Error when viewing users Curricula after b1808 upgrade...others experiencing this?

[may_thang]

After upgrade to b1808, for some users we are getting the following error when accessing their Curricula:

Failure: [FaultEvent fault=[RPC Fault faultString="com.plateausystems.elms.util.helper.ElmsUncheckedException : java.text.ParseException: Unparseable data: "" at:" faultCode="Server.Processing" faultDetail="null"] messageId="3ACEAEC1-CE09-32C8-38B6-A6ABFEA204B5" type="fault" bubbles=false cancelable=true eventPhase=2]

This seems to be a known bug (https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2686158) and appears with users who have a curriculum assigned to them that has more than 9 contents.  It is fixed with b1811 however we are VSAAS so we won't get this until next year's upgrade.  This is a big problem since we wouldn't be able to see the curricula assigned to the user nor directly assign curricula from this view.  The workaround is not going to work for us as we have hundreds of curricula that has more than 9 contents. 

[Roger_Reeves]

@may thang - we're vSaaS that just upgraded to 1808 this past weekend.  We're experiencing the same issue with the User Curriculum Search from the Admin view.  Users can still see the curricula on their learning plans by using the My Curricula tile on their Learning home page (but admins can't).  We suspected it was due to the volume of curricula assigned but haven't heard that officially yet.

[Tim_Pascal]

Hi, we too are seeing the error and have asked SAP to clarify if this is scheduled to be back-ported as part of the next patch (June). If it is not, we will lobby SAP to have that included.

[may_thang]

We have escalated to our CSM as we can't wait that long for the patch. My users on the admin side is having to work around by running reports and using the user needs mgmt. This process is much slower and added to their workload.

[Param_SFSF]

We also have the same opinion that it is difficult for a customer to go along with this bug for a longer time.

Can SAP help the VSaas customers by applying an emergency patch to fix this at the earliest?

BR,

Param

[YuriO]

Same for us. Informed SAP directly and placed a ticket accortdingly.

Waiting for resolution within earliest possible patch. Workaround on curricula modification as a wokraround would not be a sufficient option.

[Ibrosseau]

Same here, we notice this error the monday following the Vsaas upgrade.

Logged a ticket to SAP. Last communication from them was the following:

"the service is unable to get the assignment date of the respective curricula in the admin preference"

From my understanding, the correction needs to  be perfomed on the database, hence possibly no patch, but a repair as soon as they can pin point how to.

But I'll let the expert talk.

This situation is business critical for us, we cannot attach the Job related curriculum using the button on this page. That means manual assignement and having to revert back once  it's fix. Alot of extra work and logging.

[Cathy_Twarog]

We are also experiencing this issue when administrators attempt to view the Curricula page from a user's record.  We have hundreds of curricula that have more than 9 items.  This is unacceptable and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.  As a VSaaS customer, we upgrade once a year -- we cannot wait until next year for this to be fixed.  Extremely disappointed that SF has not addressed this issue already.

[Sany-Said]

Hi Everyone, thank you for raising the concern. We are reviewing the issue and targeting to fix it at the earliest possible/feasible iteration to resolve this issue.  Once triage has been completed, I will provide an update, but please know that we understand the impact of this issue and the concern you have regarding it.  

Thanks,

Sany

[Cathy_Twarog]

@sany said -- Do you have an update on this?  This is a major issue affecting our validated environment!

Thank you,

Cathy

[PiotrPioro]

we are affected by this issue as well and this is the last SAP update:

The fix will apply to your instance when it is upgraded to b1811 and above versions.

Workarounds given by engineering include unassign and re-assign the curricula, edit the contents to remove some from the curricula or create the curricula again and reassign.

b1811 will be installed for validated customers in March 2020 and we can not wait so long for that and the workarounds are not applicable for us. Please treat this as urgent

@sany said : could you double check it share with us when the issue will be fixed for validated customers?

[Sany-Said]

Hello again,

We are targeting the next VSaaS patch to resolve this issue, which is due out in May for your review in Sandbox/Preview environments. If anything changes I will keep you posted.

Hope this helps!

Sany

[may_thang]

Hi Sandy,
The next patch doesn’t go in to Production until June. We can’t wait that long. My users are very frustrated and the work around provided doesn’t work for us and causes a lot of overhead. Can we get an emergency patch to get this fix in earlier? Thanks!

[Sany-Said]

Hi Everyone, 

Just wanted to follow up with an update that we are going to deploy emergency patch 1808.21 to resolve this issue as per our conversation on the Life Science User Group call.  The deployment schedule will be as follows:

May 1 - Sandbox

May 3 - Preview

May 5 - Production/Pre-Production

Official communications coming shortly but we pushed to have this fixed as soon as we possibly can, as per your collective request.

Sany

[may_thang]

I received notice of a patch release notice for for vsaas customers this weekend (May 4-5, 2019). Does anyone have the patch notes as I want to verify that this patch is only the curriculum page fix?

[Maria_Molvin]

We need the patch notes too since we will need to do a change control. The "Click here" link in both the original and the update messages is not working. It goes to a blank page on the SAP Help site. I have searched on the Release page, to no avail.

[ward_scott]

Please note that this issue did not begin with the vSaaS implementation of b1808. We noticed this in our production system and reported an incident (#161820) on 3/21/19. That was two days before the scheduled upgrade.

I have asked how this unscheduled change could have occurred without notice, but have not yet received a response. Additionally, SF made a SSO change immediately before this which shut our entire system down for days (incident #160567.) Again, no response on why an unscheduled change was made to a vSaaS environment.

I am becoming increasingly concerned over the management, or maybe just the internal attitude, regarding the vSaaS environments.

Ward

[MarcusKnappe]

Hi Maria,

as Sany posted in another message Release Notes 2018.p21

LMS b1808p21	PTCH-29978	LRN-44194	Fixes a communication error that occurs when you click on Curricula in the User snapshot.
LMS b1808p21	PTCH-29979	LRN-53873	Fixes a time out issue that impacted the User Curriculum Item Status CSV report when run with large data.

Kind Regards,

Marcus

[ward_scott]

I received a reply to my query regarding why a change was allowed off schedule:

The problematic situation was related to a background system setting and not related to the core system settings. With that, the vSaaS upgrade schedule should not be considered with this.

I find this to be completely unacceptable and attempted to help them understand through an anology. 

Any background system setting changes, or any changes, that affect the functionality of a vSaaS production environment absolutely must require validation on our part. Think of it from a pharmaceutical point of view. What if a software update to your medication is a "background setting" and is not validated? And yet is still adversely affects the functionality of the machine creating your drug. This is why vSaaS exists. 

I know my example may be a bit extreme but I just don't think they understand why vSaaS exists. If you agree, please communicate with SAP that this is unacceptable!