Patching Cycles

[former_member188338]

Hi Folks,

We've been having a debate with SAP about the frequency of update required to maintain support. There has been an OSS note issued regarding this which is:

http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/2051068

It basically states that code corrections will only be released on the latest support package:

"Therefore, prerequisite for a patch to successfully resolve a customer issue is that the IdM installation has been updated to the latest delivered SP of Identity Management 7.2."

As the updates by SAP are produced twice a year, this forces customers to patch twice a year to maintain support. Not only that, but you must patch quickly after each patch is released. As a customer, we thought we were doing a good job patching once a year, but now, depending on our patching cycles we can be out of date within weeks of us finishing our patching. This problem will ease when 7.2 becomes a second class citizen in terms of patching once IdM 8 is released, but for the moment, this is causing us pain.

How is anyone else coping with this, and do you have any thoughts?

Cheers,

Ian

[former_member188338]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the helpful feedback, it looks like this is still an open question within the community to get some more positive answers from SAP regarding support as more and more customers have older versions of IdM being deployed.

Thanks,

Ian

[terovirta]

Ian Daniel wrote:


How is anyone else coping with this, and do you have any thoughts?

Hi Ian,

IMHO it depends on what issues you're having with the current patch level and which patch is supposed to fix them.

regards, Tero

[Steffi_Warnecke]

Pretty much.

I don't patch if I don't have to, because in my experience with each new patch MIGHT come solutions for current issues, but very surely new issues are guaranteed. Most "fun" with my IDM I have after an update.

Regards,

Steffi.

[former_member2987]

ISteffi,

  Most "fun" with my IDM I have after an update. 

Historically this has always been the case with IDM.  However, to be fair, I think this could be said about most big enterprise applications. (count on Delta and Import/Export to be the parts of IDM to most likely to be affected)

Former Member, Are you referring to SPs or new versions?  As others have said, it all depends on what the new release brings.  I'll almost always advocate SP updates, but I think the thing you need to do is read the relevant notes and see how it works for your organization.

Matt

[Steffi_Warnecke]

 Historically this has always been the case with IDM.  However, to be fair, I think this could be said about most big enterprise applications.  (count on Delta and Import/Export to be the parts of IDM to most likely to be affected) 

Absolutly. I could have put "Portal" there instead and it would be the same answer. ^^

[Matt_Fraser]

Pretty much. We don't have IdM, so I can't speak to that, but we rarely patch our Portal, because it's such a hassle reintegrating customizations, and it's so much more labor- and time-intensive than ABAP support packs. Even on the ABAP side, we have to drag our business units kicking and screaming into agreement with applying support packs once a year to maintain tax and legal compliance, and even then, they typically won't go along with patching the whole system unless it's required to support the legal compliance. The conversation goes like this:

Basis: "We need to apply Support Packs."

Business: "No."

Functional Analysts: "What's the minimum we can get away with?"

Basis: "We need to do it or we'll lose support."

Management: "Can we purchase extended maintenance?"

Basis: "We already did that."

Everyone: "Oh."

[Brindavan_M]

Hi Lan,

For patching once a year or twice a year its doesn't make matter. SAP will suggest for any patch update based of their new functionality or pervious bug fixing. It is good to update the patch if SAP recommended.

This is what I'm understand.

Thanks,

Brindavan