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Central SAP Service Connections 

At Australia Post we have several concurrent projects running in parallel. So it is not unusual for the Basis support team to open two or three system connections per week for Support problem resolution, Remote Consulting or Technical Integration Checks.

 

The process of opening and closing SAP Service Connections is not a particularly difficult task, but it can become time consuming and and messy if not approached centrally. To manage Service Connections professionally and proactively, you must know how many connections are open at any point in time. This way you can avoid leaving connections to Production systems open unnecessarily. 

 

 

 

The old Way.

In the old days, the Basis support staff had to navigate through the Online Service System (OSS) and sign up for the rcPack Turn-key Remote Connection Service Package. These days, most Basis administrators already spend some portion of their day in the Service Marketplace. So the opening of a new Service Connection is nothing new. 

The following steps must be followed to open a Service Connection for your required system/service after logging onto the SAP Service Marketplace:-

 

The new way.

Solution Manager provides streamlined access to Centralized SAP Service Connections from the DSWP transaction or the System Landscape Management work centre.

 

Some features of the Solution Manager method of maintaining Service Connections:-

  • Multi-customer enablement for Service Providers
  • No need to install Service Connector on your desktop
  • Easy opening of a connection at a future point in time
  • Central view of the entire landscape from one screen
  • Combination of the setup System and Connection Data in one wizard 
  • Multi time zone support

 

The following steps must be followed to open a Service Connection for your required system/service using Solution Manager:-

 

Investment.

Setting up your systems for Central Service Connections in Solution Manager is a snap. It should take a junior Basis support person around 10 minutes per satellite system to configure this feature. There is an automated setup wizard to guide you through the Setup configuration of Central SAP Service Connections.

SAP Help

Let Merlin show me

 

Savings.

Once configured, the SAP Central Service connections will save you several hours per week going back and forward to the Service Marketplace when you forget to open, extend or close connections. It also promotes diligence by monitoring who opened the system connection and why. Lastly, you will never be harassed by the Change Management or Audit team who criticize you for leaving the Service Connection open to the Production system for too long.

 

Show me.

YouTube video. 

 

Bonus Information.

Automated SAProuttab maintenance with transaction SOLMAN_SAPROUTER.  

Service Connections Overview with transaction SOLMAN_CONNECT. 

Administration of several customer numbers

Regular refresh of Service connection data.

The RKT approach to learning

Available Service Connection Types. 

 

References.

SAP Help

Manage Service Connections and SAProuter with SAP Solution Manager

 

The ALM difficulty rating.

Expertise required. Low.

Time taken to deploy. Low.

Payback time. Fast.

Overall rating. Just do it.

 

 train

 All aboard the ALM train.

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