Introducing Transport Requests and the Transport Process

Software logistics provides tools and processes with which you can manage your system landscape in all lifecycle phases. For the developing of changes in the development system and transporting them into the subsequent systems, the following roles are involved:

• The development project leader creates a project and activates its integration into transport management, that is the recording of transport requests for this project. They create the smallest number of transport requests possible for this project and then assigns the developers to the transport requests. The development project leader is also responsible for the later release of the transport requests when the relevant development is completed.

  Note

  For more information on projects, see below.

• With the help of the Transport Organizer (transaction SE09), the development project leader assigns the developers to one or more transport requests. The developers make developments for their transport requests, which in turn are assigned to a project. This may concern creating or changing repository objects or Customizing settings. The developers work in the development system.

• The testers are responsible for the technical acceptance. This technical acceptance is done in the quality assurance system. The quality assurance system is a copy of the production system, so that tests are possible with realistic data and realistic process flows.

• The transport administrators are responsible for setting up a transport concept. They perform imports for the transport requests in a structured manner.

To transfer (copy) the changes that have been performed in the development system to subsequent systems, SAP Software Logistics use transport requests which act as a container for objects that semantically belong together. Roughly speaking, a transport request contains objects that form a testable unit. Transport requests can be divided into the following:

• Workbench requests that are transport requests for transporting cross-client Customizing and repository objects.

• Customizing requests that are transport requests for transporting from client-specific Customizing.

Let us consider the changes of repository objects (which lead to a workbench requests) as an example:

In the Transport Organizer (transaction SE09), the development project leader creates a transport request and assigns developers to this transport request. To group transport requests, the project leader can also assign the transport requests to a project. The Transport Organizer creates a task for every developer to whom the transport request is assigned. If the developers assign a repository object to the transport request, the system enters the repository object specifically to the task of the developers.

In this way, a transport request combines repository objects that are processed within a development project.

When the development work concerning a testable unit is complete from the point of view of the developers, they release their related tasks. After all developers have released their tasks, the development project leader can release the transport request.

The transport of transport requests is divided into export and import phases: the objects of the transport request are exported from the development system and then – in a separate step – imported to the target system, such as to the quality assurance system and the production system:

The transport routes from the development system to the quality assurance system, and from the quality assurance system to the production system take care on the correct transport sequence: transport request are not available for import into the production system unless they have been imported into the quality assurance system.