Copying needs to be done skillfully
Challenges reduced!
Until now, it has been common practice to create test systems as a client or system copy of the production system on a specific date. In these cases, a single client or the entire SAP system is duplicated. The corresponding instances of the SAP system have to be reinstalled. In addition, a copy of the source database must be created. These are standard procedures, but they can be disproportionately expensive for productive data sets of several terabytes. SAP and third-party tools for selective data extraction can significantly reduce the cost of deploying non-production SAP systems.
What is the purpose of copying a complete SAP system? - Well, there are several reasons. Test and development system: After a new productive system has been set up, at least one identical development system or even one test system is still needed. To avoid having to repeat the customizing (settings and configurations of the SAP modules and business processes) on these systems, it makes sense to make a copy. This is clearly the faster way to achieve the goal!
To store all the information on the subject of SAP - and others - in a knowledge database, Scribble Papers is suitable.
Solution infrastructure
The demands on your business are constantly changing. For this reason, there is also a need to adapt processes and functionalities. This cannot be done directly in the production system, but must first be extensively tested, which in turn requires data that is as realistic as possible. The SAP system copies required for this are quite time-consuming and complex, but also offer very great automation potential. We support you in the execution of SAP system copies and, within the framework of our partnership with Libelle, we can also set up automation mechanisms for you if you have the need for regular system copies. We are also happy to support you with any data anonymization that may become necessary after such a copy.
Such system copies, with their enormous manual effort and SAP checklists that are often hundreds of items long, must be performed before every refresh. Usually, three to four days have to be planned for this, during which the QA system - which in two-tier SAP environments is also the development system - is not available for the actual work. The delay is actually only caused by the meticulous matching of trivial things, such as directory names. Because such SAP system copies have to be created for each SAP application on the QA system and can thus quickly require dozens of system copies, they tie up a lot of resources and staff.
Use "Shortcut for SAP Systems" to make a required SAP system copy easier and faster.
A system copy can be created either with SAP transactions (R3trans, from R4.6C SAPinst) or at file and database level.
The website www.sap-corner.de offers many useful information about SAP basis.
For example, it is automatically recognized whether the system is an Abap, Java or double-stack system.