Change request is a document containing guidelines concerning the changes that should be introduced to improve the operation of a system. These changes may result from two factors:
- External, such as changes in legal regulations forcing system adjustment, for example the introduction of the so-called Standard Audit File (JPK),
- Occurring inside the organization, both in the existing business processes and during the introduction of completely new ones.
Change management process
In order to start the process of change implementation, the client needs to make their decision and send a request to one of SAP’s partners. The service partner prepares an offer, and when it is accepted, the implementation can take place. Once the change is prepared, tests are performed, e.g. regression tests, checking all processes related to the one affected by the change. It may turn out that certain processes that worked properly in previous versions of the system may start failing and causing errors after corrections are implemented. After confirming the correct operation of the solution, its transfer to the production system can be planned.
Business benefits of CR
Implementing change requests has many business benefits. In addition to those more obvious, such as adapting the system to the current legal conditions (and thus avoiding penalties related to non-compliance), it also helps optimize business processes and build market competitiveness by reducing service costs, increasing effectiveness, and improving the customer service cycle.
Proof of concept
Sometimes, however, such changes involve certain uncertainty as to whether or not the proposed solution will meet the assumed objectives. In such cases, a so-called Proof of Concept can be performed. Hicron consultants and architects had the opportunity to carry out this process for one of the clients. The goal was to increase the overall performance of the system by archiving a very large volume of data. It was not entirely clear whether the proposed solution would produce the expected improvement, so it was decided to run a Proof of Concept on a sample of the data. The results indicated a reduction in database occupancy by more than 300 GB. It is worth noting that lower database occupancy means better processing efficiency, because tables do not accumulate old data that is no longer involved in current business processes.
In addition, the reduction of the occupied space lowered maintenance costs, as no new investments were required related to increase disk space, and the existing storage capabilities turned out to be sufficient.
