Analyze your SAP Custom Objects the right way using KTern.AI

• Introduction

• What are the types of SAP custom objects?

• Advantages of SAP Custom Object Analytics using KTern

• How is KTern’s Custom Object Analytics different from that of its competitors?

Introduction

Every organization is unique and has its own business process. SAP’s standard software cannot cover all the business processes completely. Therefore, to meet the individual requirements of organizations, the standard SAP software is customized or adapted to suit the business needs. You can enhance SAP’s standard software through custom objects.

A typical ECC system comprises of a large number of SAP custom objects such as Z-objects, enhancements and modifications. They may or may not be used productively. Hence, during the transition from SAP ECC to S/4HANA, it is recommended to do some housekeeping. It will help you eliminate the custom objects that are not used in productive business applications anymore.

Hence, custom object analytics is an important step before moving to S/4HANA as it will help you minimize your custom object adaptation and migration efforts. You can also use this step to find out which objects are more important than the others. KTern performs the custom objects analysis in the Discover phase of the Activate methodology and it is part of the Impact Analysis module.

In addition, you can find out SAP S/4HANA Assessments using KTern in this article.

What are the types of SAP custom objects?

Organizations using SAP can customize their standard business process using custom objects. Any object with a prefix of “Z” is called as a custom object. A bunch of custom objects are grouped in a custom package.

Furthermore, custom-developed objects are broadly classified into six main categories as follows:

Custom Dictionary Objects
Tables
Structures
Views
Data Elements
Domains
Table Types
Match Code Objects
Lock Objects
Append Structures
Custom Reports
Report Programs
Module Pool Programs
Batch Data Communications (BDCs)
Custom Function Builder
Function modules
Function groups
Custom Forms
SAP Scripts
Smart Forms
Custom classes
Interfaces
Custom Web applications
BSP programs
ITS programs
Custom Enhancements
User Exits
BADIs
Subroutine pools

KTern’s Custom Object Analytics

KTern is an all-in-one  product  suite  built for SAP Digital Transformations. With decades worth of SAP Tribal knowledge combined with automation, governance and collaboration capabilities,  KTern  is built to help the existing ECC customers migrate to S/4HANA.  KTern  covers the entire lifecycle and guides you before, during and after the conversion.  Its inbuilt S/4HANAPEDIA rule engine combined with the several modules ease the transition from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA.

You can create several custom transactions, tables, reports and objects in your SAP system. However, before moving to S/4HANA, it is necessary to analyze all the custom objects in order to determine the most used objects and to retire some custom objects. Without a single unified view of all the custom objects, it is very difficult to figure this out. However, KTern is here to save the day. It automates the process of custom object analytics.

The main objective of this task is to provide an analytical dashboard of the various custom objects present in the existing SAP ECC system. The overall custom object profile is presented to the business stakeholders in order to know the level of customizations in the system.

Features of Custom Object Analytics

In case of an SAP S/4HANA system conversion, you must  analyze the existing custom objects  with respect to SAP S/4HANA readiness, and of course with respect to business needs and requirements. On the technical layer, you should design and document a technical design of the to-be solution. This is the pre-condition to a technical setup of the sandbox and the development environment. You must integrate both the systems into the solution landscape based on functional requirements.

KTern automates the process of SAP custom object analytics. As a result, this section gives you an analytical view of the custom objects present in the system. After connecting an ECC system, KTern runs the custom object analytics check and determines the custom objects present in a system. The custom objects are then grouped based on the custom packages, the stakeholder who created it, the type of custom object and the frequency of usage.

In general, you should make the following changes and respective custom object adjustments in a system conversion project to SAP S/4HANA:

Adjusting the custom objects to a simplified data model and simplification list in SAP S/4HANA
Re-applying modification using SPDD, SPAU – due to software update
Mandatory changes for SAP HANA – if the system is not SAP HANA ready
Making the custom objects Unicode compliant – if the system is not yet on Unicode
Optimizing the performance of custom objects

In addition, you can also sort and search the custom objects according to the object types, custom packages, object owner, and the frequency of custom object usage. Hence, this enables you to determine the most used and least used custom objects. You can also download this report from KTern and store it in your local system.

Advantages of SAP Custom Object Analytics using KTern

Analyzing the custom objects is an important step before moving to S/4HANA.

With this feature of KTern, you can gain analytical insights on the following:

Custom packages with respect to the number of objects
Frequently used custom transactions/reports
Top x custom object stakeholders
Top x custom object types
Custom objects summary, and much more

Typically, one of the first questions a stakeholder asks to determine the weight and complexity of the ECC system is: What is the total number of custom objects in the system?

KTern provides the answer to the above question and much more additional insights in just a click of the button. You can also use this feature to determine the timeline and effort of an SAP S/4HANA system conversion project.

In addition, you can also post the custom object analytics report in the forum, assign stakeholders and collaborate. You can upload the files in KTern and subsequently use it any other stage of the system conversion process. Thus, KTern provides a platform to join forces and work together in determining the relevant custom objects in SAP and plan the path to S/4HANA.

How is KTern’s Custom Object Analytics different from that of its competitors?

Many SAP S/4HANA conversion products in the market today offer this feature of assessing the custom code. SAP’s Readiness Check and Panaya are a few examples. However, they just list the custom objects present in a system with the relevant SAP Notes. They do not provide a detailed information about each custom objects the way KTern provides. KTern provides detailed analysis and grouping of all the custom objects.

One of the major differentiators of KTern when compared to the other tools in the market is that KTern is not invasive. You just have to install a connector in your system and KTern automatically performs the custom object analysis on the fly.

In addition, KTern allows you to collaborate with all the major stakeholders during the process itself. You can use the results from the custom object analytics in the subsequent phases of the project. It essentially means that you can manage the entire S/4HANA transition project within KTern itself.

To know more about the Custom Object Assessment by KTern.AI, kindly refer the video below.

Custom Object Assessment

Next Steps

Now that you know how to automate the SAP Custom Object Analytics in KTern and the deductions you can make out of it, you might want to get a first-hand feel of KTern and its other features which help automate and govern SAP projects from start to finish. You can get started with the same at Getting Started.

Alternatively, if you would like a guided demo of the product from one of our product engineers, kindly get in touch with us by submitting a message at Contact Us.

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