Choosing the System Landscape Type

Carl explains that when using a two-system landscape for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, there are two possibilities:

• Two-system landscape with SAP Central Business Configuration
• Two-system landscape with Manage Your Solution (existing installations, only)

Carl differentiates two-setups for a two-system landscape:

Reference content coming from SAP Central Business Configuration is automatically deployed to the Quality system, where it’s transported to the Production system. The above graphic/video illustrates this relationship by the dotted arrow connecting SAP Central Business Configuration and the Quality system, and the solid arrow showing the transport between the Quality and Production systems.

In general, configuration activities are carried out in the Quality system via SAP Central Business Configuration and then transported to the Production system. Those configuration activities are read-only in the Production system. However, some settings are system-specific or must be changed regularly in the Production system, the so-called current settings. Since SAP Central Business Configuration is also connected to the Production system, the current settings can be changed via SAP Central Business Configuration. This connection between SAP Central Business Configuration and the Production system for specific use cases is omitted in the above graphic.

SAP Central Business Configuration is a cloud service that is integrated with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and supports the scoping, organizational setup, configuration, and continuous adoption in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

SAP offers pre-configured solutions with SAP Best Practices, which can be explored based on demo data before adapting and launching them. The Lifecycle Management in SAP Central Business Configuration ensures that the configuration settings remain consistent. Regular upgrades and updates of SAP Best Practices reference content can safely be consumed without impact on the adapted configuration.

Select Scope and Manage Implementation Projects:

In SAP Central Business Configuration, a project with a corresponding workspace is created. This workspace contains all configuration data from the SAP Best Practices reference content based on the selected scope and is assigned to an SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition system. A complex organizational structure can be created, additional initial settings can be made, and certain configuration settings can be adapted to the customer's needs. All this data is stored in the workspace as well. There are regular synchronization points when the configuration data is released to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition system.

Any settings that are made via SAP Central Business Configuration are synchronized with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, for example, the organizational structure, selected scope, or configuration settings. Transported from your configuration system to the subsequent systems.

The software and content updates and upgrades in the systems are two separate processes closely synchronized and orchestrated by SAP. Suppose any additional changes in a business change project are made. In that case, these are guided in SAP Central Business Configuration to release the changes from the Quality system into the Production system.

Carl points out the following:

Manage Your Solution is available both in the Quality and Production systems, but most configuration settings are made in the Quality system. The settings are then transported to the Production system, which is identical in both SAP systems. However, certain configuration settings must be made separately in each system, the so-called current settings. Because of this, Manage Your Solution can be used in the Production system to set these system-specific configurations.

With Manage Your Solution, the SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition solutions are managed – from implementing them to changing the running solutions.

Manage Your Solution supports the implementation team in carrying out the task implementation and change.

Implementation: SAP offers pre-configured solutions with SAP Best Practices, which can be explored based on demo data before adapting and launching them. The implementation process is performed in several phases. The SAP Service Center team has newly set up the system for each phase. The app Manage Your Solution offers specific functions for the current phase.

Change: When the solution runs in production mode, changes are made in the quality system and transported to the production system.

Specific information on the implementation process and the phase-specific configuration activities, with a list of accelerators about configuration with Self-Service Configuration User Interfaces (SSCUIs), is available in the SAP Activate Road Map viewer.

More information about SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition (pre-configured business processes and related assets) can be found in the SAP Best Practices Explorer.

Manage Your Solution supports the implementation and change phases for a specific SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition solution scope. Therefore, it is available in phase-specific variants. Each variant of the app provides the functions for one phase. When the SAP Service Center provides the system for a phase, the app is always switched to the phase-specific variant.

Carl explains that in August 2022 (release 2208), the three-system landscape (3SL) became available. The two-system landscape included a Quality system, where customizations were created and tested, and a Production system. The three-system landscape includes a Development system, Test system (previously named Quality), and Production system. This enables developers to build more complex on-stack extensions using stable SAP objects in the Development system, and separates testing activities into a dedicated Test system.

Configuration content in the three-system landscape is always provided via SAP Central Business Configuration, which is connected only to the Development system. While SAP handles the software updates and upgrades, you decide within a dedicated time frame when you want to apply the content updates and upgrades available in SAP Central Business Configuration.

The following graphic illustrates the connection between SAP Central Business Configuration with the Development system. The graphic also shows the basic transport process from the Development to the Test system and Production system.

Carl explains the roles of the different SAP systems:

Development System

Within an SAP system, there can be one or more tenants with different purposes. A tenant is an organizational unit with specific user master records and authorizations. The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition Starter and Development systems have two tenants:

The Development Tenant is for developer extensibility in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ABAP environment, where developers have full ABAP development tool access to released SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition business objects and extension points. The development is tenant-independent, meaning development objects built here can be accessed from the customizing tenant if permission is granted. Development objects are stored in database tables without a client column. Changes are recorded and transported to the subsequent systems.

The Customizing Tenant is the main project tenant, used for business process configuration and key user extensibility with the SAP Fiori extensibility apps. The configuration activities are based on the reference content from SAP Central Business Configuration. The customizing activities are mostly tenant-dependent, meaning configurations or extensions made here can only be accessed within the customizing tenant. This is because master and transactional data are stored in database tables within a client column. Changes to business configuration in this tenant are recorded and transported to the subsequent systems.

The Parallel Customizing Tenant optionally can be used to develop configuration enhancements without affecting the main line

Test System

Once the development and configuration projects in the Development system are finalized for the main line, an administrator imports development transport requests, customizing transport requests and software collections into the Test Tenant to validate business configurations and extensions.

The Parallel Customizing Tenant can optionally be used to test configuration enhancements from the Parallel Customizing Tenant.

Production System

An administrator imports development requests, customizing requests, and software collections in the Production system to make the configurations and extensions available for productive use.

Settings via SAP Central Business Configuration in a three-system landscape:

Any settings that are made via SAP Central Business Configuration are synchronized with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, for example, the organizational structure, selected scope, or configuration settings. These settings are generally transported from the configuration system to the subsequent systems.

Carl remembers the following:

From reference content to active business configuration. SAP offers content updates and upgrades with each software upgrade. To ensure business continuity, however, the customer can decide when to apply the content updates and upgrades to the Test system and Production system after each software upgrade.

In the three-system landscape, the main tool in the configuration environment is SAP Central Business Configuration. It is a cloud service that is integrated with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and supports the scoping, organizational setup, configuration, and continuous adoption in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

Reference content from SAP Central Business Configuration is automatically deployed to the Development system. Any settings that have been made by the customer via SAP Central Business Configuration are synchronized with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, for example, the organizational structure, selected scope, or configuration settings. These settings are generally transported from the development system to the subsequent systems.

In general, configuration activities are carried out in the Development system via SAP Central Business Configuration and transported to subsequent SAP systems. Those configuration activities are read-only in the subsequent SAP systems.

However, some settings are tenant-specific or must be changed regularly in the other systems, the so-calledcurrent settings. Since SAP Central Business Configuration is not connected to the other SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition systems, dedicated apps are available within SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition to grant access to such settings in all SAP systems:

For example, the Implementation Activities app which offers a collection of configuration activities in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition systems. For example, a structured list of configuration activities can be displayed along with business capabilities. These activities include the following types:

• Read-only activities: With this app, the customer can display read-only activities to check which settings are currently valid in each system.

• Activities for current settings: With this app, the customer can filter for current settings, which are editable in all systems, and make changes.

In addition, individual area-specific apps may grant access to further activities.

SAP offers pre-configured solutions with SAP Best Practices, which can be explored based on demo data before adapting and launching them. The Lifecycle Management in SAP Central Business Configuration ensures that configuration settings remain consistent. Regular upgrades and updates of SAP Best Practices reference content can be safely consumed without impact on the adapted configuration.

In SAP Central Business Configuration, projects are created within a corresponding workspace. The workspace contains all configuration data from the SAP Best Practices reference content based on the selected scope and is assigned to an SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition system. A user can define the scope, create a complex organizational structure, make additional initial settings, and adapt certain configuration settings to the needs. All this data is stored in the workspace as well. There are regular synchronization points when the user releases the configuration data to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition system.

Carl ends with: