Best Recommended Approach for BW Upgrade Strategy from 3.x to NW 7.x

In this blog, I will share my personal experiences and views on BW upgrades from 3.0x to 7.x. This post will show you the best recommended strategy approach which anyone can follow-up during upgrades.

To minimize business interruption, upgrade costs and risks and to maximize effective user transition, technical upgrade with phased functional rollout in 3 stages is proposed.  

Stage 1: Technical upgrade of 3.x system to NW 7.x

               New SAP GUI roll-out  

Stage 2: BW Accelerator

              BW Security Migration

              Re-partitioning of Infocubes  

Stage 3: Migration to the NW 7.x front-end tools

              Migration to the NW 7.x dataflow

              Adjust portal network

Recommendation: Combine Stage with Phase 3 implementation to benefit from the development and testing synergies.

PS:

Also you can upgrade BW 3.5 to NetWeaver 7.3 directly

Please refer to http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/d00f4372-e2fa-2d10-1ea7-efdfacd07965  

Stage 1:

 Recommended Scope:  

• Functionality
  • Strictly a technical upgrade of the BW system.
  • Upgrade of SEM add-ons.
  • Existing Infoproviders, extractors, open hub interfaces, 3rdparty interfaces, scheduling, identified reports will be tested and validated on the new release.
  • Existing SEM related content will be tested and validated on the new release.
  • Evaluation of any current modifications/enhancements to see if the functionality for such modification can be reproduced by using the standard components of the upgraded system. This would reduce the burden of Customer to support such modifications in the future.
  • Plug-in upgrades on the R/3 side.
  • Unicode conversion of the data.
  • Update relevant documents with changes introduced by NW 7.x 
• Technology
  • Hardware adjustment
  • Integration with Solution Manager 7.0 (Pre-requisite)
  • Integration points with Data stage, See Beyond, Crystal reports   

System Landscape – Recommended IT Scenarios  

• SAP now follows a scenario-based-go-to-market approach through ‘IT Scenarios’.
• Following BI scenarios are planned in Client’s upgraded NW 7.x system.
  • Enterprise Data Warehousing
    • Modeling the Enterprise Data Warehouse
    • Running the Enterprise Data Warehouse 
• Enterprise Reporting, Query and Analysis
  • Excel Integration
  • Ad Hoc Query
  • Information Broadcasting
  • Visual Composer
• Business Planning and Analytical Services   

Activities:  

• Technical Upgrade Preparation
• PREPARE
• UPGRADE
• Post Upgrade Configuration
• Post Upgrade validation & Remediation
• Unicode Conversion
• Post Unicode validation & Remediation

 Testing Approach: 

• Participation from as varied a group who use BW from different perspectives recommended.
• Separate end to end testing by:
  • Data Governance
  • ITG nominated test team
  • BW Support
  • Upgrade Team
  • End Users
  • Four independent test cycles by different stake holders to ensure completeness and accuracy:
    • Unit Testing (2 Cycles)
      • Who’s involved: Upgrade Team, BW Support
      • Test theme : BW Transactions, BExreports, output, configuration, variables, extraction.
• Integration Testing (2 Cycles)
  • Who’s involved: Data Governance, ITG nominated test team
  • Test theme: End to end processes, Security, Middleware, Interfaces
• User Acceptance Testing
  • Who’s involved: End Users at various sites
  • Test theme: Security, local reporting, connectivity
• Dress Rehearsal
  • Who’s involved: Global BASIS group
  • Test theme: Technical upgrade, transports, tuning the ‘cookbook’.

 Upgrade Cutover:

Stage 2:  

Recommended Scope

• Implementation of Business Intelligence Accelerator
• Migrate to Netweaver BW 7.x Security
• Re-partitioning of infocubes & implementation of revalidation data sources

 Stage 3: High Level Steps

• Reporting Strategy
  • How Netweaver BW 7.x tools should be used
  • Portal strategy
  • Implement new Front-End tools
    • Migrate old reports to the Netweaver BW 7.x environment
    • Implement Web-based delivery
    • Implement report distribution
  • Migrate to the new Data flow
    • Build new solutions using Netweaver BW 7.x dataflow
    • Migrate existing structures when there is a major rework.
    • Synergies in training and development with Phase 3.