Customizing Synchronization
Purpose
You use several SAP components in your system landscape, e.g. SAP ERP and SAP MDM. The SAP MDM system is based on data which is already in SAP ERP, and the systems cooperate in many business scenarios. Customizing settings which define business processes across systems must be and remain synchronized, to ensure smooth and correct exchange of data. Areas in which the customizing must be synchronized include customer and product groups, sales areas, payment conditions, delivery conditions, commission groups, currencies, countries, regions and measurement units.
SAP provides two tools to support customizing synchronization:
Customizing Distribution and the Customizing Scout.
Customizing Distribution transfers customizing from one system to another ("Initial distribution"), or updates customizing in different systems at the same time, whenever customizing is changed in a reference system ("Delta distribution"). Customizing Distribution can:
configure training, demo and test systems quickly with the initial customizing distribution
synchronize SAP ERP, SAP MDM and SAP APO systems with the delta distribution, to ensure that cross-component processes run smoothly
synchronize customizing in different SAP ERP systems, to prepare an ALE distribution of master data
Customizing Distribution helps system administrators to monitor customizing activities in several systems, with checks, automatic logging of all customizing distributions, and error handling.
The Customizing Scout, a tool which compares the customizing between different systems, complements Customizing Distribution.
Integration
The Customizing Synchronization is part of the SAP Solution Manager.
Customizing Distribution transfers the customizing from one development system (SAP ERP) into another (e.g. SAP ERP or SAP MDM). You can then transport the data into the quality assurance and production systems in a controlled manner. This customizing data thus takes the same path through the development and test systems as other customizing data. The Customizing Distribution also has other additional functions, above all comparison, distribution of customizing changes, and logging.
Features
You can use the following tools:
The Customizing Scout compares customizing in two systems.
The Customizing Distribution synchronizes customizing in a source and various target systems.
You can specify customizing objects which must be synchronized in your system landscape, with the Synchronization Object Specification Tool.
Constraints
You can use predefined Synchronization objects, customizing objects which are to be synchronized in different components, in the Customizing Distribution and the Customizing Scout. You can also select any transportable customizing object of type Space
(table), V (view), S (table with text table), C (view cluster), T (individual transaction ) and L (logical transport object), for the Customizing Synchronization. These customizing objects must satisfy the prerequisites described in suitable objects for the Customizing Synchronization.
Caution
You can only distribute customizing in harmonized systems. Distributing customizing in system landscapes which are not harmonized causes data inconsistencies.
Do not combine Customizing Distribution and the Customizing ID Mapping Framework for a customizing object and its system. This can also cause data inconsistencies. Customizing Distribution and the Customizing ID Mapping Framework are both components of the SAP Solution Manager, but they are not integrated with each other. You can either distribute a customizing object between two systems with the Customizing Distribution, or set-up ID mapping.