Cleaning out the kit bag (and automating SNC entry updates)

As a consultant I have found myself collecting tips and tricks and throwing them into my kit bag over the years. But a recent piece I thought I’d share made me realise that sometimes there is a need to empty the kit bag and throw a heap of it out. It’s much like the gym or baby bag – over time stuff accumulates that was once new and shiny but is now well and truly past it’s use by date (the reaction is an ewwww, yuk; Why is that there; and what was that?!?!?). So we throw it out.

I know I’m not the only one with their special bag of tricks that is accumulated over different projects. We find ourselves doing the same activities repeatedly and so automation or some other neat trick is implemented. We find ourselves keeping a copy (assuming allowed to) or taking note of the solution and approach to have it up our sleave when we find ourselves in a similar situation at a different client.

But if we are not careful, we can find our once neat trick now a mess for future clients. A better, more elegant solution becomes available, but we are too set in our old ways and don’t seek out that knowledge. After all, we solved that problem years ago. If it ain’t broke, then why do we need to concern ourselves finding better solutions?

And here we find ourselves introducing more modified and custom mess into a client when there is a SAP standard solution. Even worse to discover the solution is free, automated and takes seconds to use

I have now thrown out of my kit bag my ECATS and Scripts to map the user SNC value (transaction EXTID_DN) for SAP Business Client SSO requirements as well as manually entering SNC tab in the user master. These two manual steps of which one required a script have been replaced with SAP standard transactions codes scheduled to run periodically in background. The winning transactions are /IWFND/BULK_USER_MAP and SNC1. SNC1 had been around of ages but I never paid much attention but the transaction /IWFND/BULK_USER_MAP snuck in under Gateway/Fiori namespace so I only stumbled on it recently.

Screen Shot: /IWFND/BULK_USER_MAP Adds SNC mapping entry to EXTID_DN

Screen Shot: Transaction SNC1 (Updates SU01 SNC User Tab)

Over to you – what’s have you thrown out of your kitbag recently? Is it time you go through yours to see what should be retired? Do you have a time limit as to when you question the validity of a solution? Do you find yourself turning up and discovering outdated solutions on your system and get frustrated that no one has suggesting implementing the newer options?

Cheers

Colleen

P.s a  bit of a cross post between two tags but I thought this could be a good skills discussion.