Unique automated SAP code upgrades save developers time, resources

MigrationWare, a local software modernisation company founded in 2000, is introducing unique SAP Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) analysis and remediation technology originating from its partner, smartShift Technologies.

smartShift Technologies' industry leading tools use unique and proprietary techniques to identify and automatically correct potential coding errors, security vulnerabilities and performance issues. The company's systems simultaneously resolve coding challenges while also updating the ABAP programming language to the latest SAP and Unicode standards, negating the need for additional updates.

For example, in a recent project for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) - India's largest fast-moving consumer goods company - smartShift Technologies performed a technical SAP release upgrade from version ECC 5.0 to ECC 6.0, while simultaneously completing Unicode enablement.

With integration of smartShift's extensive rule-based automated code remediation, 4 000 coding issues within some 7 000 objects were discovered and fixed in a matter of weeks. Some 96.5% of release upgrade and Unicode issues in HUL's custom ABAP code were automated, allowing the HUL development team to focus resources on functional testing. All code remediation, testing and integration was completed in less than three months.

"smartShift Technologies' suite of automated tools offers tremendous value by allowing our customers to focus their resources more efficiently," said Stefan Hetges, CEO of smartShift Technologies. "Letting our solutions do the heavy lifting saves time and helps our customers deliver more value to their own clients more quickly."

In another example, smartShift Technologies delivered a technical upgrade from SAP R/3 4.6c to ECC 6.0 EhP4, Unicode conversion and code optimisation for a Fortune Global 500 company with more than 101 000 worldwide employees in the energy and petrochemicals industry.

smartShift Technologies initiated the project with a complete, automated custom ABAP code analysis using its patented, rules-based engine to identify 425 558 overall issues. Analysis results included details on release-related issues and Unicode errors, potential runtime errors, warnings and obsolete coding constructs. The analysis also identified a range of code optimisations to improve the customer's system architecture, performance, security and maintainability. smartShift was able to automate 99.6% of the 425 558 ABAP code fixes required.

The total transformation, including manual remediation, was completed in less than three weeks and included the creation of tailored requirements to standardise the company's custom ABAP code. The project was designed to also include a series of delta runs to avoid dual-maintenance.The bottom-line result was a significantly reduced total cost of ownership for the company's SAP systems.

"We have no doubt that the South African SAP community will benefit as much from these technologies as their overseas counterparts have done for years," says MigrationWare Sales and Marketing Director Jo~ao de Oliveira, "and we are delighted to have been chosen by smartShift Technologies to introduce their solutions to this continent."