BW/4HANA Upgrade - Key Learning

We recently completed a technical upgrade from BW on HANA to BW/4HANA for a major energy company in Germany. The migration, executed via an In-Place Migration, culminated in a successful production system go-live in November 2024.

Key Learning from the Process

During the technical upgrade, several issues were identified, with the most critical one related to Transformations.

This issue, encountered during the development system upgrade, caused a delay of nearly 24 hours. While such a delay might seem minor in a development environment, it could have had significant repercussions if it occurred in the production system, potentially disrupting the planned upgrade timeline and technical testing.

A critical insight is that the Transformations causing errors during the technical upgrade were not flagged during the execution of the BW/4HANA readiness check report.

When technically upgrading a BW system you must move the system from BW mode to Ready for Conversion Mode before the Software Update Manager (SUM) can be executed by your BASIS Team colleague.

To achieve this, several key tasks must be executed: RS_COMPATIBILITY_TO_B4H, RS_B4H_TO_READY4CONVERSION, and SAP_BW4_TRANSFER_READY4CONV.

During the execution of the SAP_BW4_TRANSFER_READY4CONV task, specifically at the "Transfer Metadata" step in the development system, we encountered error messages in the following format:

"Check object XXXXX (type TRFN) before metadata transfer."

These errors were caused by Transformations with either missing sources or missing targets.

For instance, upon reviewing the error message for the Transformation TRFN 0SP06SJNNT4P7I1JS1H6MSO39H5X6IW5, it was determined that the source of this Transformation did not exist.

The solution implemented involved debugging the task and excluding the problematic TRFN from the scope.

Note: At this stage of the SAP_BW4_TRANSFER_READY4CONV task, errors of this nature can only be resolved by SAP. Debugging the task is required, which must be performed by an SAP Developer.

To prevent this issue during the technical upgrade of the remaining systems in the business landscape, we incorporated the following checks into our upgrade preparations:

1. Export the contents of the RSTRAN table.

2. Identify the source and target of each Transformation (e.g., ADSO, RSDS, TRCS).

3. Verify the existence of each source and target by checking the corresponding object tables.

4. Delete any Transformation (TRFN) that lacks a source and/or target.

5. Export the contents of the RSTRAN table again to confirm updates.

6. Open all remaining Transformations using transaction code RSTRANGUI:

If the Transformation opens successfully, it is consistent.
If it fails to open, review and delete it as necessary.

This process ensured that similar issues were identified and resolved before proceeding with subsequent system upgrades.

If you or your colleagues have further questions and would like to understand more about BW/4HANA upgrades, please feel free to contact us - services@seaparkconsultancy.com