Job logic instead of customizing
Update more efficiently
The different types of SAP environments must meet different requirements. Training courses, for example, can only be held expediently if the working conditions largely correspond to those on the production system. Companies can simulate real-life situations for testing purposes on the basis of consistent and realistic data alone. Users should also test their own developments and modifications with consistent data that is close to production. A test environment that is as identical as possible to the production system is suitable for testing patches and release upgrades. In development and training systems in particular, it is fundamentally important to anonymize sensitive data in order to comply with data protection rules.
In this context, generated jobs adapt to changes, even if, for example, a DB change, a release change or other changes have taken place. Nevertheless, once created copy jobs can be reused, which minimizes the maintenance effort and a certain susceptibility to errors. This is also the case when switching from one Any DB to another or when moving from an Any DB to Hana.
Several advantages at once
You should also create a delta list for all transports that have not yet reached the production system. Software contained in open transports is lost during the upgrade, which may seem useful for cleaning up the system, but can have dire consequences for development projects. That's why you should take a close look at delta transport lists before proceeding with the upgrade. UC4 Automated System Copy allows you to automate the above steps. If necessary, you can add additional steps without losing testing capabilities.
A major risk to the availability of the entire SAP environment arises when system copies are not transferred to the QA system for reasons of time and resources. Development and test work then takes place on a QA system that does not correspond to the production system. The disruption of the production system - sooner or later - is then already pre-programmed.
A solution such as "Shortcut for SAP Systems" offers an automatable solution for many of the activities involved in an SAP system copy.
In this context, a focus on a problem called BDLS (conversion of logical system names): When using the Empirius tool, BDLS is only executed for tables that have not been saved (these have already been converted and would produce a warning message).
The guideline that integrated job logic is preferable to customizing has also proven its worth.