By properly planning for post go-live production operation, you can minimize the risk and maximize the ROI from your organization’s SAP investment.
Key elements for successful production support:
1. Implement strict change control
2. Enforce structural production control
3. Follow required compliance control
4. Pay attention to “house cleaning” tasks
5. Have well-thought annual planning
I. SHORT-TERM ACTIVITIES & MAINTENANCE TASKS
Primary objectives of short-term tasks:
Provide production support
Support resources
Stabilize systems
Meet needs of all Production users
*Typical short-term activity time frame: 4-8 weeks post go-live
Closely monitoring key business process execution cycle in production systems confirm usage of:
Selection parameters
Variants
Background jobs
Batch jobs
Interfaces
Reports
Develop post go-live issues list (some may be known beforehand)
Rank and address issues by priority (e.g., MS Excel, Solution Manager)
Monitor system performance
Refresh QAS from PRD
Move fresh productive data to QAS
Reduces time to create test data
Improves troubleshooting abilities and time to resolve issues
Clean-up/removal of “optional” clients
DEV (e.g., data conversions, integration/interface testing)
QAS (e.g., data conversions, integration/interface testing)
*Formalize transport process
Secure Legacy System(s)
Restrict user access – only specific users should have access
Set to “Read Only”
II. MEDIUM-TERM ACTIVITIES & MAINTENANCE TASKS
Medium-term activities are tasks to be executed after the system(s) is (are) stable and the team can sufficiently support the system(s)
Primary objectives of medium-term activities:
Update software
Finalize post go-live support team
Complete “nice” to have requirements
*Typical medium-term activity time frame: 1-6 months
Due to freeze during project phase(s), the software needs to be updated (which requires extensive testing):
Support Stacks/Packages
Third-party software
Update BSI for tax calculations
Refresh QAS from PRD
Keeps data fresh in QAS
Schedule jobs to run regularly in QAS as well (e.g., runtime and payroll to stay in close proximity to PRD schedule)
Monitor performance
Review response times (e.g., ECC6, XI, Portal)
Review growth of database/tables
Compare size against established thresholds (e.g., add disk space when size goes over 80%)
“Sunset” legacy system(s)
Backup/archive data
Provide alternate data retrieval mechanisms
Retire legacy system(s)
Close support/license agreements for legacy system(s)
III. LONG-TERM ACTIVITIES & MAINTENANCE TASKS
Long-term activities include tasks that need to be performed continuously after your system is stable
Primary objectives of long-term activities:
Establish regular schedules
Long-term planning
Implement new initiatives/functionality
*Typical long-term activity time frame: Ongoing
Establish regular schedule for software updates (requires extensive testing):
Support Stacks/Packages
Third-party software
BSI
Update/upgrade hardware
Hardware changes can sometimes bring around quite unexpected results!
Examples include hard-coded IP addresses, logical system names
Carefully test when changing hardware
Refresh QAS
Ensures that data in QAS stays fresh with PRD data
Process major processes to keep QAS in-step with PRD
Monitor performance
Continue to monitor database size
Continue to monitor performance
*New business initiatives may require that certain software is at a specific release or patch level.
GrassDew has four main business streams – Consulting Services, Software Solutions, Security Services and Knowledge Services. Our primary focus is on various software development and maintenance services.
To know more about our services, email us at shekhar.pawar@grassdew.com