Application Tracer (AT)

The big picture

Many questions in IT service management can only be answered if there is comprehensive information about the use of the IT systems.

The specific questions can, for example, be as follows:

which organizational unit uses which processes on which system?
which modules/application components of SAP are used on which system?
Where there transactions executed (by whom) that do not conform to security policy?
Which custom developments are used how often and which are not used at all?
When was the last usage of a Transaction on a system by a user or an organisation unit?
When was the last usage of a SAP role or a SUIM’s Access Manager business role?
What RFC functions were executed remotely on a system using what RFC destination?

The corresponding information is only available in SAP systems for a short period of time and must be stored in an appropriate format for permanent use. SUIM’s Application Tracer (AT) allows you to retrieve, to store these informations in order to evaluate them for diverse needs.

What is AT used for?

SUIM’s Application Tracer is used to determine the use of SAP systems in the system landscape and to save them centrally.

SUIM’s Application Tracer allows to answer the question “Who did what, where, how many times and when” to help your SAP Competance Center in different ways:

Your Internal Audit Team

The SUIM’s Application Tracer is used to retrieve the system usage centrally and to split each usage per organisation units and applications. Your SAP Competence Centre is able to split the costs for your SAP systems, services and infrastructure per organisational units in function of heir effective usage.
In the SUIM’s Service Analyzer (SA), a special connector for the Collections and an Extractions is delivered for retrieving the Application Tracer datas in the Service Analyzer’s inventories.

Your Authorization Team

During a change request (if for example they have to remove a transaction from a role), the authorisations team is able to see how much gravity the application of this request will affect the end-users in their daily business.
He could also retrieve the last, and the frequency of Use of a role or a Business Role (SUIM’s Access Manager (AM) and SUIM’s Access Manager for Support Organisations (AMSO))
The SUIM’s Application Tracer could be used by the SUIM’s Authorisations Assistant (AA) to auto-create a new template role concept depending on the usage of your systems during the last years, the organisational assignement of the end users of the units (HR/HCM) and the users Jobs/functions (HR/HCM)

Features

Collectors for SAP Systems

Flexible collectors that are able to collect the relevant data in all SAP ABAP Stack systems and store them centrally

Optimize storage space

Optimize storage space by reducing the amount of data to the necessary minimum by storing only the relevant attributes.

Mapping mechanisms

Integrated mapping mechanisms allow not only the assignment of user to organization units but also the use of customer terms for the SAP application components/processes

Elegant Launchpad

an elegant Launchpad designer tool is proposed for creating différant launchpads depending of your AT-End users roles (AT as tool for your development team, AT as tool for your authorisation team, AT as tool for your controllers, AT as tool for your auditors, ..)

Customizing wizard tool

A customizing workplace for the configuration of the application tracer is delivered

Open Interface

an opened interface is delivered for enhansing AT for integrating your not SAP ABAP Stack systems

Alerts

Alterts using Emails can be configured if one system is not available during the daily retrieve batch job

Statistics and Reporting

Statistics about used transactions

A lot of reports and cockpits are delivered for transaction usage per user, organisation unit, system, ..

Statistics on RFC functions usage

Reports and statistics over RFC function usage as well as original system are delivered

Statistics on Table usage

Statistics on table usage (what table was read from who) by using SE16 and SM30 or other transactions

Satistics about report usage

Satistics over what report was executed using SE38 or SA38 are available

Statistics about Roles

Statistics over role usage is delivered

Statistics about Business roles

Statistics over business roles (AM and AMSO) usage are deleiveed

Statistics about http services

Statistics over http services as well as mime object usage is delivered

Statistic about execution type

Statistics over Dialog, batch, http, and other type is delivered.

Security

The use of trusted RFC for communication between the central and client systems is recommended, but is not a requirement. It is also possible to use a technical user. However, it is strongly advised not to use a dialog user as a technical user.

The use of trusted RFC ensures that the user who performs AT remote functions on a source system is also logged on to the remote system with his or her user.

Technical requirements

SUIM’s Application Tracer consists of a central Package to be imported on your Central System, and of a small client package to be imported on each satelite system.

In order for Application Tracer to be fully utilized, the release of the central system on which at is operated should be in the minimum NetWeaver 7.0. It is also possible to use at already from a release starting from SAP 6.40.

The release level of the client systems does not affect the functionality of AT, but should still be in the minimum SAP 7.0.

Non-SAP systems could be integrated using the delivered interface for retrieving the data. These custom developments are not part of the delivered product.