Lesson 4 of 5
Public cloud systems and tenants
8 min
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Contoso runs SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, where the landscape behaves much like on-premise: the customer decides when to import transports and when to apply support packages or upgrades, with RISE with SAP providing the infrastructure and technical operations. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition works differently, and many testers will work on both. This lesson explains the public edition model so you can recognize it.
Systems and tenants
In the public edition a tenant is the unit you log on to, with its own users, authorizations and data. Technically, SAP explains, a tenant is a client within an SAP system. Customers today normally get a three-system landscape, available since release 2208 in August 2022, though a two-system landscape (quality and production) also exists.
| System | Tenants | Used for | Testing role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter system | Preconfigured tenant with SAP Best Practices scope and sample data | Fit-to-Standard workshops in Explore | Walk through standard processes and test scripts; decommissioned once the customer's own systems are live |
| Development system | Customizing tenant (business configuration, key-user extensibility); development tenant (developer extensibility) | Building configuration and extensions | Unit and string testing by the builders |
| Test system | Test tenant | Receives transports from development | Integration, acceptance and upgrade regression testing |
| Production system | Production tenant | Live business | Receives only what passed in test |
Configuration in the three-system landscape comes from SAP Central Business Configuration, which is connected to the development system. Changes are collected and released as transports, imported into the test system, and after testing forwarded to production. The principle is the same as on-premise; the tools are cloud apps rather than STMS.
Upgrades arrive in test first
The biggest difference is that SAP, not the customer, upgrades the software. The public edition has two major releases a year, in February and August, with smaller feature deliveries in between. SAP upgrades the test system first, then development and production follow a few weeks later. SAP Learning currently describes a gap of about three weeks and an email notification six weeks before the upgrade; check SAP's published upgrade and maintenance schedule for your landscape, because dates and windows are set per release.
- About 6 weeks beforeNotificationCustomer is told the upgrade dates; test lead books testers and reviews what's new
- Upgrade weekendTest system upgradedTest tenant now runs the new release; development and production do not yet
- Following weeksRegression windowRun regression of key processes, extensions and integrations in the test system; raise issues with SAP or fix extensions
- A few weeks after testDevelopment and production upgradedProduction now runs the release you regression tested
That regression window is fixed. If the test team is not ready on the upgrade weekend, production will be upgraded anyway. This is why public edition customers invest early in a stable regression pack, and why SAP offers its Test Automation Tool in the public edition, with standard automated test processes that customers adapt to their own configuration.
Private edition and on-premise differences
In the private edition and on-premise, customers plan upgrades and support packages themselves, so they can choose when to regression test and how long to take. The flip side is that nothing forces the schedule, and regression packs can quietly decay between upgrades. Either way, the same question applies: which release and which baseline is this test system on right now?
Contoso's own position is a useful example. As a private edition customer it chose to take SAP S/4HANA 2025 for the conversion and will decide later when to apply feature and support package stacks. Priya's test strategy therefore includes a regression cycle for every planned stack, scheduled by Contoso, rather than a fixed regression window set by SAP. The regression pack is the same asset either way; only who controls the calendar differs.
What would you do?
A public edition customer's test system was upgraded on Saturday. On Tuesday, a key user reports that a custom field on the sales order app is missing in test but present in production. What is the most likely reason, and the right response?
- Public edition tenants are clients in SAP-managed systems; a three-system landscape is standard since 2208.
- Starter system for Fit-to-Standard; development (customizing and development tenants); test; production.
- SAP upgrades twice a year, test system first; production follows a few weeks later on SAP's schedule.
- The regression window is fixed, so a ready regression pack matters.
- Private edition and on-premise customers control upgrade timing themselves.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. In SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, which system does SAP upgrade first?
2. What is the starter system used for?
3. In the public edition three-system landscape, where is business configuration performed?
4. How often does the public edition receive major releases?