Grouping Work Packages/Work Items with preliminary import for Focused Build

Introduction:

Some customers may have the issue to have an urgent need for a bugfix in Focused Build during an implementation project. Focused Build offers the possibility to ship a Work Package (WP)/Work Item (WI) via the preliminary import functionality. But what if the bug fix consists of more than one Work Item? And those Work Items have dependencies between the transports and should be shipped together. A so to say small bugfix release, independently of the major release. That indeed is possible. Although it is not without risk, as there may be dependencies to other WIs which are not part of the bugfix release.

But how do I group bugfixes and ship it to Production without building a release?

This can be done by a special BATCH_IMPORT_TRIGGER import variant.

Preconditions:

First of all you need the Work Items, which are part of the bugfix release in status ‘successfully tested’. All released transports connected to those Work Items need to be imported completely (all clients which are part of the Change Control Landscape) in the QAS systems (first test systems).

Please keep in mind, that all Work Items need to have a 1:1 relation to its WP with ST-OST SP06 or higher.

No other Work Items than those which are part of the bugfix release are in status ‘test for preliminary import’ or ‘Released for production import’.

Now I will describe the steps you have to perform. The BATCH_IMPORT_TRIGGER import variants you need are described afterwards.

Step By Step:

1. Set the status of the Work Items which are part of the release to ‘test for preliminary import’
2. Import into PreProduction System:

Start the /SALM/BATCH_IMPORT_TRIGGER report with import variant /ZALM/PRE_PRELIM in SA38

Please run the report in TEST MODE first and check that only your bugfix release transports are listed.

3. Please check whether all transports are imported into the preproduction system without error (RC4 or lower).
4. Perform a test on your bugfix release in preproduction system.
5. Switch the status of all Work Items which are part of your bugfix release to ‘Released for production’.
6. Import into Production System:
7. Start the /SALM/BATCH_IMPORT_TRIGGER report with import variant /ZALM/PRD_PRELIM in SA38

Please run the report in TEST MODE first and check that only your bugfix release transports are listed.

8. Please check whether all transports are imported into the production system without error (RC4 or lower) and the bug fix has worked.
9. You can now close the Work Items which were part of the bugfix release.

Import variants of report /ZALM/BATCH_IMPORT_TRIGGER

 Import variant for PreProduction System

 /ZALM/PRE_PRELIM

Customizing for status of WI which shall be part of the import:

Status E0012 – Test for Preliminary Import

Customizing for Import parameters

If you do not set the UMODE ‘Prelimenary Import’ the transports will not be kept in the import queue for reimport with the later Focused Build major release. This may lead to a downgrade!

Import variant for Production System

 /ZALM/PRD_PRELIM

Customizing for status of WI which shall be part of the import:

Status E0014 – Released for Production

Customizing for Import parameters

If you do not set the UMODE ‘Prelimenary Import’ the transports will not be kept in the import queue for reimport with the later Focused Build release. This may lead to a downgrade!

Landscape Customizing for Systems PreProduction (SID:PRE) & Production (SID:PRD)

You have to specify to which systems the import Variants shall deploy to.

Configuration for system PRE & PRD

Client config for system PRE

Client config for system PRD

Conclusion:

This article explains how to group WP/WI and how to deploy them together with the preliminary import function of Focused Build. The preliminary import functionality is a way to ship a functionality or fix from your project directly into the productive system without waiting for a release. This can be used for small urgent fixes but also  to ship roles from to production prior to the release.

The preliminary import functionality should always be handled with care and it is very much recommended to implement the Downgrade Protection functionality in a Focused Build environment to check upfront to a production and/or preproduction deploy. Nevertheless whether it is a preliminary shipment or a regular release deploy.