting business department needs, ensuring the efficient operation of applications SAP applications are not at all static. They require constant development work and must be adapted to changing business requirements. The complexity of SAP projects today results in a large number of change requests. These need to be managed from a single point of control and implemented in a secure and efficient manner. The challenge here is to integrate all changes into the overall release planning process and to develop, test, and verify the quality of these changes in the parallel systems. At the same time, the IT department is expected to handle these processes as quickly and efficiently as possible. SAP Change with theguard! SmartChange theguard! SmartChange gives you intelligent SAP change management. Its modular design provides support for all subdisciplines of modern SAP change management: ΩΩ Manage all SAP change management processes from a single point of control ΩΩ Ensure the synchronous and secure import of ABAP and JAVA transports ΩΩ Synchronize SAP development systems in a simple and reliable manner ΩΩ Identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your ABAP code All modules share a common data foundation to make sure that the people involved in a process can find the information they need where they need it. Increase availability of your SAP applications Minimize the risk of system failures. All SAP transports and object dependencies are checked for completeness before the go-live to prevent erroneous objects from making their way into the production systems. In cases where incidents do occur, theguard! SmartChange will come to the rescue: Its complete documentation of all activities down to the object level will make it easy to pinpoint and eliminate problems. Maximize efficiency in your SAP change management The high level of automation in theguard! Smart- Change reduces the time your users have to spend defining processes and handling day-to-day operations. Its templates reduce process design tasks to a few clicks of the mouse and help you enforce standards across the enterprise. Individual process steps can be conveniently executed using mobile devices. Create reliable audit trails The intelligent combination of individual modules and the documentation of all activities down to the object level give you full visibility into your change management activities. Never worry about regulatory compliance (SOX, FDA etc.) again. The built-in standard reports give you instant access to the information required by your auditors. KPI reports offer different views of the processes, providing valuable management data.

3 Think big, change SMART theguard! SmartChange gives you a SMART solution. Its modular design lets you stay flexible at all times: Change process management Run, manage, and track SAP change processes from a single point of control Transport management Synchronize and secure your ABAP and JAVA transports Synchronization Synchronize SAP development systems in a simple and reliable manner Code profiling Make SAP applications more robust, more secure, and more efficient The entry point of theguard! SmartChange provides convenient access to the individual modules You can focus on individual disciplines or gradually implement the entire SAP change management solution. Whether you choose individual components or the complete solution, your SAP change management will benefit from an intelligent data foundation that makes information available precisely where it is needed. Go live in no time Regardless of which path you choose, you will benefit from a rapid go-live. theguard! SmartChange can be installed within days. At the same time, your users will receive professional training to fully familiarize them with the software. No additional hardware cost theguard! SmartChange is an SAP add-on application that integrates with your SAP system there is no need to invest in additional hardware. Your users will be able to work in their familiar SAP interface, minimizing the learning curve and ensuring high acceptance among users and administrators. Integration with third-party solutions You would like to integrate your SAP change management with your enterprise-wide IT service management? theguard! SmartChange was designed to easily integrate with existing tool environments such as the SAP Solution Manager Service Desk, giving you consistent processes throughout the enterprise. And it is just as easy to incorporate information from external data sources into the data pool of theguard! SmartChange. This gives you the ability to leverage a reliable data foundation in your decision making.

4 Change process management Run, manage, and track SAP change processes from a single point of control SAP applications are the backbone of a company s business processes. In order to continuously align applications to the processes they support, both regular maintenance and specific adjustments are very important. This is where the IT department comes in: Intelligent change management requires that incoming change requests are processed in a timely manner and integrated into the overall release planning process in close cooperation with the user departments and senior managers. Reduce workloads through automation theguard! SmartChange gives you maximum automation in your change and release management. With its pre-configured standard process templates, you are only a few clicks away from laying the foundation for enterprise-wide process standards, minimizing the time spent on coordination activities. Built-in workflows ensure that you are notified when pre-defined events or escalations occur. Plan your resources more efficiently theguard! SmartChange allows you to track the activities of your users both on the change request and release level. This in turn enables you to allocate your resources based on their abilities and availability. Standard process templates for faster process definition System requirements Installation The change process management module is installed as an add-on on a Java-enabled Web server. The backend component was developed in ABAP/4. Both components exist in their own namespace. Its installation comprises the import of a Java archive or SAP transport requests into each of the systems involved. SAP release SAP Basis release 7.0 or later. Security concept Utilization of a role-based authorization concept. Achieve ITIL-compliant change and release management theguard! SmartChange links the change level to the release level, giving you end-to-end release management in compliance with ITIL. Conveniently track and monitor the progress of individual subprojects from within your release calendar and receive automated alerts in case of acceptance tests, feature freezes or escalations.

5 Transport management Synchronize and secure your ABAP and JAVA transports Every change request that reaches the IT department has to be securely implemented within a reasonable period of time and in keeping with the company s overall release and change plan. This means that all program and data modifications must be transported into the respective target systems without jeopardizing the availability of mission-critical SAP applications. Go live without worries theguard! SmartChange gives you an SAP certified solution. It helps you ensure the automatic detection and synchronous transport of all of your transports and their dependencies with different development objects into the target systems. Overtaker issues, that is, incorrectly transmitted or erroneously overwritten data objects will never pose a threat to your production systems again. Assure quality by segregating duties The integration of a comprehensive authorization concept allows business users to be automatically notified of changes to the SAP applications. They can then approve the changes from the convenience of their own desk or from within a mobile app while on the go with a single click. This will help you minimize the time that business users and the IT department have to spend coordinating their activities and comply with audit and regulatory requirements such as SOX and FDA. Reduce workloads through automation Both the object distribution and the quality assurance processes are based on standardized workflows. the- Guard! SmartChange gives you maximum automation in your transport management, taking a tremendous load off your development staff. Overview of all SAP transports in the workflow monitor System requirements Installation The transport management module is an ABAP/4 only development that exists in its own namespace. Its installation simply comprises the import of several SAP transport requests into the systems involved. SAP release SAP Basis release 7.0 or later. Security concept Utilization of a proprietary SAP authorization object. The introduction of REALTECH s theguard! software allowed us to really optimize the coordination, execution, and management of our SAP change projects. The transport of critical changes in particular is now much more secure and provides more visibility than before. Overall, we were able to greatly accelerate our application development. Marc Strasser, Head of SAP CCoE, Unispital Basel

6 Synchronization management Synchronize SAP development systems in a simple and reliable manner SAP landscapes are subject to a continuous development process. This includes implementing change requests and applying new service packs in keeping with the overall release plan. Companies today rely on distributed SAP project environments to ensure the timely application of changes. These allow them to manage multiple projects simultaneously without jeopardizing the availability of their production systems. Companies that adopt this approach benefit from significant efficiency gains in their development processes. But this also means that they have to synchronize their systems at regular intervals. Doing so without a dedicated software solution requires considerable manual intervention from developers, tying up valuable resources and jeopardizing the availability of SAP applications due to its susceptibility to error. Reduce workloads through automation theguard! SmartChange puts an end to the tedious process of manual Excel-based synchronization. If a transport request is exported from the development system of the production environment, the software will automatically analyze the associated object list and classify the individual objects as critical or non-critical. The analysis of the customizing objects is based on a high-performance, generic algorithm able to compare several 10,000 records within seconds. Once the analysis is completed, all objects that were classified as noncritical will be made available for the fast and easy synchronization by means of transport. The manual synchronization process is streamlined by providing users with direct access to the familiar delta displays of the object versions. Secure the operation of your SAP applications When dealing with highly complex objects such as maintenance views, area menus or function groups, the- Guard! SmartChange will not only check the object itself, but also all of its dependencies with other objects. That way you can be sure that your transport request are complete and that erroneous objects are prevented from being imported into your production systems. Split screen display for the automated synchronization of SAP systems System requirements Installation The synchronization management module is an ABAP/4 only development that exists in its own namespace. Its installation simply comprises the import of several SAP transport requests into the systems involved. SAP release SAP Basis release 7.0 or later. Security concept Utilization of a proprietary SAP authorization object. The number of incidents dropped to an all-time low after the go-live of the support packages. With a reduction of incidents by more than half and 90% less manual labor, the implementation of REALTECH s theguard! software paid off within its first year. Hans Wolferseder, Head of the SAP Basis team at Stadtwerke München (SWM Services GmbH)

7 Code Profiling Make SAP applications more robust, more secure, and more efficient Enhancements and modifications to the SAP standard routines to reflect a company s specific requirements are commonplace and cannot be avoided. Analyses have shown that there is at least on major problem within every 1,000 lines of code that could potentially compromise the efficiency or even the security of your SAP systems. Assure the quality of your programming theguard! SmartChange can help you resolve programming errors in a simple and efficient manner. The software carries out a comprehensive code scan to check your ABAP code for programming routines that have a negative impact on the security, performance, and compliance of your applications. Irregularities are automatically prioritized and made available as reports. The elimination of the identified weaknesses helps you safeguard the integrity of your ABAP programs and ensures compliance with company and regulatory requirements at all times. And by enhancing the performance of your applications you will also increase the satisfaction of your users. theguard! SmartChange also makes it easier and faster to review the quality of services delivered by third-party providers, giving you the confidence that you are working with the right partner. Benefit from seamless integration with your transport management Combining the code profiling module with your transport management will deliver significant added value. By incorporating the program checks into your change management process you can ensure that the programs imported to the connected SAP systems are absolutely error free. The solution also gives you the flexibility to configure when and how often you want to run these scans. The most effective approach is to tie them to the respective approval processes and to make sure that one last check is performed before final approval. Error correction based on detailed reports available both within the SAP interface for business users and as PDF reports for the management level System requirements Installation The code profiling module is an ABAP/4 development that exists in its own name space. The core of the application is programmed in Java. Its installation simply comprises the import of several SAP transport requests into the systems involved and the installation of the Java component within the system network. SAP release The software requires SAP Basis release 6.2 or later. Java The application runs on almost every major 64-bit operating system. It requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM (preferably 8 GB) and Java or later. Security concept Utilization of a proprietary SAP authorization object.

8 theguard! Products and Capabilities Business Service Service Operations Configuration IT Infrastructure Change theuarguard! IT Service Service with theguard! Center Service Center theguard! Business Service Manager theguard! ServiceDesk theguard! CMDB theguard! Change Change for SAP with for theguard! SAP SmartChange theguard! SmartChange Change Process theguard! SmartChange Transport theguard! SmartChange Synchronization theguard! SmartChange Code Profiling About REALTECH Software Products REALTECH Software Products GmbH is a subsidiary of REALTECH AG and Europe s leading provider of software for enterprise-wide IT service management. Our customers benefit from innovative products that allow their users to leverage standardization and automation in the management of their IT environments, now and in the future. Our highly integrated theguard! software portfolio delivers high-quality solutions for efficient IT service management and secure SAP change management processes. Today, companies like John Deere, STIHL, and more than 1,000 other customers the world over rely on theguard! to ensure the availability of their revenue-critical business processes and reduce error rates and process downtime by up to 85%. As a result of our many years of close cooperation with SAP, the software maker is now selling components of theguard! products to enhance the capabilities of SAP Solution Manager. REALTECH Software Products GmbH Industriestr. 39c Walldorf Germany Tel Fax [email protected] REALTECH All rights reserved. REALTECH Software, the REALTECH Software Logo and all other REALTECH Software product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of REALTECH AG. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies.