Data Consistency Toolbox - Introduction
SAP offers 'Solution Manager' as the central platform within an organization for all E2E solution operations. One of the features provided by SAP Solution Manager 7.0 is the role-based Work Centers. These Work Centers can be accessed via one single transaction 'solman_workcenter' and offer the user a central location for the administration and operation of their solutions.
Some of the Work Centers available include:
- System Administration
- System Monitoring
- Service Delivery
- Change Management
- etc
The Data Consistency Toolbox (DCT) is centered around Solution Manager 7.0 and is included in the 'Business Process Operations' Work Center. Within this Work Center there are a number of different actions the user can perform including Data Consistency Management. Here the user has two options. He can either 'Propose Data Consistency Tasks' or 'Propose Data Consistency Tools'. By clicking 'Tasks' the user will be asked for specific search criteria such as Solution Name, Event (i.e. Initial Data Load), Source Logical Component, Product Name, Affected Logical Components etc. By clicking 'Tools' the user will be asked for search criteria such as Solution Name, Logical Component, Product Name, Business Object and/or Application Table. The output from the search will be the creation of a Data Consistency Toolbox Analysis session. This session will be visible in the session list of the Work Center. The user will be able to navigate directly from here to the session itself.
Data Consistency Toolbox - Analysis Session
As mentioned the DCT Analysis session consists of two distinct consistency checks:
- Data Consistency Tool Catalogue
The current blog deals with the DC Tool Catalogue session only. Please follow the link above to find more details about the DC Task List session.
Data Consistency Tool Catalogue
SAP has provided a large number of reports and transactions to customers that can be used to check data consistency, to avoid data inconsistency or to correct inconsistent data. A large proportion of these reports are available in SAP standard and therefore can be accessed by every customer without additional implementation effort. The objective of the Tool Catalogue session is to make these reports and transactions accessible from a central workplace and to enable the customer to do the following:
- Search for the data consistency check report which is most appropriate for the business purpose in question
- Schedule / execute the data consistency report
- Evaluate the result
Session Design
The DC Tool Catalogue session is created based on the criteria entered in the Work Center. The consistency checks in the session itself are dynamically created. Each check represents a report or transaction to be executed on the selected logical component. Each check is unique. This is achieved by assigning a unique Tool ID. So every combination of the search parameters 'Product', Business Object' and/or 'Application Table' can have at least one unique Tool ID if results exist. The name of each Tool ID contains the product name and the report or transaction name.
The Checks
DCT Workcenter Search - This highlights any errors that may have occurred during the Work Center search. The check is red if errors occurred, green if not. An example would be 'NO_TOOL_IDS_FOUND'. This means no results were returned based on the search criteria selected.
Search Criteria - This allows a Data Consistency Tool search to be performed within the session. The search works in the same way as the Work Center search but also enables the user to reuse the same session for different searches. As displayed below, the user can easily perform a new search if needed. The check also logs all previous successful and unsuccessful searches.
Search Result - This displays the results of both the Work Center and Session search. It displays all the relevant data required for performing a data consistency check. The user can create checks for some or all of the results. He can also delete rows from the table or reset the table to the inital Work Center search result:
Consistency Checks - These checks are created and deleted dynamically based on whether they are selected in the results table. Each check represents a different Context Instance with the name of a report or transaction and the logical component. Within each check there are various functionalities available to the user.
These include:
- Remote Transaction Call into source system. The user can go directly to a specific transaction in the system. In the case of 'SE38' the program name will also be filled in the field of the entry screen.
- Direct access to an SAP Note in the Service Marketplace.
- Create a Service Desk Message on the Solution Manager to address consistency issues raised in the session. The message number, status and priority will be logged in the session. The status and priority will update automatically. The user can navigate directly to the message from the session by double-clicking the message number.
- Log any comments in the check.
- Instruction texts for the results checks are also dynamic. So when the check is created dynamically then so is the text. For custom Tool ID's in the customizing table, the customer can create their own SAPScript text via transaction SO10.
- Summary - This check is updated automatically with the rating and other relevant data for each consistency check in the session:
Ratings
Most checks in the session are rated manually by the user. The rating for the summary check and overall session is set automatically. These are based on the highest rating for the consistency checks. So if one consistency check is red then the summary and overall rating will be red. The overall session rating is saved to database table DSVASESSADMIN. It is updated automatically as the session rating changes. The rating in this table is in turn replicated in the Work Center where it is displayed in the list of sessions.
Related Blog
Please have a look at the New Business Process Monitoring Functionalities in SAP Solution Manager - functionalities For Incons... of Dagmar Rostek, too. There you will find some general hints what data inconcistencies are and how they can be handled. Also, it is described how an automated monitoring for data consistency objects can be set up in Business Process & Interface Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager.
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