A company might pursue an SAP NetWeaver upgrade for any number of reasons — additional functionality, new modules, or lower maintenance costs (as support for older versions goes away). Upgrading to SAP NetWeaver 7.0 can be a daunting undertaking for even the most experienced project managers. Whether it is an SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) 6.0 upgrade or an SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.0 (SAP NetWeaver BW, formerly SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence) upgrade, there are a great deal of moving parts, many new features, and a plethora of decisions to be made. To help you address some of the fundamental questions and points of contention you may be facing, I discuss them in relation to:

• Scope: Where Do I Draw the Line?
  
  
• Resources: Who Needs To Be Part of the Implementation Team?
  
  
• Schedule: How Long Should the Project Take?
  
  
• Lessons Learned: What Should I Watch Out For?

Scope: Where Do I Draw the Line?

As seasoned project managers know, scope decisions can make or break a project. In many cases a steering committee may have been formed to determine the scope that, in turn, has been handed to you. The question then becomes, did the committee fully understand what it was asking for? What exactly is its expectation? Did it outline a strategic roadmap or vision? Does this particular project align well with this vision?

Once you understand your stakeholders’ “big picture” viewpoint, you can begin to break the upgrade into logical, sequential parts. Remember, while your stakeholders have identified what they want, it is your job to successfully deliver it. To accomplish this, you need to understand the components and dependencies that can affect your scope decision-making process.

At the outset of the scope decision it is a best practice recommendation to start by breaking up the upgrade along technical-functional lines and upgrade in that order. Unfortunately with SAP NetWeaver the technical-functional decision points can become a bit fuzzy. The general rule of thumb is to consider the technical upgrade to contain only those technical and functional pieces required due to dependencies. The new functional capabilities that SAP NetWeaver brings that do not fall into the required category should be treated as separate efforts.

As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, in deciding how to logically break down an SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade, you need to understand your dependencies first. It is helpful to develop a matrix showing what SAP and other application components and versions are currently installed and their compatibility to upgraded components. Assuming you have already addressed prerequisites for hardware, patch levels, database sizes, and bolt-on applications, such as faxing and tax solutions (some of which can be found in the SAP NetWeaver Upgrade Guide, which is located at SAP Service Marketplace, Installation & Upgrade Guides), the first scope decision point involves SAP Solution Manager.

SAP Solution Manager 7.0 is the minimum required for the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade. If you are not currently at this version, you need to either include it in the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade or upgrade to SAP Solution Manager 7.0 (which is the current version at the time of this article) prior. The basic (no new functionality) Solution Manager upgrade is a small, straightforward upgrade so including it does not add significant risk to the SAP ECC 6.0 project.

The next scope decision point to understand involves Unicode. If you are not currently at Unicode prior to the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade, you need to decide if you want to convert to Unicode before or as part of the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade. It is a requirement for SAP ECC 6.0 and future releases to be Unicode enabled. SAP has a guide that incorporates an SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade and Unicode conversion together as one project.

A third scope decision involves the SAP NetWeaver Portal. If you currently have the employee portal in SAP ERP (formerly known as Employee Self-Service [ESS]) and the manager portal in SAP ERP (formerly known as Manager Self-Service [MSS)] in use, then you are probably also using SAP NetWeaver Portal. SAP ECC 6.0 makes significant changes to the employee and manager portal, which require the new features of SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0. You have to decide to upgrade to SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0 before or during the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade. It is a medium-risk effort to incorporate the SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0 upgrade into your SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade scope. Once you reach an SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0 decision, you should have a good idea of the overall scope of your upgrade project.

As you can see when you begin to break the project into its smaller components there is a gray area between a pure technical (hardware, software versions) and functional (new capabilities, new modules) upgrade effort. The Portal, for instance, could be considered a functional upgrade, but due to the dependencies it may have to be incorporated into the technical portion of the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade.

It is recommended that you package the new security features rollout and the new SAP ECC 6.0 functionality rollout (features such as the SAP General Ledger, formerly the new G/L) as secondary and tertiary projects.

Another scope decision involves SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0. It is possible to combine the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade with SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0, but it would be a high-risk effort with lots of moving parts to manage. This is a clear dividing line when discussing scope with your stakeholders. The best practice recommendation is to treat the SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 upgrade as a separate effort, as it has its own set of complex dependency and scope questions.

For an SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 upgrade the same general recommendations apply, technical first followed by security and functionality rollouts. SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 is very flexible, and technically you can convert to it without converting the underlying SAP R/3 system to SAP ECC 6.0. SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 does have a dependency on SAPGUI 7.1. It is recommended that the new SAPGUI 7.1 be rolled out prior to the SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 upgrade.

If your SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade is a standalone upgrade, then the first scope decision will involve Unicode. Unlike an SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade, an SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 upgrade does not require Unicode. If you decide to convert to Unicode as part of your SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 upgrade, it will have to be completed as part of a two-step process. Either convert, then upgrade, or upgrade, then convert. It cannot be combined the way the SAP ECC 6.0/Unicode upgrade can.

Just as the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade brings new functionality so too does the SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade. The new security features of SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 are a complete rework of the existing security model and should be treated as a separate project/rollout after the technical upgrade. The new functional tools provided by SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 should be the final piece of the rollout and should also be treated as a separate effort.

This leads me to mention another new piece of SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 functionality ? the Java stack. The BI Java stack is needed for the SAP NetWeaver BW Portal. SAP NetWeaver BW now has its own portal that depends on the BI Java stack installation. If you choose to hook SAP NetWeaver BW to the SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0, then all you need is the Java plug-in to make the connection. Either portal can be used for Web delivery of BI or BW reports. Although it can be implemented along with the SAP NetWeaver BW technical upgrade, the Java stack adds additional tasks and testing with no true value-add until the new tools are rolled out. If implemented without the tool rollout it is configured generically and then requires rework once the final tool rollout is completed. It is recommended that the Java stack implementation be treated as part of the functional rollout along with the new SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 tools. In this way the Java stack is configured to support the specific tools that will be used by your company and will only need to be tested once.

Once you have an idea of your scope and your strategic roadmap, you should focus on developing a prototype of your scope to prove your assumptions. The SAP recommended approach to prototyping is through the development of a sandbox environment. Typically the sandbox environment is a smaller version of your development environment (DEV). For the purposes of prototyping the technical upgrade, it is recommended that you ensure the sandbox closely resembles production. This may mean adding additional memory, CPU, and interface connectivity on a temporary basis to provide the best prototyping results possible.

Through the use of a sandbox environment, you can prove assumptions, practice the upgrade, develop timings, and train. It is an excellent way to mitigate risks during the upgrade. If you have chosen the “big bang” approach of technical plus functional all at once, a good prototype can also show you the complexity of what you will truly face at go-live. Conversely, a good prototype can assist you in providing proof to the business areas that you can meet deliverables within timeframes. It can help establish your credibility as you propose the incremental approach, and it allows your project team to practice and become comfortable with the project. The sandbox prototype environment can be used as a training ground for new functionality while the project moves on to the production path thus ensuring continued value added opportunities to both the business and systems teams. As an example, once you have completed a prototype upgrade, business resources can experiment and practice using new features and functionality in that environment to help determine what should be rolled out after the upgrade is over.

Finally, you should develop a good test strategy as part of your scope planning. The SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade will involve the testing off all key transactions in all modules implemented, interfaces, and batch processes. For the SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade, testing will involve all InfoCubes and key reports. In testing key reports remember to ensure you identify those reports that only run at select times during the year. These types of reports are often overlooked in the test strategy and their oversight causes issues later.

To recap, scope is the most important question to be answered by a project manager when deciding how to proceed with an SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade. Understanding your stakeholders’ expectations, along with the various technical dependencies, will allow you to make informed decisions regarding scope. Use of a sandbox environment allows you to prototype your assumptions and provides an opportunity to develop risk mitigations. Once scope is defined, develop a detailed test strategy as part of the scope planning.

The following is a best practice recommendation for upgrading to SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0:

• Conduct a technical upgrade to SAP ECC 6.0 — included in this effort is a Unicode conversion, SAP Solution Manager 7.0 upgrade, and SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0 upgrade
  
  
• Conduct SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 upgrade
  
  
• Execute SAP ECC 6.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 new security rollout
  
  
• Execute SAP ECC 6.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 new functionality rollout to include the BI Java stack

Resources: Who Should Be on the Implementation Team?

Once you have defined the project’s scope and strategic roadmap, you need to properly identify the resources and skills necessary to implement the project. Every good project manager develops a resource plan. Your upgrade implementation team should include the following individuals and teams:

• Basis team: As with any SAP initiative, it all starts with Basis. For either the SAP ECC or SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade, you will most definitely need a well-seasoned Basis administrator or infrastructure specialist. With the addition of Java to the BI landscape, the Basis administrator will morph into a new SAP NetWeaver administrator. As your SAP landscape becomes more technically complex, the skill sets required to support your SAP systems have to grow accordingly. A novice Basis administrator should not be the lead Basis administrator responsible for a Unicode conversion, SAP ECC upgrade, or SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade. Individually each of these efforts requires at least one seasoned Basis administrator and depending on the complexity of the individual landscapes, possibly two. The experienced Basis administrator needs to be involved at the very beginning of the project and should help to generate the schedule, develop a list of risks, and formulate mitigation strategies.
  
  
• Technical leads: For the SAP ECC upgrade, you should assign full-time technical leads for each module implemented in the project. The complexity of the upgrade should not be underestimated, and your technical leads will help to ensure all modules are being supported. With the technical-only approach, the major focus for the technical leads will be to ensure that regression testing is completed successfully. As with any upgrade any number of small parameter changes and tweaks will be required depending on the module. The technical leads should be well versed in the modules that they support and be able to identify and resolve these issues quickly. They should be brought in early in the project once the schedule has been identified.
  
  
• Test manager: Another key resource is a seasoned test manager. This role is very important if you are implementing the SAP ECC upgrade as a technical upgrade only because the bulk of the work occurs in regression testing. Another critical component of your resource plan is identifying test resources as early in the project as possible. As the project manager you should work with your test manager to break your testing into logical and manageable pieces. Start with the technical team running key transactions and interfaces. Next bring in the business team to test reports and end to end business processes. This approach helps ensure the testing process builds upon itself and reduces risk in troubleshooting. As you can see, a technical upgrade still requires business support so it is critical that you obtain the business buy-in discussed earlier.
  
  The SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade also requires a seasoned test manager and business support. The number of testers depends on the number of InfoCubes and reports requiring testing. The project manager should work with the test manager and the business areas involved to ensure the correct amount of test resources are assigned.
  
  
• Employee portal or manager portal consultant: If you are required to upgrade to the SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0, make sure you have a seasoned ESS/MSS consultant on board along with at least one dedicated in-house resource for knowledge transfer. It is always a good practice to assign an in-house resource to work with consultants to ensure knowledge transfer and ownership occurs. This is often overlooked, and consultants are brought in, do their job, and leave with no one left behind to understand what they did. The new employee portal and manager portal configuration is especially difficult because the employee portal has been completely redesigned using Web Dynpro. Web Dynpro is the new Java-based programming language for SAP Web development. In addition, many companies have highly customized their employee portal and manager portal modules, which add multiple levels of complexity during an upgrade.
  
  
• BW functional lead: For the SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade, you need a seasoned BW functional lead ? in addition to a Basis administrator/infrastructure specialist. There is an even split in the technical tasks between Basis and BW. If you are implementing the Java stack (to support your existing SAP NetWeaver Portal) during your upgrade, you need to ensure that your Basis administrator has the necessary Java skills. The introduction of Java into the SAP landscape presents a slew of additional technical configuration considerations.
  
  
• Authorizations lead: For either upgrade, in addition to the resources identified above, you should also have an experienced SAP authorization resource assigned at least part time to the project. Even without implementing the new security model, a dedicated authorizations resource ensures timely support for troubleshooting issues, role changes, and testing support. They become intimately familiar with the project and therefore can respond to the issues in timelier fashion.

Schedule: How Long Should the Project Take?

SAP recommends setting aside a four-to-six month time frame for an SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade. Within the same time frame, you should be able to accommodate an SAP Solution Manager upgrade and an SAP NetWeaver Portal upgrade. A Unicode conversion as part of the SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade adds an additional one to two months to the total time. This accounts for a simple sandbox-development-QA-production SAP system landscape structure.

You can complete an SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade in six to eight weeks depending on the testing methodology you implement. In general, this upgrade takes approximately one week per environment for each technical task, followed by one to two weeks of testing. If you are adding Unicode to the upgrade, expect an additional one to two weeks per environment.

Other Considerations

With the integration of Unicode into SAP ECC or SAP NetWeaver BW, you can expect roughly 30% more CPU power, 50% more memory, and 35% additional disk space required in your environments. With either upgrade, there are a number of prerequisite items that can be completed prior to starting the projects to ensure your schedule is as streamlined and efficient as possible:

• Update the hardware
  
  
• Update the operating system
  
  
• Update the database
  
  
• Update all SAP software to the latest patch levels
  
  
• Conduct cleanup and housekeeping activities in all of your environments
  
  
• Identify the upgrade media required and download it
  
  
• Finally, if your Basis administrators do not possess Java skills, train them as early as possible

Completing these prerequisite activities will help to keep the upgrade schedule on a streamlined path.

Lessons Learned: What Should I Watch Out For?

The complexity of an SAP ECC upgrade correlates to the number of modules implemented within your SAP R/3 environments — more modules = more complexity. An SAP NetWeaver Portal upgrade is unique to each customer’s specific configuration, which can make it difficult to fully assess. The SAP NetWeaver BW upgrade is not as complex as an SAP ECC upgrade, but once you have completed the prerequisite tasks, the upgrade should progress smoothly.

The following reflect several SAP ECC 6.0 items you need to keep an eye on:

• System Landscape Directory (SLD). Make sure you have the SLD running and understand its function. This is a Basis administrator tool.
  
  
• SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure. This isn’t required unless you are making changes to the SAP-delivered Web Dynpro applications and programs.
  
  
• Adobe Document Services (ADS). ADS may be required depending on the forms you use. For example, Adobe Interactive Forms are set to replace both SAPscript and SmartForms.
  
  
• Special Ledger variables in transaction codes GD13 and GD20. The underlying programs containing screen variants changed with SAP ECC 6.0. In SAP R/3 4.7, the programs were RGGD1300 and RGGD2300, respectively. In SAP ECC 6.0, the programs are RGGD1300_FISL and RGGD2300_FISL, respectively. SAP provides a program that maps the variants from the old to the new programs in your production environment. Once mapped, create a transport in the production system that includes all variants created and used. Migrate that transport back to the development system and then run the conversion program. The variants should now associate with the new programs. Capture the migrated variants in a transport in the development system and migrate up through to the production system as you upgrade each system. The other option to fix this would be to manually recreate the variants in the development system and migrate through the environments with the upgrade.
  
  
• Payroll and the General Ledger. The program that contains the SAP General Ledger coding is RPCIPE00. There are various options within RPCIPE00. Therefore, even though you are using the program it doesn't necessarily mean you have to use all the SAP General Ledger features. You can, in fact, continue to use the old program if you are more comfortable with it.
  
  
• Payroll tax. Prior to SAP ECC 6.0, you set up tax remittance in the G/L under Posting a Wage Type. In SAP ECC 6.0, you need to set up the tax remittance under Posting US Tax. To do this, you need to delete the G/L information in Posting a Wage Type, and set up the information under Posting US Tax.

There are some employee portal and manager portal and SAP NetWeaver Portal items that you need to keep an eye on:

• If you upgrade to SAP ECC 6.0 and you are using employee portal and manager portal, then you must make sure you are at SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0. Don’t underestimate the employee portal and manager portal setups.
  
  
• The employee portal is pretty straightforward compared with manager portal.
  
  
• Many companies implement the employee portal standard configuration.
  
  
• The manager portal is the bigger deal.
  
  • The manager portal reporting is poorly documented.
    
    
  • Many companies have customized their manager portal reporting, which can create issues during an upgrade.
    
    
  • Obtaining an experienced HR consultant to help is often necessary.
    
    
• If you plan on making customizations to the delivered Web Dynpro, you better have experienced Web Dynpro developers. (Web Dynpro is the Java development model being used by SAP NetWeaver platform.)
  
  
• In general, there is a lot of coordination required between the portal and configuration pieces. Communication between teams is key in the upgrade, especially if you have separate portal and configuration development teams.