What is the Transport Impact Analysis?
The Transport Impact Analysis (TIA) checks in SAP environments whether objects of a transport request can be executed correctly and without problems in the target system. Transport requests that have successfully completed a TIA will behave in the target system exactly as they were tested in the source system.
A TIA carries out the checks across systems. This is the only way to determine whether the objects used by the transported objects (eg transport of a function module) (eg table in the importing parameters that is not also transported) are causing problems in the target system.
The Transport Impact Analysis also checks whether the transported objects are used in the target system and whether the users in the target system have problems with them. This also applies to fire-fighting transports.
The transport impact analysis is therefore of central importance, especially in complex SAP environments with high transport volumes.
Why are Transport Impact Analyzes so important?
Nowhere else does it feel like more changes are taking place than in complex SAP environments. It is almost to be expected that errors and inconsistencies will occur despite the Solution Manager, ChaRM, HALM or Focused components. Because the duration of the development phase of parallel change requests is long. Systems, data models, processes or simply departmental requirements change several times in complex environments during this time. Objects with different versions are created. Mutual uses and interfaces can change in the systems between the test and the time of transport.
To ensure that all objects are generated and activated without errors after the import in the target system, a coordination process between development and basis is required. With systemic, automatically performed tests, these often iterative and therefore inefficient times are drastically shortened, since the machine almost eliminates errors in advance.
Cost reductions in the development of changes of up to 90% and quality increases of up to 99.9% make a real and measurable contribution to DevOps and agility.
Transport Impact Analysis and the SAP Solution Manager
In the modern releases, there are different components in the Solution Manager that can be responsible for change management. These are easily sufficient for most pure standard environments, provided they are activated and used in daily operation.
In customized environments or more complex system environments with comprehensive workflows, however, these tools reach certain limits, which can cost a lot of effort and money in the event of an error.
This is where the Transport Impact Analysis comes in, which is often made available via the third-party add-ons. Such a TIA should work across systems and in a release context and, above all, determine the following impacts:
- Usage Impacts
- Element Impacts
- Impacts due to overtakers
- Impacts due to overwriters
- Impacts due to critical objects
- Impacts due to dangerous objects
- Impacts due to transported objects from critical processes
Transport Impact Analysis – the tool
One of the best-known tools in the TIA market is U:R4-TIA (“You are for TIA”) from Firnkorn & Stortz. Over time, this tool has saved customers hundreds of thousands of man-hours in the form of reconciliation rounds and error corrections, as well as millions of euros in correction and downtime costs. Further details on this Solution Manager add-on can be found in the data sheet and in the field reports on U:R4-TIA.
Also, read more on related topics
Your contact at Firnkorn & Stortz on the subject of Transport Impact Analysis
Firnkorn + Stortz GmbH
Thomas Firnkorn