ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING CUSTOMER-SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS
Implementation of security updates, patches and enhancement packages
When I began my career administering SAP ERP on Oracle in the early 1990s, running a database required far more knowledge. An Oracle administration expert with a decade of experience understood perhaps only about 5% of what the database required.
Basically, an excellent IT knowledge is required. In addition, SAP administrators must of course be particularly competent in this area and be able to deal confidently with all issues relating to SAP solutions. Since they often also work in international companies, it is an advantage if they have a very good command of written and spoken English.
Customizing
Automatic error handling when a job is aborted is desirable and useful in most cases. The conscious processing and consideration of error situations in job chains - also at step level - can help to reduce manual effort. Error situations should be catchable: If they are non-critical elements, the following job can perhaps be started anyway. In the case of critical errors, a new attempt should be made or an alert issued so that an administrator can intervene manually. Simple batch jobs are usually not capable of this. The goal of an automated environment is not to have to react manually to every faulty job.
The tasks described above, which occur at rather irregular intervals and involve a certain degree of complexity due to the lack of routine or process know-how, should be examined in order to determine whether they can be performed more efficiently by an external service provider. One question to be answered is whether it is necessary to keep the necessary knowledge in the company in order to be able to react faster than the external service provider. For example, for business critical systems. Security aspects should also be considered, as external persons gain access to the system. From now on, outtasking performance must be regularly monitored and checked for quality and documentation. A complete dependence on the external partner must not arise.
"Shortcut for SAP Systems" makes it easier and quicker to complete a number of SAP basis tasks.
In practice, it means taking responsibility for the maintenance environment of the systems, their cooperation, updating, solving user problems and efficiency issues (concerning the network, databases or operating systems), backup copies and architecture.
It can be used with SNC without any further configuration.