Object Change Impact Analysis

The Object Change Impact Analysis workflow is designed to analyze the impact of custom code. The workflow is provided with a set of custom objects on a Source SAP system, and identifies an optimal (most-at-risk) set of executables which when tested will exercise each of the objects. The analysis is driven by the set of objects, and the results are filtered so that only used executables are considered for testing. The used executables are obtained from the available performance history data on the Target system.

The workflow also produces a report listing all the executables impacted by the analyzed objects, and a report listing objects that are custom programs or transactions. Objects from this last report are candidates for testing regardless of whether they are used or recommended.

The results are displayed in a Dashboard report which includes a link to an associated Excel report.

The Create Object Links Cache workflow from the Prerequisites templates folder should be run for the System 1 system to create a cache of object links, or to update the RFC Destination’s object links database after new support packs or transports have been applied. See the workflow’s associated help file for details.

If a support pack has not been applied to the Source SAP system, it must be disassembled before it can be analyzed using the Object Change Impact Analysis workflow. This can be done by running transaction SAINT and selecting ‘Disassemble OCS Package’ from the ‘Utilities’ menu. Alternatively, it may be disassembled using the Package Disassembler App.

The Object Change Impact Analysis workflow requires that SAP’s Where Used indexes are up to date on the Analysis system. For further details, see the Step 1 (As-Is) - Checking the Integrity of the Where Used Indexes help topic.

The Object Change Impact Analysis workflow carries out the following steps:

  1. The supplied objects are analyzed by the Where Used action. This action creates a network of ‘where used’ links from the transport objects to the executables.

  2. The Analyze Object Links action determines a most-at-risk set of executables to test.

  3. The remaining actions gather and consolidate information for the reports.

The Smart Impact Analysis workflow should be used to perform an impact analysis for a set of transports. The Object Change Impact Analysis workflow should be used if you wish to perform an impact analysis for a set of custom objects extracted from the transports.

Creating RFC Destinations

Before you begin, you will need to create RFC Destinations for the Analysis system, and for the Performance History system from which usage data for executables is obtained.

Select the Performance History system in the LiveCompare hierarchy and click the PHD tab. Enter a value (n) in the ‘Keep this many months of data:’ field, and click ‘Update Data’ to download the most recent <n> months of performance history data. You may also specify a schedule so that the available performance history data is downloaded at regular intervals. See the Retrieving Performance History Data help topic for details.

Custom Objects

The Object Change Impact Analysis workflow is designed to analyze custom objects, and will terminate if any standard objects are identified in the input set. Custom objects are identified using a set of patterns in an External Data Source named Custom Object Naming Patterns. This External Data Source may be viewed in the Data > External Data Sources folder in LiveCompare hierarchy. Its associated data file may need to be replaced if the patterns to not conform to your own naming standards for custom objects.

To replace the data file with your own set of custom object naming patterns, carry out the following steps:

  1. Create an Excel spreadsheet with the following columns:

Column Description
Type The type of a custom object. Note that ALL matches against all object types.
SapQuery This column is not used.
Like This column is not used.
RegEx A Regular Expression to be matched against the object name.

  1. Rename the ’Sheet1’ worksheet to ‘CustomObjectNamingPatterns’, and save the spreadsheet.

  2. Select ‘Custom Object Naming Patterns’ in the Data > External Data Sources hierarchy folder.

  3. Click ‘Replace Data File’ in the Details pane. Click ‘Browse…’ and browse for the Excel spreadsheet.

  4. Click 'OK' to upload the replacement file.

Preparing the Workflow

To prepare the Object Change Impact Analysis workflow, drag its workflow template from the Templates folder into your own workspace, and modify the workflow as follows:

To specify the Analysis system:

  1. Select the System 1 parameter and choose ‘Edit RFC Destination’ from its context menu to display the RFC Destination dialog.

  2. Select the RFC Destination for the system to analyze, then click ‘Save’.

To specify the Performance History system, from which to extract usage data for executables:

  1. Select the System 3 parameter and choose ‘Edit RFC Destination’ from its context menu to display the RFC Destination dialog.

  2. Select the RFC Destination for the system to analyze, then click ‘Save’.

To specify which objects to analyze:

  1. Select the Objects parameter and choose ‘Edit Table’ from its context menu to display the Table Editor dialog.

  2. Specify each object’s type and name by entering values in the TYPE and NAME columns, then click ‘Save’.

To specify a list of business-critical objects that should be recommended for testing (see the Analyze Object Links Recommended Threshold and Business Critical Objects Properties help topic for details):

  1. Create an Excel spreadsheet with two columns. The first column should be named TYPE, and the second column should be named NAME. Specify the type of each business-critical object in the TYPE column, and the name of each business-critical object in the NAME column.

  2. Rename the ’Sheet1’ worksheet to ‘Business Critical Objects’, and save the spreadsheet.

  3. Log into LiveCompare as a user with Administrator or LiveCompare Editor privileges, and select ‘Business Critical Objects’ in the Data > External Data Sources hierarchy folder.

  4. Click ‘Replace Data File’ in the Details pane. Click ‘Browse…’ and browse for the Excel spreadsheet.

  5. Click 'OK' to upload the replacement file.

To specify a minimum percentage of impacted executables that should be recommended for testing (see the Analyze Object Links Recommended Threshold and Business Critical Objects Properties help topic for details):

  1. Select the Analyze Where Used node and view its details in the Property Editor.

  2. Enter a new value for the action’s ‘Recommended Threshold’ property.

Save the workflow using the ‘Save’ toolbar button.

Running the Workflow

To run the Object Change Impact Analysis workflow, click the ‘Run’ toolbar button, choose ‘Run Now’ from the diagram’s context menu, or press F5. The currently running workflow action is marked with an animated display. When the workflow execution has completed, select the Report URL dataset and choose ‘View Details’ from the context menu to access the generated report.

Dashboard Report

The Dashboard report generated by the Object Change Impact Analysis workflow includes a pie chart showing the number of standard and custom executables in the available performance history data. It also includes a column chart that shows the number of used, impacted and most-at-risk executables in the custom and standard categories.

Additional Resources

The Additional Resources section of the Dashboard report includes links to the following reports:

Smart Impact Analysis Details

This Excel report includes the following spreadsheets:

SystemInfo

This spreadsheet lists the SAP system details for the Analysis and Performance History systems.

Distinct

This spreadsheet contains a distinct list of the executables recommended for testing.

Impacted

If the workflow has been configured to find cross reference objects, this spreadsheet contains a distinct list of the impacted executables. This spreadsheet is only populated if the workflow’s Result Cross Reference dataset is linked to the Analyze Object Links action.

All

This spreadsheet lists the used executables according to the available performance history data. It includes columns listing the number of users of each executable, the top user of each executable, and the top usage count for each executable.

MostAtRisk

This spreadsheet lists the most-at-risk executables and screens, these are recommended for testing. It also includes the following details for the source objects that would be exercised by testing each executable.

Column Description
DATE The source object’s last modification date.
CHANGES The number of transports on the analysis system that contain the changing object. This column is set to 0 if a child object is a table used in a view, and only the view is included in the analyzed transports.
FANIN The source object’s fan-in value. The fan-in value of an object is the number of other objects that are referencing it. Multiple references from the same object are counted as one access.
FANOUT The source object’s fan-out value. The fan-out value of an object is the number of other objects that are referenced in it. Multiple references to the same object are counted as one access.

CrossReference

If the workflow has been configured to find cross reference objects, this spreadsheet lists the most-at-risk executables, and the impacted executables that exercise any source objects specified in the action's Cross Reference Objects table. This spreadsheet is only populated if the workflow’s Result Cross Reference dataset is linked to the Analyze Object Links action.

Custom

This spreadsheet lists the custom executables found in the analyzed transports.

BUSINESS_CRITICALITY Column

The Distinct, All and MostAtRisk spreadsheets include a column named BUSINESS_CRITICALITY. This column is set to:

  • ‘A’ for impacted Business Critical executables. These are always in the most-at-risk set.

  • ‘B’ for most-at-risk executables that are not in the set of Business critical objects.

  • ‘C’ for impacted executables that are not recommended for testing.

  • <Blank> for executables that are not impacted by the analyzed transport objects.

Analysis Input Data

This Excel report contains a copy of the input parameters used to produce the App’s Dashboard report. The value of each input parameter is stored in a separate worksheet, which is named after the parameter whose value it contains.