How to successfully manage SAP change across an N and N+1 landscape!

Apr 26 — 2019

This article is also available in

Managing SAP change across complex landscapes can be challenging for SAP IT teams, with multi-tier infrastructure and numerous interconnected systems, and legacy integrations.

At the same time, SAP IT teams are expected to achieve better SAP change outcomes, including:

Speed: delivering business-requested changes quickly
Quality: avoid unscheduled downtime and system instability
Compliance: ensure SAP changes obey regulatory requirements

To meet these demands, many organizations deploy N and N+1 landscapes as a way to minimize risk and better manage projects, enhancements and business-requested changes.

What are N and N+1 landscapes?

In an N and N+1 landscape:

N represents the business-as-usual (BAU) or production support track
N+1 represents the project, upgrade, or release track

This approach allows SAP IT teams to develop and test major projects in a separate landscape with disruption daily operations.

While the benefits of this model are well documented, the challenges of SAP change management in complex N+1 environments are often underestimated.

The hidden risks of managing SAP change in N+1 environments

Managing SAP change across parallel development systems that are eventually deployed to the same production system accounts for much of the risk.

Other change management risks include:

Ensuring all BAU (N) changes are reapplied to the project (N+1) track
Preventing parallel changes to the same object in each system without visibility
Identifying when N+1 track transports need to be migrated to production, and in what order

To manage this complexity, most organizations rely on manually keeping account of all maintenance (BAU) changes and re-keying each into the project track to prevent overwriting project changes.

This approach is:

Time consuming
Error pone
frequent cause of go-live delays and production instability

The answer: automated SAP change management

The most effective way to manage SAP change in N and N+1 landscapes is through automated SAP change management with enforced governance.

Applying controlled automation allows SAP IT teams to:

Deliver high volumes of SAP change more frequently with less risk
Reduce conflicts and overwrites
Maintain production system stability
Free up resources to focus on innovation rather than rework

Rev-Trac as the foundation for SAP change automation

Rev-Trac provides SAP change management automation, combining policy enforcement and audit-ready documentation for N and N+1 landscapes.

Below are key Rev-Trac capabilities that address the most common N and N+1 challenges

Project concept and request cloning

In an N and N+1 landscape, changes are allocated to either production support (N) or project (N+1).

With Rev-Trac:

Changes delivered Production via the support track are automatically cloned for reapplication to the project track
This ensures all BAU (N) changes are considered for reapplication
Potential overwrites when N+1 work goes live are avoided

Cross-system locking to control parallel development

Rev-Trac’s locking fosters cross-track collaboration between developers making independent changes in parallel tracks.

Alerting developers when an object is modified in another track
Highlighting parallel development conflicts early
Allowing developer leads to better manage and control parallel development

This capability significantly reduces rework and sequencing issues.

Protecting project changes with OOPS

When moving production support changes to the project track, it’s important to ensure they don’t overwrite present project changes.

To avoid overwrites many organization re-key production changes manually. Re-keying BAU changes into the project is costly and risky.

Rev-Trac’s Overtake and Overwrite Protection System (OOPS):

Automatically migrates production support changes to the project track
Detects potential overwrites of existing project changes
Alerts developers when conflicts are found

With pre-migration OOPS, up to 95% of BAU changes can be reapplied automatically, making re-keying the exception rather than the rule.

Release control with the Release Management Workbench

Every Rev-Trac Request can be assigned to a user-defined release within a track.

Rev-Trac’s Release Management Workbench (RMWB)

Prevents changes from moving to Production (or a particular system) until a conditions are met
Automatically migrates changes to Production in the correct sequence
Simplifies collation, management, and categorization of SAP changes

This structured approach allows PMOs and SAP IT teams to control what goes live, when, and in what order, maintaining system stability even in complex N+1 scenarios. Using the RMWB allows you to deliver functional software in project, agile, or release formats.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is an N and N+1 SAP landscape?

An N and N+1 landscape separates productions support (N) from project or upgrade work (N+1) to reduce risk and improve delivery control.

Why is SAP change management harder in N and N+1 environments?

Because changes occur in parallel tracks and must eventually migrate to Production, increasing the risk of overwrites, conflicts, and sequencing errors

What’s the best way to manage SAP change in N and N+1 landscapes?

The most reliable approach is automating SAP change management processes with enforced governance. It reduces transport conflicts, protects Production stability, and enables SAP teams to deliver changes faster with less manual effort.

Why use Rev-Trac as the foundation for automating SAP change management?

Rev-Trac provides end-to-end SAP change management automation, combining enforced governance, audit-ready documentation, and built-in safety checks designed to manage change across N and N+1 landscapes safely and consistently.

Simplify SAP change in complex environments

Managing SAP change across N and N+1 landscapes does not need to be a nightmare.

With automated SAP change management, organizations can: