In the rush to get to SAP’s HANA database, some customers have not given proper consideration to the Z-code that has been developed over the years and its compatibility with the new DB.
During the initial SAP implementation, nearly every company that I know of was “special” in some way and choose not to go with the SAP standard. Therefore, we all have substantial Z-code we used to fill that and other gaps in our processes.
Now with the HANA DB on the scene, some are finding that post migration, some of their Z-code either won’t work or has some serious performance issues running on the HANA database. Many companies will hire outside consultants to review and update their Z-code for them, but this could be easily handled in-house, or resolved much faster, if you could quickly identify everything that needs to be modified.
To this point, the flagship product of Revelation Software Concepts (RSC) is its powerful SAP change control automation platform, Rev-Trac. Another major player in the RSC portfolio is Salt, its change intelligence software. Which, by the way, is currently available for free for use on a limited number of systems upon the asking.
One of the many functions of Salt is a development utility called “Code Ferret”. Code Ferret will allow you to quickly search through your entire portfolio of Z-code to look for strings of code or any keyword. This functionality is an outstanding tool when you’re tasked with reviewing your Z-code in advance of your conversion to the HANA DB. Not only will it find the all the suspect code based on your search term, but will also tell you where the specific objects identified are across all your SAP systems.
So be wary of that “select * into” statement and move forward with confidence because we are all “special” in some way.
