Choosing the System Landscape Type

Carl explains, that depending on the installation, SAP S/4HANA Cloud runs on either a two-system landscape or a three-system landscape. The system landscape also determines the configuration environment and the content lifecycle management.

With a two-system landscape, the configuration environment is either SAP Central Business Configuration or Manage Your Solution.

Carl points out the following:

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

Two-System Landscape with SAP Central Business Configuration

Reference content coming from SAP Central Business Configuration is automatically deployed to the Quality system from where it’s transported to the Production system. In the above graphic, this relationship is illustrated 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 as well, 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 which is integrated with SAP S/4HANA Cloud and supports the scoping, organizational setup, configuration, and continuous adoption in SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

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 in a consistent state. 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 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 system.

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

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

Two-System Landscape with Manage Your Solution

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, so they’re identical in both SAP systems. However, certain configuration settings need to 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 solutions are managed – from implementing them to changing the running solutions.

Manage Your Solution supports the implementation team to carry out the tasks 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. For each phase, the system is newly set up by the SAP Service Center team. The app Manage Your Solution offers specific functions for the current phase.

Change: When the solution is running in production mode, changes are made in the quality system and are 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) are available in the SAP Activate Roadmap viewer.

More information about SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud (pre-configured business processes and related assets) can be found in the SAP Best Practices Explorer at https://rapid.sap.com/bp/.

Manage Your Solution supports the implementation and change phases for a specific SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud 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 of the year 2022 (release 2208), the three-system landscape (3SL) became available. The two-system landscape included a Quality system, where customizations were both 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 in the system with specific user master records and authorizations. The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Starter and Development systems have two tenants:

The development tenant is for developer extensibility in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud ABAP environment, where developers have full ABAP development tool access to released SAP S/4HANA Cloud 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. This is because 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 is stored in database tables within a client column. Changes to business configuration in this tenant are recorded and transported to the subsequent systems.

Test System

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

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, for example, the organizational structure, selected scope, or configuration settings. In general, these settings are 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.

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

Configuration Tools:

SAP Central Business Configuration is the main tool of your configuration environment where the customer does most of the configuration work. However, there are further configuration tools to support in the following use cases:

Current settings in the test system and production system:

In general, configuration activities are carried out in the Development system via SAP Central Business Configuration and transported them 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 as well, the current settings. Since SAP Central Business Configuration is not connected to the other SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems, dedicated apps are available within SAP S/4HANA Cloud to grant access to such settings in all SAP systems:

The Implementation Activities app offers a collection of configuration activities in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems.

A structured list of configuration activities can be displayed, for example, along 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 of the systems.

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.

After configuration settings have been imported, there are certain manual rework activities that must be performed in the target system.

The stagings for business configuration that have been deployed from a configuration tool like SAP Central Business Configuration can be viewed and processed.

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

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 in a consistent state. Regular upgrades and updates of SAP Best Practices reference content can be safely consumed without impact on the adapted configuration.

Manage Implementation Projects

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 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 system.

Carl ends with:

Carl explains to Adam, that there is another important SAP system for SAP S/4HANA Cloud customers: As a new customer to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the very first SAP system to be used is called the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Starter System. This SAP system has a set of master data and a set of 225+ SAP Best Practice scopes loaded to help explore its capabilities and conduct the Fit-to-Standard Workshop.

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Starter System is a preconfigured SAP system with the enterprise scope (all lines of business enabled) and business data that aligns with the SAP Best Practices test scripts. Consultants use the Starter system to deliver Fit-to-Standard workshops to customer business experts in each line of business during the Explore phase of the SAP Activate Methodology. The purpose is to teach the customer how to navigate the new SAP system and to gather configuration data and extension requirements. Customization requirements are documented in SAP Cloud ALM. This ensures that there is a record of each requirements which the consultants must implement in the customer’s system during the Realize phase of the SAP Activate Methodology. The Starter system can be decommissioned after the customer’s own SAP systems are implemented, as it would not be needed any longer.