Author: saptechnicalguru

Activating S4HANA embedded FIORI

In S4HANA FIORI tiles are used a lot to replace traditional SAP GUI transactions.

This blog will explain how to setup the basic embedded FIORI activation and how to activate business roles for demo purposes.

Questions that will be answered in this blog are:

  • How to set up embedded FIORI in S4HANA?
  • How to activate business roles and its tiles?
  • Where can I find more background information on the activation?

Basic activation

We will start with the basic activation. Start, via transaction STC01, task list SAP_GW_FIORI_ERP_ONE_CLNT_SETUP:

Fill all the parameters and let it run. Fix any issue that pops up.

When this is done in STC01 select task list SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4 (background note of this task list 2712785 – Fiori Setup: Initial Setup for Fiori Applications S/4):

Go into the details:

Fill out the parameters and start the task list. Be patient and let it run.

End result should be all green:

Now the basics are done. You can start to launch the embedded FIORI UI with transaction code /UI2/FLP.

If you have issues with login, please check this OSS note 2773732 - Fiori Logon page loads incorrectly in SAP_UI 752 or S/4HANA 1709.

The launchpad will be empty since you have no roles and tiles attached to your user.

Content activation of business roles

In the FIORI reference library you need to search for the role you want to activate.

Before activating roles, please make sure you have enough shared objects memory (RZ11 parameter abap/shared_objects_MB). Otherwise you wait very long to get this error:

To activate content role start transaction STC01 and select task list SAP_FIORI_CONTENT_ACTIVATION:

Task list look like below:

In the select SAP business roles for FLP content activation select the wanted business roles:

You might be tempted to select all or a lot: don't. Only select 2 to 5 maximum each time. The unpacking and activation is an intensive long running process.

Now let the task list run (be patient). If the task list run is completed, assign the generated PFCG BR roles to your user ID. Now start FIORI launchpad with /UI2/FLP and the tiles should be visible and working.

Search setup

Most FIORI apps use the S4HANA embedded search function. See this blog for setup of search.

FIORI notification setup

For setting up FIORI notifications, read this dedicated blog.

FIORI Health Check

Apply OSS note 2925879 – Fiori Setup: Heath Check. This delivers STC01 task list SAP_FIORI_HEALTH_CHECKS. Then run the task list:

Check the red logs for issues.

Background information

Not all tiles will work via this procedure. Some tiles have exceptions or additional work to do. The additional work and generic background information of S4HANA embedded content activation can be found in OSS notes:

Similar notes exist for different older versions. The generic OSS note is 2902673 – Rapid Activation for SAP Fiori in SAP S/4HANA – Overview.

A good background blog on embedded FIORI content activation is this blog.

Other OSS notes:

Setting up S4HANA custom code adjustments

You have just upgraded to S4HANA in your sandbox or development system. SPAU and SPAU_ENH processing are done. Next step is the S4HANA custom code adjustments.

Questions that will be answered in this blog are:

  • How to import the SCI variants for S4HANA custom code adjustments?
  • How to import the latest simplification database into your system?
  • How to run the S4HANA custom code adjustments in ATC tool?
  • How to enable quick fixes in Eclipse?

Importing the SCI variants

Goto transaction SCI and select the option Utilities and then Import Check Variants. This action will import the required variants. Check that the variants are present now.

In case you don’t want to do the field length extensions checks, choose the variant with _NO_FLE at the end.

1909: 2925563 – Check variants for S/4HANA custom code checks without field length extensions.

2020: 2959341 – Check variant for SAP S/4HANA 2020 custom code checks.

2021: 3090106 – Check variant for SAP S/4HANA 2021 custom code checks.

Otherwise: in the SCI variant, you can leave everything as delivered out-of-the-box with the exception of the material length option. If you keep the material field business wise to 18 (which most customers do), you need to change the variable from 40 to 18.

You can apply the bug fix notes listed in 2436688 – Recommended SAP Notes for using S/4HANA custom code checks in ATC or Custom Code Migration app.

Setting up the simplification database

Follow the instructions of OSS note 2241080 – SAP S/4HANA: Content for checking customer specific code, to download the latest content for the simplification database.

Use transaction SYCM to upload the file. Select option Simplification Database and then Import from ZIP File.

Running the ATC tool

Now you can start to setup the ATC tool. For details see this blog.

The ATC variant to run should like like this:

Important here:

  • Select the desired S4HANA readiness check SCI variant
  • Set the package to Z* to select your custom code
  • Tick the box for Calculate quick fix proposals

Now you can start the ATC run:

Set the results to Active to see all the results in Eclipse as well. Pending on your system size lower the default number of processes from 10 to for example 5.

If you run into ATC tool issues for the S4HANA custom code adjustments run: first increase memory parameter rsdb/obj/buffersize in RZ11 to at least 150 MB. Then run again.

Processing the results

The ATC tool will now give a lot of results:

The results from the ATC tool can be distributed to more members by changing the Contact Person. To do this select one or more findings and right click on the Contact Person column, and select the option Change Contact Person.

The basic order of processing the results:

  1. Check simplification OSS note
  2. Fix code
  3. Apply relevant pragma (directly or in Eclipse via quick fix)
  4. Apply exemption

For the exemptions: you can raise them, but different person needs to approve them.

When you are using Eclipse, you might run into issue with exemption request. See OSS note 2815887 - ATC: No Possibility to Request Exemptions in Eclipse for the fix.

Statistics from the ATC runs

If you run the ATC tool weekly, you can use it to track the progress. In the ATC results screen there is a specific button Statistics View:

Default sorting is by type of issue to be solved:

This view can also be sorted on Contact Person. This will enable you to check the progress of each developer with his or her work list.

Using quick fixes with Eclipse

Using quick fixes with Eclipse is a fast way of going through the list. The Eclipse list is based on Contact Person and active results. So you only see in Eclipse the results for your user account.

In Eclipse first select the appropriate views:

Now you can start processing. You will get online help and you can apply the quick fix proposed automatically in stead of keying it in by hand.

You might run into an initial bug with a dump, which is solved by applying OSS note 2647710 - Simple transformation: Inconsistent ST loads.

The quick fixes are updated with both bugs and new functions. Please check out the new versions of the following OSS notes:

Nice blog on the quick fixes: follow this link.

To enable ABAP backend for Eclipse: follow this link.

Using the S4HANA custom code migration app

You can also use the S4HANA custom code migration app. After completing the setup above and activating the S4HANA embedded FIORI (see this blog), you simply follow the steps in this blog for the setup.

ABAP clones

In the past copies of standard SAP might have been made. These are so called clones. You can use the clone finder tool to detect the clones. Consider to delete the clones completely. Most of the times the clone is no longer required. This will save you work on the code migration. How to run the clone finder tool can be read in this dedicated blog.

Use of unreleased standard SAP objects

Developers might have been using standard SAP objects, which formally have an unreleased status, and might no longer be supported by S4HANA. Read this blog to find out how you can scan your custom code for use of unreleased standard SAP objects.

Further background information

More information can be found:

SAP spool tips & tricks

SAP spool is used for printing.

Questions that will be answered in this blog are:

  • How to check for spool number range overflow?
  • How can I archive a print list?
  • How can I avoid large spool outputs in background jobs?
  • How can I setup LOCL printing?
  • How to delete old spools?

Spool number range and status

If your spool system for printing is getting out of numbers, the printing stops and even endangers your complete system. The signal is shortdump COMPUTE_BCD_OVERFLOW as described in OSS note 2208342 – Shortdump COMPUTE_BCD_OVERFLOW.

Checking spool number range can be done via program
RSPO_SHOW_SPO_NUM . Background is in OSS note 2635724 – Monitor or Display Spool Range Limit and Status.

To solve spool number range issues follow the instructions in OSS note 48284 – System cannot generate any more spool requests.

Print list archiving

You can store a print list in the data archive. For setup see this blog.

Avoiding large spool in background job output

If you have a batch job with large spool output and you never look at it, you can also setup device type NULL to immediately delete the output. This way the spool system is not filled up. For setup see this blog.

Transaction SPOOL

Transaction SPOOL contains links to most important spool transactions. See this dedicated blog.

Setup of LOCL printing

For setup of LOCL printing, read this dedicated blog.

Spool error for LOCL printing

When a user is trying to use the LOCL printer as printer for background job, off course the background job cannot reach the printer and will throw an error message:

See OSS note 2244868 – Front-end printing spool request is not printed. Solution: go to SP01 and print the print towards a printer defined in SPAD as background printer.

Delete old spool requests

Run programs RSPO0041 and RSPO1041.

Notes:

HTTP/2 support for SAP FIORI

HTTP/2 is the successor of the HTTP 1.1 protocol. It has some performance advantages. The main advantages are the capability of multiplexing and server push. The HTTP/2 protocol was designed for faster page loading even when having longer latency times.

Questions that will be answered in this blog are:

  • Where can I find more background on the HTTP/2 protocol?
  • Are there any pitfalls and prerequisites?
  • How do I switch on the HTTP/2 protocol on my FIORI server?

More background on HTTP/2

More background on HTTP/2 as protocol can be found on wikipedia or on this link from google.

Prerequisites for HTTP/2 protocol

The prerequisite for support of the HTTP/2 protocol for FIORI and other ABAP web applications is a sufficiently high version of the ABAP stack and webdispatcher (if in use): NetWeaver Gateway version 7.51 or higher, Web Dispatcher 7.49 or higher. The HTTP/2 protocol also has higher security requirements and does require COMMONCRYPTOLIB version 8.4.31 or higher.

How to switch on HTTP/2 protocol support?

In the ABAP system parameters RZ11 switch the parameters icm/HTTP/support_http2 to value TRUE. This can be done dynamically. In Google chrome developer tools the UI developer can see the usage of HTTP/2 protocol (on http call right click on the call to show the Protocol field as well).

If you are using web dispatcher set parameter icm/HTTP/support_http2 to value TRUE as well as wdisp/support_http2_to_backend to TRUE.

Kernel patch

The HTTP/2 protocol implementation is done on kernel level. If you want to switch on the HTTP/2 protocol on your systems, do check the OSS notes with the keyword icm/HTTP/support_http2. You might see there are a few kernel patch OSS notes (using component BC-CST-IC) that solve issues in your area that you use. In case of issues in a productive system with HTTP/2: switch the value of icm/HTTP/support_http2 back to FALSE.

Background information

More background information: SAP blog and this SAP blog.

More on FIORI performance

More tips on FIORI performance can be read in this blog.

HANA XS

For HANA XS check OSS note 3086998 – HTTP/2 Support in SAP HANA Extended Application Services.

SAP GUI Scripting

Diverse tools use SAP GUI scripting: test tools to perform regression testing, load testing, solution manager CBTA, etc. Also robotizing tools often use GUI scripting.

Questions that will be answered in this blog are:

  • How to enable GUI scripting in the SAP system?
  • How to make sure only the allowed users run GUI scripting?
  • How can I record an SAP GUI script and execute a playback of the recorded script?

Server side enabling GUI scripting

First you need to allow GUI scripting on the server side. This can be done by setting system parameter sapgui/user_scripting to the value TRUE. This is done in transaction RZ11.

Client side enabling GUI scripting

In your SAP gui, goto the options. In the Accessibility & Scripting part, enable the scripting.

At the top part you can see the installation status of scripting tools from SAP itself.

Securing scripting

If you want to securely control which user is allowed to use and execute scripting, you have to set the system parameter sapgui/user_scripting to TRUE. Now any user who is having the authorization object S_SCR is allowed to perform scripting. User who lack the authorization object will cannot run the script.

More information can be found in OSS note 983990 – SAP GUI Scripting security: Enable Scripting per system user. And OSS note 2565390 – SAP GUI Scripting: Changed behavior for combination of profile parameters sapgui/user_scripting_set_readonly and sapgui/user_scripting_per_user.

Security guide for SAP GUI scripting can be found in this link.

Recording and playing an SAP GUI script

You can record a script by going to the button Customize Layout and selecting the option Script Recording and Playback..:

Now the GUI scripting record and playback tool opens:

By pressing record, you can start recording a script. When you are done stop it and save it. You can playback a script with the play button.

Sample applications can be found in OSS note 1441550 – SAP GUI scripting: Sample applications.

More background information

More information can be found in OSS note 2296251 – How can SAP GUI Scripting be enabled?. And 2811334 – Prerequisites to record a SAP Gui Script.

Restrictions of SAP GUI scripting are listed in OSS note 587202 – Restrictions when using SAP GUI Scripting.

Note search for messages

If you are in an SAP transaction and you are confronted with a strange error message, you would like to know if there are OSS notes for this message you are having.

As example we take a message in ME21N transaction. If you have the error, double click on the error message for the details:

Now press the SAP Notes/Search KBA button highlighted in the screen shot above. The system will now search in OSS notes for this specific message and situation. Since our case is simple we get a nothing found message:

More background on this tool: see OSS note 2096401 – FAQs: Performance Assistant – SAP Notes and KBAs search by PANKS.

SAP message server

System parameter rdisp/msserv_internal is used to set the internal message server port.

You can monitor the message server via transaction SMMS:

Here can see the internal communication port (3901 in this case) as well.

From the menu all the needed tools can be started.

Bug notes

Bug notes:

Debug batch programs

This blog will explain how to debug a background batch program with real background mode (SY-BATCH is X).

Questions that will be answered are:

  • How to debug a running job?
  • How to debug a completed job?

Starting the debug mode for batch job

First we plan a single run of the batch job. In our example we run program RSWAITSEC which does nothing more than wait.

In SM37 show the job run:

Select the job and in the command line enter the background debug command JDBG:

Now the debugger starts first in the batch job part. Hit F7 a few time (F7 = jump back out of routine) until you reach the real program:

As you can see here the SY-BATCH variable is X, which means you are debugging with real background mode on.

SM50 background debugging

If you want to debug a running job, you have to goto SM50 and select the background process. Then choose the menu option Administration / Program / Debugging. Confirm the prompt:

Wait until the running SQL statement has completed and debug mode will start.

Please be very careful with this kind of debugging in a productive system. If you cancel the debug session there might be a rollback work statement triggered, which can cause database inconsistencies.

Reference notes

573128 – Debugging programs in the background

Batch jobs tips & tricks

This blog will give tips and tricks on batch jobs.

Questions that will be answered are:

  • How to check a job is not running already before starting new one?
  • How to build in a wait step into a batch job?
  • How to set the RV variables automatically in table TVARVC?
  • How to validate that the basic batch job system is working ok?
  • How to analyze the jobs running in my system?
  • How to mass stop and start batch jobs?
  • How to set up batch job interception?
  • How to ignore large spool output of batch jobs?
  • How to see the batch job delay timing?
  • How to plan standard jobs in S4HANA?
  • How do I set up batch job server groups?
  • How can I mail the spool of a batch job?
  • How can I mail if job was successful or not?
  • How to check the consistency of the batch job tables and how to repair?
  • How can I archive a print list?
  • How can I archive a job log?
  • How can I get job statistics?
  • How to read content from batch job variants?
  • How to find batch jobs with deleted or locked step users?
  • How to debug a batch job?
  • How to find who deleted a batch job?
  • How to check in case of batch job delay?
  • How to quickly check health of batch job scheduler?
  • How to trigger batch job event?

SAP FAQ note on background jobs

SAP has FAQ note on background jobs: 3008195 – FAQ: Background Processing BC-CCM-BTC-*.

Prevention of same job still running

If you want to prevent same job from starting, while a previous instance is still running, you need to add program RSBTONEJOB or RSBTONEJOB2 as first step in the batch job. This step will detect if the previous instance is still running and abort to avoid the next steps from being executed. More background in OSS note 557610. The scope of both programs is in principle limited to be used for idocs and CUA. To extend the scope or in case of issues, read the instructions in note 3225033 – Behavior of program RSBTONEJOB, RSBTONEJOB2 not as expected.

Forcing a batch program to wait

If for some reason you need a batch program to wait between steps, you can use program RSWAITSEC as a step. This program will only do a wait for x amount of seconds.

Setting current date in the TVARVC table for the RV variables

The RV variables for current date, month and year are often used in month end closing batch jobs. Running program RVSETDAT will set the current dates for RV TVARC variables.

Checking basis background job system settings and working

If you want to validate if the background job system function itself is working properly, start transaction SM65 background processing analysis tool.

SM65 start screen

Result is shown correct working, number of batches and wait time:

SM65 result screen

Bug fixes for SM65:

Background job analysis tool

Start transaction ST13 and start tool BACKGROUND_JOB_ANALYSIS. Or directly start program /SSA/BTC.

Batch job analysis tool

Pending on your selection you get a graphical overview or a full list for you to speed up your analysis.

Mass stop and start of batch jobs

Also check this note for clean up of BTCDELAY table: 3222291 – Superfluos Entries in BTCDELAY Table.

In some cases you might want to find out who manually deleted a batch job.

Unfortunately you first need to activate the logging via program BTCAUX06:

To view job deletions you need to go to transaction SM51, menu option Goto, Trace, Instance Trace, Search Trace. Then look for pattern BP_JOB_DELETE.

More information in OSS note 850885 – Logging the deletion of jobs and 3325374 – How to log job deleted in Background Processing.

A batch job is not started immediately, but with a delay. This delay is set via RZ11 parameter rdisp/btctime and default setting is 60 seconds. More information can be found in OSS note 923228 – Background job scheduler: Use of processes that have become free.

See new note 3236046 – Test report for immediate start for program BTCAUX25 that will test immediate start.

Standard batch jobs in S4HANA

Standard batch jobs in S4HANA are planned via transaction SJOBREPO. For more details read the dedicated blog.

Batch job server groups

If you have a large production system with many application servers you can setup batch job server groups to have batch jobs run on a set of dedicated application servers. To set up batch job server groups start transaction SM61 and click the button Job server groups:

Job server groups

Here you can define the job server group and assign application servers to them. Background is in OSS note 612838 – Administration of job server groups.

job statistics

This gives statistical output:

Job statistics output

Batch jobs with deleted or locked step users

If a batch job step user is locked or deleted, that step will fail. To find such batch jobs, follow the steps as described in this blog.

Batch job delay

Batch job delay can be set with parameter rdisp/btctime. Default is 60 seconds.

See also OSS notes 3080021 – Jobs are started with delay and 3148846 – Background Jobs with status “No free batch work processes available”.

And these notes:

3275278 – Background jobs are started with delay / 3355049 – Correction for Note 3275278.

How to read content from batch job variants

In quite some cases the basis team is asked: in which batch job variant is this company code XXXX used? Or we need to add another sales organization to all the batch jobs, can you provide us a list with jobs using sales organization YYYY? How to get this data is answered in this dedicated blog.

How to check health of batch job scheduler

Start transaction SM61. Now select the Time-Driven scheduler. Select the server and choose the health check tab. Now press the check button:

Batch job event triggers

Batch jobs can also be triggered using events. Read more in this blog on batch job event triggers.

Batch job monitoring

Batch job monitoring can be done with SAP Focused Run. Read more in this blog.

Background OSS notes

3008195 – FAQ: Background Processing BC-CCM-BTC-*

S4HANA readiness check 2.0

SAP has released the S4HANA readiness check 2.0.

This blog will answer the following questions:

  • How to install S4HANA readiness check 2.0?
  • How to run the S4HANA readiness check 2.0?
  • How to see the results for the S4HANA readiness check 2.0?
  • Where to find more background information on the SAP readiness check 2.0?

How to install S4HANA readiness check 2.0?

SAP OSS note 2758146 – SAP Readiness Check 2.0 & Next Generation SAP Business Scenario Recommendations and 2913617 – SAP Readiness Check 2.0 contain all the installation instructions.

Short sequence of steps:

  1. de-implement OSS note 2310438 – SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA – Managed System if it was applied
  2. Implement OSS note 2745851 – Business Process Improvement Content for SAP Readiness Check 2.0 and Next Generation SAP Business Scenario Recommendations
  3. Update or implement OSS note 2185390 – Custom Code Analyzer
  4. Update or implement OSS note 1872170 – ABAP on HANA sizing report (S/4HANA, Suite on HANA…)
  5. Update or implement OSS note 2399707 – Simplification Item Check
  6. Implement OSS note 2769657 – Interface Discovery for IDoc as part of Readiness Check
  7. Implement OSS note 2612179 – DVM API to trigger and monitor DVM ST14 analyses for Readiness Check
  8. Implement OSS note 2972792 – Financial Data Quality: Trigger Data Collection Reports to Check Your Financial Data Quality and to Enable the Financial Data Quality Check in SAP Readiness Check
  9. Implement OSS note 2903677 – SAP Readiness Check: Effort Drivers of Simplification Items Check
  10. Implement OSS note 3010669 – Enhancements to SAP Readiness Check Dashboard for Business Partner/CVI
  11. Implement OSS note 2758146 itself

Next to these notes, if you are using ATC, it is wise to also apply OSS note 2781766 – Enabling ATC check result export for SAP Readiness Check 2.0.

Also apply the notes mentioned in OSS note 3061414 – Enabling extended integration impact analysis for SAP Readiness Check, if you want to include ALE scenario’s in your analysis.

As you can see from the list of OSS notes there are improvements in the area of idocs, data volume management and business process analysis.

For this reason SAP recommends to run the S4HANA readiness tool on productive system.

It is possible to run on a recent copy, provided you copy the ST03N data from production to the recent copy. This process is described in OSS note 2568736 – SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA – copy ST03N data.

Troubleshooting guide is OSS note 2968380 – SAP Readiness Check Report 2.0 – troubleshooting guide.

Other notes to check:

Run S4HANA readiness check 2.0

There are 2 data analysis programs to run: SYCM_DOWNLOAD_REPOSITORY_INFO and RC_COLLECT_ANALYSIS_DATA.

First you run SYCM_DOWNLOAD_REPOSITORY_INFO on development system to fetch information about your Z coding:

The tool will launch batch job. After job is done download the zipfile to your local PC.

If you are asked to regenerate the ABAP indexes run program SAPRSEUC in the background and be very patient. See blog on ABAP where used index for more background information. See also OSS note 2655768 - Custom Code Analyzer - The where-used list index for customer objects is not up to date.

Second program you need to run on production. So you first need to transport all the notes to production. The notes are large and can take up to 20 minutes import time. So take a quiet time at the productive system to import them.

Start program RC_COLLECT_ANALYSIS_DATA in your productive system:

Select your target version and press execute. This will launch multiple batch jobs. Wait for all the jobs to finish and start program again to download the ZIP file to your PC.

CVI integration

As explained in OSS note 3071549 – Buttons in the report RC_COLLECT_ANALYSIS_DATA the report RC_COLLECT_ANALYSIS_DATA now has a link to the CVI integration (customer vendor).

Financial Data Quality (FDQ)

The newer version of S4HANA readiness report has option analyze the financial data quality. This is important, since a lot of time and effort during the conversion is spend on the financial data migration.

Follow the instructions in OSS note 2972792 – Financial Data Quality: Trigger Data Collection Reports to Check Your Financial Data Quality and to Enable the Financial Data Quality Check in SAP Readiness Check to enable this function.

Data profiling

More information the data profiling done by the readiness check can be found in OSS note 3112362 – SAP Readiness Check for SAP ERP Usage and Data Profiling.

Uploading the data

SAP OSS note 2758146 – SAP Readiness Check 2.0 & Next Generation SAP Business Scenario Recommendations contains the upload URL. The current URL is http://rc.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com .

Hit the start New Analysis button and upload the file from the RC_COLLECT_ANALYSIS_DATA program. Wait for the SAP site to finish the analysis. It will be visible on the site as Recent Analysis.

Don’t forget to push the update analysis button to upload the second file with the custom code analysis from program SYCM_DOWNLOAD_REPOSITORY_INFO.

The results

Now you can start to enjoy the results:

You can use the settings button to allow more people to view the analysis results.

New functions

SAP keeps on improving the readiness check 2.0. The new features are published in SAP blog.

Background information

More background information can be found at:

More S4HANA conversion preparation steps

For more S4HANA conversion preparation steps, read this blog.