Betty has seen a presentation explaining that the system landscape consists of more than just the Production system:
Now she wants to know from Adam why the additional systems are needed.
Similar to the on-premise world, besides the production environment, a dedicated test environment is needed. The production environment is the production tenant, the test environment is the test tenant
In any case, a dedicated tenant for fine-tuning is needed. The fine-tuning is referred to as customizing. This has been done in the customizing tenant.
Depending on additional development activities planned by GloManCorp, a development tenant is also needed.
These are the systems and tenants needed for the staged development itself. Adam explains that this is not the entire environment. Additional entities are necessary – depending on the needs of GloManCorp.
Adam knows from Carl the following:
Note
The development tenant and customizing tenant are technically clients in the Development system. A client is an organizational unit in the SAP system. Clients have separate user master records and separate authorizations. Client-specific data is split by the client column in database tables.
Development objects are stored in database tables without a client column. Such objects are called cross-client and are accessible in all clients. Hence, when you, as a developer, create development objects in the development tenant, these objects are also available in the customizing tenant. For instance, when you create a new SAP Fiori app and assign it to a business catalog in the development tenant, the app is also accessible to the customizing tenant.
Master data and transactional data are stored in database tables with a client column. Such data is called client-specific and is only accessible in the respective client. Hence, as an administrator, you create a business role for a business user in the customizing tenant, which is only visible in the customizing tenant.
Note
Parallel Line
In a 3-system landscape, the parallel line offers you a separate workspace in SAP Central Business Configuration and two additional tenants for configuration and testing in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. Available since 2502. The main line focuses on maintaining innovation and keeping the productive environment up-to-date with SAP's latest features. You can develop and test configuration enhancements with a separate parallel line without affecting the main line.
In principle, the parallel tenants in each system work similarly as the tenants from the main line. However, the purpose of parallel tenants is focused primarily on configuration tasks:
- In the parallel customizing tenant, you perform your configuration activities based on the reference content from the workspace for the parallel line in SAP Central Business Configuration. After finalizing your configuration tasks, transport them to your parallel test tenant.
- In the parallel test tenant, you test and validate all the configurations you've done in the parallel customizing tenant.
The parallel line delivers significant business value. Here are some of the benefits you can expect:
- A stable main line, unaffected by business configuration changes done in the parallel line
- Improved operational efficiency
- Enhanced configuration flexibility
- Improved data quality and testing capabilities
- Thorough validation of incremental implementations, additional countries/regions, companies, or large scope additions
- Easier deployment of innovations into the productive environment
- Continuous learning and skill development
- No redundant test or training data in the test environment of the main line
- Ability to perform repeated data load runs for cutover planning
General Information
- A maximum of one parallel line can be provisioned simultaneously per customer and landscape.
- Integration scenarios are possible, provided that the integrated SAP solution or non-SAP third-party solution can offer a separate tenant from the one used for integration with the main line.
- Starter and Sandbox tenants are not included nor integrated in the parallel line.
- With the branch, no master data or transactional data are copied to the parallel line. Consequently, master data and specific types of transactional data in the parallel line can only be created manually or via the Migration Cockpit.
Implementation Information
Get current updates for working in a parallel line with these SAP Notes:
- SAP Note 3542536 – Release Note for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, Parallel Line.
- SAP Note 3580675 – Additional Configuration Activities that Require Double Maintenance.
Note
Please note that this information is subject to change, and we recommend checking this note regularly for updates!
Provisioning and Deleting a Parallel Line
On the Services & Support dashboard in SAP for Me, you can request services to manage a parallel line and check the status of your open service requests.
In SAP for Me, submit a service request to check that your main line is ready for branching.Run Prerequisite Checks
In SAP for Me, submit a service request to create a parallel line. If you already have a parallel line and you request a new one, the existing parallel line and its data will be deleted.Create a Parallel Line
If you change your mind and decide not to need the Parallel Line anymore, please submit a SAP for Me service request to delete a parallel line.Delete a Parallel Line
Please Note
Developer extensibility needs to be done and transported in the development line. Consequently, in parallel line, developer extensibility transports are not shown in the Import Collection app. Client-dependent key user extensibility can be done in parallel line. You'll need to perform double maintenance on your main line, though.
Note
Some key user extensibility-related configuration activities can only be edited in the main line.
When working and testing in the parallel line, consider the following points:
- You can't transport the configurations you made in the parallel line directly into your production system. To take over any business configuration changes from the parallel line to the main line, you need to do a merge. Note: Merging is a manual process, but you can automate some tasks when specific conditions are met. For more information, refer to 3584765 Information published on the SAP site.
- You can't create or transport developer extensibility in your parallel line. To make them available for testing, you must create it in the development line first and then transport these extensions to the main line. They then become available in your parallel line for testing. To help you orchestrate the various transport request types, you can use SAP Cloud ALM.