SUIM_CHDOC_USER: new transaction to show user changes

In SUIM there is a function to show changes for users, but this transaction can be performing very poor with higher data volumes.

SAP has developed successor transaction SUIM_CHDOC_USER that is giving the same data, but faster.

How to get transaction SUIM_CHDOC_USER?

It is import to know transaction SUIM_CHDOC_USER only works on HANA database. If you are not running on HANA, don’t continue.

Implementation steps:

  1. Apply OSS note 3399100 – SUIM | change history calculation for user/profile assignment
  2. Apply OSS note 3418682 – SUIM_CHDOC_USER | Implementation prerequisite for SAP Note 3405921. Run the generation program.
  3. Apply OSS note 3405921 – SUIM | Read Change Documents for User. Important here: do execute the manual steps here first. These final steps are NOT covered in the previous note.

Transaction SUIM_CHDOC_USER

Now you can start transaction SUIM_CHDOC_USER:

Input is the same as you were used to. Output as well. The new transaction is simply faster.

Bug fix notes

PFCGMASSDELETE: mass deletion of roles

To get the function for mass role deletion, you first need to apply OSS note 3360981 – PFCGMASSDELETE: Mass deletion of roles.

Mass deletion of roles

After the note is applied transaction code PFCGMASSDELETE can be started:

The I information button provides the description of the functions of the program:

The SCC4 functions are described in OSS note 1723881 – Application of client-specific customizing settings to role maintenance.

ABAPDOCU: online ABAP documentation

All ABAP documentation is online available in your ABAP system. Start transaction ABAPDOCU:

The most used function is the traditional ABAP keyword documentation.

But the ABAPDOCU is constantly updated and also contains great background information on:

  • CDS views
  • Restful Application Programming model (RAP)
  • Security in ABAP
  • Cloud rules for ABAP
  • Release notes for ABAP releases
  • ABAP examples
  • Tools for ABAP programming

OSS notes

SAP IGS (internet graphics server)

SAP IGS is a built in graphics server for ABAP.

To determine the version of IGS running start transaction SIGS (or run program GRAPHICS_IGS_ADMIN):

Press execute:

The RFC itself can be tested in SM59 with connection IGS_RFC_DEST.

Background OSS note: 995471 – IGS administration via ABAP.

Graphics test program

To test the graphics start program BW_IGS_CHART_TEST. Output should be:

SQVI: quick viewer

SQVI is a tool to quickly build ad-hoc queries.

Start transaction SQVI:

Enter a QuikView name and press create. Now choose the type (in this case we will make a table join):

First add the table:

And add the second table:

The join between the tables is in this simple cases created automatically. In more complex cases you have to define the join conditions yourself.

Press the back button to go back.

Now enter the output fields:

And the selection fields:

Save the SQVI query.

Now you can start to Execute the query:

Enter the input criteria and press execute to get the wanted results:

Bug fix OSS notes

Bug fix OSS notes for SQVI:

Set up AIF interface error handling

SAP has a nice framework to handle interface errors: AIF (application integration framework).

The framework is quite old already but was not very popular. Not to the fact that it is not good (it is in fact quite good), but it is because it is a licensed product and too expensive for the value it brings.

The framework is now split into 2 parts:

  • Use in combination with standard SAP scenarios (in this case the use of AIF is free)
  • Use in combination with your own custom flows (in this case you need to pay for the AIF license)

Activating AIF error handling content

For reference you can read the formal help file from SAP on activating AIF content.

Extract the content using SE38 report /AIF/CONTENT_EXTRACT.

Then start transaction /AIF/CUST to maintain the customizing for errors. The input is given on this SAP help page.


And define the error handling levels:

Use of AIF

Transaction /AIF/ERR can be used for the error handling monitoring:

Activate change documents for classification

SAP generates a lot of change documents for a lot of objects. Unfortunately for classification (for example for materials), this is not enabled by default.

The procedure to activate change documents for classification is described in OSS note 1705101 – How to Activate Classification Change Documents.

First you need to run program RCCLUKA2 as described in OSS note 942691 – Information about using RCCLUKA2. Depending on the amount of records this program runs minutes to several hours.

Program RCCLUKA2 convert the key of the classification. Any custom code reading KSSK and AUSP directly might need to be updated!

Once the program is done, you can use transaction O1CL to activate the change documents:

In the material master classification screen the menu option Environment/Change Documents is now enabled and will show the changes to classification done:

SAP Focused Run real user monitoring (RUM) overview

This blog will explain the technical activation and usage of RUM (real user monitoring) in SAP Focused Run.

Basic activation of RUM

First go to the Fiori settings tile:

If the RUM function is not active yet, activate it and Save:

Now go to the FRUN backend ABAP system and start transaction STC01 and select task list SAP_FRUN_SETUP_USECASE and variant SAP&FRUN_AUM (advanced user monitoring):

In the task list setup also select the batch jobs:

Now run the task list. This should not take longer than 1 minute. Result green is ok:

Technical activation of RUM per managed system

Per system for which you want to activate the RUM function proceed as follows:

Go to the SSI Fiori tile:

Select the system:

Now press the Configure manually button and new screen opens:

On top first select Step 2 for Execute configuration. And select the Configure Real user monitoring step. Press the Execute Selected button and wait for the log to show success:

Alternatively you can also do the SSI completely new on the first screen by selecting the Configure Automatically button.

Background: RUM is an intense function. If it is not active, the agent does not have to do anything. The re-do of the SSI is needed to tell the agent on the system to start sending RUM data once it is activated in FRUN configuration.

With this step the managed system is prepared.

Functionality activation of RUM per managed system

Now we can go to the RUM Fiori tile:

After scope selection nothing is active yet:

On top right choose the Configuration button and start with the housekeeping settings:

WARNING: RUM can use a lot of data in your database. It can also consume a lot of your Focused Run licensing. If you use too much; reduce amount of systems for which you activate RUM and reduce the retention periods in the screen above. See blog on Focused Run license measurement.

Go to the Systems section and toggle the Activation for the system to On:

Wait for the configuration and data collection to happen. Take 5 to 10 minutes patience for this step.

After the step, refresh the screen and it should look like this:

Data should appear on the left. On top, select the icon Data Quality. This shows the data collection status per host. The icon will be red at start and turn green after 30 minutes.

Using Real User Monitoring: request tool

Now the setup is done, we can start to use the tool. The main screen is the requests tool:

From the start screen you can zoom into the task type you are interested in. As example we zoom in to the task type Dialog:

Drill down all the way:

Here you can see for which user and when the action was done. Unfortunately the action description is pretty technical: action 2000 in transaction CJ8G still might leave you a bit puzzled.

Using Real User Monitoring: cards tool

The second tool is the cards tool:

Here the entry point is the task type or trend in card format.

Using Real User Monitoring: front end tool

The front end tool gives an overview of front end response times and on clients used on your system:

Using Real User Monitoring: back end tool

The back end tool gives an overview of the back end performance and distribution of the response times:

Using Real User Monitoring: hot request tool

The hot request tool gives a cross section for high usage and performance.

If a part is used more, the block size is larger. In this caser, zooming in on the less used red part might be useful. But is it also interesting to analyze the large used orange blocks, since a lot of users are impacted.

Using Real User Monitoring: 24 hour profile

The 24 hour profile tool can be used to see if there are hours of the day where performance is worse than others. Some might be expected. But also: you might want to put in extra capacity to deal with peak loads. Or schedule some intense batch jobs at different times.

Using Real User Monitoring: topology

The topology tool can help you to analyze where data flow to and from your system are running and with which performance quality:

Using Real User Monitoring: execution flow

In some cases a specific user is complaining about poor performance. You can use the execution flow tool to filter on a specific user ID. After opening the tool, press the filter button to detail the user ID:

More tools

RUM has many more tools. Just explore the menu on the left side if another tool is useful for your situation.

Activating SAP Cloud ALM

This blog will explain the steps to activate SAP Cloud ALM.

Check the use cases of Cloud ALM on the Cloud ALM expert portal.

Organizational preparation

This might be taking the most time in larger organizations. SAP will allow 1 Cloud ALM per customer. But the customer might have multiple SAP systems managed by multiple SAP competence centers. In this case, you need to align who will call off the Cloud ALM system.

Identity provider choice

You can use Cloud ALM with integration to your own corporate identity provider or use the SAP IAS (Identity Authentication Service).

Changing can be done later on. See OSS note 3020352 – How to specify a different IAS tenant for your SAP Cloud ALM tenant. But keep in mind here that there is no migration of user and access data (so you have to redo it manually).

When choosing your own identity provider, you can end up in a weird maintenance issue, that you have to create a SAP support ID and e-mail in your own identity provider to give SAP access to your Cloud ALM system. See OSS note 3032960 – Steps for Providing an SAP Cloud ALM user for Development to Access the SAP Cloud ALM Tenant.

Technical preparation

Read and understand the usage rights of cloud ALM. Most important here is the limit of maximum 8 GB data usage.

Read and understand the “Setup and admin guide for Cloud ALM“.

Setting up multiple admins if required: 3248116 – How can the Initial user who provisioned SAP Cloud ALM setup additional SAP Cloud ALM Admins?.

Actual call off

After the preparation follow the steps in the guide for the actual call off. The process can be completed in a working day.

<< This blog was originally posted on SAP Focused Run Guru by Frank Umans. Repost done with permission. >>

SAP Cloud ALM positioning 2024

SAP Cloud ALM on the SAP Focused Run blog? Why?

SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Focused Run have a lot of overlapping capabilities.

The goal is not to push a tool, but to monitor, safeguard and secure SAP system running by customers. The tool is a means and not the goal.

What we will discuss:

  1. High level positioning of Cloud ALM, Focused Run and Solution manager
  2. Current status in 2024 for the tools
  3. Possible considerations
This positioning blog is for the year 2024. Next year when new functions and insights are available the positioning and considerations can change.

High level positioning of Cloud ALM, Focused Run and Solution manager

The below picture is the best one and is taken from the Focused Run overview presentation:

Positioning:

  • Solution manager: it works, but no new developments, supported until 31.12.2027
  • Focused Run: suitable for large customer and advanced needs
  • Cloud ALM: standardized setup

Cloud ALM vs Focused Run

Cloud ALM is a standardized SAP service. It has certain capabilities, but no extensions. Due to its standardized setup is can be made working very fast with a few clicks. The functions will work fast, but configuration options are limited to the use cases provided by SAP. Data volumes on Cloud ALM are not to be too high, since the UI’s are still designed for small and medium customers with lower amount of systems, alerts, etc.

Focused Run admins will be quick to adopt SAP Cloud ALM since there is a large similarity in concepts and UI.

Comparison table:

DimensionCloud ALMFocused Run
Technical setup complexityLowMedium for ABAP, High for non-ABAP
Technical setup timeLowLow to medium
Maintenance effortLowMedium
Upgrading to unlock new functionsNo effort, SAP takes careHigh effort to upgrade
Volume of data that can be handledLow to mediumHigh to very high
Complexity of scenario’s that can be handledLowLow, medium, high
Extension possibilitiesVery limitedPossible with API and custom code
Feature extensionsFast, bi-weeklyEvery half year major and minor features will be added
Current featuresLimited, but growing fastExtensive, don’t expect major extensions

Considerations

Currently running SAP solution manager

If you have functions running on SAP solution manager, first consideration is the move to SAP Cloud ALM. SAP solution manager hosts normally EWA, CHARM, documentation/implementation and/or monitoring functions. An SAP readiness check is available to check your move from SAP solution manager to Cloud ALM. Read this blog on the how.

Currently running SAP Focused Run

If you are currently running SAP Focused Run, you most likely will keep it the next few years. But still do keep track of the SAP Cloud ALM functions, and try them out.

SAP Cloud ALM might be a good solution to monitor less important systems with lower demand like sandboxes, development and test systems. These system typically don’t need intense monitoring, but mostly availability monitoring.

SAP Cloud ALM might be a good solution to monitor your SAP Cloud hosted and SAP BTP scenarios. Setup in Cloud ALM for these scenarios is far simpler than setting these up in SAP Focused Run.

SAP Focused Run will never be enabled for business process monitoring. That functionality is now available in SAP Solution manager and will only be available in the future in SAP Cloud ALM.

Monitoring solutions for running installations

If you have a running SAP installation and are looking for a good monitoring solution, then it is wise to check both SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Focused Run. Depending on your needs you can choose between both.

Check the road map of SAP Cloud ALM as well to see if missing gaps will be addressed in the upcoming year.

The business case for a monitoring solution is different per line of business. The main business case is roughly: “We will avoid or solve much faster Y major incidents per year. Each major incident costs is about xxx.xxx USD/EUR”.

New solutions

For new SAP solutions: first consider using SAP Cloud ALM. Only when expecting high volume and high monitoring requirements, set up SAP Focused Run.

Cloud ALM usage rights

Cloud ALM is in principle for free within the usage rights. The usage rights can be found on this link.

Important restrictions: 8 GB in size (in 2024) and only 1 Cloud ALM per customer (see OSS note 3343265 – When provisioning SAP Cloud ALM in SAP for Me your company is “Not Entitled/No Data” and SAP Cloud ALM cannot be provisioned).

Extensions can be procured: SAP blog.

Test driving Cloud ALM

You can use the SAP Cloud ALM demo system to test drive Cloud ALM and see if it would potentially meet your needs. Read more in this blog.

Cloud ALM background material

More background material on Cloud ALM can be found on:

Summary

SAP Cloud ALM functions are growing fast and are definitely worth using. SAP Cloud ALM is a highly standardized function. This makes it for SAP possible to deliver new functions fast and easy to integrate and easy to use. The highly standardized functions comes with a setback that the solution cannot be extended to any particular need you might have.

It is out-of-the-box what you get, and nothing more.

<< This blog was originally posted on SAP Focused Run Guru by Frank Umans. Repost done with permission. >>