Transport management is a critical aspect of any SAP environment, ensuring that changes such as configuration updates, custom developments, and enhancements move smoothly and securely from development through testing to production systems. In traditional on-premise SAP landscapes, transport management relies heavily on the Transport Management System (TMS). However, with the rise of SAP S/4HANA Cloud—SAP’s cloud-based ERP offering—the transport and change management processes have evolved to suit the cloud paradigm.
This article explores how transport management is handled in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, highlighting its unique features, tools, and best practices.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud follows a multi-tenant SaaS model, where the system landscape differs significantly from classic on-premise setups. Customers usually have limited direct access to the backend, and SAP controls system maintenance and upgrades centrally. This changes the traditional transport management approach.
Key points of transport management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud:
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides tools for in-app extensibility like Custom Fields and Logic, Custom CDS Views, and UI adaptations. These changes are captured in transport requests managed via the Manage Your Solution app or the Custom Fields and Logic app. These transport requests follow a formal lifecycle and allow migration between different tenants (e.g., from test to production).
Business configuration settings are transported via CBC projects. This centralized configuration tool allows exporting and importing configuration between SAP S/4HANA Cloud tenants, simplifying transport management for configuration data.
For more complex extensions, SAP encourages developing on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) side-by-side with SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Transport management for these extensions relies on BTP tools and DevOps processes, including Git repositories and CI/CD pipelines.
SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is used to manage the transport and deployment process in SAP S/4HANA Cloud environments, providing transparency and governance.
Transport management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud has evolved from traditional on-premise models to a cloud-centric approach that balances customer flexibility with SAP’s control over system integrity and stability. By leveraging tools like Manage Your Solution, Central Business Configuration, and SAP Cloud ALM, organizations can effectively manage changes and ensure smooth transport cycles within the cloud environment.
Understanding these new transport paradigms is essential for SAP consultants, administrators, and developers to maintain robust change management processes while embracing the agility and innovation that SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers.