Wrinkles with Enhancement Packs

SAP's Enhancement Packs (EHP) are great for releasing new functionality to customers. They can install and fairly-conveniently switch-on only the additional functions they want. SAP is taking Enhancement Pack 5 into ramp-up now, and it promises to deliver some good new HR functionality. However, there is one annoying detail that keeps me from getting too happy about SAP's EHP delivery.

EHP's require the system to be at a certain base Support Pack (SP) Stack, which corresponds to an SAP ERP SP Stack (take a look at note 1064635 for details). In other words, to install an EHP you might have to apply regular SP's to get up to a required level. SP's - and their HR cousin the HRSP - are changes to core SAP ERP functionality; you can't switch them on and off. Installing ERP SP's and HRSP's requires extensive testing and change management. It's like a mini-upgrade since it affects core functions. And so that puts a big wrinkle in the EHP story: you might have some unavoidable core changes to iron out when installing your EHP.

I really like the idea of Enhancement Packs, and having developed a fair amount of software in my lifetime I can understand why they would require the base system to be at a certain SP level. It all makes sense, but it's often challenging to manage that at the customer's end of things. The quality of SP's and HRSP's is getting better, but still, every year when customers apply them I hear of a few surprises: something that worked fine for years is now broken or works differently; last year there was a syntax error in the ABAP code at one customer site; and functional changes get delivered but are found nowhere in the notes or documentation. Those who have been using SAP HR for a few years have come to expect and plan for this, but that doesn't change the fact that it requires a significant amount of effort.

So when planning your EHP strategy, be sure to consider the change management and testing effort that might be required going to a newer SP/HRSP level.