SAP Achieves Cost Avoidance of EUR 185 Million Since Start of 2008 as a Result of Focused Sustainability Initiatives

 Newsbyte, Sustainability  Comments Off
Jul 282011
 

SAP today released its quarterly sustainability update and shared that it has achieved a cost avoidance of approximately EUR 185 million between the start of 2008 and today as a result of focused sustainability initiatives. The company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the quarter ending June 30, 2011, totaled 115 kilotons (not including Sybase), which keeps the company on target to meet the year-end emissions objective of 460 kilotons — in line with the long-term target to reduce GHG emissions to year-2000 levels by 2020. Read the newsbyte.

Demystifying Standard SAP Support for Major Releases of SAP BusinessObjects BI

 Newsbyte  Comments Off
Jul 272011
 

Lately, we’ve gotten a few inquiries on what the standard SAP support process is for major product releases. Is it 7 years of standard support or 2 years of support? Here is some information that will hopefully shed some light on how the support process works.

The Release Family: Major and Minor Releases

A major release and the minor releases that follow it are referred to as a release family. For example: SAP BusinessObjects XI3.1 was the final release in the XI3.x line. Enhancements may be delivered in both major or minor product releases. Major releases contain new functionality and architectural platform changes are possible. Minor releases include new and improved business functions that can be implemented and adopted quickly. The interfaces remain stable between major and minor releases.

Maintenance for the Release Family

The following maintenance durations apply for every release family of the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform:
• Seven years of mainstream maintenance
• Two years of priority-one support

7 + 2 support

Mainstream maintenance begins with the release-to-customer (RTC) date for the major release and covers any subsequent minor releases in the release family that might be shipped. Each release in a release family has a maintenance period of at least two years after the start of restricted shipment for that release. As soon as a new release enters unrestricted shipment, the previous release is maintained for at least one more year. At the end of the seven years of mainstream maintenance, priority-one support begins for the last shipped release within a release family. The last release closes the nine-year maintenance cycle for this release family.

What about the 4.x Release Family?

The BI 4 release family will follow this same process. Inside the BI 4 release family there will be several minor releases with the final release in the family closing the nine-year maintenance cycle for the release family. While we continue to develop BI 4 and new minor releases such as 4.1, 4.2, etc. each of these minor releases are supported for 2 years from the date of RTC.

Delivery Vehicles and Frequency

Patches (0-9 years)
  • Frequency: Every 2 weeks
  • Lifetime: Until the next patch is released
Support Packs (0-7 years)
  • Frequency: Every 4 months for first 4 years; Every 6 months for years 5-7
  • Lifetime: Minimum 1 year support
Minor Releases (0-5 years)
  • Frequency: Every year for first 5 years
  • Lifetime: Minimum 2 years support with 1 year overlap with the next minor version

Definitions

Patch:

Urgent customer corrections. When a customer finds a bug in an SAP BusinessObjects product and reports it to SAP support, SAP develops a correction for the bug. For SAP BusinessObjects this correction is then delivered in the form of a patch. Patches are cumulative. For example, BI 4.0 SP02 Patch 02 will contain all of the corrections in Patch 01.

 

Support Pack:

In addition to all of the above, support packs also address:

  • Priority 2 Customer issues
  • New Platforms Support
  • Exceptionally small customer Enhancements
Minor Release:

In addition to all of the above, minor releases also address:

  • Priority 3 Customer issues
  • Complex Customer issues
  • New Language Packs and New platforms
  • Feature Enhancements

More Information

See pages 39-45 of SAP’s Release Strategy for Large Enterprises for an even more thorough explanation of SAP’s 7+2 support model in general and the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4.0 PAM for specific dates.

See SAP’s Maintenance Strategy site for an even more thorough explanation of SAP’s 7+2 support model in general and the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4.0 PAM for specific dates.

 

Legal Disclaimer

SAP’s strategy and possible future developments are subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time for any reason without notice. This information is provided without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

 

SAP and Google Team to Put “Big Data” on the Map

 Analytics  Comments Off
Jul 272011
 

SAP AG today announced that it is building on its collaboration with Google to help customers manage large data volumes in intuitive, visual displays and facilitate faster, more-informed decisions. SAP plans to enhance its businessanalytics software with location-based data capabilities, allowing people to interact with real-time information via Google Maps™.

Read more here

Watch a demo of how customers can use the new location functionality on their mobile device

SAP Business Analytics Solutions Placemat

 Analytics  Comments Off
Jul 272011
 

I have heard about confusion in the market about SAP’s business analytics offerings.  The confusion is about SAP having so many solutions it’s difficult to know which does what and ultimately what solution is right for a customer.

Steve Lucas, head of SAP business analytics and his team created a “placemat” that easily explains the solution set, as well as how SAP business analytics fit into the overall umbrella of SAP HANA, mobile strategy and SAP’s core enterprise business.

What I like about the placemat is that it not only explains the “bucket” of solutions and what business issue they address; it shows that customers can pick the solutions. i.e, a customer needs a solution to help them plan and manage their financial information, so EPM is the solution for them.  In the future if they have a need to analyze this data they can evaluate if SAP BI is the solution to address this need.  They are not required to follow a solution implementation path; they can get the solution they need now.

What I don’t see on the placemat are tools to help customers communicate across the organization for better decision making, aka SAP Streamwork.  I can see this as an important collaboration tool that would be represented on the placemat surrounding the analytics solutions to encourage the connection of work streams.

The placemat is a great start from SAP to help with the confusion in the market and so far it has been getting great reviews!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAP Helps Move U.S. Government Into the Cloud With Collaborative Report

 Innovation, Technology  Comments Off
Jul 262011
 
SAP and other industry leaders throughout the U.S. today unveiled a TechAmerica Foundation report outlining the U.S. cloud computing roadmap, the result of collaboration by the Commission on the Leadership Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud (CLOUD²). Sanjay Poonen, president of Global Solutions, was selected as a commissioner for the report to provide key findings from SAP’s experience as the leading enterprise application provider, and help shape the “industry voice” on cloud best practices. Read the newsbyte.
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