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Author's profile photo Mark Muir
Mark Muir
May 25, 2023 5 minute read

What tools do you require as SAP S/4HANA cloud, private edition customer to get in touch with SAP Service & Support

In my work as product expert for the SAP S/4HANA Customer Care and Regional Implementation Group (RIG), I’ve come across several of our cloud customers who are not sure what support and service request channels should be used for which situation.

The objective of this 5 min read is to share project experiences and key SAP Support asset’s that will help your SAP S/4HANA Journey, achieve faster product support and improve quality of service managing Cases and Service Requests.

Cloud ERP Customer Onboarding

Your implementation journey with RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition post Discovery phase begins with an official handover to the Preparation phase of your project and introduction to the Digital Onboarding Experience.

Welcome: RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition

Welcome offers enablement workshops and self-service content to support Access Your System, during these sessions key stakeholders will learn about SAP ECS Roles and Responsibilities (RR), SAP Trust Center, User & Authorizations and SAP Product Support.

What is Support and What is Consulting?

Support vs Consulting can be a contentious discussion if not discussed early in the Preparation phase of your project.  Project experience has shown us, a structured implementation team aligned on do’s, don’ts, and pre-requisites to manage Service Requests and Cases (Incidents) helps achieve contractual service level agreements (SLA’s) and meet customer expectations of SAP Support.

For this blog we will use SAP Enterprise Support as the foundational model of support, however other support plans are available.

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Prepare your Team for Support Success

SAP accreditation training for Product Support is recommended for all customers and partners, modular training and final assessment (1 hour) teaches how you can work best with Product Support to get faster, easier closure to your incidents and receive a Digital Badge!

  • Self Service & Support Case (Incident) Prevention
    • SAP for Me – Your digital companion on the journey to the intelligent enterprise
    • Product Knowledge – Where to Find Information about SAP’s Software
    • Knowledge Base – Helping Customer’s Help Themselves
    • Guided Answers – The Perfect Tool to Solve any Complex Problem
    • SAP Community – Where SAP Professionals Collaborate
    • SAP Support Portal – Support for The Intelligent Enterprise
    • Troubleshooting and Diagnostic Tools – Troubleshoot the issues, diagnose problems, and connect securely.
    • Support Log Assistant – Analyze text files such as logs, configuration files or traces automatically.

Are all Tickets created equal?

SAP software platforms manage, and track customer support interactions generally known as Tickets.  However, Service Requests and Cases (Incidents) are not synonymous, each are created for a specific task have a different outcome and can be assigned to different organizations with SAP.

  • Service Requests (SR’s) are created for delivered systems and based on the SAP Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) Roles & Responsibilities (R&R) Services requested are technical, basis or cloud infrastructure services and categorized as Standard, Optional and Chargeable Services.

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  • Cases (Incidents) are unexpected events experienced by functional or technical user roles (e.g. error in the software, missing documentation etc.) that require help from SAP Support.  There are numerous SAP Notes and KBA’s supporting incident management, Cases are managed in accordance with Cloud Maintenance agreements.

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My Support @SAP for ME

SAP for Me and dashboard Services & Support is your central entry point of access for all support-related topics and questions.  Navigate tabs Overview, Knowledge Search, KBA’s & SAP Notes, Cases and Service Request features, connection is available on your PC or remote.

Getting Started

  • Complete Cloud ERP Customer Onboarding training and enablement sessions
  • Create S-users with appropriate system access to create Cases and Service Requests and access SAP for Me (see Users & Authorization)
  • Test key S-user access accessing Services & Support dashboard, follow up and create/change/ display Cases and Service Requests.
  • Familiarize yourself with SAP Support portal and SAP Notes, see Appendix

Users & Authorization

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Create Service Request

  • Service Requests use predefined templates by service with specific input fields and detail e.g. Infrastructure, Database Management, Core Technical Operations etc. Note, failure to use the right template by service, topic and category may delay delivery of the service impacting SLA’s. If in doubt, check with your SAP ECS contact.
  • By exception SAP Enterprise Support services such as Continuous Quality Check & Improvement Services utilize case functionality to initiate a request. Check with your SAP ECS contact.

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Create a Case

  • What a customer COE should know about SAP Incident Management is well documented in the flip book (see pages 11-18). In additional, 1. Incidents should be created and owned by one S-User ID, multiple user updates are discouraged, 2. Report only one issue per component per incident, do not bundle multiple issues this causes confusion and delay processing the case, 3. SAP Business Impact questions are mandatory see SAP Note 1281633, 5. Detail the steps to recreate the problem and include supporting attachments for example screen shots of an system error, transaction codes, trace files, logs etc.

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Speed up Service Requests and Cases response times

  • It is not unusual for customers to want to expedite processing of Service Requests and Cases. Direct communication with the Customer Interaction Center (CIC) is mandatory and the responsibility of the requestor.  For Service Requests it is also recommended to work with your assigned SAP ECS contact.

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Conclusion

An efficient IT Service Management organization depends on operable controls, procedures, and tools. Adoption of a self-service mindset helps empower users by increasing their knowledge and self-sufficiency.  With SAP for Me, role base content is published on a continuous basis and documented in release notes.

Thanks,

Brought to you by the SAP S/4HANA RIG team.

 

Appendix

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