When your shipments arrive safely
Risk is part of transportation! This applies equally to freight forwarders as well as developers and basic administrators in SAP Transportation (STMS).
Even if the working context is different in each case. What all players have in common is that transport damage leads to high costs and incalculable risks. These risks are to be minimized by "transport insurance".
Transferred to the SAP context, this "insurance policy" is SolMan 7.2. and here specifically the transport-related checks available since 7.2 SPS3 - and fully integrated into ChaRM.
With 7.2 SPS9, further improvements to their functionality and the processes on which they are based are delivered. In the ChaRM context, six functionalities are offered under the "transport-related checks" theme umbrella.
These are: Downgrade protection including cross-system object locking, cross-reference checks, critical objects, the Abap Test Cockpit, the Code Inspector, and custom checks.
Important: Transport-related checks are controlled centrally by SolMan and their results are visualized in the corresponding assignment block via a traffic light system.
The following three functionalities and their application potentials or added values are considered central:
Downgrade protection (DGP) and cross-system object locking (CSOL): The CSOL is the prerequisite of the DGP. The former ensures that a changed SAP object is locked against changes by third parties in the entire system rail/landscape.
The DGP builds on this and informs potential actors (e.g. SAP developers) about a potential "conflict" immediately when saving an already locked SAP object in a transport request.
With 7.2 SPS9, an additional "silent mode for transport-related checks can be activated. This makes it possible to skip the DGP check during the release and import of transport orders.
The global and system-specific CSOL configuration takes place centrally via the ChaRM Admin Cockpit. This means that the entire range of functions for checking critical objects is available.
Critical objects are the SAP objects defined by SAP development or the business departments as particularly important for the core business processes of a company.
These are subject to a structured monitoring and management mechanism mapped by SolMan to tightly control changes to SAP objects as well as their transport.
As of 7.2 SPS9, developers have the option to request the release of critical objects via a fully integrated approval workflow in the SolMan WebClient UI using the "transport-related checks" pop-up.
Change managers can alternatively approve or reject these requests in the WebClient UI or the Fiori app "My Inbox". The creation of critical objects takes place centrally via the ChaRM admin cockpit. Critical objects can be defined explicitly or by selecting a referenced transport request.
Since 7.2 SPS3, the possibility of a central analysis of transport orders against a defined ATC/CI set of rules has been integrated in the ChaRM assignment block "transport-related checks" (Abap Test Cockpit/Code Inspector).
As part of the preparation of S/4 Hana projects, the possibility of fully integrated checks is offered. This enables current SAP developments to be S/4-compliant even before the start of such a project.
All of the above functions, considered individually, are already available via SolMan (e.g. CSOL) or in the systems managed by SolMan (e.g. ATC).
However, their full potential unfolds through the central consolidation in the thematically matching ChaRM assignment block. Keeping track of these checks on sight - and thus without the SolMan - is an almost hopeless undertaking.
