Introduction
Increasing number of Partners are leveraging SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition TDD (Test, Demo & Development) system using Non-Commercial Licensing (NCL). This helps them with internal learning, building skills & to showcase their expertise to potential customers.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is bundled with Central Business Configuration (CBC) & Cloud Identity Services (CIS). Before using S/4HANA Cloud system, we need to carry out series of provisioning activities. While doing so, some common issues are being encountered by many.
As part of Team supporting Partners with these issues, I have gathered some inputs which could help Partners to prepare better on these. This blog is an attempt to cater to such issues by suggesting the reasons behind, precautions & remedial actions. It will complement the existing onboarding videos & Blogs. Links to them & other resources have also been provided here so that this Blog can serve as a reference till the onboarding process is completed.
Onboarding Process
Ordering the System
First step begins with ordering the license material on Partner Portal. Partner can check license details on ‘Manage My Services’ app. Technical Administrator details (Name & associated S-User ID), Contract start & end dates can be seen here. Technical Admin mentioned here receives the Welcome Emails with system details (Links to CBC, IAS/IPS & S4 Tenants) & User ID to be used. It is recommended that the same Admin User completes the provisioning process & then creates additional Users for further use of system.
Do refer the resources provided in these mails like Onboarding Process video, Identity Authentication Help, Identity Provisioning Help, CBC Setup Help, S/4HANA Cloud Setup Help, SAP Activate Roadmap, FAQ & Onboarding Guide document.
Please note that the request placed by Partner needs approval from Esigner from Partner’s organization. For approval, he/she can follow the link in the received mail. If the mail is missing, one can directly go to 'Manage My Approvals' and approve the request. Video showing the process to carry out approval is here. It is also available under PartnerEdge > Partnership > Licenses Test, Demo, and Development > Step 4 > Approve & Reject Requests.
Kindly note that if your company already has IAS, CBC or CALM subscription via some other license, the same systems are ideally utilised for your new order. This does not hold good for S/4HANA Tenants; new tenants are provided with each new order. In case of any licensing queries or change in Technical Administrator, you can drop mail to TDD Licensing team here.
System Provisioning
UPDATE (April 2024) - Bundled Provisioning of SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud TDD
Earlier, CALM, CBC & S/4HANA Cloud systems needed separate provisioning (using button 'Start Provisioning' as seen in below screen 'Systems and Provisioning in - SAP for Me') in defined sequence one after other with waiting time in between each.
Now, CALM, CBC & the S/4HANA Customizing tenant are all provisioned simultaneously with single click via 'SAP for Me'. With this change, Partner can now start with next steps sooner.
Provisioning process starts with utility SAP for Me (SAP for Me > Systems & Provisioning > Provisioning). For onboarding videos showing step-by-step process, kindly refer this Blog by Alessandro Sabidussi. You can start the provisioning process using button 'Start Provisioning'.
The Provisioning Status flow is: Start Provisioning > Provisioning Triggered > Provided
System provisioning sequence is CBC > Cloud Identity (IAS/IPS) User & Groups sync > S/4HANA Tenants (Customizing & Development). CALM provisioning is optional & can be done at a later stage.
Sequence for - System Provisioning (CBC, S4HANA Tenants), CBC Org. Setup and Additional Users Setup
You would have gathered URLs of 5 Tenants from onboarding mails received (CBC, IAS, IPS, S/4HANA Cloud Customizing & S/4HANA Cloud Development). You can also get the links of S/4HANA Tenants & CBC in ‘SAP for Me’. It is recommended to share these links with additional Users set. Before setting additional Users, we need to finish the CBC ‘Scope and Organizational Structure’.
Note that CBC system may take 24-48 hours for the status to change to ‘Provided’. In case the CBC system gets stuck in 'Provisioning Triggered' status for long time, please create a Case with component XX-SER-FORME. Please refer the KBA 3298005 for more details.
For any help on provisioning process, you can drop an email to S4HC TDD Onboarding Team here.
Identity Authentication / Provisioning
Welcome email provides the connected IAS/IPS tenants. Technical Admin is already marked as Admin in IAS tenant. You can know about your IAS/IPS links and administrators here. You will find the IAS/IPS Tenants listed. Please note that for TDD systems, tenant Type would be 'Test'. At the end of row, under 'Details' (... > Show), you can see the IAS Admins associated as seen below. Check KBA 3035908 for more details. For details of steps involved, help links provided above (under Ordering the System) can be used.
IAS/IPS Tenants in Utility - iamtenants
If the existing Admin has left the company or so, you need to create Case with SAP for setting new Admin. Please refer KBA 2570572 for more details.
Kindly note that the BTP account associated with the S/4 TDD license is just a shell (empty) account. It is meant for Cloud Identity purpose only. For BTP development, you need to procure separate BTP license (details here). You can reach out to Build Support Team for your queries related to BTP Build here.
S/4HANA Tenants Provisioning
You provision the S/4HANA Customizing Tenant. Option for provisioning the Development tenant is in grey mode as seen in screen below. It is provisioned automatically with Customizing Tenant. This process may take 24-48 hours for provisioning to be completed.
Systems and Provisioning in - SAP for Me
Technical Admin user already has the SAP_BR_ADMINISTRATOR role assigned to it. This user can login to either of the S/4 Tenants without any additional step. However, the Deployment Target assignment via CBC needs to be done separately for Development tenant also.
You can refer below links for more details on ABAP development.
- Developer Extensibility - Connect to the ABAP System
- Installing and configuring Eclipse for ABAP Development Tool
Finally, Status of CBC & S/4HANA Cloud tenants should be ‘PROVIDED’ before proceeding to next steps.
Final Provisioning Status - PROVIDED
CBC Organization Structure Setup
Once the CBC & S/4HANA Tenants are provisioned, you can proceed with ‘Scope and Organizational Structure’ config. Note that ‘Manage Workforce’ App in S/4 may not be available unless this is completed. Also refer KBA 3236033 for 'Unauthorized' error received in CBC.
For Partner TDD systems, Project Type would always be 'Evaluation' & not 'Implementation'. You can create multiple projects. You need to assign a deployment target for each project. We recommend going with suggested Project settings as per Onboarding videos. You can add more countries/regions later via 'Initiate Change'. For steps, refer SAP Help here.
High level process flow of CBC activities is: Evaluation Project Creation > Scope and Organizational Structure > Completing Milestone - Scope and Organizational Structure > Product-Specific Configuration
Phase 'Scope and Organizational Structure' involves activities like Defining Scope, Assigning a Deployment Target, Confirming Scoping Is Completed, Specifying Primary Finance Settings, Setting Up Organizational Structure, etc.
Please note that confirm 'Scope and Organizational Structure' phase takes time (few hours to 2 days) while confirming the milestone, the system remains pending at 60% or so for long time. In case of any error in the process, there will be a notification raised at the top right area of the Project experience menu with further instructions. You can refer KBA 3288076 for more details.
CBC Milestone Confirmation in Progress
SAP also provides Demo Master Data for the S/4HANA Cloud TDD tenants. The option of going with or without demo data is at deployment target level. You can choose to activate a scope item with demo data for one deployment target & without for another.
Kindly note that the selection of demo data can only be made during the initial project set-up in CBC. Choose the ‘Include Demo Data’ checkbox to add demo data as seen in screen below. If this step has already been completed without selecting demo data, you cannot go back and select later. If you still need to have the demo data, only option is to terminate the current subscription & procure a new one. For it, you can reach out to TDD Licensing Team by dropping mail here.
Once you get the new system, in the CBC Evaluation Project, please ensure that you select the option to opt for demo data while assigning the deployment target. For steps, refer SAP Help here.
For more details & other options to load Master Data, kindly refer Page 9 of FAQ. Regarding transactional data, you need to create it manually in the tenant.
CBC Evaluation Project - Assign Deployment Target - Include Demo Data
Additional Users Setup
Technical Administrator or First Admin User (FAU) gets most access automatically. For additional Users, the setup can be done in either of the two ways:
- Create additional Users in CIS/IAS and sync in S4HC system Or
- Create Users in S4HC system and sync with CIS/IAS.
We recommend second option as it saves time associated with manually creating users again. High level steps involved with the second option are as below.
- Maintain Business Roles (S4HC)
- Manage Workforce (Create User/Worker record & Assign Roles) (S4HC)
- Import S4HC Users in CIS/IAS
- Assign Groups to User in CIS/IAS
- Replicate this User & Groups from CIS/IAS to CBC
Further details of Step 3 (Import S4HC Users in CIS/IAS) are:
3a. Download file from S4HC (Go to S4 system App - Maintain Business User > click 'Download' > Download for IDP > excel can be downloaded and used as it is in IAS import) (Note: We can drop records if they don't need any update)
3b. Import file in CIS/IAS (Login to CIS/IAS > User Management > Import Users >Select the CBC system> browse for the file > Save)
3c. Trigger password reset Email (For password reset Email to User > go to IAS > User Management > User Details > Authentication tab > Password details > click on 'Send E-Mail')
3d. User password reset (User now receives an email to set password > click on the link 'click here to reset your password' > set password > Login)
Note: Due to missing roles, you may not be able to find Manage Workforce App in S4 system. In such case, refer KBA 3347571 for more details.
General Guidance
1. Tutorials & KBAs
We recommend using Tutorials Library where all SAP S/4HANA Cloud Tutorials (videos & PDF) can be accessed at one place. Also, note that 'Services & Support' section in ‘SAP for Me’ can be used for searching KBAs, documentation, managing S-Users, raising Cases, etc. It can be used for all SAP solutions & not just SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
2. Case Creation
Kindly note that proper Component selection is very important for better response on Case created for SAP. For component guidance, you can check FAQ (P14, 15). In general, if you are referring to KBA for an issue, the Component mentioned therein must be used for any Case around that topic. You can refer KBAs 1296527 & 2563519 for more guidance on creating a Case. Below Notes could be of use to understand the ways of reaching SAP for support & to expedite the Cases.
- 3072643 - Utilization Guide for Different Support Platforms - SAP S/4HANA Cloud
- Customer Interaction Center: Hotline - Email – Chat
- SAP Incident Escalation Procedure
3. Scope Items - Solution Scoping in CBC System (UPDATE to Original Blog basis requests received - April 2024)
Scoping helps us to define the capabilities of our solution by choosing the countries/regions and business scenarios relevant for the business. This process enables SAP Central Business Configuration (CBC) system to put together the preconfigured settings for the particular solution. More details on Scoping are here.
Scope items allowed for the Partner TDD systems can be found at this internal only link -
Scope Items for Various System Types | SAP Help Portal. It can be used by SAP employees to confirm if the scope item needed by a Partner would be available or not (refer 'Scope Items Table' below). This has been included here basis many queries we had received where Partner needs to confirm scope availability before deciding to proceed with the TDD system.
Scope Items Table
This Table lists the Scope Items & if they are allowed in Partner TDD system (Accept/Reject column). The ones marked as 'Accept' can be activated in Partner TDD system. No additional cost is associated, it is part of TDD license itself. Add-On Scope Items or Consumption-based Items can also be activated (if marked as 'Accept'). Ones marked as 'Reject' cannot be activated, even at additional cost. Partner will not be able to use such scope items in TDD systems.
Scope items have been categorized as 'Standard' & 'Non-standard'. Non-standard scope item (marked as 'x' in column 'Non-standard Scope Item?') are the ones whose availability depends on your individual scope. It cannot be activated by Partners on their own. They need to create separate Case & Support Team enables it for them.
For link between Scope Item and Scope Bundle (Enterprise Management, Public Sector Management, Baseline Accelerator, Retail), spreadsheet 'Availability_Dependencies_EN_XX.xlsx' can be referred. It is available in Note 3122430 (Scope item activation request for CBC provisioned S/4HANA Cloud Essentials tenant) or at this internal only link. Search for the term 'Availability and Dependencies'. Spreadsheet lists LOB, Business Area & Scope items. Worksheet 'Scope_BP_CLD_ENTPR' has 4 columns for CBC Scope bundles (Enterprise Management, Public Sector Management, Baseline Accelerator, Retail). 'Enterprise Management' column tells you if the scope item is part of Enterprise Management bundle (Yes/No).
For further help, kindly refer these links.
- Scope item activation request for CBC provisioned S/4HANA Cloud Essentials tenant
- Request to activate scope item
- How to check if scope item is activated in the system?
- How to create a support case (contact SAP Product Support) - SAP for Me
Note: Kindly refer 'Comments' for updates to the Blog Post. Also requesting all to enter Comments if you have anything to add further which can be helpful to all.
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