What is the exact procedure of upgrading the ESS/MSS

[Former Member]

Hi,

We intially started with EP 7.0 sp13 and ESS/MSS version 600 SP10.Later on we upgraded to EP 7.0 SP13 and ESS/MSS to SP13.

we have done lot of customisations to SAP ESS/MSS standard code and we did them again when we upgraded ESS/MSS.

Again we are planning to upgrade Portal to another version .so here my doubts are

1.Is it necessary to upgrade ESS/MSS everytime we upgrade portal(because ESS/MSS version = Portal version - 3 )

2.Do we need to do all the customisations again manually?

3.Is there anyway we can create copy of all the DCs which we want to customise and then do the customisations so that we dont need to redo all the work whenever we upgrade ESS/MSS

Thanks

Bala Duvvuri

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I am not sure if I can actually answer this question to help you though I'm interested in your topic as well.

Are ESS/MSS components contained in a track defined over NWDI(CMS)? Hence you can make a maintenance track for it. And alongside that, I believe that I have read an article saying that the SP Level of the application residing in the track are supposed to be independent of the Runtime System SP Level - of course depending on the required SCs imported in that track as per WD applications.

Shouldn't ESS/MSS SP level just be synchronized with the system(s) it is connecting to like HR or what-not.

I don't have actual ESS/MSS experience yet but this might apply? -[LINK|https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/5834] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken];-

Godspeed.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Jan,

you raised a good point

Shouldn't ESS/MSS SP level just be synchronized with the system(s) it is connecting to like HR or what-not.

@Slava,

Thanks for the response.

we already followed the cookbook and we did the upgrade onetime and i still feel there is a lot of manual effort required depending upon the customisations made.

But my concern is my client is planning to upgrade portal and backend systems for every 3 months.in that case for some versions there will be some incompatible issues.So do i need to follow the cookbook everytime and do the upgradation and one more concern is when there is no portal developer who does these things and if they plan to patch backend systems and if they are some incompatible issues with ESS/MSS what is going to happen with ESS/MSS functionality?

Thanks

Bala Duvvuri

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Any suggestions

Thanks

Bala Duvvuri

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Bala,

Usually, there are 3 (+1 ) types of patches that are done:

1. Kernel and JDK. This one is easy, can be done often. Affects perfomance, but rarely functionality.

2. Netweaver SPS. This one will update basic functionality, but in most cases will not affect ESS. Also can be done every 3 month.

3. ERP SPS. This one will affect ESS. You will be required to go through the cookbook. Backend HR component versions must match EP XSS. It makes sense, because EP XSS will call backend BAPIs and they should be of the same versions. Not very often I see ERP SPS applied every 3 month. One of the reasons is that user UI screens and procedure may change and the cycle of testing and user training rarely fits into 3 month.

+1. EHP, Enancement Packs. This is SAP effort to give a more granular aproach to functional changes. Basically your functional team will decide if it needs a new function and it will be possible to implement and activate it. If it happens that the function is HR and it affects XSS and it brings a new version, then yes, you will need to do XSS merge-update. It will be clear from the EHP docs. How often to do ESS related EHP? See 3. Keep in mind that EHP docs may give an impression that there is no impact until you "turn on" new function, but it is true for ABAP (with some exceptions), less so on the Java side.

Regards,

Slava

[Former Member]

Bala,

Here is what I know:

1. No, you do not have to, but check the documentation of XSS to make sure compatibility is there.

2. Not manually, but in semi-automated mode. See SAP Note Number: 872892 "JDI/NWDI Cookbook for ESS/XSS"

3. Not really. New XSS SP will being new versions of your customized components and new versions of components they depend on. If you simply overwrite new versions with customized old version, there will be a loss of new functionality available in the new versions. That is why SAP asks you to follow the note 872892 to merge your changes with the new versions of the components.

Regards,

Slava