Lesson 2 of 5
Configuration: self-service versus full Customizing
8 min
Configuration is how SAP standard software is set up for one company: organizational units, document types, pricing, account determination, tolerances and hundreds of other settings. All three editions are configured, not programmed. The difference is how much you can configure and through which door.
Public Edition: scope, then fine-tune
A Public Edition project starts from SAP Best Practices. The team selects the scope (which business processes, known as scope items, the company will use) and the country versions in SAP Central Business Configuration, and defines the organizational structure. SAP's content then configures those processes. Company-specific adjustments are made through self-service configuration user interfaces (SSCUIs), a curated set of configuration activities exposed for customer use. Settings SAP has not exposed cannot be changed. Older Public Edition tenants used the Manage Your Solution app for the same purpose; SAP is moving customers to Central Business Configuration.
In Private Edition and on-premise, the full Implementation Guide (IMG, transaction SPRO) is available. Every Customizing table SAP delivers can be maintained, new document types and pricing procedures copied and changed, and settings recorded in transport requests that move through development, quality and production. SAP Best Practices content can be activated as a starting point, but nothing limits the team to it.
Examples from Contoso
| Contoso requirement | Public Edition | Private Edition (Contoso's choice) |
|---|---|---|
| Add a sales order reason "Fleet campaign" | Possible where an SSCUI exposes order reasons | Add the value in the IMG |
| New sales document type for fleet contracts with its own copy control | Only if the needed settings are exposed; otherwise use standard types | Copy a standard type in the IMG and adjust copy control |
| Tolerance limits for supplier invoice price variances | Through an SSCUI | Through the IMG |
| Change how a standard program determines the revenue account beyond configuration | Not possible; use released extension points if offered | Possible via extensions or, against clean core advice, modifications |
What changes for business users
Freedom has a price. In Private Edition, Contoso can recreate every ECC quirk. Each one is then a setting someone must understand, document and retest at every upgrade. In Public Edition, the constraint forces conversations that should happen anyway: is our process really different, or just familiar? Key users in Public Edition projects spend more time in fit-to-standard discussions and less in specification documents. Key users in Private Edition projects need the discipline to ask the same questions voluntarily. A useful habit at Contoso: every request for a new document type, field or setting in the IMG must name the standard alternative that was rejected and why. About a third of requests were withdrawn once someone had to write that sentence. The rest went ahead with a clear owner, which made them easier to test and to explain to auditors later. The same habit transfers directly to a Public Edition subsidiary, where the standard alternative is often the only alternative.
- RequestKey user documents the business need and the setting to change
- ApproveProcess owner approves; configuration owner checks side effects
- ConfigureIn the development or configuration system, recorded for transport
- TestKey user tests in the quality or test system with expected results
- ReleaseChange moves to production in the agreed window; evidence attached
What would you do?
Dan wants a new tolerance for price variances on supplier invoices from Lakeside Components, effective next week. Contoso is on Private Edition. What should the key user do?
- Public Edition configures through scope in Central Business Configuration plus SSCUIs; unexposed settings cannot change.
- Private Edition and on-premise offer the full IMG and transport-based configuration.
- More freedom means more settings to document and retest at every upgrade.
- Every configuration change, in any edition, needs approval and testing before production.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. How are company-specific settings adjusted in Public Edition?
2. Where is scope selected in a Public Edition project?
3. What does Private Edition offer that Public Edition does not?
4. Why should an SSCUI change be tested like an IMG change?