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The Big Book of SAP Upgrades Real World SAP Upgrade Tips from the World’s Leading SAP System Integrators

Compiled and Edited by Panaya Inc., September 2009

In August 2009, we asked hundreds of SAP system integrators to

contribute their best upgrade tips for upgrading to SAP ERP 6.0. We

took the best tips we received and compiled them in this eBook. We

welcome your feedback, comments, and tips for future revisions of

The Big Book of Upgrades. Drop us a line at bigbook@panayainc.com

Contents Planning........................................................................................................................ 2

Upgrade Scope Decisions ............................................................................................ 9

Skill Requirements ....................................................................................................12

Custom Code ..............................................................................................................14

Test & Automation Tools ..........................................................................................17

Useful Transactions & Reports .................................................................................21

Miscellaneous.............................................................................................................25

Contributors’ Contact Details ...................................................................................26

About Panaya Panaya's Software-as-a-Service solutions enable companies that use SAP to save

up to 50% of their application lifecycle costs and minimize the risks associated

with system changes. Utilizing cloud-based simulation to analyze the impact of

pending changes, Panaya automatically pinpoints which custom programs will

break as a result of an upgrade or support package implementation. Panaya

provides a complete solution for managing these changes, explaining how to fix

the anticipated issues, suggesting the most efficient test plan, and calculating

required project budget and resources.

To learn more or apply for a free upgrade evaluation, click here:

http://www.panayainc.com/Free-Upgrade-Analysis-for-your-SAP.html

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Planning

Tip #1: Practice 3-Level Planning Contributed by: Michael Libens, ProVize

In planning the upgrade, make sure to plan at three levels:

• The first level is a communicable high-level milestone plan that can be shared among

all participants and stakeholders, to see the major milestones.

• The second level is a breakdown of the milestone plan to major project activities to

all project participants who are responsible for a delivery. This plan is used to see

dependencies that are more detailed and used for detailed week-to-week planning.

• The third level is your go-live plan, which typically involves all activities to prepare

for upgrading the production environment, as well as the actual upgrade (on a

weekend). The actual off-line upgrade typically is a 1-2 day exercise meticulously planned on timeslots

down to a detail of as little as 15-minute intervals. This plan should include all activities,

responsibilities, handovers between parties, go-live testing and release acceptance criteria,

as well as fallback procedures.

Bonus Tip: Use 3

rd Part Tools for Impact Analysis

Identifying the areas where the biggest impact of your upgrade is, can be very difficult and

time consuming. Use a 3rd party tool – such as Panaya's – to identify the areas most likely to

be impacted by the upgrade. This will be a huge timesaver and a very efficient control

measure on where to spend your time safeguarding the solution and where to focus your

effort on corrections as well as testing.

Tip #2: Insist on Management Involvement Contributed by: Ramesh Rao Dendukuri, Zylog Systems Limited

Irrespective of the CEO and top management’s busy schedule, they should be involved with

the upgrade implementation company (i.e., the system integrator). Frequent meetings are

required between the client and the implementation company.

Bonus Tip: Keep Your Business Blue Print Online Business requirements change dynamically, so the business blue print should be maintained

online for easy modifications always conflict between present business to future business

Tip #3: Take a 2-Step Approach Contributed by: Robert Makin, Mercedes-Benz Australia / Pacific Pty Ltd

Take the following 2-step approach and you will ensure a successful upgrade to ECC 6.0:

1. Complete the system upgrade first, ensuring all customized programs work on ECC

6.0.

2. Consider what new functionality you want in ECC 6.0. Prepare two lists:

a. Functionality in ECC 6.0 that requires no configuration to start using.

b. Functionality in ECC 6.0 that requires configuration in order to adopt.

3. Prioritize the new functionalities into Must Have and Nice to Have lists. Work

through the Must Have list first. Always provide time to complete the required

process documentation and allow time for training business users on new

functionality.

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Tip #4: Verify Memory & Storage Requirements Contributed by: Ishaam Adamson, Wave-Tec Integrated

Make sure that all current environments and systems are taken into the deepest of

consideration for data conversion & interfacing requirements. More importantly, be sure to

allocate not just marginal additional memory and storage facilities, but rather double to

almost triple what is required – as this will avoid delays, and enable accessibility speeds for

information needed.

Tip #5: Archive Ahead of Time Contributed by: Lynda Kershaw, Macro 4

SAP recommends archiving before upgrading in order to reduce the volume of transaction

data that is migrated to the new system. This results in shorter upgrade projects, with less

production downtime. Storage costs are another important consideration: SAP has found

that database size typically increases by 5% to 10% with each new SAP software release –

and by as much as 30% if a Unicode conversion is required. Archiving reduces the overall

database size, so typically no additional storage costs are incurred when upgrading.

Tip #6: Check SAP Modules for Unicode Compatibility Contributed by: Farhad Farshimi, ERPInnovation

If you are doing a Unicode conversion, make sure that not only your custom programs are

Unicode converted, but also ensure that all your SAP Modifications are also compliant. We

upgraded from 4.6C to ERP 6.0 and missed some of the functionality (e.g., integrated

planning of statistical cost element to SPL) because some of our SAP Modifications were not

properly converted to Unicode.

Bonus Tip: Acquaint Yourself with New Functionality The funds management functionality in ERP 6.0 has been completely revamped in

comparison to R/3 4.6C. There is a new FM derivation strategy as well as a new budgeting

and availability control tool (BCS). If you are using the public sector setting, make sure you

read all the release notes from 4.7 up to ERP 6.0’s latest enhancement package (inclusive).

Tip #7: Resolve Legacy Data Issues Before Migration Contributed by: Rolando Soriano, Freelance Consultant

The challenge we encountered during the recent upgrade project that I was involved with

was during the data migration and validation, while the client was upgrading from 4.7 to ECC

6.0. During the validation process, for some of the account balances, we could not match the

actual balances between the figures in accounting and what was in the system. It turns out

that there were still some unresolved issues from the legacy system, which were not

cleansed and were migrated to the new system. What I would recommend to those planning

for an upgrade is to make sure that the legacy data to be migrated has no outstanding issues

that are unresolved. For example, an incorrect foreign exchange rate used or a change of

currency related to some cash accounts. These issues should be resolved first in the legacy

system to minimize the disruption during the upgrade.

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Tip #8: Focus on Pre-Installation Steps Contributed by: Deepanshu Sharma, TCS

Before performing an upgrade, always focus on pre-installation steps. Even a small mistake

could lead to a problem. Always try to have at least one or two test runs with production

data so that the errors you face in the production environment won't increase down-time

and you’ll become familiar with the expected errors. Also, ensure that you have read the

Upgrade Guide and that you have the correct upgrade DVDs.

Bonus Tip: Check Your Pre-Requisites Check these pre-requisites for an upgrade from 4.7EE TO ECC 6.0

1. Kernel parameters to be set as per the SAP upgrade guide;

2. Upgrade DVDs to be downloaded from the market place and dumped in the system:

• Upgrade Master DVD • Kernel DVD • Export 1,2, 3 & 4 DVDs • Language DVD;

3. Fix corrections to be downloaded according to the note given in upgrade guide;

4. Latest Sapup tool;

5. Java patch should be greater than or equal to 12;

6. Generate Solman (SAP Solution Manager) key;

7. Obtibiz key required (from vendor);

8. Check for sufficient space as required;

9. Latest R3 trans, tp, dboralib, brtools 700 to be installed as per the upgrade guide;

10. Download the latest ECC 6.0 support packs and uncarr them in EPS_IN;

11. New file systems to be created /usr/sap/put with a minimum free space of 30GB;

12. Keyword required for Sapup as per note 913971;

13. Stop all background jobs;

14. SPAM level to be 23;

15. Check for any terminated updated jobs. There shouldn’t be any.

Tip #9: Dwell on Technical Preparation Contributed by: Peggy Reed, SITA Corp

Spend time doing the following preparation work before you begin the upgrade:

1. Make sure transports are in sync across the landscape;

2. Solution manager should be installed, working, and current with support packs;

3. All your hardware and software should be consistent across the landscape (i.e.,

same service level, same permissions, etc.);

4. Upgrade your database prior to upgrading SAP if that is possible;

5. Make sure you have enough memory installed prior to upgrading.

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Tip #10: Prepare ABAP Testing Environment Contributed by: Ian Henderson, T-Systems

Companies should not underestimate the effort required from their functional & ABAP

teams, even if only a technical upgrade is performed. The technical upgrade activities can be

planned precisely and be perfected during various sandbox/test upgrades to ensure that a

stable testing platform is available to these teams to work on. Thus ensuring that the correct

amount of effort can be invested in ensuring that the business processes and functions are

working correctly. This is often not done 100%, due to most of the emphasis being placed on

the technical basis upgrade activities.

Bonus Tip: Consider a Remote Upgrade Upgrades can be done remotely, reducing travel costs and ensuring that companies have

access to the most experienced upgrade specialists around the world, regardless of location.

With networks being as reliable as they are currently are, I have begun specializing in

remotely performed upgrades, which have been successful due to the extra effort given to

communication, planning, and scheduling of actions with the onsite teams (ABAP, functional,

basis & customer). Actively involving the onsite basis team from the beginning of the project

ensures that the changes to the system caused by the upgrade are familiar to all at the onset

of the production upgrade. This significantly increases the productivity of the support team

post upgrade, due to being familiar with the system, and raises the enthusiasm of the onsite

basis team by keeping it involved and inducing on-the-job learning and growth.

Tip #11: Archive for a Leaner Database Contributed by: Mike Lord, Open Text

The process of upgrading to SAP ERP 6.0 can be streamlined by using archiving to reduce the

amount of transaction data in the SAP database prior to upgrading. A leaner SAP database

provides the following benefits during the upgrade process:

• Reduced production downtime;

• Minimized need for additional hardware and related IT infrastructure investments;

• Shorter duration of overall upgrade project.

Bonus Tip: Archiving is Cost Saving Archiving data before upgrading your SAP ERP application can also help generate long-term

cost savings. In addition to simply moving data from the production SAP database to less

costly storage devices, archived data is also compressed by a factor of five relative to the

space it would take up in the production database. This compression results in dramatically

reduced space consumption on the archive storage media. Based on average customer

experience, moving data from the production system to the archive and simultaneously

compressing it can reduce hardware requirements by as much as 80% or 90% and cut

administration time and costs in half. Storing data on less costly long-term storage media

reduces total cost of ownership while providing users with full, transparent access to

archived information.

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Tip #12: Perform Two-Way Interface Tests Contributed by: Andrew Chen, SAP

1. If you have ERP systems not using Unicode, always make plan a two-way interface

test;

2. Start to compose your cutover plan as early as possible, make it as detailed as

possible, and constantly update it. This will save unexpected downtime during your

production upgrade;

3. Send your test upgrade result (log files and upana.htm file) to SAP for optimization.

Usually you will be surprised by how dramatically your downtime can be decreased.

Tip #13: Understand the Implications of SAPRouter Contributed by: Pedro Bonniz, RealTech Portugal

Watch out for the assumptions and requirements on your commercial proposals for

upgrades to ECC 6.0. Recently we had to overcome severe problems on an upgrade to ECC

6.0 with Unicode conversion. Fortunately, we were able to get things straight, thanks to the

expertise and experience of our consultants. We’re still trying to figure out what was the

root cause for the problem because the client had no SAPRouter installation at all. As is

commonly known, once you have a problem, there’s no way SAP will intervene without

being able to get into the system via SAPRouter. We failed to mention the existence of

SAPRouter as an assumption (or requirement, if you like), and so we were on our own the

whole time and had to figure out how to overcome the problem ourselves with no help

whatsoever from SAP! If you are an SAP client, make sure your SAPRouter is working

properly prior to engaging in an upgrade to ECC 6.0. Even if you have no problems during the

upgrade process, once you're on ECC 6.0, you won't be able to benefit from SAP support or

updates (e.g., support packages and enhancement packages) without properly using

SAPRouter and SAP Solution Manager.

Tip #14: Match Development and Production Environments Contributed by: Audrey Neser, Mondial IT Solutions

A few general tips and technical things to consider when upgrading and patching:

1. For a technical upgrade, ensure the development environment in which you do the

initial upgrade is as close to your production environment as possible. This means

that all unused objects in the development environment need to be undone to the

way they were in production or QA (if you still have developments that need to be

moved to the production environment at a later stage). This will enable less risk in

finding new issues in QA and or production;

2. Ensure you have clean data in the development environment to compare results

with (interfaces, etc.). Sometimes, it becomes impossible to determine what results

were before the upgrade. Therefore, having development in line with at least QA will

allow comparison between old and new results - which will make the determination

and identification of business impact easy;

3. Ensure in advance that all transports in the receiving system are also released (when

development is implemented, as well as when QA and/or production are upgraded).

This will prevent loss of time due to transports “locking” objects that need to be

changed. This also enables quick identification of transports done to facilitate

business requirement fulfillment;

4. After the development upgrade, all open transports needs to be implemented in QA

after QA patching, and before QA testing begins. This saves a lot of time when

moving thru the landscape.

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Tip #15: Clean Your Data Contributed by: Peter van Engelen, Strategic Supply Chain Management

Data cleaning, data cleaning, and more data cleaning of the master files. If you have the data

cleanup efforts under control, you know when you’re ready to cutover.

Bonus Tip: Implement Advanced Supply Chain Solutions (Re-)Implement (for once!) the advanced supply chain solutions provided by ERP 6.0. Many

companies did a poor job defining the supply chain relations with regards to demand

planning, forecasting, MPS, MRP, inventory, etc.

Tip #16: Plan Your Post Go-Live Support Contributed by: Gary Hart, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Consider post go-live support when making all changes. Often times we are solely focused

on the short-term implications with the goal of releasing our project and moving onto the

next big project. In doing so, we often neglect the true client ROI which should incorporate

the total costs over the lifecycle (5-10 years or more) and not just up to the GA release

points. Be aware that your clients may often incur 2X-4X additional costs in post go-live

support. Considerations of project design with this long-term view in mind will lead to higher

quality and lower TCO with improved ROI in the end.

Tip #17: Use This Checklist Contributed by: Amit Lal, Independent SAP Consulting

This is a must-have technical upgrade checklist for basis managers and upgrade teams:

Although it is clearly explained in the SAP Guide, I saw teams getting versions mixed up and

getting into a lot of trouble.

1. Make sure the same version of SAPup and FIX are used before initiating subsequent

up-grades for the entire landscape; Don’t attempt to change SAPup once you are

done in the development system;

2. SPAM level on all source systems should be updated to the latest version; This helps

minimize the errors during the upgrade process;

3. SPAM level and SP level or EHP stack should be same in every target system in the

ERP landscape during an upgrade;

4. Make sure you generate a 'Revision list' from the first upgrade and during

subsequent upgrades; This report helps you calculate each phase’s timeline and plan

your cutover timings, too;

5. Do not attempt to clean the transport directory before you go live;

6. If you are planning dual development during the course of an upgrade, you need q

robust transport methodology for the entire system;

7. If you are deploying SAP enhancement packages in integration with the upgrade,

your source system should communicate with SAP Solution Manager to generate the

‘XML Stack file’; If communication is not possible, then you are required to generate

the ‘XML Stack file’ manually and provide its path during the “prepare” phase. The

upgrade will be much easier if Solution Manager is configured and communicating

with your source systems.

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Tip #18: Don't Spare ERP 6.0 Resources at Project Start Contributed by: Mark Rittmayer, CSC Asia Pacific LTD

Change Management – Add seasoned ERP 6.0 resources in all modules required, regardless

of cost, and monitor and pull them off as the project heads to go-live, thereby reducing the

overall projected spend after the deliverables are securely in hand. Trying to reduce costs at

the start of the project, while seemingly smart, actually increases the risk and reduces the

overall team incentive, as the project is “just an upgrade”.

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Upgrade Scope Decisions

Tip #19: Justify Enhancement Pack Implementation Contributed by: Pradeep Khanna, Infosys

NetWeaver and EhP: Most clients go for NetWeaver and EhP installations “Since it is there,

why not install them?” However, that is not a great idea. Before the organization decides to

go for a Java stack and an EhP installation, you must have a rock-solid NetWeaver strategy

and sufficient business reasons for installing an EhP.

Tip #20: Upgrade BI Data Sources Contributed by: Bikas Panigrahi, Capgemini

BI Data sources should be upgraded to the latest version in the connected BI systems.

Tip #21: Review Support Package Contents Contributed by: Antti Glad, Aditro HRM Oy

Review support package contents for critical functionality (e.g., payroll) in addition to release

notes and other upgrade related material. Support packages may contain, for instance,

manual steps that you need to implement.

Tip #22: Adjust Legacy Programs to SAP Standards Contributed by: Johnny Khoeblal, BIGS IT Consulting (Thailand) PLC

Decrease maintenance costs by adjusting current programs to SAP standard and use of SAP

NetWeaver and eSOA Technology

Bonus Tip: Investigate New Features Improve management reporting by the use of new standard features (e.g., SAP BW, Visual

Composer).

Tip #23: Limit the Upgrade Scope Contributed by: Jonathan Rimmer, Deloitte

Consider your scope carefully. Are you trying to recreate existing processes in ECC 6.0 or

improve existing processes, and add additional functionality? Strong management of the

upgrade is needed to prevent each functional area from having scope creep.

Bonus Tip: Give Yourself Time Plan sufficient time for testing interfaces, logical systems, partners, and middleware.

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Tip #24: Understand Your Upgrade Reasons Contributed by: Reza Roslan, ISS Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd

Why do you really need to upgrade? What is the purpose of your upgrade?

• If you are upgrading because your SAP system is not supported anymore, you need

to identify only the gaps between your current practice and the newly offered

practice;

• If you are upgrading because you want to have the new functionality of ERP 6.0, you

need to identify the compatibility of your current processes with the new process

requirements of ERP 6.0;

• If you are upgrading because your hardware system is obsolete but your ERP version

is still supported, a copy to a new hardware system is probably sufficient. As long as

the new hardware will support ERP 6.0 in the future, you are safe;

• If you don't have any of the above reasons, don't upgrade just yet.

Bonus Tip: Clean Your Old Data When upgrading, make sure your data in the old system is cleaned. Most companies have

messy and unwanted data such as old material code. Cleaning your data before upgrading

smoothes the process of the upgrade and helps reduce project duration. Consider archiving

if needed. Most of my clients have small performance changes when they don’t clean their

data properly. Once that is done, you can consider improving the business process you have

to a better one in ERP 6.0 (as a second phase). Make full use of the upgrade and enjoy a new

and more powerful system that can take your business to the next level.

Tip #25: Treat Users to Added Functionality Contributed by: Kay Tucker, VIP Global

I think the best advice I can give would be to try to incorporate and include any changes that

would make the system easier for the end user in the upgrade process. In other words, is

there some function that the users wanted that did not make the prior installation? Can this

be incorporated into the upgrade process without adding major costs? If the users are

getting something they have requested in the deal, the participation during the whole

upgrade process is less painful.

Bonus Tip: Think About Reporting Reporting seems to get left to the very end in many of the upgrade projects, yet this is the

portion of the system that impacts a majority of the users. Some of the simple things like

transporting variants for the users make a huge impact on user acceptance.

Tip #26: Consider Re-implementing Custom Code Contributed by: John Santos, Awsome Systems

Don’t upgrade blind. If lack of functionality in a previous release caused ABAPs to be written

with their associated Z-tables, it may be time to revisit the business requirements and see

how the new functionality matches those requirements. In the long run, this may be a more

economical solution than having to keep migrating the old functionality.

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Tip #27: Focus on End User Functionality Contributed by: Andrew Petersman, IBM

When it comes to your EAM – Enterprise Asset Management footprint (PM, MM for MRO,

PS, Mobile) you want to ensure you focus on the processes and functionality that provides

the end users with the functionality they need to accomplish their mission. Then, develop

solid solutions that allow maintenance and operations to satisfy the financial requirements

of the new system (FI, CO, AM, MM, AR, AP, etc.). Your best solution may include an

integration strategy or a consolidation strategy, depending on the needs of the business end

users. To focus on financial requirements from a top-down approach often times loses or

minimizes the underlying requirements, compared to the bottom-up approach. There are

many ways to meet or exceed your financial requirements using SAP ERP. Make sure your

project meets the business needs of the users in the field.

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Skill Requirements

Tip #28: Use Internal Resources for Project Management and External

Resources for Technical Aspects Contributed by: Aseem Gupta, SAP

Upgrade is a kind of project that requires a very specific skill set that is now easily available

in the market. My advice to the customer is to understand the upgrade process first and

then hire a company/individual for the job. A project like an upgrade does not require great

management skills; I feel the customer should look only for technical experts with upgrade

experience and manage the project themselves.

Tip #29: Consider Using SAP Business Technology Factory Contributed by: Gregory Thompson, SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG

SAP’s Business Technology Factory offers different services at a fixed price. A local resource

along with a remote delivery model gives you access to the technical experience available

from SAP while supporting you throughout the project planning and implementation. SAP’s

Business Technology Factory was developed to provide a faster, lower risk route for

completing various projects at a competitive price. Find out more at

http://www.sap.com/germany/services/consulting/upgradefactory/index.epx

Tip #30: Get More Out of Your Support Team Contributed by: Steve Procopiou, CSC

Don't assume that you'll need a dedicated functional team to do the upgrade. The technical

team will end up doing most of the work, but for the functional people it will be sporadic

work until you get into integration testing. Therefore, the best people to do this work will be

your support team. They are used to working on several issues at the same time and there

won't be a lot of support work anyway because you've frozen development until after the

upgrade. Haven't you?

Tip #31: Get CEO Sponsoring for Your Upgrade Project Contributed by: Alejandro Cepeda, Novis S.A.

If you are involved in an upgrade project, it is highly recommended that the CEO of

upgrading company sponsor you. This is because upgrades need full regression tests to be

successful, and best results are obtained by involving end users in this activity. They have

business and organizational knowledge that external consultant can't provide. End users

need to feel they are an important part of the project, in order to obtain their commitment

and achieve the best results. In my opinion, technical issues are important, but the most

important thing is teamwork between internal users and the consulting team.

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Tip #32: Involve the Entire Project Team Contributed by: Ayesha Ahmed, Eglobalservices LLC

Ensure an openness to communicate across SMEs, key users, and consultants. Collaboration

and readiness for change should be channeled to better usability, better business

enablement, and ROI. Make sure all project participants understand the project value and

feel secure about keeping their jobs after the project is over.

Tip #33: Involve Your IT Team Early Contributed by: Jeff Gongas, Sparta Consulting

Involve your IT technical team as early as possible in the initial planning phase. The

landscape strategy, hardware requirements, 3rd party systems, etc., all have to be

determined prior to determining an accurate timeline for the project.

Bonus Tip: Do Not Underestimate Security Issues Do not underestimate the SAP security effort needed in an upgrade (transaction SU25).

Regardless of source and target releases, security will be affected, and a plan needs to be

created to address the adjustments and testing needed to ensure that the target release has

minimal or no security related issues.

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Custom Code

Tip #34: Study All Custom Code Carefully Contributed by: Anjali Butley, L&T Infotech

Study client-specific changes made in the SAP standard code, as well as all the customized

programs that will be impacted due to the upgrade well in advance. Check these against the

release notes and SAP announced bugs and the latest OSS Notes on the new upgrade release

of ERP 6.0.

Bonus Tip: Check New Screens Study functionality changes in depth, familiarizing yourself with the look & feel of the

screens in the new upgraded version. Users are very fussy about the look & feel of the SAP

screens that they are familiar with on the old release.

Tip #35: Beware of Clones Programs Contributed by: Sergio Ferrari, Techedge

I experienced that most of the upgrade problems are related to SAP standard ABAP objects

copied to customer objects (clones). After the upgrade, the custom objects become

unstable, since it still contains the old standard coding that needs to be adapted to the new

version. To generate a list of possible clones, refer to the Weblog "Simple ABAP Clone

Hunter" at https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/13657

Bonus Tip: Smarter Table Analysis When migrating from SAP R/3 4.7 to ECC 6.0, integration engine tables (SXMS*) that in 4.7

were client independent, became client dependent in ECC, so the field MANDT is part of the

table key. Technically, the client is available in 4.7 as well, but it is an attribute of some

tables (CLIENT in SXMSPMAST). During the upgrade procedure, the conversion of these

tables (in particular SXMSCLUP and SXMSCLUR, which contain the message payload as a raw

string) can require a lot of time. For these reasons, it is necessary to keep them as small as

possible in order to minimize downtime. We estimate that it takes more or less one hour to

convert 300K messages in SXMSCLUP. For this reason, it is necessary to analyze tables in 4.7

to see the number of records in each table, to be able to separate records related to

messages of different clients and records related to messages older then a specific period.

For messages older then x days, it is necessary to group them by their status in order to

understand why they were not deleted by the archiving/deletion procedure and how to

correct or flag them for archiving/deletion. Table analyzer (transaction TAANA) and SE16 are

not enough, because of filtering conditions and joins between different tables. Additionally,

you might need to be able to see all this information quickly and daily to keep the evolution

of tables under control. For this reason, I have developed a report that does exactly this

analysis, playing around with tables: SXMSPHIST(2), SXMSPMAST(2), SXMSPVERS(2),

SXMSPEMAS(2), SXMSPERROR(2), SXMSCLUP, and SXMSCLUR. Refer to

https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/Snippets/Integration+Engine+Tables+Analyser

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Tip #36: Go Back to Standard Contributed by: Mangesh Kulkarni, EMC

When going through an upgrade to ECC 6:

1. First point out your business processes & try to implement them with SAP standard

processes;

2. Take the unnecessary customization and delete it when upgrading; This gives you a

clean slate to work on for any new configuration needs in the future.

Tip #37: Consider Rewriting Rather Than Adapting Contributed by: Yann Szwec, ECIR Consulting

Between ECC 6.0 and previous versions, the SAP modules have been written into AOOPS

(ABAP objects). Sometimes it is worth the while to rewrite a program than adapt an old

program. In most cases, performance and maintainability will be improved.

Tip #38: Inventory Your Custom Code Programs Contributed by: Soumya Sarkar, TATA Consultancy Services

As part of your upgrade activity, keep a detailed inventory of your custom code. For

example, know which custom programs are more likely to contain SAP constructs that will

become obsolete. This will help you and/or the upgrade partner proof your custom

programs in the future. This will also help in prioritizing code and impact analysis.

Bonus Tip: Use a Tool-Based Approach Invest in smart upgrade solutions that use a tool-based approach to determine exactly

where custom programs will be affected due to an upgrade. Pinpoint accuracy will go a long

way in reducing your time to upgrade.

Tip #39: Consider Using ES Instead of BAPIs Contributed by: Andreas Ohlsson, q2d Solutions

Consider the use of ES (Enterprise Services) instead of traditional BAPIs to access SAP

functionality from outside your ERP system. With every EhP this feature gets better and

better.

Tip #40: ESS/MSS Processes Need Redefinition Contributed by: Richard Honnor, ROC

There has been a step change in Self Service functionality (ESS and MSS) between the ITS

based approach and the ERP 6.0 approach. This means that all ESS / MSS processes will need

to be re-defined and all custom developments re-coded (they cannot be migrated as with

core ABAP code). So if you are migrating ESS / MSS functionality you must be prepared for

significant changes.

Bonus Tip: Get to Know NWDI If you need to make customizations to Employee Self Service (ESS) and / or Managers Self

Service (MSS) in ERP 6.0 then the NetWeaver Development Infrastructure (NWDI) is needed.

This is an additional SAP instance that will need to be incorporated into your landscape and

that needs specialist WebDynpro Java skills to use.

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Tip #41: Get Rid of Unused Z-Trans Contributed by: Renee Lentz, BusinessGenetics, Inc

Use this opportunity to understand your existing application environment: What processes

are defined in your current system, which transactions are you using, who is using what

transactions. This information will allow you to streamline your upgrade. Get rid of z-trans

that no one is using; don't bring them over: they may no longer be necessary or new

functionality in SAP may replace them. Don't upgrade SAP trans if they are not being used. In

some of my projects, we found that over 50% of the existing z-trans were not being used.

Why waste time regression testing them? Fix compliance issues by streamlining security. I

have found that roles had trans that they didn't need. Why maintain them and risk

compliance issues?

Bonus Tip: Organizational Readiness is a Major Success Factor Even in an upgrade, be sure to document any business processes and/or transaction usage

changes. Use this information to define and implement required organizational readiness

processes, procedures and policies. Make sure there is adequate training for the business

clients. Just because this is still SAP doesn't mean that the impact on the business and how it

does work is non-existent. Adequate organizational readiness could be a major success

factor in your upgrade.

Tip #42: Understand ERP 6.0 Enhancement Possibilities Contributed by: Anuj Agrawal, TCS

All customer modifications should be revisited. The enhancement framework in SAP ECC 6

allows customers the flexibility of modifying SAP programs as enhancement without

worrying about upgrade issues in the future.

17

Test & Automation Tools

Tip #43: Use Testing & Automatic Correction Tools Contributed by: Javier Esteban Ponce de Leon, Hewlett Packard

Test, test, and test. Use the right approach to test all SAP transactions & programs, using

effective tools like Quality Center. Use automated tools to identify errors and differences

between the old releases and the new one. These tools also provide automated correction

for Unicode programs that can save up to 75% of your programmers' effort. Try to involve

key users at the beginning of the project.

Bonus Tip: Shrink Your Upgrade by Cleaning Your Code Clean up your system as much as you can before and during the upgrade project, by

archiving and deleting obsolete programs. The potential savings are tremendous.

Tip #44: Go Through One or Two Test Upgrades Contributed by: Jan de la Rey, GijimaAst

Do at least one (if possible even two) test upgrades in a lab environment starting with an

exact copy (hardware, operating system, database and SAP version). Document each step

and test as you go along. This ensures that everyone from SAP technical (basis and

programming), consulting (all modules) and super users know exactly what to expect, what

needs to be done, and the timeframes involved when starting with the upgrade of the live

landscape.

Tip #45: Study SAP and 3rd

Party Compatibility Contributed by: Sharad Singh, Wipro

Conduct a detailed study of 3rd party application interfaces and their compatibility with your

SAP target version. There are very useful tools to analyze such dependencies. ERP 6.0

compatible 3rd party interfaces may need to be procured in advance from the vendor so that

the new version can be tested during the upgrade.

Tip #46: Explore the Cloud Contributed by: Christopher Carter, HiLn

Upgrading our SAP solutions was made a lot easier by using a cloud-based solution for SAP.

We now have 75% of our SAP landscape, which was deemed non-mission-critical, hosted in

the cloud and we were able to get rid of nearly $1M in hardware, operating system,

database, and human cost so far. The process was easy and made a great impact on my life

as a basis manager.

18

Tip #47: Automation Can Save You Time and Money Contributed by: Bob Levy, Advanced Technology Solutions Inc

Understand what automation is available to assist the effort of an upgrade as well as

maintenance. You will reduce the effort, the elapsed time, and improve in quality by

understanding everything that must be changed and in what sequence and priority.

Tip #48: Get the Support of Business Users Contributed by: John Weiss, The Baer Group

Getting business users to support an SAP upgrade is a critical success factor, even for a

"technical only" upgrade. Start with the VPs or C-level leaders of each of the functional areas

(Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, etc.) and hold regular meetings to get "buy-in" and

support throughout the project. Use Panaya tools to show real-time progress reports for

each business/functional area, especially in the testing phases, to ensure risk-free business

user support of your SAP upgrade.

Tip #49: Use Test Automation to Reduce Test Duration Contributed by: Yuval Donskoy, Edge Consulting

We found that in the majority of projects the main cost is in the testing. Concentrate on

reducing test time. Manage your testing scenarios carefully. Use testing tools to automate

the process and save time in the repetitions. Test automation can and will be used in future

upgrades and patch implementation giving an even higher ROI to the automation costs.

Bonus Tip: Team for Success In upgrade projects as in other SAP projects the level of the team is crucial to the success.

Tip #50: Consider Adding an Additional Test Environment Contributed by: Michał Jasiński, BCC

A typical upgrade landscape includes one Development/Quality assurance system and a

Production system. It is strongly suggested to add an additional Test system to that

landscape (a copy of test system) in order to ensure an environment, which can be used for

identification of critical issues and collecting lessons learned. The advantages of that

approach: Detailed assessment of upgrade impact on system functionalities without

disturbing ongoing system usage and maintenance, especially in environments with a high

number of extensions and modifications. Disadvantages: You’ll need to repeat the

adjustments in the test system, again in the development system, and you’ll need additional

infrastructure.

Bonus Tips: Testing tools bundled with SAP Take advantage of test automation tools (i.e., eCATT) available from SAP to speed up the

upgrade process (applicable also for standard change flow). Note that in ERP 6.0, SAP

introduced Enhancement Packages (EHP) that come with “Test Catalogs” including test case

templates that allow tests of new functionality, but not regression tests. Therefore,

automatic tests are still the best and most effective way of implementing regression testing.

19

Tip #51: Build a Better Sandbox System Contributed by: Tomas Krojzl, IBM

Ideally, your sandbox system should have the same HW configuration, same SAP/DB

parameters, and same OS level configuration as your production system. One approach to

achieve this (at least on an AIX system) is to perform a direct copy of the whole SAP/DB file

systems preserving file attributes (or restoring whole file systems from backup tapes). From

the upgrade-test perspective, this approach is much better than a classical installation from

SAP CDs. A new installation is usually very clean and the upgrade will go well, while the file-

copy approach will "transport" errors along with the system allowing you to discover these

issues long before the production run.

Bonus Tip: With Upgrade Documentation, More is More Focus on documentation. Document everything, even that some checks were done (like

version of OS, required packages, user limit settings, etc.) and the result was positive. During

the project execution these things might easily change and repeating the checks if you have

proper documentation is very easy while investigating why you have a problem can be very

time consuming. Some upgrade projects are so long that it is difficult to remember what

exactly was done on the development system and repeat it in exactly the same way on the

production system.

Tip #52: Budget Your Testing Automation Separately Contributed by: Arvind Narasimhan, Keane

When dealing with a highly customized code base, plan your test automation strategy. It will

take a lot of the pain and effort out of repeated rounds of testing. Budget for this effort

independently of the core upgrade effort, since the automated solution will be of value also

in future projects.

Tip #53: Use Solution Manager's Upgrade Functions Contributed by: AJAY Vonkarey, Alpha Sirius Inc.

Explore Solution Manager’s upgrade functions. The value can extend beyond the upgrade to

optimizing operations. Follow the right methodology and best practices to build a solution,

identify the version delta, and upgrade to a new version faster by using SAP Solution

Manager. Bonus Tip: How to Create a Solution Quickly Use tools like SolDocA (Solution Documentation Assistant) to populate your current business

processes and create a Solution. This becomes the baseline and foundation for on-going

operations and optimization.

20

Tip #54: The Best Time to Execute a Payroll Run in a Clone System Contributed by: Gaetano Palummo, SAP Italia Consulting S.p.A. (An IBM Company)

As part of the upgrade strategy, usually you will be asked to execute a payroll run in a clone

system (already upgraded) and to compare the results with the results of the original system

(to be upgraded). This kind of parallel run can be executed only if the clone system was

created before the posting of the month to which you should compare the PY results. The

reason is simple: Suppose that the PY run to compare is related to March; The March PY run

has already been executed on the original system; The posting of the March PY run has been

already executed on the original system; The clone system is created after the previous step;

The idea is to delete the March PY results on the clone system and to execute again the

March PY on that system; The deletion of the already existent March PY results on the clone

system is not possible because of the already executed posting. In fact, the SAP system does

not allow the deletion of PY results if the related posting has already been done. This kind of

problem can block a crucial phase of the upgrade plan. Avoid this problem by ensuring the

creation of the clone system before the posting execution.

Tip #55: Check Interfaces and Technical Impact on Infrastructure Contributed by: Carl LaFoe, Protera

A couple of specific areas we would call attention to would be the interfaces and technical

impact to infrastructure and support. We recommend you spend the appropriate amount of

time on interfaces. Most companies take the interfaces for granted when doing an upgrade

but the interfaces are the areas that most often need good preparation and testing, long

before moving into the functional areas. Our team leverages the Panaya toolset to help

expedite the documentation and change planning required to successfully complete an

upgrade on time and on budget, every time. We recommend Panaya for all upgrade projects

- the Panaya tool helps you to identify custom code, user exits, and interfaces that may

break during an upgrade. Secondly, engage a technical expert to help define the future

landscape and hardware requirements. It will pay off in the end with happy users and a

stable system.

Tip #56: Plan Your Cutover in Extreme Detail Contributed by: Sriramachandra Parasuramuni, Infosys Technologies Limited

Plan your mock runs on systems that are exact replicas of the production system. Do at least

three mock runs, which will help you to fine-tune the process. Your cutover plan should

detail all the activities, however small. The activity may be like call XXXX person to do YYYY

activity. Document everything. Cutovers can be stressful and it’s easy to miss a step.

Tip #57: Use Panaya Upgrade Automation to Reduce Risks and Project

Duration Contributed by: Emren Ertugrul, Zorlu Group of Companies (VESTEL)

Our SAP system contains so many customer programs that reworking them and retesting

would have been very hard and complicated. We had difficulties in estimating the duration

of rework and assigning the tasks to people. We had a hard time planning the expected

project duration. Also, the upgrade cost-benefit analysis was not satisfying for our IT

managers. By using Panaya, we gained optimal project planning, tasks were assigned to the

right people, and finally we upgraded our SAP system successfully in a shorter time than

expected. Panaya minimized the project costs and prevented us from spending more time

on the project. Our IT managers were able to observe the tasks conveniently.

21

Useful Transactions & Reports

Tip #58: Be Aware of OSS Note #1370698 Contributed by: Siva G, Cognizant

Transaction code 'S_ALR_87012177' outputs the forecast value in a truncated currency

format, which is not what we expected. We faced this issue in our upgrade and raised an

OSS to SAP and SAP came back with a new OSS Note (1370698).

Bonus Tip: Say Goodbye to TVARV Table TVARV is replaced with a client-specific table TVARVC in ECC because of multi-client

capability (see Note 557314). A conversion report RSTVARVCLIENTDEPENDENT needs to be

executed which writes TVARV entries in TVARVC in all clients.

Tip #59: How to Adjust Users' Views After an Upgrade Contributed by: Aleksandra Skotarczak, Business Consulting Center sp. z o.o.

After technical upgrade operations, users’ views do not look like they used to before the

upgrade in the PTMW transaction. The configuration is not changed, but columns look

different. The solution: run the RPT_TMW_CUST_UPDATE_TCVIEW program for every view.

Bonus Tip: Overcoming Wrong Entry Date After technical upgrade operations, your system displays a wrong 'Entry date' for an

employee number (in the header line and standard HR reports). The solution: check the

feature: ENTRY, which is overwritten during the upgrade.

Tip #60: How to Mass Syntax Check Contributed by: Siarhei Mahulenka, IBA Group

There is a very useful tool in ERP 6.0 – mass syntax check. Just run the program RFREDSRS01

for your development objects to find objects with errors or warnings. I suggest you exclude

old and unused objects first, to reduce the list length.

Bonus Tip: Start with OSS Notes I suggest you make sure your folks start by determining problems found in tests from

searching for OSS Notes. It really helps, because you may find a solution there and it will

save you a lot of time. For example, some config approaches in SAP have changed (example -

text determination in SD) and you'll need to run a conversion program provided by SAP to

move the config from old to new config tables. All this info can be found in OSS Notes.

22

Tip #61: Clean Up Your Code in Advance Contributed by: Michal Kunze, BCC

New releases of SAP bring small changes to the rules of ABAP syntax check. In some cases,

statements that were invalid in the old release but raised only a warning, raise an error in

the new release. You can limit the risk of running into such cases if you proactively clean up

the code of your programs – and you can start this activity a long time in advance, at any

time, before the upgrade. Use transaction SAMT (ABAP program set processing), create a

program set with all Z* and Y* programs, and execute the 'Syntax check' step. Now you can

schedule the task to clean up all syntax warnings (and of course errors, if any) for your

development team, to minimize the risk of colliding with the more strict syntax check of the

new release.

Bonus Tip: Create Flexible Program Logic If you are developing solutions in ABAP in the old release and you are already aware of

different requirements of the program logic after the upgrade (e.g., field size changes or a

function module signature is going to change), you can create flexible program logic to react

based on the system release that it is running in, by checking the SY-SWREL system variable,

which returns the release of the application server. By incorporating statements such as: IF

SY-SWREL <= '46C'. ... logic for R/3 4.6C goes here ELSE. ... logic for ERP 6.0 goes here

ENDIF, you can prepare your programs to behave correctly before and after the upgrade, a

long time in advance. This approach limits the number of adjustments to your development

needed during and immediately after the upgrade.

23

Tip #62: Unicode Conversion Tips for Asian Language Users Contributed by: Sanujeet Puhan, Spring Consulting

Unicode conversion: This issue attracts a lot of debate during upgrade. Particularly if there

was no need for Unicode in the past and none in the foreseeable future. Hence, the battle

rages between saving the extra cost of the conversion and getting future-ready and support

from SAP. A slightly different debate occurs where the SAP operation is multilingual and

monolithic, meaning that MDMP or blended code pages have been used as alternatives to

Unicode. There the contention is how practicable is the conversion, which brings in the risks

of data corruption, long testing, and production downtime. Not without its reasons, the

conversion process is perceived as tedious, sometime scary. Ways to automate the tasks

need to be explored. Consider a case of an Asian MDMP system, where several thousand

words of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese coexist with Western European languages.

Transaction SPUMG identifies such words. Assigning them to the correct language is still a

chore, which is traditionally solved by using vocabulary hints. The risk is that if a word gets

assigned to a wrong language, data get irreversibly corrupted after conversion. Hence, the

word-language assignment needs to be reviewed by respective linguists before going

further, which is a time consuming, manual task. SAPGUI scripting is very handy for

automating such cases. Consider the following: Download the list of words from SPUMG to an Excel sheet. Mind the

65,536-row limitation in Excel. So download specific ranges in separate worksheets, if the

vocabulary is large. Send these to linguists with instructions to review the words and assign a

suitable language wherever required. On completion, create a script to iterate the Excel

sheet, find the word in the SPUMG list, and then assign the language field as in the Excel

sheet. This saves a lot of tedious and error prone manual work on the part of the

administrator. On the other hand, the linguists need not come into the SPUMG transaction.

From our experience, it is quite cumbersome for remote collaborative working. For example,

guiding someone sitting in China through the steps in SPUMG, when he sees the screens in a

different language. Moreover, this way a vocabulary list is created, which can be refined, as

one moves through a three-system landscape. Because the vocabulary tables also get

converted, one cannot rely on reviewing the list inside SPUMG after conversion. Does SAPGUI scripting have the features to do this? Certainly. Sophistications such as

reading from an Excel sheet, writing a log file, etc. may be a little outside the standard

SAPGUI scripting. But in a single VB Script, all that can be conveniently put, as well as the

SAPGUI script part. A few more words before jumping to it: SAPGUI scripting is deactivated by default on the

server. Simply change the profile parameter "sapgui/user_scripting" to "true" in transaction

RZ11, log off and then log on to get going. Of course, for a permanent solution, you should

save it in the instance profile. That is if others do not shout "security risk; people running

own scripts on server". Then, such scripting uses the local GUI on the user PC, which may

vary in version, personalization, and discrepancies at Microsoft Windows level. Hence,

instead of wasting effort on creating a universal, reusable, run-anywhere script, it’s better to

concentrate on accomplishing the task at hand.

24

Tip #63: Be Familiar with OSS Note #900607 Contributed by: Jaychand Tatineni, Hewlett Packard

When you upgrade from a version lower than 4.6c to a higher version, the text types will be

missing in sales order, delivery, billing, and customer master. You can correct this by

implementing OSS note 900607. Implementing this note is a simple exercise:

1. In the old system you see what text procedure is used (if you have to check for the

area where you have the problem; e.g., customer master text, sales header text,

sales item text, etc.). If you are looking for sales document header text, then select

the sales document header radio button in VOTX (VOTXN for the new system), click

on the text procedure push button, then double-click on the text procedure you are

using (say Z1) and it will take you to the next screen where the text types assigned

for that particular text procedure are defined;

2. Now, in the upgraded system, execute the SDTXT1AID program. This will show what

the missing entries in table TTXERN are. Select the text types you found in step 1 and

save;

3. Once you complete step 2, the text entries will appear in the sales document,

customer master, etc. but if, for example, the text needs to be copied from one

document to other documents, e.g., from a sales document to a delivery document,

then you have to generate an Access Sequence – Transaction VOTXN: Menu "Texts -

> Generate access".

Tip #64: Use the Latest Solution Manager Contributed by: Venkata Arikirevula, Cognizant Technology Solutions

Ensure that Solution Manager is patched to the latest version with Support Packs so that the

Bind patch XML, which can be supplied during the upgrade process, is correctly created.

Solution Manager is fast becoming mandatory for all upgrades.

25

Miscellaneous

Tip #65: Create a Requirements Table for HR/Payroll Contributed by: Damian Duff, IBM Australia Ltd

For HR/Payroll you need to create a requirements table/matrix to use in testing and

confirming that the upgrade has been successful and that existing business processes are the

same or have been replaced with new SAP functionality.

Bonus Tip: Verify Your Upgrade Partner’s HR Experience For HR/Payroll make sure that your upgrade consulting partner has the experience in the

release that you are upgrading to.

Tip #66: Deal with Authorization Roles Contributed by: S. Madsen, Ciber

ERP 6.0 contains many new authorization objects. Ensure they are added to the respective

roles. This will allow your users to conduct their duties without any disruption of access of

new functionality.

26

Contributors’ Contact Details

Company Name Title Country E-mail Phone Web Site

Aditro HRM Oy Antti Glad SAP HR Consultant Finland antti.glad@aditro.com www.aditro.com

Advanced Technology

Solutions Inc

Bob Levy Senior Consultant USA boblevy2inf2know.com +1-708-799-6527 www.inf2know.com

Alpha Sirius Inc. Ajay Vonkarey avonkarey@alphasirius.com +1-646-232-5487

Awsome Systems John Santos Project Manager UK jmc_santos@hotmail.com +44 7771 848 927

BCC Michał Jasiński Project Manager Poland Michal.Jasinski@bcc.com.pl +48 61 827 70 01 www.bcc.com.pl

BCC Michal Kunze Project

Management

Office Manager

Poland michal.kunze@bcc.com.pl www.bcc.com.pl

BIGS IT Consulting

(Thailand) PLC

Johnny Khoeblal Practice Manager

SAP Upgrades

Thailand jakhoeblal@gmail.com +66869137873 www.bigs-it-consulting.com

Business Consulting

Center sp. z o.o.

Aleksandra

Skotarczak

Leader of

Personnel

Development

Team

Poland aleksandra.skotarczak@bcc.com.pl www.bcc.com.pl

BusinessGenetics, Inc Renee Lentz Sr. Director

Operations-SAP

USA renee.lentz@businessgenetics.com +1-480-266-1024 businessgenetics.com

Capgemini Bikas Panigrahi www.capgemini.com

Cognizant Krishnan GS saikrish@yahoo.com

Cognizant Siva G SAP ABAP

Consultant

India www.cognizant.com

Cognizant Technology

Solutions

Venkata Arikirevula SAP

Consulting/COE

Practice Head

venkata.arikirevula@cognizant.com

CSC Steve Procopiou SAP Solutions

Architect

UK sprocopi@csc.com +44 7747 455869 csc.com

CSC Asia Pacific LTD Mark Rittmayer CFO/CIO, SVP of

Systems

Implementations

Hong Kong mark@rittmayer.info +8564293522 www.aiawealth.com

Deloitte Jonathan Rimmer Manager UK

Dimension Consulting

Services, Inc.

Kent Ripley Consultant USA kripley@dimensionconsulting.com +1-408-221-8697 www.dimensionconsulting.com

ECIR Consulting Yann Szwec ABAP and CRM

expert

France yann.szwec@ecir.fr www.ecir.fr

Edge Consulting Yuval Donskoy Senior Consultant Israel yuvald@edgeconsult.co.il +972-52-2385048 www.edgeconsult.co.il

Eglobalservices LLC Ayesha Ahmed SMS SCM USA ayesha@eglobal-services.com +1-512 924 4248 Eglobal-services.com

EMC Mangesh Kulkarni

ERPInnovation Farhad Farshimi Consultant Canada camb99@gmail.com +1-6132605232 www.erpinnovation.com

Freelance Consultant Rolando Soriano SAP FI Functional

Consultant

Philippines rollsoriano@gmail.com +63918 547 1007

GijimaAst Jan de la Rey South Africa www.gijima.com

Grayson Technology

Partners - A Rev-Trac

Premiere Partner

George Burmeister Managing Partner USA george.burmeister@gtechpartners.com +1-678 580 1904 www.gtechpartners.com

Hewlett Packard Javier Esteban

Ponce de Leon

HP SAP Upgrade

Program Manager.

EMEA esteban@hp.com +34609482023 www.hp.com

Hewlett Packard Jaychand Tatineni Sr.SAP Consultant India jaytatineni@rediffmail.com

HiLn Christopher Carter SAP BASIS Team

Manager

USA cmc@hiln-solutions.com +1-4147553212 www.hiln-solutions.com

IBA Group Siarhei Mahulenka Team Lead Belarus smahulen@iba.by +375-17-217-3282

IBM Andrew Petersman Program Manager

- EAM Systems

USA Andrew.Petersman@us.ibm.com +1-281 795 1412 www.ibm.com

IBM Tomas Krojzl SAP Consultant Czech Republic krojzl@centrum.cz +420 777 678 887

IBM Australia Ltd Damian Duff Senior Managing

Consultant

Australia damiendu@au1.ibm.com +61411 043 026 www.ibm.com

Infosys Pradeep Khanna India Pradeep.Khanna@hotmil.com +911722693515

Infosys Technologies

Limited

Sriramachandra

Parasuramuni

Upgrade

Consultant

India parasuramuni@gmail.com +919885244322

ISS Consulting (M) Sdn

Bhd

Reza Roslan Technical Team

Lead

Malaysia reza.roslan@issconsulting.net www.iss-consulting.com

Keane Arvind Narasimhan arvind.narasimhan@keane.com +91 984 037 8590

L&T Infotech Anjali Butley

Macro 4 Lynda Kershaw Marketing

Manager

UK lynda.kershaw@macro4.com +44 (0)1293 872 000 www.macro4.com

Mercedes-Benz Australia

/ Pacific Pty Ltd

Robert Makin ITM SAP Project

Manager

Australia grmakin@optusnet.com.au +61 412 508 878

Mondial IT Solutions Audrey Neser South Africa

27

Company Name Title Country E-mail Phone Web Site

Novis S.A. Alejandro Cepeda CHILE alejandro.cepeda@noviscorp.com www.novis.cl

Open Text Mike Lord Director, SAP LoB

ASIA, Pacific &

Japan

Australia mlord@opentext.com +61419564175 www.opentext.com

Ordina Belgium Sven De Leeuw

PricewaterhouseCoopers Gary Hart Director USA gary.e.hart@us.pwc.com +1-8178772298

Protera Carl LaFoe VP SAP Hosting USA carl@protera.biz +1-321 544 6662 www.protera.biz

ProVize Michael Libens Director Denmark mll@provize.dk +4520448428 www.provize.dk

q2d Solutions Andreas Ohlsson www.q2d.com

RealTech Portugal Pedro Bonniz Sales Manager Portugal pedro.bonniz@realtech.com +351 217997132 www.realtech.com

ROC Richard Honnor Technical Change

Consultant

UK richard.honnor@roc-group.com +44 (0) 870 2414349 www.roc-group.com

SAP Andrew Chen

SAP Aseem Gupta SAP Technology

Architect

India aseemgupta10@gmail.com +91 9971108388

SAP Deutschland AG &

Co. KG

Gregory Thompson

SAP Independent

Consulting

Amit Lal Sr. SAP Netweaver

Technology

Consultant -

Upgrade/Unicode

Conversion

USA amitlal@live.ca +1-904 864 8289 www.linkedin.com/in/amitlal

SAP Italia Consulting

S.p.A. (An IBM Company)

Gaetano Palummo Senior SAP HCM

Consultant

Italy gpalummo@yahoo.com +39 334 1149750

SITA Corp Peggy Reed Senior SAP

Consultant

USA peggyreed@woh.rr.com www.sitacorp.com

Sparta Consulting Jeff Gongas

Spring Consulting Sanujeet Puhan Sweden sanujeet.puhan@springconsulting.com +46708649083 www.springconsulting.se

Strategic Supply Chain

Management

Peter van Engelen Sr. Project

Manager - SAP

USA petervanengelen@aol.com +1-619-846-1638

TATA Consultancy

Services

Soumya Sarkar Manager - SAP

Presales - Asia

Pacific

India soumya.sarkar@tcs.com +919052001975 www.tcs.com

TCS Deepanshu Sharma ITA India deepanshu_sharma@yahoo.com +919885592468

TCS Anuj Agrawal

Techedge Sergio Ferrari Italy sergio.ferrari@techedge.it www.techedge.it

The Baer Group John Weiss Director of SAP

Upgrades

USA john.weiss@baergroup.com www.baergroup.com

T-Systems Ian Henderson SAP Basis

Consultant

South Africa ian.henderson@t-systems.co.za +27 795192233

Unicroft Srinivas Dasu Manager USA vedantavenky@yahoo.com +1-510-870-4736

Vektora Information

Technologies

Turgay Piyadeoglu Turkey turgay.piyadeoglu@vektora.com www.vektora.com

VIP Global Kay Tucker Project

Manager/Sr.

Consultant

ktucker@vip-global.com

Wave-Tec Integrated Ishaam Adamson SAP Strategic BI

Specialist

South Africa info@wave-tec.co.za +27 741148568 www.wave-tec.co.za

Wipro Sharad Singh India

Zorlu Group of

Companies (VESTEL)

Emren Ertugrul

Zylog Systems Limited Ramesh Rao

Dendukuri

SAP-Consultant India nag.ramesh@gmail.com +919490190815 www.zslinc.com

www.zylog.co.in

28

About Panaya Panaya's Software-as-a-Service solutions enable companies that use SAP to save

up to 50% of their application lifecycle costs and minimize the risks associated

with system changes. Utilizing cloud-based simulation to analyze the impact of

pending changes, Panaya automatically pinpoints which custom programs will

break as a result of an upgrade or support package implementation. Panaya

provides a complete solution for managing these changes, explaining how to fix

the anticipated issues, suggesting the most efficient test plan, and calculating

required project budget and resources.

To learn more or apply for a free upgrade evaluation, click here:

http://www.panayainc.com/Free-Upgrade-Analysis-for-your-SAP.html