Lesson 3 of 5
Reading SAP release information
13 min
Listen to this lesson
For SAP-delivered change, the object list is enormous and mostly irrelevant to you. A release upgrade touches far more objects than any team could trace one by one. Here the best input is SAP's own description of what changed, read with a tester's eye: which of these changes alter behavior in processes we run?
The main documents
| Source | What it tells you | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| What's New documentation and the What's New Viewer | New, changed, deprecated and deleted features per release, filterable by line of business and solution area | SAP Help Portal, product page for your release |
| Simplification Item Catalog and simplification list | Incompatible or disruptive changes compared with SAP ERP or an earlier SAP S/4HANA release, each with a business impact note | SAP for Me / Simplification Item Catalog |
| Simplification Item Check | Which simplification items are relevant to your system and whether it is consistent for conversion or upgrade | Report run in your system before conversion or upgrade (see the upgrade guide) |
| SAP Readiness Check | A planning analysis of your system: relevant simplification items, custom code impact, add-ons and more | Run as part of conversion or upgrade planning |
| Upgrade and conversion guides | Steps, prerequisites and tools for the specific release | SAP Help Portal, for example the upgrade guide for SAP S/4HANA 2025 |
| SAP notes | Symptom, reason, solution, affected releases and sometimes known side effects | SAP for Me (note search) |
| SAP Road Map Explorer | Planned innovations for future releases | roadmaps.sap.com |
SAP release information worth reading for test scoping. Exact names and locations can vary; check the Help Portal for your release.
Reading What's New like a tester
Filter the What's New content to your release range (for example everything between your current and target release) and to the lines of business you run. Then classify each item quickly:
- New, optional function you have not activated: usually no regression impact. Note it as an opportunity.
- Changed behavior in a function you use: in scope. Find the process step and design a test that would show the new behavior.
- Changed user interface in an app you use: in scope for UI-level tests and training, and for any automation that drives that screen.
- Deprecated or deleted function you use: high priority. Check whether a successor is required and test the replacement.
| Category | Items | What happens to them |
|---|---|---|
| Functions Contoso does not use | 150 | Out of scope with a one-line reason |
| New optional functions | 20 | Noted as opportunities; no regression impact |
| Changed behavior or interfaces in apps used daily | 10 | In scope, each with a named owner, such as billing and supplier invoice processing |
| Total in range | 180 | 10 lines added to the scoped list |
Simplification items in conversions and upgrades
For a system conversion from SAP ECC, or an upgrade between SAP S/4HANA releases, simplification items describe incompatible or disruptive changes. The Simplification Item Check (run before conversion or upgrade, and also by the Software Update Manager during the process) tells you which items are relevant to your system. For testing, each relevant item is a prompt: which processes use the affected function, and what will users see differently? Many simplification items have no test impact once their technical prerequisites are met; some, such as business partner or credit management changes in a conversion from ECC, reshape whole processes.
Reading an SAP note
For each implemented note, read the symptom (what was wrong), the solution (what the note changes) and the list of affected objects. Ask: does the corrected behavior appear in a process we run? Does the note change a calculation, a posting, a check or a user interface? Look for related notes and known side effects. A note that fixes a rounding issue in tax calculation for a country you do not use can be scoped out with a one-line reason; a note that changes how GR/IR clearing is proposed belongs in the procure-to-pay regression.
- Does the item affect a function or app we use in production?Yes → continue · No → out of scope; record reason
- Does it change behavior, calculations, postings or checks?Yes → in scope for functional regression · No → continue
- Does it change the user interface or navigation?Yes → in scope for UI tests, automation maintenance and training · No → continue
- Is a function we use deprecated or removed?Yes → high priority; test the successor · No → note only
What would you do?
While reading release information for an upgrade, Priya finds an item stating that a supplier invoice app Contoso uses daily has a changed default for a field that drives payment block proposals. The consultant says "it's just a default, users can override it". What should Priya do?
Custom code in an upgrade
During an upgrade, SAP's changes can break your custom code even when nobody touched it, because custom programs call SAP objects that changed or were simplified. Developers use the ABAP Test Cockpit and SAP's custom code analysis tools to find custom code that uses changed or removed SAP objects. Ask for the result: each custom object flagged and adapted is a change in its own right, with a process behind it, and belongs in the inventory. For SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, where classic modifications are not allowed and extensions use released APIs, this risk is smaller but not zero: check the release information for changes to the APIs and extension points your extensions rely on.
- SAP object changesUpgrade changes or simplifies an SAP object
- Custom code calls itAn untouched custom program depends on that object
- Analysis flags itABAP Test Cockpit and custom code analysis list the usage
- Developer adapts itThe adaptation is a change in its own right
- Add to inventoryMapped to its process and scoped like any other change
- Use What's New (and the What's New Viewer), simplification items, the Simplification Item Check, the Readiness Check, guides and notes.
- Classify each item: unused, changed behavior, changed UI, or deprecated/removed.
- Changed behavior and deprecated functions you use belong in scope; record reasons for exclusions.
- Read notes for symptom, solution, affected objects and side effects.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which source describes new, changed, deprecated and deleted features for a release?
2. What does the Simplification Item Check tell you?
3. A release item describes a new optional function Contoso has not activated. What is its usual regression impact?
4. A function Contoso uses is deprecated in the target release. How should it be treated?