How to Prepare for an SAP BW/4HANA Remote Conversion

For a successful execution of a remote conversion project, efficient project planning is very important. We’ll walk through essential planning steps in this section.

Project Planning and Understanding

As you commence the remote conversion process, begin by focusing on high-level project planning. Ensure that you establish clear boundaries for all major milestones, outlining key objectives and timelines. This proactive approach fosters alignment and clarity among team members, paving the way for smooth project execution. By delineating these milestones up front, you create a road map that guides the project’s progression and facilitates effective communication and coordination.

It’s also crucial for the project team to possess a comprehensive understanding of the project landscape. This includes ensuring clarity on both the current (N) and upcoming (N + 1) landscapes. By having a clear grasp of these environments, the team can navigate potential challenges more effectively and make informed decisions. Assessing both landscapes allows for a holistic view of the project’s evolution, enabling proactive planning and resource allocation. Additionally, it fosters a proactive approach to addressing any discrepancies or gaps between the current and future states, ensuring smoother transitions and successful project outcomes.

Finally, the organization must have a precise understanding of the required downtime for the SAP BW sender system. This information should be communicated clearly to end users to manage expectations and minimize disruptions. By proactively outlining the expected downtime, stakeholders can plan accordingly and mitigate any potential impacts on operations. Transparent communication fosters trust and cooperation among all parties involved, ensuring a smoother transition process. Additionally, it allows for effective coordination of activities and facilitates a more efficient use of resources during the downtime period.

User Roles and Authorizations

In this section, we’ll discuss the importance of user roles and authorizations, including authorization objects and user roles for remote conversions.

User Roles

The user who executes the remote conversion should have proper roles and authorization. There are two kind of users, execution users and communication users. When you use the DMIS add-on, the single role and composite role will be available in the system. Both kinds of users are described here:

• Execution user: This role serves as a composite role specifically tailored for execution expert users with extensive project administration authorizations. It consolidates and incorporates the authorization settings from various roles, listed in the table below, providing users with a holistic set of permissions required for efficient execution and project management. The included authorizations cover a spectrum of functionalities, ensuring that individuals assigned to this role have the necessary access and control over project-related activities.

• Communication user: The SAP BW/4HANA conversion cockpit offers flexibility by not having preset destinations or user names. For seamless communication between the original SAP BW system and the target SAP BW/4HANA system, it’s necessary to set up an RFC destination using the Define RFC Destination Users within these RFC destinations should be configured as dialog type users and must have the necessary authorizations, which are specified in certain composite roles, listed in the next table. This ensures a smooth and secure transition process during the conversion, allowing users to effectively manage and execute tasks in both systems.

User Role for Remote Conversion Execution

SAP Note 228033, “SAP BW Landscape Transformation Solutions - Authorization Role Required in Customer System,” has an attachment with all the required objects and details such as OBJNAME, OBJTYPE, DEVCLASS, ACTVT, TABLE, and so on.

To define the roles, follow these steps:

1. Download locally the file TXT, which is attached to SAP Note 2280336.
2. Use Transaction PFCG to create SAP_LTRL_MASTER roles in your SAP BW sender system.
3. Create them by uploading the file TXT.
4. Generate an authorization profile for the authorizations. When prompted for an authorization profile name, a valid name in the customer namespace is proposed.
5. Assign the role SAP_LTRL_MASTER to the user who will execute the SAP BW landscape transformation solutions, as shown in this figure.

Authorization Objects and Roles

To run the SAP BW landscape transformation solutions in customer systems, the end user needs enough permissions. Role SAP_LTRL_MASTER contains the necessary authorizations required to execute the SAP BW landscape transformation solutions. It will provide access to the following authorization objects:

• LTRL_EXE: Authorization for LT Business Warehouse Transformation
• S_ADMI_FCD: System Authorizations
• S_ALV_LAYO: ALV Standard Layout
• S_APPL_LOG: Application Log
• S_BDS_D (BC-SRV-KPR-BDS: Authorizations for Accessing Documents
• S_BTCH_ADM: Background Processing: Background Administrator
• S_BTCH_JOB: Background Processing: Operations on Background Jobs
• S_DEVELOP: ABAP Workbench
• S_GUI: Authorization for GUI Activities
• S_RFC : Authorization Check for RFC Access
• S_RS_ADMWB: Data Warehousing Workbench - Objects
• S_RS_AUTH: BI Analysis Authorization in Role
• S_RS_ICUBE : Data Warehousing Workbench - InfoCube
• S_RS_ODSO : Data Warehousing Workbench - DataStore Object
• S_RZL_ADM: CCMS: System Administration
• S_TABU_CLI : Cross-Client Table Maintenance
• S_TABU_DIS : Table Maintenance (via standard tools, e.g., Transaction SM30)
• S_TABU_NAM: Table Access with Generic Standard Tools
• S_TCODE: Transaction Code Check at Transaction Start

The authorization roles for various activities in the SAP system are defined as follows:

• LTRL_EXE: This role allows activities such as display, change, and delete (ACTVT = 01, 02, 03, 06, 07, 16).
• RSANPR: Authorization for activity 03 is granted in this role.
• S_ADMI_FCD: Permissions for function codes PADM and SUM are provided in this role.
• S_ALV_LAYO: Activities related to SAP List Viewer (ALV) layouts are authorized (ACTVT = 23).
• S_ALV_LAYR: Like S_ALV_LAYO, this role authorizes ALV layout activities (ACTVT = 23).
• S_APPL_LOG: This role grants authorization for activity 03, related to application logs.
• S_BDS_D: Authorization for activity 03 concerning Business Document Service (BDS) documents is provided in this role.
• S_BTCH_ADM: Authorization is given to execute batch administration with BTCADMIN set to Y.
• S_BTCH_JOB: Permissions for various batch job actions such as delete, list, plan, protect, release, and show are included in this role.
• S_CTS_ADMI: This role authorizes transport-related activities, with CTS_ADMFCT set to TADD and TABL.
• S_DATASET: Permissions for activities 33 and 34 related to datasets are granted in this role.
• S_DEVELOP: Activities encompassing display, change, delete, and others are authorized in this role (ACTVT = 01, 02, 03, 07, 16).
• S_DMIS: Authorization is given for activities 01, 02, and 03 related to DMIS.
• S_GUI: Permissions are given for GUI activities with ACTVT values 60 and 61.
• S_RFC: Authorization is given for RFC-related activities (ACTVT = 16).
• S_RFC_ADM: This role authorizes activities 03, 36, and 39 concerning RFC administration.
• S_RS_ADMWB: Authorization is given for activity 03 in the Administration Workbench.
• S_RS_ADSO: Permissions are given for activities 03 and 23 related to ADSO.
• S_RS_AUTH: Authorization is given for BIAUTH with a wildcard (*).
• S_RS_B4H: Authorization is given for activity 16 related to SAP BW/4HANA.
• S_RS_COMP: Authorization for various composite-related activities, including display, change, delete, and execute (ACTVT = 01, 03, 06, 16) based on queries.
• S_RS_COMP1: Like S_RS_COMP, this role authorizes composite-related activities (ACTVT = 01, 03, 06, 16).
• S_RS_DTP: Authorization is given for DTP activities.
• S_RS_HCPR: Permissions are given for activities 03 and 23 related to SAP HANA CompositeProviders (HCPR).
• S_RS_ICUBE: Authorization is given for activities 03 and 23 related to InfoCubes.
• S_RS_ODSO: Permissions are given for activities 03 and 23 related to ODSOs.
• S_RS_OHDST: Authorization is given for activities 03 and 23 concerning open hub destinations (OHDST).
• S_RS_PC: Authorization is given for activities 03 and 23 related to process chains.
• S_RS_TR: Permissions is given for activities 03 and 23 related to transformations.
• S_RZL_ADM: Authorization is given for activity 03 in the Runtime Repository administration.
• S_TABU_CLI: Authorization is given for client maintenance (CLIIDMAINT = X).
• S_TABU_DIS: Permissions are given for display, change, and deletion activities (ACTVT = 02, 03, BD) in table maintenance.
• S_TABU_NAM: Authorization is given for activity 02 in table maintenance and specification for tables starting with CNVLTRL*.
• S_TC: Authorization is given for Transaction STC01 with activities 03 and 16.
• S_TCODE: Permissions are given for various transactions, including Transaction RSA1, Transaction RSD1, Transaction RSDCUBE, Transaction RSRV, Transaction CNVLTRL*, Transaction SE16, Transaction SM21, Transaction SM50, Transaction SM51, Transaction SM66, Transaction ST06, Transaction ST04, Transaction ST22, Transaction SU53, Transaction RSOADSO, Transaction RSPC, Transaction CNV_MBT_SLOP, Transaction STC01, and Transaction RSB4HCONV.
• S_TRANSLAT: Authorization is given for translation activities with ACTVT = 02.
• S_TRANSPRT: Permissions are given for transport-related activities with ACTVT values 03, 05, and 43.
• PLOG: Authorization is given for PLOG activities.
• S_USER_AGR: Permissions are given for user administration activities with ACTVT values 01 and 02.
• S_RS_TTOOL: Authorization is given for activities 03 and 23 related to transformation tools.

Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Migrating to SAP BW/4HANA by Renjith Kumar Palaniswamy.