Phases in the Project and Maintenance Cycle

The phases in project and maintenance cycles define which activities are permitted.

Prerequisites

Each phase in the project and maintenance cycle corresponds to the status defined in the status profile for the corresponding transaction types. You configure these settings in Customizing for SAP Solution Manager under Start of the navigation path Capabilities Next navigation step Change Control Management Transactions Status Administration Define Status Profile for User Status End of the navigation path .

Features

Phase structure: Project and maintenance cycles have the following standard phases:
1. Created
2. In Development w/o Release
  A transport request can be generated but not released.
  
  Note
  Use this phase if developments are not to be transported to the test system straight away.
  
  End of the note.
3. In Development with Release
  You can only release transport requests once you have reached this phase. It is initiated by the administrator and allows you to release transports and to import them into the test system for tests.
4. Test
  Once changes to the project have been imported into the test system, this phase can start and integration testing can commence. New change transactions can no longer be created for the project. Using defect corrections, you can only eliminate errors that have occurred during testing.
5. Go Live Preparation
  Users with the corresponding authorizations can make additional required changes.
6. Go Live
  All changes that were successfully tested in the test phase are imported into the production system.
7. Being Completed
  The system checks the change documents assigned to this cycle. When a cycle reaches this phase, you cannot move it back to the Go-Live phase. It can only be moved to Completed.
8. Completed
  The system performs checks for the involved transport requests, for open tasks, and so on. You can continue completing the cycle, ignoring the checks, or addressing the checks.
You can display the phases in the Project Phases assignment block. The current phase for the cycle is highlighted.
You change the phases and therefore the status of the cycle by choosing Actions.

Caution
To switch from one project phase to the next, you should use only the required action in the project or maintenance cycle. Do not use the task list to switch project phases.

Example: In a three-system landscape, all transport requests for urgent changes that have the To Be Tested status are in the import buffer of the production system. If you switch the phase in the task list and not in the maintenance cycle, the system does not issue a warning, and the urgent changes would be imported into the production system without being tested. If you switch the phases in the maintenance cycle, the transport requests are checked. The user is therefore aware of the situation and can act accordingly.

End of the caution.