BW 7.4 Post-upgrade Issue with RSCHAVL - Pre-upgrade measure not implemented

[Former Member]

Hi,

Our BW Development server was just upgraded from BW 7.3 to BW 7.4 SP08.  We discovered that we did not implement Note 1879618 (Pre-upgrade measures for upgrade/update to 7.4).   Therefore the program RSD_PREXPRA_TO_740 was not executed before the upgrade.   As a result, data element using domain RSCHAVL was not replaced with another data element of type CHAR60. 

RSCHAVL where-used list has around 6000 objects (table, structure, data element, programs, etc.).

The questions are:

- Since we did not implement note 1879618, we really don't know what we have missed.   Is it necessary to rollback to 7.3, implement the note and reinstall 7.4?

- If we do not rollback, are there other options/resolutions?

- Note 1823174 (BW 7.4 changes and customer-specific programs) seems to only address customer exit and few custom programs. What about others and those GP* programs?  We have hundreds of these programs for update rule/transformation.  How do we resolve those?

Thank you for your help.

Rebecca

[Former Member]

Hello everyone,

Note was created to solve this type of issues:

2183594 - Syntax error: "At the write position, you cannot use offset and length specifications with...

Regards,

Janaina

[Former Member]

Hi Sander,

Thank you again for answering my questions.

I have corrected variable user exit and several custom programs including functional modules which are used in update rule/transformation/etc.   We tested several data loads and the results look better now.  As you suggested, Note 1823174 offers many tips to resolve the issues related to this.

I really appreicate your help!  By the way, Amsterdam/Netherland is one of the coolest place in the world!!!

Best regards,

Rebecca

[sander_vanwilligen]

Hi Rebecca,

Please find below my answer to your questions:

Q: Since we did not implement note 1879618, we really don't know what we have missed.   Is it necessary to rollback to 7.3, implement the note and reinstall 7.4?

A: The purpose of SAP Note 1879618 is to avoid problems during the upgrade. My first question is: did you experience any problems during the upgrade? Did the upgrade fail? Did you see warning or error messages in any log?

Q: If we do not rollback, are there other options/resolutions?

A: Please see my previous answer. It depends on the upgrade status and warning/error messages what you have to do.

Q: Note 1823174 (BW 7.4 changes and customer-specific programs) seems to only address customer exit and few custom programs. What about others and those GP* programs?  We have hundreds of these programs for update rule/transformation.  How do we resolve those?

A: In my opinion all customer coding is meant. Also coding in Transformations for example. Again, one opposite is to test all custom developments and the other one is to wait if any problem pops up. It can be very useful to use the check options which the ABAP workbench provides. I think of Extended Check and Code Inspector but also the new ABAP Test Cockpit.

Best regards,

Sander

[Former Member]

Hi Sander,

Thank you so much to take time to answer my questions. 

Here's more details on our scenario:

• According to our Basis, the upgrade was completed successfully.  I did not see the upgrade log myself.
• We have a program to do a mass check on GP* programs.  It generated hundreds (or thousands) errors like this:

     GP37W0FRI7NZY2C3T5LJI060X8A    At the write position, you cannot use offset and length specifications with fields of type "STRING" or "XSTRING". - 349  <L_S_VALSID>-VALUE+0(000004)

• We tried to reactive the datasource/Infocube/transformation/dtp; but continued to experience load problem.  
• It's almost impossible to correct all these manually since we have so many objects.   It may also require to test every single data load in order to eliminate any issue.
• We cannot afford waiting for the problem to pop up in the production.  If it has too many errors, we will not be able to correct them in time to meet customers' demand.  
  
• Looking at program RSD_PREXPRA_TO_740 (provided by Note 1879618 - pre-upgrade measures) , it replaces RSCHAVL in data element/table/structure/other objects with other data element with CHAR60 (e.g. RSCHAVL_MAXLEN, RSCHAVL60, etc.).    I assume if we ran this program in pre-upgrade, those errors on GP* programs would have been eliminated or minimized.   Is that correct?

Thank you again for your help!  

Best regards,
Rebecca

[sander_vanwilligen]

Hi Rebecca,

My advice would be to start all over again with an upgrade on a refreshed system. Prior to the upgrade you should really run program RSD_PREXPRA_TO_740 according to SAP Note 1879618.

Furthermore, I advice to investigate the issue described under the second bullit. I think that this issue is described in SAP Note 1823174 under:

ASSIGN VAR+OFFSET(LENGTH) TO <FIELDSYMBOL> or VAR+OFFSET(LENGTH) = ... causes a syntax error if VAR is a STRING.

It could be that this issue is a consequence of the fact that you did not run program RSD_PREXPRA_TO_740 prior to the upgrade.

Best regards,

Sander