Lesson 2 of 5
Linking transports and deployments
11 min
A feature without transports is documentation. The value comes when Cloud ALM can see, create, release and deploy the containers that actually carry the change. Cloud ALM does this through three integrations, chosen by the type of system you are changing.
| Integration | Systems covered | What Cloud ALM can do |
|---|---|---|
| Change and Transport System (CTS) | SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition and on-premise AS ABAP systems, including ECC | Create transports from a feature, assign existing ones, release, create transports of copies, deploy |
| Adaptation Transport Organizer (ATO) | SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition | Assign transports to features and trace them through the landscape |
| SAP Cloud Transport Management (cTMS) | SAP BTP Cloud Foundry and Neo content, SAP Integration Suite (Cloud Integration, API Management) | Assign cTMS transports to a feature and deploy them from it |
Creating transports from a feature (ABAP)
For Contoso's private cloud S/4HANA system, the cleanest pattern is to create the transport inside the feature, so the container exists before anyone changes an object. When you create a transport in the feature's Transports section you give it a title and a type (Workbench or Customizing). The owner is optional; if you leave it empty, the transport is owned by the technical background user configured on the managed system. The export tenant comes from the system groups assigned to the project, so the development client must belong to one, and the target comes from the transport route.
The developer then logs on to the development system, makes the change, saves it to the transport, and releases their task as usual. Back in Cloud ALM, the Release action releases every assigned transport whose tasks are all released. If a release fails, the transport shows "Release failed" and an error message tells you why.
- CreateLuis or the developer creates a Workbench transport in feature "Fleet credit check" for the CMD development client
- BuildKenji changes the objects in CMD and records them in the transport
- Release tasksKenji releases his task in the managed system
- Release transportThe Release action in the feature releases all assigned transports with released tasks
- Deploy to QASThe Deploy action imports the feature’s transports into CMQ
Assigning transports created elsewhere
Some transports are born outside Cloud ALM. A Cloud Integration flow that sends advance shipping notices to Great Lakes Fleet Services is transported through cTMS, so the transport is created in Cloud Integration and then assigned to the feature with the Assign button. Assigned transports can be unassigned and reassigned, but do it carefully: each transport can belong to only one feature, and moving one changes what will reach production with each feature.
Transports of copies
A transport of copies lets you put an early version of a change into the test system without releasing the original transport. Cloud ALM can create one from a feature when the managed system supports it, typically in the In Implementation and In Testing statuses. It is not available for public cloud systems or through the cTMS adapter. Use copies for early integration tests; the original transport is still what goes to production.
Watching transports move
The Feature Traceability app shows, per feature, whether each transport has been released in development, imported into quality assurance and imported into production. You can filter by release or deployment status, for example to find every feature for Release 1 that is in QAS but not yet in production, and drill down to the individual transport.
- Is the change ABAP code or configuration in S/4HANA private cloud or on-premise?Yes → create or assign a CTS transport in the feature · No → next question
- Is it SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition?Yes → assign the ATO transport to the feature · No → next question
- Is it BTP content or an Integration Suite artifact?Yes → create the transport in that service, deploy through cTMS, assign it to the feature · No → reference the external bundle and document the manual step
- CTS covers private cloud and on-premise ABAP; ATO covers public cloud; cTMS covers BTP and Integration Suite.
- For ABAP, create transports inside the feature: title, type, optional owner, export tenant from system groups, target from transport routes.
- Release from the feature only works once all tasks are released in the managed system.
- Each transport belongs to exactly one feature; Feature Traceability shows where each transport is.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which integration covers SAP Integration Suite content?
2. Where does the export tenant for a transport created in a feature come from?
3. What does the Feature Traceability app show?
4. How many features can a single transport be assigned to?