ABAP update administration

This blog will explain about the ABAP update administration. Questions that can be answered are:

  • How to check if the ABAP update process is active?
  • How to check and fix update errors?

Update administration

You can use transaction SM14 to goto the ABAP update administration:

SM14 overview screen

Update errors

The update errors can be seen with transaction SM13 (do take care to have the right date selection):

SM12 update processing errors

Double clicking on the line will give you more information:

SM13 update processing error detail

Double click again on the error for more information. This information can be used to find the OSS note to fix the issue in case of standard SAP failure. In case of Z code failure, you will have to go to you own ABAP developer to fix it.

Reprocessing

Reprocessing is sometimes possible, and in most cases not. After you have captured the information on a update failure you can delete it.

When reprocessing is possible, check first with the user. He might have posted the data already in a different way. Only when he did not post in different way, you can try to reprocess the failed update.

Alerting

You can set parameter (RZ11) rdsip/vbmail to 1 to activate mail sending. Parameter rdisp/vb_mail_user_list contains the mail addresses (separation by comma).

Automatic deletion

By setting parameter rdisp/vbreorg to 1 the automatic deletion of failed updates is activated. Parameter rdsip/vbdelete is the amount of days the SM13 entries are kept.

Background OSS notes

S4HANA blacklist

With S4HANA SAP has deprecated some parts of their old code. In some weird cases this old code might still be required.

This blog will explain on the S4HANA blacklist. Questions that will be answered are:

  • How do I see a dump is caused by the S4HANA blacklist?
  • Where to find more background information on the S4HANA blacklist?

The S4HANA blacklist dump

If for whatever reason the S4HANA system gives an ABAP dump with the error SYSTEM_ABAP_ACCESS_DENIED, this is a S4HANA blacklist dump. See note 2476734 – Runtime error SYSTEM_ABAP_ACCESS_DENIED. Or a reference to OSS note 2295840 – Outbound / Inbound calls from external to RFC FM are blocked when the FM is blacklisted and the UCON-Check is active.

Blacklisted RFC calls

When calling a blacklisted RFC from an external application you can get similar dump with reference to OSS note 2295840 – Outbound / Inbound calls from external to RFC FM are blocked when the FM is blacklisted and the UCON-Check is active. This note itself is old and refers to newer OSS note 2416705 – Outbound / Inbound calls from external to RFC FM are blocked when the FM is blacklisted using Blacklist Object. You can run program RS_RFC_BLACKLIST_COMPLETE to see which function modules are blacklisted:

2259818 – RFC enabled Function Modules with incompatible signature change compared to its version in ERP are blocked from external access.

What to do when you hit a blacklisted item?

The best approach is to avoid doing what you did and look for the functional alternative provided by SAP. Search for the correct simplification item OSS note. In almost all cases SAP provides a solution.

Activating a blacklisted item

OSS note 2249880 – Dump SYSTEM_ABAP_ACCESS_DENIED caused through Blacklist Monitor in SAP S/4HANA on premise, contains the procedure to activate a blacklisted item. For the RFC calls follow the instructions of OSS note 2408693 – Override blacklist of Remote Enabled Function Modules.

Please make sure you have both the clearance from SAP and the system owner in writing before executing this procedure. Support can be lost and system upgrade in the future can be facing severe blocks. Only execute as last resort after explicit approval.

S4HANA setup FIORI manage KPI tiles

Inside S4HANA there is a very powerful FIORI tile called the Manage KPI and Report function. This blog will explain how to setup this FIORI tile and how to make sure it is working properly.

It is assumed you have already enabled your S4HANA system for FIORI (see this blog).

Note: this blog will only explain the S4HANA 1909 and higher implementation. Previous versions of this functionality have more tiles and setup work.

Activating the Manage KPI and report function

Goto transaction STC01 and select task list SAP_FIORI_CONTENT_ACTIVATION:

In the task list select the business role SAP_BR_ANALYTICS_SPECIALIST:

Now run the task list and wait. If you have issues, please read this blog.

Assign then activated PFCG role SAP_BR_ANALYTICS_SPECIALIST to your user ID.

Checking the KPI and report FIORI tile

Start the FIORI launchpad (transaction /UI2/FLP) and check that the manage KPIs and Reports tile is now available:

Click on the tile and you come into the first screen. Top left you can choose between KPI and Reports. We will first start with inspecting the KPI. We will use Purchase Order Changes as example:

Details of the KPI:

Here you can see the Data source: CDS view C_POITEMCHANGECOUNT.

On the visualize tab you can see a preview of the tile:

Now we will inspect the report:

Here you can see it is a Generic Drilldown on the datasource C_POITEMCHANGECOUNT. Click to open the details:

You can push the button Show Preview to get a preview of the report:

In the section application details you can see the details for the tile:

Very important here is the catalog it belongs to. In PFCG assign the correct business role to your user: SAP_BR_BUYER. You can find this role in the FIORI reference library documentation for this tile.

After the role is assigned, start the FIORI app finder and search for the app:

Now this tile should work:

Background information

There is an excellent OpenSAP course on this topic: link.

More background information can be found on the FIORI reference libary for the Manage KPIs and Report app:

S4HANA rapid activation of FIORI lighthouse apps

This blog will explain how you can execute a rapid activation of a set of FIORI lighthouse apps.

Questions that will be answered are:

  • Which apps can be used for rapid setup?
  • How to execute the rapid activation of FIORI lighthouse apps?

This blog assumes you have finished the basic activation of embedded FIORI on S4HANA, which is explained in this blog.

FIORI lighthouse apps

FIORI lighthouse apps are enabled for rapid activation. On the FIORI reference library site click on the Lighthouse scenario link to get a PDF full of all possible apps you can activate:

In the app finder you can also search for specific lighthouse apps:

Rapid activation of FIORI lighthouse app

We will take the following app as example to execute the rapid activation: app ID F1600A: Manage Purchase Contracts (Version 2):

In the implementation information scroll down to the authorization information section:

For now you can ignore the catalog and business group. Important here is the business role: SAP_BR_PURCHASER.

Go to transaction STC01 and select task list SAP_FIORI_CONTENT_ACTIVATION:

In the scope definition select the needed role SAP_BR_PURCHASER:

In the task list set the mandatory parameters process mode to co-deployment and Prefix to Z. Now start the task list execution and be patient. This might run up to 10 minutes.

This task list will now activate all ODATA services for the app group (not only for this single app, but the complete group!). It will activate all SICF nodes for the app group (yes, again the whole group). And it will generate the PFCG authorization role SAP_BR_PURCHASER.

If the task list is finished, assign the role SAP_BR_PURCHASER to your user ID.

Testing

Start the FIORI launchpad (transaction code /UI2/FLP):

You see that the tile Manage Purchase Contracts is visible. Since we activated a complete group, also the other tiles are immediately visible.

Clicking on the Manage Purchase Contracts tile gives immediate result:

This shows we can activate complete group of apps that immediately work, with minimal effort.

Issue detection

You can use the FIORI app support function to quicly analyze an issue in your newly activated FIORI app. Read more in this blog.

In app extensibility

All the FIORI lighthouse apps are built for in app extensibility. This allows you to change the look and feel of a standard SAP app and to add custom fields to standard SAP app. Read more in this blog.

Transport and activation after transport

After transport everything is present, but in inactive state. You need to perform the activation after transport.

OSS note 2886433 – Fiori Setup: Activation of OData Services in Prod Systems with task lists contains a perfect PDF that describes how to carry out the activation in a productive system using the proper selections in the task list.

Embedded activation and system refresh

If you refresh your sandbox, quality or development system with production copy, read this note 3111069 – Task list clarification post System copy/System Refresh in Embedded deployment on activation of embedded FIORI after the refresh.

OSS notes

Background OSS notes:

Bug fix notes to apply: