How to make an SAP enhancement pack upgrade 'silent'

22.10.2012
Several years ago, SAP introduced enhancement packs, which were supposed to provide a much easier and less painful way to upgrade its ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. Executives extolled how customers without committing to a full-blown upgrade.

But in reality, the packs involve enough work on the part of customers to inspire a session at last week's Tech Ed conference in Las Vegas that focused on how to make the process as "silent" as possible.

The very notion of SAP upgrades tends to inspire "fear and apprehension" in customers' minds, said speaker Calvin Hill, SAP release manager at Microsoft, which uses SAP ERP.

But enhancement packs are well worth the effort for many reasons, not the least of which is that the new functions provided can help cut down on the amount of custom code companies write, he said.

Some key steps should be followed by all customers weighing enhancement pack upgrades, according to Hill.

For one thing, technical staff should perform a functionality scoping exercise with business users, to determine which enhancement pack features should actually be included in the upgrade and help minimize risk and downtime, he said. It's also important to perform an impact assessment of the changes inside a sandbox environment, Hill added.