SAP GUI System ID and Colour

System ID Habit

As a BW Developer, the SAP GUI is only one of many applications you will use throughout the work day. Efficient user of the SAP GUI is possible when you consider the experience of switching between all open application windows.

For Microsoft Windows users, there are a few options available to spend more time focusing on the work to be done, rather than trying to find the other SAP session window you were just in 30 seconds ago:

When you combine all of the SAP GUI usage tips together, you will experience the benefits of each more as a reflex rather than having to consciously think about it. This leaves you free to think about the real work to be done rather than the frustration of navigating between open application windows (SAP GUI session windows / Windows Tasks).

As a SAP Netweaver BW Developer or System Administrator you would have become quite familiar with the various features and quirks of using the SAP GUI. It is one of the primary tools used to get the work done. Are you enjoying the experience and using it as efficiently as possible? Try these best practices to help you focus on the work to be done, rather than the tool used to do it:

  1. Use the System-ID in the bottom right corner;
  2. Logout of Production once the work is done;
  3. Use a different colour scheme for Development, Test and Production.

 

Colour Scheme for each System Tier

Do you have way too much manual activity going on in Production systems to make ‘Log out when done’ a practical habit? This could happen when you are assisting a business user to investigate an alleged data integrity problem.

You would have the BW Test, BW Production, ECC Test, ECC Production, SRM Test and SRM Production systems all open as you follow the data and explore a train of thought across the environments. This will inevitably involve a lot of switching back and forth between windows as you wait for the various programs to complete and present the requested data.

This is when a Production system is at risk because it only takes the execution of the wrong program in the wrong system to modify the production data or interfere with system resources needed by the rest of the business user community. Hopefully you are in the habit of checking the System ID in the bottom right corner.

Sometimes the habit of checking the System ID is not enough. You can enhance the experience by setting a different colour scheme for different Systems based upon what tier of the system landscape they belong to. Using both techniques greatly lowers the risk to an accident in a Production system; especially when Production is pink/red to always visually remind you that you should probably not be in this system.

It does not really matter what colour scheme you choose to represent a Sandpit, Development, Test and Production system; just make sure they are different.

 

Take Action

As a once-off activity, log into each system in the Logon Pad and perform the following actions:

  1. Set the bottom right corner of the session window to show the System-ID.
  2. Modify the colour scheme. Set it according to the System Tier.