Lesson 2 of 5
Moving key-user content and business configuration
9 min
Key-user extensibility is the public edition's way of letting trained business users and consultants extend standard apps without code, or with small amounts of restricted logic: custom fields on a sales order, custom logic in a predefined extension point, custom analytical views, custom business objects, adapted user interfaces and forms. All of it is built in the customizing tenant. None of it reaches test or production until it is put in a software collection and exported.
- Build the itemFor example, a fleet contract number custom field on the sales order and billing document
- Add to a collectionIn Export Software Collection, add the item to a collection named for the change
- CheckThe Check function finds errors and missing dependencies
- Add missing itemsRelated items the check finds are added so the collection works on its own
- ExportThe collection is exported as a new version
- Import, test, forwardImport Collection in test; after testing, forward and import in production
Collections and dependencies
A collection should contain everything a change needs to work after transport. SAP's learning material gives the example of a custom business object and its custom catalog extension, which must be exported and imported together. The same logic applies to a custom field and the custom logic that fills it, or to a custom field and the form layout that prints it. The Check function in the export app looks for missing dependencies, and Add Missing Items pulls them in. For urgent corrections to extensions already transported, the app offers a Hotfix export alongside the normal export.
- Does this item use another custom item (field, view, object)?Yes → include it, or confirm it is already in production · No → continue
- Does another item depend on this one, and is that item changing too?Yes → move them in the same collection · No → continue
- Did Check report missing dependencies?Yes → Add Missing Items and check again · No → export
- Is this an urgent correction to an extension already in production?Yes → use the Hotfix export and test it the same day · No → normal export in the next release
Business configuration transports
Configuration moves separately, in customizing transport requests managed in the Export Customizing Transports app. SAP distinguishes CBC transports, created and filled by SAP Central Business Configuration when configuration is deployed, from BC transports, created by users during fine-tuning in the customizing tenant. In the app you can check and release requests, assign them to users, create tasks for others and check the consistency of open requests.
Customizing requests here behave as they do on-premise: they are not lockable, so several people can record changes to the same settings in different requests, which creates dependencies. A client can have only one open default request of each type, and recording everyday changes in the default request avoids those dependencies. For an emergency fix, SAP recommends a request that is not the default, so the fix can move without dragging unrelated changes with it.
| Customizing transports | Software collections | Workbench transports | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carries | Business configuration (CBC and fine-tuning) | Key-user extensions | Developer extensions (ABAP Cloud) |
| Built in | Customizing tenant | Customizing tenant | Development tenant |
| Released or exported with | Export Customizing Transports | Export Software Collection | Transport Organizer in ABAP Development Tools |
| Imported with | Import Collection | Import Collection | Import Collection |
Inside Import Collection
In the test and production tenants, an administrator opens Import Collection, sees what is waiting, and imports it. The app shows transport logs and the objects contained, supports scheduled automatic imports, and labels each import by type: manual, manual (forecast) when manual intervention is likely because of conflicts or earlier failures, automatic (for example during business content synchronization with CBC), automatic (scheduled), and not relevant for items that are outdated or discarded. A Business Interruption column warns when an import may disrupt users, for example by ending sessions in an app the collection changes; SAP advises scheduling high-risk imports off-peak.
| Import type shown | What it tells Luis |
|---|---|
| Manual | Someone started it; check who and why |
| Manual (forecast) | Expect to intervene: conflicts or earlier failures |
| Automatic / Automatic (scheduled) | Ran on its own, for example CBC content sync or a schedule |
| Not relevant | Outdated or discarded, for example not imported before a major upgrade |
Import types in Import Collection and how a release manager reads them.
What would you do?
In the working example, the fleet contract number field was imported into the test tenant and shows on the sales order, but the billing document form still prints without it. What is the most likely cause?
- Key-user extensions are built in the customizing tenant and moved in software collections.
- Put dependent items in the same collection; use Check and Add Missing Items before export.
- Use Hotfix export for urgent corrections to extensions already transported.
- Business configuration moves in customizing transports through Export Customizing Transports; use the default request for routine changes.
- Import Collection shows logs, import types and business interruption risk; schedule risky imports off-peak.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which app exports key-user extensions from the customizing tenant?
2. Why should a custom business object and its catalog extension be in the same collection?
3. What do CBC transports contain?
4. An import shows the type "Manual (forecast)". What does that indicate?