Now accepting guest editorial from SAP, Oracle, Workday and ServiceNow practitioners.Pitch a guide
The Sign-Off Table

Lesson 4 of 5

Operations: who runs what

9 min

Listen to this lesson

0:00 / 7:27

"Cloud" does not mean "SAP does everything". Each option draws the line between SAP and the customer in a different place, and the line is written down. For the private edition, SAP publishes a detailed roles and responsibilities document that lists hundreds of tasks and says, for each, whether it is a standard service, an optional or packaged service, or excluded and therefore the customer's job. Architects and test leads should read it before they plan.

Three ways to split the work

Business use and acceptanceAlways the customer: processes, configuration decisions, testing and acceptance
Application managementCustomer (or partner) in private and on-premise; shared in public, where SAP owns the software and the customer owns configuration and extensions
Technical operations of the systemSAP in public and private editions; customer or its hosting partner on-premise
InfrastructureSAP or its hyperscaler in public and private editions; customer's choice on-premise
The layers of responsibility. The higher the layer, the more it stays with the customer whatever the option.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-arc-101

What the private edition document actually says

A few lines from SAP's roles and responsibilities document for the private edition show where the line sits. SAP performs standard file system and database backups and monitors them. SAP sets up the transport management system in a default configuration and troubleshoots technical transport problems, but not problems caused by the content of transports. Testing and acceptance of object changes is listed as an excluded task: the customer does it. Day-to-day user administration, role administration and executing transports are offered as optional packaged services; unless the customer buys them, those stay with the customer. Homogeneous system copies (refreshes) of ABAP systems are included up to a stated number per system per contract year after the initial build.

In the private edition, SAP fixes technical transport problems, but anything caused by what is inside the transport, and all testing, stays with Contoso.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-arc-101
TaskPublic EditionPrivate Edition (RISE)On-premise
Infrastructure, OS, databaseSAPSAPCustomer or partner
Backups and technical monitoringSAPSAPCustomer or partner
Technical upgrade executionSAPSAP, on customer requestCustomer or partner
Users and rolesCustomer (business roles)Customer unless packaged service boughtCustomer
Transports into productionCustomer, with SAP toolsCustomer unless packaged service boughtCustomer
Custom code and extensionsCustomerCustomerCustomer
Testing and acceptanceCustomerCustomerCustomer

Simplified split of duties. Contracts differ; read your own roles and responsibilities document.

Who runs what moves layer by layer: SAP takes the lower layers in the cloud options, and the customer always keeps testing.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-arc-101

Contoso's operating model

Sam, Contoso's Basis lead, used to run ED1, EQ1 and EP1 himself, from operating system patches to database backups. Under RISE most of that moves to SAP. Sam's job changes rather than disappears: he raises service requests, coordinates system refreshes and transport imports, watches technical health in SAP Cloud ALM, and owns the interface between SAP's operations team and Contoso's application team. Contoso did not buy the packaged service for transports, so Sam's team still imports approved transports into CMP.

  1. NeedPriya needs a fresh copy of production in CMR for a regression window
  2. Service requestSam raises it with SAP, with lead time and dates
  3. SAP executesSystem copy within the contracted refresh allowance
  4. Post-copy stepsContoso adjusts users, interfaces and scrambled data per its checklist
  5. Ready for testPriya confirms test users, data and integrations before the cycle starts
A routine operations task that crosses the SAP and customer line.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-arc-101

Questions to settle before go-live

  • Who imports transports into production, and who approves them?
  • Who creates users and assigns roles, and how fast must that happen for a new starter?
  • How many system refreshes per year are included, and what lead time does SAP need?
  • Who watches interfaces and background jobs, and who is called when one fails at night?
  • Who decides the date of the next feature pack or upgrade, and who funds the testing?
  • Where is the operations split written down, and who keeps it current?

What would you do?

Two days before a regression window, Priya finds that CMR still holds three-month-old data, and nobody requested a refresh. Who should have owned that request, and what should change?

Key points
  • Each option draws the line between SAP and the customer differently, and the line is documented.
  • In the private edition, SAP runs infrastructure, backups and technical upgrades; testing and acceptance stay with the customer.
  • User and role administration and transport execution are packaged services in RISE; without them they stay with the customer.
  • Service request lead times belong in the test plan.

Check your understanding · not graded

Lesson check

  1. 1. In SAP's private edition roles and responsibilities document, how is "testing and acceptance of object changes" classified?

  2. 2. Who performs database backups in the private edition?

  3. 3. What changes for Sam, Contoso's Basis lead, under RISE?

  4. 4. Why should system refreshes appear in the test plan?