MIT SAP Transport Request Process
Transport Request Summary
Development/Configuration
Transport Request Utility
Production Transport Request Priority Status
Production Transport Request Approval Process
Transport Request Summary:
This document is a summary of the SAP Transport Request process at MIT involving technical code reviews for custom development, configuration changes, acceptance testing, documentation, training, and implementation into the production environment. Business and technical area input and approval is implicit in appropriate stages of the process.
Business areas generate the majority of changes that are transported to the production environment for implementation. However in some cases, changes are required by vendors, data providers, and SAP OSS (Operating System Support) Notes which are first evaluated in the staging environment, then appropriately approved for transport to subsequent environments.
The business analyst should make every effort to completely describe the business needs and benefits of the requested change. Any major changes to the SAP production configuration or environments (for example, upgrades, add-ons, infrastructure changes, or new functionality) are reviewed and approved by Administrative Systems and Policies Coordinating Council (ASPCC), SAPbiz, and perhaps others as deemed appropriate.
Development/Configuration:
The development teams are responsible for
the plans associated with the code design, technical review, testing,
training, and documentation. If a developer considers making a change
to validation rules, the configuration, custom layouts, or status
of fields (required/optional/not permitted), the proposed change
must be described (and what is known of its consequences) in a message
addressed to MIT-ABAP@mit.edu as early in the process as
possible, but at least ONE WEEK BEFORE requesting a transport to
the Quality Assurance environment. The developer needs to wait 48
hours to receive any responses to the communication.
The development changes must also be in compliance with the
MIT SAP Development Standards.
Technical documentation is required for programs, includes, and function modules.
In the ABAP Editor use the 'Pattern' button and select ZDOCUPRG for program documentation template or select ZDOCUINM for include documentation template. For function module documentation template use program ZFUNCDOC.
If the development includes new ABAP programs, includes, or function modules, a technical code review is required. The ABAP Review Team (ABAP-REV) reviews the program for conformance with the MIT ABAP Development Standards and the ABAP ReviewChecklist.
When using ZUTTREQ to generate the transport request for the Quality Assurance environment and new programs are within the transport, a prompt displays asking if mail should be sent to ABAP-REV. When you select yes, ABAP-REV@mit.edu is added to the cc:list. The team replies to the email with their review comments and ABAP programming suggestions.
As appropriate or upon request, the development team must provide updates and feedback to the business process owners and others about the application changes as needed.
Transport Request Utility:
ZUTTREQ is an MIT-customized SAP utility used
in the multiple SAP environments designed to generate transport
requests. The developers complete the fields on a five-tabbed screen
and then emails are sent to specific mail lists or staff communicating
the changes destined for production implementation. For more information
on how to run ZUTTREQ, see: ZUTTREQ.
When a ZUTTREQ is sent to the Change Coordinators (sap-chg) for production implementation, the request is also recorded in Casetracker which is a suite of tools utilized by MIT's computing support service providers for tracking computing support requests from staff and students. More information on Casetracker is located at: Casetracker.
Production Transport Request Priority Status:
The Transport Request priority status can be designated as Normal or Critical.
Critical production transport requests are processed any day of the week. A critical priority status means that one of three circumstances exists in the production environment: a business process has halted, a calculation or formula is incorrect, or a system repair is needed. Call or email a Change Coordinator that you have a critical production transport request in progress, as soon as possible.
Normal transport requests are processed between 6:00 pm on Thursday and 9:00 am Friday morning. ZUTTREQ, the transport email request, must be in Casetracker by 3:00 pm on Thursdays. If Thursday is the last business day of the month and Friday is the first business day of the next month, then transport requests are processed on Wednesday. When transport requests must be processed on Wednesday, a notification is sent mid-month to the MIT-ABAP@mit.edu mail list.
The developer or project team must be available for issue resolution during the production implementation of the changes and for some reasonable period of time afterwards.
Production Transport Request Approval Process:
The Administrative Computing business analyst or developer completes ZUTTREQ and forwards
the request to the Business Process Owner or Business Coordinator
for testing and production approval.
The business area performs tests to validate the changes in the Quality Assurance environment in SF5. When testing is successful, the Business Process Owner or Business Coordinator should change the subject line to read "Transport SF5 toPS1" and forward the ZUTTREQ email to sap-chg@mit.edu, the Administrative Computing Change Coordinators, with their approval statement signifying that the testing process has been completed and that the changes are ready for the MIT SAP production environment.
A Change Coordinator reviews the ZUTTREQ requests for conformance with the development standards and Transport Request process. When appropriate, the Change Coordinator forwards the requests to R3-chmgt@mit.edu for production implementation.
Any questions or comments about the Transport Request Process can be sent to .
