Implementing and testing support packages and patches have become almost daily tasks for SAP teams. The growing number of SAP solutions and SAP NetWeaver components, as well as the addition of Java and Web runtimes to the Basis platform, has only magnified the enormity of this challenge. When you take into account that each solution must have its own development, test, and production landscape, high availability and load balancing requirements, as well as patching requirements at the operating system, database, kernel, and application levels, you begin to realize the impracticality of a system-by-system maintenance approach. The Maintenance Optimizer (MOPZ), released in January 2007 as part of SAP Solution Manager 4.0, offers a big step forward, giving administrators a central tool for planning, executing, and managing the installation of support packages and patches across their entire SAP landscape. Specifically, the current release — as of this writing, support package (SP) 14 — simplifies the tedious process of identifying and downloading applicable support items for all of your systems by providing you with an organized, easy-to-follow, guided procedure. With upcoming releases, MOPZ will use the Software Lifecycle Manager (SLM) service of SAP NetWeaver Application Server (AS) Java to automatically download identified support items (planned for SP 15), and will automate the deployment of support items (planned for SP 17).     This article will get you up and running quickly with MOPZ and show you how to get the most out of it. You will learn how to administer, track, and govern the maintenance process in your company, how to adapt MOPZ to your organizational requirements, and how automatic proposals of required files will ease your daily tasks. We’ll begin with a brief section on how to install MOPZ, and then quickly move on to showing the tool in action through two major use cases: downloading support items en masse for planned maintenance and downloading support items individually in response to an urgent problem. We’ll also show you how MOPZ has been enhanced to help with the detection and application of SAP ERP enhancement packages. We’ll then conclude with sections on how to monitor and report on the status of maintenance activities within MOPZ and how to secure administrator access to MOPZ functionality. Periodically throughout the article, we’ll comment on how MOPZ will change your maintenance processes, and we’ll highlight common challenges that have to be overcome to ensure a smooth transition. Before diving right into using MOPZ, let’s take a look at where it fits into the SAP change management approach.

Where Does the Maintenance Optimizer Fit In?

In most cases, a typical customer landscape comprises a development, a consolidation, and a production environment. All changes that are done in development environments are applied to the consolidation environment, and as soon as the system behaves correctly, the changes can finally be applied to the production landscape and used by the business. Changes in SAP landscapes consist of:

• Operating system and database patches, as well as SAP kernel patches
• SAP support packages and patches for software components
• Custom development and code changes that are included in SAP Notes

You have to deploy and apply all of these changes in your landscape in different ways. In the past, you would use the Transport Management System (TMS) to transport ABAP-based custom development and code changes to production, while you had to manually deploy and apply non-ABAP changes, support packages, and patches through the landscape. You also had to perform these tasks in isolation from one another — there was no way to centrally control the deployment and application of changes and ensure the correct sequence. SAP aims to change all of this by addressing the shortcomings inherent to the previous approach and consolidating the disparate functionalities:

• The Maintenance Optimizer (MOPZ) feature, which is included with SAP Solution Manager 4.0 SP 9 and higher, provides the overall governance of maintenance activities. It detects relevant software component support packages and patches, and it provides an overall structure for planning and managing the maintenance process by guiding the user through the required steps in the correct sequence. Automated steps make the maintenance process simpler and more comfortable. As of April 2007, support items for SAP Business Suite 2005 and higher are only available through MOPZ. The Change Request Management (ChaRM) functionality was also introduced with SAP Solution Manager 4.0. ChaRM supports the transport of changes (e.g., Note corrections, modifications, and functional adjustments) throughout the system landscape via TMS, which has been enhanced with SP 14 of SAP NetWeaver 7.0 to include non-ABAP and ABAP changes via the One Transport Order (OTO) add-on. In a future release (planned for SP 17), ChaRM will be integrated with MOPZ. See the sidebar below for additional details on ChaRM

 

• The Software Lifecycle Manager (SLM) service is included as part of AS Java in SAP NetWeaver 2004 SP 12 and higher. SLM is integrated with the System Landscape Directory (SLD) and with SAP Solution Manager — it stores and retrieves system landscape information in the SLD and supports the planning process in SAP Solution Manager. As of SAP Solution Manager 4.0 SP 15, MOPZ will use SLM to automate the download of support packages. Support for the deployment and the application of support packages, kernel patches, and enhancement packages in development, test, and production systems is planned for SP 17. See the sidebar on below more on SLM.

  Figure 1 provides an overview of the enhanced SAP change management process and of how the change management functionalities work together.   As you can see, MOPZ serves a crucial role by standardizing and simplifying the maintenance of your SAP solutions across your entire landscape through a centralized planning process. Now that you have a basic idea of where MOPZ fits into SAP change management and solution maintenance, let’s take a quick look at what you need to know about configuring MOPZ before we jump into operational details on how to identify and download support items.

Configuring the Maintenance Optimizer

To configure MOPZ, you must have SAP Solution Manager 4.0 set up. MOPZ uses the system data in the SAP Solution Manager System Landscape settings (transaction SMSY) and SAP Solution Manager’s connection to the SAP Service Marketplace. For those who do not yet use SAP Solution Manager, see the sidebar below for a brief overview of how best to perform a basic setup. Basic Setup of Solution Manager 4.0   SAP Solution Manager 4.0 SP 12 simplifies the MOPZ configuration procedure. It minimizes manual tasks, and ensures easy configuration and correct customizing settings via a transaction that is integrated into the Implementation Guide. Let’s briefly walk through the steps:

1. Go to the SAP Solution Manager Implementation Guide (transaction SPRO) and click on SAP Reference IMG, as shown in Figure 2.
   

   Figure 2

   Accessing the SAP Reference IMG
    
2. On the IMG display screen, navigate through the IMG nodes to SAP Solution Manager > Configuration > Basic Settings > Standard Configuration of Basic Settings > SAP Solution Manager, and double- click on Activate Maintenance Optimizer BC Set, as shown in Figure 3. This will ensure that the customizing required to run MOPZ is performed in the underlying SAP CRM transaction.
   

   Figure 3

   Activate the Maintenance Optimizer BC Set
    
3. Next we need to assign an “S-user” (an SAP Service Marketplace user) to every SAP Solution Manager user who will work with MOPZ. This is necessary because MOPZ needs to log on to the SAP Service Marketplace to retrieve support packages, patches, etc. Navigate through the IMG (Figure 4) and double- click on “Assign S-user for SAP Support Portal functionality,” or simply call transaction AISUSER. On the screen that appears (Figure 5), create an entry for each user. Enter their SAP Solution Manager user ID in the column User and the corresponding S-user in the Contact Person field. You can also assign multiple S-users to an SAP Solution Manager user if you need to use MOPZ to perform maintenance activities on behalf of multiple customers.
   

   Figure 4

   Call the transaction to assign S-users in the IMG
    
   

   Figure 5

   Assign S-users to SAP Solution Manager users who will use MOPZ
    
4. Via transaction SU01, assign the security role SAP_MAINT_OPT_ADMIN to SAP administrators. We’ll take a closer look at the roles and authorizations provided with MOPZ toward the end of this article.

    That’s it! You can now start using MOPZ. In the next section, we’ll show you how.

The Maintenance Optimizer in Action

In this section, we show you how to use MOPZ. We’ll first walk you through the two main use cases. The first scenario describes planned maintenance, where you download support items en masse at a designated time. The second scenario highlights how MOPZ supports you in applying a single support package when an urgent correction is required. We’ll then show you how MOPZ can support the special case of SAP ERP enhancement packages.

Downloading Support Items En Masse for Planned Maintenance

There are several reasons to apply support items on a regular basis. Support items let you benefit from recent corrections to solutions and added features. Legal changes also require the application of support items — changes in tax laws or payroll, for example, are delivered via support packages and have to be applied on short notice to meet legal requirements. When conducting planned maintenance, you usually apply a large number of support items, either individually or as a support package stack (SPS), which is a predefined set of support packages and patches tailored to particular product versions (such as SAP ERP 2005 and SAP APO 3.1). This section describes in detail how to administer and carry out a planned maintenance project with MOPZ. In this example, we have an SAP CRM system to which we want to apply SPS 10. To start MOPZ, call transaction DSWP or Solution_Manager. This guides you to the start screen of SAP Solution Manager. Navigate to Change Management > Maintenance Optimizer, select the solution that you want to maintain (SAP Professional Journal in the example) from a pre- populated list, and create a maintenance transaction or “procedure” by clicking on Create New Maintenance Transaction.   The newly created maintenance transaction guides you through five steps:

1. Plan Maintenance, where you enter the basic information for the maintenance, including the product to maintain and the systems in which to maintain it
2. Select Files, where you determine the support items needed for the maintenance (depending on the option you choose for selecting the files, this step is subdivided into five substeps)
3. Download Files, where you download the selected support items from the SAP Service Marketplace
4. Perform Implementation, where you plan and track the implementation of the support items
5. End Maintenance, where you close the maintenance transaction once the implementation is complete

Clicking on Create New Maintenance Transaction automatically sends you to the first of these five steps, which we’ll look at in detail next.

Step 1: Plan Maintenance

Figure 6 shows the first step of the maintenance transaction guide.   As you can see in the upper part of the screen, every maintenance transaction has a priority that you can select and a short text that you can enter to easily identify it later on in the maintenance transaction overview list (more on this when we look at monitoring and reporting). In addition, you can upload any project-related documents to the transaction — in this example, we’ve uploaded a document containing information about the scope of the project. If required, you can also display and maintain a “sold-to party” (the business partner role representing the person who requested the maintenance activity) and a “message processor” (the business partner role representing the person responsible for completing the maintenance activity). This especially makes sense if the responsibilities within the maintenance activity are split — for example, the business department requests legal changes contained in support packages, and the IT department then identifies, downloads, and applies the support packages. This differentiation is not required for this particular example, so we do not assign these roles here. In the main part of the screen, you select the product version for the solution you selected when creating the maintenance transaction. If your solution comprises multiple products, you have to create an additional maintenance transaction for each additional product. For the selected product version — SAP CRM 5.0 in the example — you now get the list of systems (logical components), which is derived from the SMSY system data, representing the transport path (development, test, production) for the product maintenance.   Once you’ve completed all the settings for this first step, click on Continue. A procedure number is automatically generated to uniquely identify the transaction in the system. This number will appear at the top of the remaining screens in the transaction, as well as in the maintenance overview transaction display. You can also save and continue at a later time.

Step 2: Select Files

In the second step, you select the required maintenance files (Figure 7). As mentioned previously, MOPZ is connected to the SAP Service Marketplace (through SAP Solution Manager), allowing you to download the support items through MOPZ.   There are two options for selecting the maintenance files that you need:

• Automatic calculation of the required files. If you would like MOPZ to calculate the required files for you, click on Find Download Files. This launches a series of five substeps where MOPZ connects to the SAP Service Marketplace, delivers detailed information on your currently installed support packages, and then, based on the support package stacks that you select, calculates and displays a list of the files that are required to bring your systems to the selected level, which you then select and place in the SAP Service Marketplace download basket. More on these substeps in a moment.

 

• Manual selection of the required files. If you want to select the files on your own, click on Select Files for … (Select Files for SAP CRM 5.0 in the example). A browser opens in the SAP Service Marketplace and you jump directly to the product version that you selected for maintenance (Figure 8). You can then select the required files based on the support package stacks or drill down per software component, and place the selected files in the SAP Service Marketplace download basket.

  For the example, we select the automatic calculation option by clicking on Find Download Files, which launches a series of five substeps (Figure 9):   2.1. First, choose the desired target stack (e.g., SAP CRM 5.0 SP Stack 10), and click on Find Download Files for the stack version. 2.2. The next substep screen displays the operating system and database files required for the target stack. Select the files that apply to your operating system and database combination, and click on Continue. 2.3. The display on the following substep screen contains component files that are required regardless of the selected stack (e.g., kernel updates). All files are selected by default; deselect any unnecessary files and continue. 2.4. This substep screen lists the component files that are required for the selected stack. Again, deselect any unnecessary files and continue. 2.5. On this final screen of the substeps, you place the files in the SAP Service Marketplace download basket, which belongs to the S-user that is linked to the current SAP Solution Manager user.   Once you’ve selected the necessary files — either manually or using automatic detection — and placed them in the download basket, click on Continue in the maintenance transaction screen.

Step 3: Download Files

In this step, you need to confirm the selected files before downloading them. Click on Confirm Files in Download Basket (Figure 10) to display the files that you placed in the download basket in the previous step. Figure 11 shows the files that we selected for the example. Review the files and click on Confirm Download. This will also copy the list of selected files to the maintenance transaction so that you can see at a glance which files are to be used (this list will be displayed in the next step, Perform Implementation). This list is useful because it includes links to side- effect reports on the files as well as additional SAP Service Marketplace information on the support items. After confirming the files, you can download the selected files with the SAP Download Manager, just as you normally would. If you do not have the SAP Download Manager installed, you can click on the provided link to install the tool. Once the download is complete, click on Continue in the maintenance transaction screen to proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Perform Implementation

The implementation of support items is not yet fully controlled by MOPZ. Currently, these tasks are covered by the SAP-provided import tools — the Support Package Manager (SPAM) and Add-On Installation Tool (SAINT) for applying updates to ABAP systems, and the Java Support Package Manager (JSPM) and Software Deployment Manager (SDM) for Java systems. The implementation of packages on servers, and the transport of changes from the development system to the test and production systems will be controlled by MOPZ in a future release (currently planned for SP 17). What MOPZ currently does in this step is to help you plan and track the implementation. The systems that you selected in Step 1 (Figure 6), representing the transport path for the product maintenance, are listed in the lower part of the screen under Selected Systems. You can enter the start date and end date for the implementation and indicate the status of the procedure, (Figure 12):  

• New
• In Process
• Completed

Also on the lower part of the screen is an overview of the files selected in the previous step. For each file, you can view the SAP Service Marketplace documentation of the provided corrections and their side effects by clicking on the corresponding Display link under the Details and Side Effects columns (we scrolled down the list in Figure 12, so the column headers are not visible). You can request a report containing a list of SAP Notes that solve errors associated with the particular support item, and then down­load those SAP Notes for later use. You can also download the report itself as an Excel spreadsheet and add it to the maintenance transaction for documentation purposes. See the sidebar below for more on side-effect reports; we’ll look at an example report in the second use case (the individual download scenario).

Step 5: End Maintenance

Once you’ve completed all maintenance activities associated with the maintenance transaction, you can close the transaction by clicking on Complete Transaction (Figure 13).   As you can see, MOPZ makes planned maintenance of your solutions easy by enabling you to download support items en masse and to track their implementation.  

Downloading Support Items Individually For Emergency Maintenance

Sometimes you will have to apply a single support package because of problems that occur during daily operations, such as a required plug-in update so your application can function properly or the need to import a special Java patch to support a certain language in your portal application. This process is a bit different from downloading a set of support items, as described in the previous section. Let’s assume for this example that you reported a notification problem in SAP Solution Manager to SAP Support. SAP Support analyzed the reported issue and recommended applying the latest support package, which is SP 10 for Release 7.0 of the ABAP stack (SAPKA70010). The support package contains a set of SAP Notes that are required to solve the reported issue (in this case, it is more convenient to apply the support package then to apply each individual SAP Note). As described for the planned maintenance example, you call MOPZ, select the relevant solution, and create a new maintenance transaction, which takes you to the first step.

Step 1: Plan Maintenance

As in the planned maintenance scenario, during the first step you enter the basic information for the transaction. For this example, we assign a very high priority because it is an urgent correction. In this case, the business department requested the change but the IT department will actually apply the change. As a result, we specify the particular person who requested the maintenance activity (the “sold-to party”) and the person responsible for performing the activity or applying the changes (the “message processor”). Keep in mind that the requestor will have to test and approve the changes before the maintenance activity can be considered completed. (This is just to give you an example of how you can use authorizations with MOPZ; we’ll go into more detail on authorizations later in the article.) For the product version, we choose SAP Solution Manager 4.0 and we select the systems for the transport path (Figure 14).  

Step 2: Select Files

Next, we select the file we want to download (Figure 15). While in the previous scenario we selected the automatic calculation option to help us determine a wide range of necessary support items, here we select the manual option, because we just need to apply a single, predetermined support package.   Click on Select Files for SAP Solution Manager 4.0, which opens a browser in the SAP Service Marketplace (Figure 16). Search for the required support item — in the example, we are looking for the support package SAPKA70010 (SP 10 for Release 7.0 of the ABAP stack) — and place it in the SAP Service Marketplace download basket.  

Step 3: Download Files

As in the previous scenario, you need to confirm the selected file before you can download it. Click on Confirm Files in Download Basket (Figure 17).   Once you have confirmed the file, you can download it using the SAP Download Manager. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of opening and using the SAP Download Manager for a single download file, as in the example, you can download it directly from the download basket to a local directory or to your PC. To download the file directly, click on Download files from the Download Basket, which launches the window shown in Figure 18. Click on the file name and specify the location to which you would like to save the download.  

Step 4: Perform Implementation

In this step, as before, you define the planned time frame for the implementation of the support item in the selected systems and track the progress of the implementation (Figure 19). The downloaded support item is displayed in the lower part of the screen, and again you have the option to view the details and side effects of the downloaded support item, if they are available.   For the example, click on the Display link in the Side Effects column, which displays the screen shown in Figure 20). The side-effect report lists all of the known issues with the support package that must be resolved during implementation. In this example, we have six SAP Notes that must be applied.  

Step 5: End Maintenance

Click on Complete Transaction to close the transaction. The two use cases you have seen here demonstrate how easy MOPZ makes it to identify and manage the implementation of support items, whether the maintenance is planned or the result of an urgent problem. In either scenario, you now have a structured, organized way to find what you need and easily accomplish the task at hand. MOPZ now offers this samesecurity in the special case of SAP ERP enhancement packages. In the next section, we’ll show you how.

Downloading SAP ERP Enhancement Packages

If you’ve upgraded to SAP ERP, you may be aware of a significant change in SAP’s release strategy: Going forward, all new functional enhancements to SAP ERP through 2010 will be made available as extensions of SAP ERP in a series of optional enhancement packages, eliminating the need for you to upgrade your systems in order to take advantage of the newest technology and business process innovations from SAP. As of SP 12, MOPZ is equipped to handle the detection and download of enhancement packages, just like support packages and patches. An enhancement package consists of several isolated business functions, referred to as technical uses, such as Human Capital Management, Media, Global Trade, and Retail. Each of these technical uses contains software improvements that are specific to that particular technical use. For example, a Media technical use might contain copy management, delivery preparation, and customer service functionalities, among others. Technical uses can be applied easily, with no sophisticated upgrade required, so that customers can apply new business functions or maintain the system without activating new software functionality. With MOPZ, you can either:

• Apply the latest SAP ERP support package stack, if no new business functions are required
• Apply specific parts (i.e., technical uses) of an SAP ERP enhancement package, plus the latest support package stack for SAP ERP if required

MOPZ can also partially assist with the installation of enhancement packages. It automatically generates an XML-based configuration file that is used by the SAP-provided import tools to simplify the implementation. So how does all this work? Let’s say you want to apply the following additional technical uses of enhancement package 2 (EHP2) for SAP ERP 2005:

• Human Capital Management
• HCM - Learning Solution

You begin the process just as you did in the previous examples. You select the solution you want to maintain (SPJ - ERP Solution in this case) and create a new maintenance transaction. Then, in the first step of the wizard, you enter the basic information for the transaction — e.g., the priority (high in this case) and the short text (SPJ - ERP Enhancement HR for the example). Also select the product version (here, SAP ERP 2005) and the systems in which you want to install the enhancement package. In the second step, you choose either an automatic or manual calculation of the maintenance files you want to download. This is where the process differs with SAP ERP enhancement packages. Since SAP ERP 2005 was defined as the product version in Step 1, the Step 2 options are slightly different from the previous examples to accommodate the ability to install enhancement packages. As you can see in Figure 21, you are presented with two options for performing the automatic calculation. You have to decide whether to only increase the support package stack level of the selected product version (Maintenance) or to install additional technical uses (Enhancement Package Installation). (If the selected technical use requires an increased stack level, MOPZ will automatically select the necessary files.)   For the example, we select Enhancement Package Installation, which takes you to the first of the five automatic calculation substeps for Step 2: 2.1. MOPZ automatically detects the current enhancement package level (SAP ERP Enhancement Package 2005.2) and displays it in the Product Version field, along with a list of the available technical uses for this enhancement package (Figure 22). Select the technical uses that you want — in the example, we select Human Capital Management and HCM - Learning Solution — and click on Calculate Download Files. MOPZ will then determine the necessary support items for the selected technical uses. In other words, you select a business function in MOPZ to be deployed within your SAP ERP landscape and MOPZ determines the required packages for the deployment. In the background, the XML-based configuration file, used by the SAP import tools for the installation, is generated in the SAP Service Marketplace.   2.2. The next substep screen displays the operating system and database files required for the target stack. Select the files that apply to your operating system and database combination, and click on Continue. 2.3. The display on the following substep screen contains component files that are required regardless of the selected stack (e.g., kernel updates). All files are selected by default; deselect any unnecessary files and continue. 2.4. This substep screen lists the component files that are required for the selected stack. Again, deselect any unnecessary files and then continue. 2.5. On this final screen of the substeps, you place the files in the SAP Service Marketplace download basket, which belongs to the S-user that is linked to the current SAP Solution Manager user. As soon as you have confirmed the files, the information on which files were selected is copied to the maintenance activity along with the XML-based configuration file. The XML-based configuration file contains installation information for the selected enhancement package files. Figure 23 shows the XML file for the example. This file is stored in SAP Solution Manager on the database level and in the Electronic Parcel Service Inbox (EPS Inbox) on the operating system level. When you perform the implementation, the import tool will use this XML file to partially automate the import of the files into the systems you selected for maintenance in Step 1 (see the sidebar below for more details).   Steps 3-5 are the same as in the previous examples — you download the files, define the planned time frame and track the implementation, and end the maintenance. As you can see, enhancement packages and MOPZ together offer a simpler and easier way to take advantage of new SAP ERP business functions. Instead of a drawn-out upgrade process, you just download and apply the necessary packages using the guided MOPZ procedure.

Monitoring and Reporting on Your Maintenance Activities

In the previous sections, you learned how MOPZ supports you in your daily maintenance activities. MOPZ also provides a way for you to view all planned, ongoing, and finished activities from a single location so that you can see the status of all activities at a glance. It also provides a way for you to create reports. The overview list (Figure 24) is displayed when you start MOPZ. The default display organizes the activities by solution. The filter function allows you to restrict the list in an easy way: Simply make your selection (Priority, Status, Created on, Created by) and click on Filter to reduce the list.   In addition, MOPZ provides a product maintenance reporting function to help you keep an overview of all product maintenance procedures in your SAP Solution Manager system. You can simultaneously view procedures belonging to several different solutions, and you can also view closed or withdrawn procedures. You can use the reporting function to:

• Create an overview of procedures that match specific criteria, such as status or priority.
• Navigate to the corresponding step of an open procedure in MOPZ.
• Create an overview of procedures and save the overview to a local file for further processing.

To specify the product maintenance procedures that you want to display in the report, call transaction /TMWFLOW/ MAINTENANCE, which displays the screen shown in Figure 25. Enter the criteria you want to use and click on Execute. Figure 26 shows an example of a resulting report. For more details on MOPZ monitoring and reporting, go to the SAP Help Portal (https://help.sap.com) for SAP Solution Manager 4.0.

Security roles and objects

Now that you’ve seen what MOPZ can do, let’s take a brief look at the security roles and objects provided with MOPZ. MOPZ comes with two predelivered roles that can be adapted to restrict the visibility of solutions and activities in MOPZ to dedicated users:

• SAP_MAINT_OPT_ADMIN — This role enables an administrator to conduct all possible changes within an MOPZ transaction.
• SAP_MAINT_OPT_DISP — This role enables a user to display all MOPZ transactions (for monitoring or reporting purposes, for example) but does not allow any changes to the transactions.

Let’s take a closer look at the most important authorization objects for these roles:

• The authorization object D_SOL_VSBL controls the visibility of solutions managed by SAP Solution Manager. You adjust the visibility by maintaining the value of the field SOLUTION. The following values are possible: — Entering the value “*” allows a user to see all available solutions. — Entering a specific solution ID (or IDs) allows a user to see only that specific solution.

 

— The authorization object CRM_ORD_PR defines the activities a certain user is allowed to perform in an MOPZ transaction. The available values are Create, Change, Display, and Delete.

 

• The authorization object B_USERSTAT controls the status changes that are possible for a certain user: — New: SLMO_00 — Selection: SLMO_01 — Download: SLMO_02 — Implementation: SLMO_03 — Confirmed: SLMO_04 — Completed: SLMO_05 — Withdrawn: SLMO_99

    Using these authorization objects, you can easily modify the predefined roles and adapt them to your specific requirements. Suppose you want to modify the SAP_MAINT_OPT_DISP role so that users can change the “status” setting in the Perform Implemen­tation step. You simply create a copy of this role and, using transaction PFCG, modify the authorizations. Here are some additional examples of how you can adapt the given roles:

• Ensure that only certain persons/teams are allowed to create a new activity or confirm an activity by adapting authorization object B_USERSTAT.
• Narrow the view of possible solutions according to your requirements (e.g., logistics personnel can only view activities in the logistics systems) by adapting authorization object D_SOL_VSBL.

For additional details on the MOPZ authorization roles, see SAP Note 1032322 (Authorization checks in Maintenance Optimizer).

Conclusion

The maintenance of SAP solutions has become increasingly challenging. Additional functionality for the end user has led to more complexity in the technical makeup of solutions, and integrating additional technologies (like Java or .NET) as well as third-party products requires new, expanded concepts. With the MOPZ, SAP addresses these challenges. MOPZ provides overall governance of maintenance activities for an SAP solution and supports customers by reducing the effort required to keep an SAP solution up to date. It recommends a set of service packages for a specific solution and guides customers through the complete maintenance process. Pre- delivered roles and authorization objects ensure that MOPZ can easily be adapted to your specific needs, and reporting capabilities provide a quick overview of all ongoing and finished activities. With SP 12, MOPZ supports the application of enhancement packages for SAP ERP. In addition to detecting enhancement package support items, MOPZ eases the installation of new technical uses and creates configuration files that are used by the SAP-provided import tools (SPAM, SAINT, JSPM, and SDM) to help ease the installation process. Going forward, MOPZ will serve as the foundation for maintenance activities in your SAP solution landscape. Its capabilities will be expanded and integrated with additional change management functionalities, such as Change Request Management and the Software Lifecycle Manager, providing a centralized, simplified, and end-to-end maintenance process that will make handling your daily administrative tasks a great deal easier.