To beginners entering the world of SAP, the technical side of it isn’t always obvious or welcoming. There are some similarities with other IT systems, it’s true – but plenty of uniqueness exists too.
I’ve put together some introductory information as a beginner’s guide to SAP, that could help those who have more recently stepped into this world. Though hopefully, it will also provide a bit of food for thought for everyone else.
In this article I will cover SAP systems, clients, transports, landscapes, and common design/architecture patterns that influence the application development processes for a company using SAP software. Plus, we’ll look at how SAP change capability has evolved from once being an IT-led operational function to a strategic differentiator for organizations.
SAP change capability has become a source of competitive advantage
To get started in this world, we must answer an essential question: why is an organization’s ability to deliver secure, fast SAP changes more crucial than ever?
In today’s economy, the speed and reliability of SAP change have become a direct source of competitive advantage. Every new product, pricing update, supply chain pivot, or compliance adjustment depends on SAP systems adapting fast — and safely.
When change processes are slow, manual, or fragmented, the business struggles to respond to market shifts in time. But when SAP change moves at the speed of business and can adapt quickly, organizations can outpace competitors by delivering innovation faster, protecting system stability, and freeing their teams to focus on higher-value strategic work.
What is an SAP System?
An SAP System is an installation of one of SAP’s products. The role that the system plays (Development, Production, etc) can be configured and is usually referenced somehow in the System ID (SID) via a naming convention.
For example, GFD would be the Development System of the Global Finance Landscape, whilst EHP would be the European Human Resources Production System.
Types of Data and Clients within an SAP System
A client is defined as a self-contained commercial, organizational, and technical unit within an SAP System. Some data is stored in specific clients (Client Dependent Data) including Application Data, User accounts and Client Specific Customizing. All business data within a client is protected from all other clients.
Conversely, some data is stored at a system level and is available to all clients in the system (Client Independent Data). This includes cross-client customizing and the underlying repository objects which determine how the system works, including the data dictionary (e.g. tables and structures) and the workbench (reports, programs, and so on).
There are often strong mutual dependencies between Customizing tables. For this reason, tables are not maintained individually, but as Customizing objects. A Customizing object can contain both client-specific tables and cross-client tables.
Default installations include Clients 000, 001 and 066. Client 000 is basically used as working client only when you do support pack upgrade or implementing additional languages, etc. Otherwise, client 000 should not be used as a working client. 066 is used by SAP for remote support.
Beyond the default clients, customers are then able to create clients for their own use within the range 002-999.
What is an SAP System Landscape?
A landscape is a logical group of systems based on the same SAP product / release, with different purposes.
The most common landscape is a 3-tier one, meaning that it has 3 systems within the landscape. Typically, these are Development -> Quality Assurance -> Production. Why is that?
Production is considered the priority. It is expected to be used “productively” by hundreds, if not thousands, of users and as a result needs to be available, functional, and stable. This is also the system in which SAP audits are performed, so only production transactions should be executed here. At the other end, we have Development. This is the system in which changes, fixes, projects are all worked on (unless we set up a ‘multi-track’ configuration), often by hundreds (or even more) of developers or functional consultants.
Sometimes work needs to be backed out or dummy data needs to be created to test new functionality, and such activity cannot happen in the Production system itself, which is “locked” to prevent direct changes to customizing or repository objects (see the section on transports, below) and minimize the risk of unexpected accidents.
This amount of concurrent activity gives rise to the need for an additional environment that sits between Development and Production, typically referred to as a Quality Assurance system. The reasons for this system are:
- To provide a working environment that includes ‘production-like’ data (can be achieved by refreshes or test data provisioning)
- To connect with other systems (SAP & non-SAP) in order to test interfaces
- To provide a stable representation of what will be included in the next “release” to Production
Temporary & Optional Systems
Beyond the typical landscape, there can be many other permutations including the following types of systems:
As demonstrated throughout our beginners guide to SAP, there are many reasons why additional systems may be included into the landscape either on a temporary or permanent basis.
What is a System Refresh?
A system refresh is a way of aligning the data, customization and repository of a system to ensure that they do not drift apart over time (i.e. contain changes which have been abandoned) and also to ensure up-to-date data is included in the system for testing purposes. A refresh is basically a copy from another system which overwrites what was in the one being updated.
It typically includes work to rename the system once refreshed and set up interfaces and user accounts equivalent to their state before the refresh. The decision on whether to refresh a system, and from where, depends upon the type of system in question. A summary of some different options follows:
Transports – Moving changes through the SAP landscape
An SAP Transport Request (or Transport for short) is the vehicle used to capture change and to move it between systems or clients. A Transport can contain customizing and/or workbench contents and goes though the following lifecycle:
- Transport Creation – creates an empty transport as a container
- Change Recording – store changes to customizing, or creation of/change to repository objects
- Release Transport – locks the transport contents and enables it to be exported and then imported to other systems/clients
- Import – process by which the changes contained within a transport are imported into the target system
Whilst originally created to manage changes to ABAP objects, SAP has extended the concept of transports as a way of capturing change to also encompass HANA, BW, Java objects (and more) via the Enhanced Change and Transport System (CTS+)
As you can imagine, during a large and complex project teams of developers and consultants can create hundreds, if not thousands, of transports, which need to be managed and coordinated in a controlled way to ensure that the right ones move to the downstream systems within the landscape at the right time, in the correct sequence.
Conclusion
I hope you have found this beginner’s guide useful, either as a primer for your up-coming work in SAP or to spark some re-consideration of how you manage your SAP estate in future.
The top SAP-run enterprises recognize that SAP change has shifted from a technical necessity into a strategic advantage, and that the speed and precision of SAP change directly determines business success.
Intelligent Change Management (ICM) for SAP gives enterprises a smarter, data-driven approach to SAP change — replacing manual, reactive processes with an intelligent, automated, and governed model that empowers SAP teams to deliver continuous change at the speed of business.
Download The SAP Change Management Index to find out how global organizations are driving continuous SAP changes without risk.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the role of a sandbox server in an SAP environment?
A sandbox server is the space where teams experiment safely within the SAP environment. It allows consultants to test configurations and run examples without affecting the production server or business operations. This setup ensures best practices are followed before moving changes into the three system landscape.
2. How does SAP HANA improve overall business processes?
SAP HANA enhances business processes through its in-memory database architecture, enabling faster analysis and reporting. It allows enterprises to handle larger SAP workloads efficiently while simplifying integration with other applications and external systems.
3. What are the key components of SAP architecture?
The key components of SAP architecture define how SAP applications, data, and processes work together to support enterprise efficiency.
Below are the main elements that make up a typical SAP instance and ensure seamless ERP operations:
- Application Server: Runs business logic and user requests.
- Database Platforms: Store and manage essential business data.
- SAP GUI: Provides user access to SAP applications.
- SAP Instance: Groups resources for specific functions.
- ABAP System: Executes custom programs and ERP services.
4. How does SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) connect with existing SAP solutions?
SAP BTP serves as the integration layer that unifies data and processes across SAP solutions, SAP NetWeaver, and SAP ECC.