Method for setting change options of software systems of a software system landscape and computer system with software systems having change options

• US 9,164,758 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Demuth, Michael, Schulz, Volker, Stegmuller, Herbert
• Primary Examiner(s): BUI, JONATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US11/262,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20060155832A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,645 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221, 709/220
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A method for setting change options of software systems of a software system landscape, wherein the systems are interconnected by logical transport paths for the transport of software services therebetween, the software services defining changes to at least one of the code and the data of at least one system, each system having change options that define changeability restrictions pertinent to the system, is described. The method includes providing an interface in each system, the interface allowing read and write access to the change options of the respective system from the outside of the system; providing a central control software system; providing an interface in the central system for communication with the interfaces of the systems; selecting a group of systems based on software service parameter data; and accessing the group of selected systems from the central system via the interfaces and centrally managing a change option in each system of the group.

Claims

1. A method of setting change options of software systems in a software system landscape, at least one software system comprising code and data, the software systems being interconnected by logical transport paths for transport of software services therebetween, the software services defining changes to at least one of the code and the data of the at least one software system, each software system having a set of change options that define changeability restrictions pertinent to the respective system, the set of change options allowing or inhibiting changes of the code and the data of the respective system, the method comprising:

reading, by a single central server, the set of change options from each of the systems;

storing the change options from each of the systems in the single central server;

writing, from the single central server, an updated set of change options to each of the respective systems through an interface in each of the respective systems from outside of each of the respective systems;

communicating with the interfaces of the systems through an interface on the central server;

periodically updating the single central server, from a respective one of the systems, with any local changes made to the respective one of the systems;

selecting a group of the systems based on software service parameter data;

accessing the group of selected systems from the single central server via the interfaces of the group of selected systems and centrally managing, from the single central server, the set of change options in each system of the group;

holding a copy of the sets of change options of all of the selected systems in the single central server;

implementing, by at least one change option in one of the set of change options for each of the systems a hierarchy of users and/or operators, the at least one change option defining which particular users and/or operators or an authorization level of users and/or operators allowed to affect certain changes or types of changes, either by approving import of one of the software services or making the changes to the system directly; and

defining a customization, adaptation, program or data update by one of the software services for the selected systems.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing of the set of change options comprises one or more of the group consisting of setting, clearing, defining, and specifying the at least one change option.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a list of systems that are affected by a project is used as the software service parameter data and systems belonging to a particular software service project are selected to form the group.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the software service parameter data in the single central server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising managing, from the single central server, the set of change options identically in each system of the group.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising managing, from the single central server, the set of change options of each system of the selected group of systems according to a predefined table for the group.

7. A computer system comprising:

a plurality of logical systems, each logical system having a set of change options that defines a changeability restriction pertinent to the system, and each system further comprising code and data, the code to be executed by the system;

a single central computer to couple to each of the logical systems from outside of the logical systems;

an interface in each logical system to read, from the single central computer, the change options of the respective system the single central computer to store the change options of each of the logical systems;

logical transport paths interconnecting the logical systems to the single central computer to form a software system landscape and to transport software services between the logical systems and the single central computer, the software services defining changes to at least one of the code and the data of at least one of the logical systems;

an interface on the single central computer to communicate with the interfaces of each of the logical systems and to periodically receive updates from each of the logical systems to the single central computer, of local changes made to a respective one of the logical systems, the single central computer further to write, through the interface, an updated set of change options to each of logical systems;

a program in the central computer for selecting a group of systems based on software service parameter data; and

wherein the central computer accesses the group of selected systems via the interfaces of the group of selected systems and for centrally manages the set of a change options in each system of the group;

wherein the single central computer holds a copy of the sets of change options of all of the selected systems in the single central computer;

wherein at least one change option in one of the set of change options for each of the systems implements a hierarchy of users and/or operators, the at least one change option defining which particular users and/or operators or an authorization level of users and/or operators allowed to affect certain changes or types of changes, either by approving import of one of the software services or making the changes to the system directly; and

wherein one of the software services define a customization, adaptation, program or data update by one of the software services for the selected systems.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein managing the set of change options comprises one or more of the group consisting of setting, clearing, defining, and specifying the set of change options in each system of the group.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the software service parameter data comprises a list of systems that are affected by a project and the group is comprised of systems belonging to a particular software service project.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the single central computer comprises the software service parameter data.

11. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the single central computer is to manage the set of change options in each system of the group identically.

12. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the single central computer is to manage the sets of change options of the systems of the selected group of systems according to a predefined table for the group.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage device storing a computer code that upon execution on a computer system performs operations for setting change options of software systems of a software system landscape, at least one software system comprising code and data, wherein the software systems are interconnected by logical transport paths for transport of software services therebetween, the software services defining changes to at least one of the code and the data of the at least one software system, each software system having a set of change options that define changeability restrictions pertinent to the respective system, the set of change options allowing or inhibiting changes of the code and the data of the respective system, the operations comprising:

reading, by a single central server, the set of change options from each of the systems;

storing the change options from each of the systems in the single central server;

writing, from the single central server, an updated set of change options to each of the respective systems through an interface in each of the respective systems from outside of each of the respective systems;

communicating with the interfaces of the systems through an interface on the central server;

periodically updating the single central server, from a respective one of the systems, with any local changes made to the respective one of the systems;

selecting a group of the systems based on software service parameter data;

accessing the group of selected systems from the single central server via the interfaces and centrally managing, from the single central server, the set of change options in each system of the group;

holding a copy of the sets of change options of all of the selected systems in the single central server;

implementing, by at least one change option in one of the set of change options for each of the systems a hierarchy of users and/or operators, the at least one change option defining which particular users and/or operators or an authorization level of users and/or operators allowed to affect certain changes or types of changes, either by approving import of one of the software services or making the changes to the system directly; and

defining a customization, adaptation, program or data update by one of the software services for the selected systems.