SAP Basis: Remedies for Time and Cost Eaters

Demand-driven management of the SAP infrastructure keeps your back free and creates monetary benefits

A modern, automated SAP Basis Management is the solution to this problem. Process-related or application-relevant SAP topics are clearly at the top of the list for companies or enterprises from all industries. However, in order to be able to fulfill these in a targeted manner and as optimally as possible, a well-functioning and secure SAP infrastructure is always required. In this respect, it represents a kind of engine room that must be monitored on a daily basis. Ultimately, this is for the benefit of the applications.

In SAP user companies, the monitoring or control or management of the SAP infrastructure is generally performed by SAP Basis teams or the departments responsible for this, in addition to other topics such as license management or infrastructure system planning. In general, SAP Basis teams have to deal with a wide variety of tasks and activities, or have to manage them. As a result, capacity and resources are required and must be made available. 

The sticking points and challenges here are: Personnel resources are usually limited in SAP Basis teams, and there is a shortage of staff. The doings to be processed are often seen as "ritualized time eaters" and "sheer cost drivers". They are sometimes perceived as a burden or even a "necessary evil". In addition, these doings are usually recurring and have to be performed at "unchristian, inappropriate times. 

Extensive task list

What tasks and activities or work are involved? It would go beyond the scope of this article to present a complete doing list. Therefore, a few selected ones are listed below:

One of the main tasks is to keep the systems up to date and thus provide the latest functions and error handling, but also to minimize security risks. This requires regular patching and updating of the systems. This includes the SAP systems themselves, but also all SAP databases, especially SAP Hana. Furthermore, parameters must be continuously checked and set.

Likewise, it is imperative that security notes are imported and certificates are checked and, if necessary, exchanged. Or, for example, the SAP Basis and infrastructure teams have to create SAP system copies for a wide variety of purposes, and increasingly as ad hoc requirements. Auditor requirements with regard to compliance must also be met, and SAP Basis must prove that compliance is checked and correct on all systems throughout the year. Actually, starting with the R/2 mainframe era, and continuing with SAP R/3 and SAP ERP/ECC 6.0 as well as S/4 Hana, various automation software tools came into use for tasks and activities for and in SAP Basis. More. It is no longer possible to imagine using SAP without them. 

The reason for this lies in the core of automation; in the "intellectual property" of software with the specific and stored tasks as well as directed process flows and rules including workflows. And as a result, productivity increases, time and resource/personnel savings as well as demonstrable cost advantages result. Such software systems make life easier for SAP Basis teams, so to speak, and are important benefit providers.

Focused SAP Basis Management

However, a distinction must be made here. On the one hand, there are various SAP Basis software tools in use which, from their origins, tend to follow an agnostic concept and to which functions for SAP use have been added in a certain way. In other words, they are not designed from the ground up for SAP use. These essentially include tools that originate from "SAP hardware manufacturers" or from "SAP operating system suppliers". 

On the other hand, tools are available on the market that cover only certain subareas. For example, tools for the administration and monitoring of SAP system components, but without work tasks such as the creation of system copies. 

There are also tools that focus exclusively on the application side. The infrastructure side is not covered, or only rudimentarily. On top of this, there are tools that serve as the basis for completing a task, but always require a new project, so to speak. This is the case, for example, with the aforementioned generation of SAP system copies.

Smart systems preferred

Modern SAP Basis Management solutions take a strictly SAP-related approach and combine two things. A component for information retrieval and presentation here and a system maintenance component at the same time. However, both work together. They also follow an approach that can be described as "smart". 

This means that such smart professional SAP Basis management software can be used easily and intuitively, without extensive programming knowledge. This means that even less experienced or specialized SAP Basis experts are able to work with such systems and use them to complete or master SAP Basis tasks. Web GUI technologies are used to ensure a high level of user usability. 

Moreover, such SAP Basis Management software meets the requirement that installations take only a short time. And also that the training/education is limited to a few days. Despite this "smartness", the SAP Basis Management solution, which can be assigned to the provenance of automation software, should have a wide-ranging functional scope. In other words, it should cover the task areas of integrated administration/checking, control/management and monitoring. As this is standard software - similar to SAP applications - it should also provide mechanisms for extending this type of software as required and to meet specific individual SAP Basis requirements, as well as offering options for linking with other SAP Basis tools.

Integration of non-SAP systems

In addition, it is necessary for the software supplier of SAP Basis Management software to support SAP user companies with consulting and advisory services on all SAP Basis topics. After all, no two use cases are the same down to the last dot - here too, the requirements and processes vary from company to company. 

There has always been a need in user companies to couple or integrate non-SAP systems with SAP applications. In connection with this, there are also requirements in the SAP base or in the IT base to manage this type of mixed systems in the sense of an overarching infrastructure. 

Due to the recent strategic focus of the Walldorf-based software group on the ERP core, it can be assumed that the number of such "mixed" systems will increase and thus the demand for mixed SAP-Non-SAP Basis Management. Of course, modern SAP Basis Management systems should take this into account or be specifically prepared for it.

New release of SAP Basis Management Software EPOS

With EPOS (Empirius Planning and Operations Suite), the automation specialist Empirius from Munich provides a powerful and modern SAP Basis management software on the market. It was developed on the basis of almost 20 years of SAP Basis know-how and a wealth of experience from well over 100 customer installations of the BlueCopy solution for creating SAP system copies at many well-known companies. EPOS has been available for some time in the new version 23.3 with a whole series of functional enhancements. For example, enhancements for SAP Hana; specifically the support of Hana replications, the support of multiple tenants or the support of add-ons or Hana components.

Another highlight of the new version is the support for the import of SEC (Security) Notes; with determination of possible missing SEC Notes (based on SAP specifications) or verification of the import of all SEC Notes including audit-proof documentation. EPOS represents a "smart" and professional SAP Basis Management System, with Info Apps (for a variety of SAP system components and SAP applications) and Maintenance Apps (such as SAP kernel and database patching and updating, SEC Note Management, generation of SAP system copies and more) as well as extensive automation functionality for SAP Basis. The integration of non-SAP systems is also possible.