Challenge test data creation

The migration from ERP/ECC 6.0 in the direction of SAP S/4 Hana in particular has led to a sharp increase in the development and use of test and training systems. But all those existing SAP customers who still use NetWeaver-based ECC systems also need test and training systems for a wide variety of purposes.

Regardless of whether ECC 6.0 or S/4: Possible test cases include the simulation of business transactions and the execution of incident analyses as well as regression tests according to dedicated regression scenarios, which are not feasible on a production system.

Or more specifically: If you want to know the effect of a dunning run in SAP FI-CA for a specific constellation of master and transaction data, or if you want to simulate incoming payments for the purpose of clearing rates using real data, you will do this on a test system as required.

Of course, it is necessary to be able to use the most current data possible and to use this data as quickly as possible for tests, analyses or simulations from a productive system.

However, this can certainly pose challenges for the employees involved in the tests in companies - specialist departments here, IT areas there - as the data build-up for complex test scenarios often takes too long and the data reconstruction for incident scenarios sometimes takes a lot of time.

Furthermore, regression test scenarios in particular often have to be created repeatedly. Or it is not possible to ensure complete anonymization of transferred data, for example from a production system to a test system or to a quality assurance system. However, this is usually a necessity, also against the background of the GDPR.

Multiple functionality

What possible uses should a sophisticated solution for test data creation offer, including the possibility of using it for migrations? And: What range of functions should such a solution provide?

Of course, a test solution must be geared to the requirements of SAP use. This means that it should have a high performance even with mass data. And it should do so when using one or more SAP modules or SAP solutions.

This means nothing other than that the respective data models of an SAP solution are taken into account for the use of a test and migration solution. For example, SAP FI-CA/RM-CA, IS-U, FS-CD or FI Core or SD.

At the same time, such a solution should ideally be usable without an additional infrastructure (server, database, storage) for the secure transfer of master and transaction data.

This can practically only be put into practice by the fact that it is an Abap solution and can therefore be integrated and operated in an existing SAP environment via transport.

It should be noted that it is explicitly not to be classified in the provenance "system copy tool", but data from a system copy can very well be used for test data creation, and this either in a 1-to-1 transfer or by means of recoding the primary keys from the standard number range objects.

Furthermore, in a solution for the creation and use of test data, there is a need to be able to transfer or transfer not only the test data from a production system to a test system, but also from an SAP production system to an SAP production system (usually in the case of an SAP-SAP migration) or from a production system to a development system or QA system.

In addition, it should be possible to include not only SAP standard tables, but also Z-tables for data transfer. And: It should be possible to transfer master data (including selected data) with or without anonymization at the push of a button.

Parallel processing

If there is a need to set up and use a new test system for whatever purpose, the time factor sometimes plays a significant role. This means that both the generation or selection of test data and the data transfer must be as fast as possible.

After all, the background to many test systems used today is usually to be able to react agilely to business requirements or changes in accordance with specifications. The fact is that agility increases time-to-market. And this also applies to the full anonymization of, for example, 100 million customer data records based on SAP business partners and a large number of SAP Z tables.

The key to this is the use of parallel processes. In particular, the processing of high data volumes on the basis of parallel processes significantly reduces the times required for data transfer to a test system.

GTW Management Consulting has taken the aforementioned requirements and other functions into account in its Advanced Test and Migration Solution, or ATS for short. Used by well-known SAP customers nationally and internationally for years, it is an SAP add-on solution that takes into account the needs of a solution in the area of test data creation and beyond.

Among other things, the software engine can be used to set up lean and high-performance SAP test systems, as well as to repeatedly set up training systems and transfer current incidents from a production system to a development system. And it is also possible to use ATS as a migration tool.

Customizing templates are available for a number of modules, such as FI-CA/RM-CA and SAP industry solutions like IS-U. Customer-specific tables can also be individually extended via ATS customizing.

The ATS engine is only installed on the receiving systems, i.e. on the test, QA or development system. The actual installation takes about half a day.

Application data is transferred from the source to the target system (or systems) via RFC and DBCO interfaces. An administration or monitoring component is also provided, with which it is possible to trace at any time which application data was transferred or where errors occurred. Of course, the solution can also be used to refresh test data at any time by simply deleting and importing files.

Targeted and benefit-oriented

The ATS solution was originally developed about ten years ago out of the necessity that data on the development systems used did not have the necessary up-to-dateness or quality. Over the years, it has been shown time and again that existing customers benefit from the GTW-SAP add-on solution or achieve benefits.

These include, in particular, the creation of lean and easy-to-use SAP test and training systems with a high level of data protection through anonymization of production data. Other benefits include rapid incident handling and a significant reduction in infrastructure, maintenance and operating costs through the reduction of time-consuming system copies.

Moreover, this is demonstrably associated with shorter development cycles thanks to test data that is up-to-date/near-production at all times and a sustained increase in quality in development and test environments.

Full anonymization of 120 million customer master data records realized on the basis of SAP business partners

In a recently completed project at a well-known company in the telecommunications sector, the GTW solution Advanced Test and Migration Solution (ATS) outlined in the article was able to demonstrate its capabilities in the area of mass data processing.

The SAP user company set up both the extension of the SAP standard data model by 85 customer-specific Z-tables for the purpose of data transfer and for the DSGVO-relevant anonymization of master data.

For the full anonymization of the mass data, ATS was used with a runtime of just under twelve hours for 120 million master data records.