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Snow Optimizer for SAP® Software 4

Here you can find the release notes for Snow Optimizer for SAP 4.

4.1.0 latest​

Release date: 2024-12-11

New​

Administration
Guided procedures

  • The new guided procedures feature helps you to execute administrative processes in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software in a guided way, ensuring that you complete all steps in the correct order. Every guided procedure represents an administrative process and consists of a set of steps. Each step is assigned to an activity, which can be an SAP standard or a Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software feature.
  • Guided procedures are currently available for the following processes:
    • Initial setup
    • Connect to central LAW and HR systems
    • Connect to Active Directory
  • The guided procedures feature is constantly being developed and further guided procedures will be added in future Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software releases.

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Contract management
Expiring contracts

  • This new contract management report gives you an overview of which license contracts are about to expire so that you are better informed about the current status of your SAP licensing. You can select whether the report includes only the expiration dates of the contracts or also of the products included. To remind you of expiring contracts, the report can email notifications with the report results.

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Rules
Comparison of rule set results

  • There is a new report to compare the results of rule set executions. By selecting two rule set execution results you can compare the recommended changes to the user master data. For each recommendation, you can select whether to apply the changes from the first or second rule set and record these changes in a change list. You can also show the detailed results of each selected rule set execution.

Templates
Automatic template installation

  • To ensure that Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software always uses the latest and up-to-date template versions, templates are now automatically updated and/or installed in the background after a new installation or update. A pop-up notifies the first user who opens Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software about the template installation.

User master data
Secondary user groups

  • Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software can now show and change secondary user groups. The secondary user groups are shown in all overview report results that show the primary user group. To change secondary user groups, you can record changes in a change list in report results or select secondary user groups as a target field in user master data update schemes.

Enhancements​

Authorization roles
New master authorization roles

  • There are two new master authorization roles:
    • /DYNAM/MASTER_NO_EXE: No ability to process change lists, but access to all other functions.
    • /DYNAM/MASTER_DISPLAY: Display only, no ability to make changes.

Basic functions
Snow Docs integration

  • Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software is now connected to the new Snow Docs website https://docs-sap.snowsoftware.io/. The doc site has been technically rebuilt from scratch and includes, among other features, a dark mode and the ability to switch languages on each page. As the new site offers better design options, many more features will be added in the future.

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Contract management
More product templates

  • There are now 24 more S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition Tailored Option product templates.

Update of engine product templates

  • The SAP product templates have been updated to include all published engine measurement information up to October 2024.

Update of product templates

  • The product templates have been updated according to the SAP List of Prices and Conditions Q2/2024 and Q3/2024. These changes include:
    • 103 new product templates
    • 182 product templates have been updated

Dashboards
Second tile for rule set results

  • A second tile for showing rule set results has been added to the dashboard tiles available in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software. This makes it possible to show two different rule set results in the dashboards.

License Intelligence templates
Improved recognition of standard SAP technical user accounts

  • The automatic detection of standard SAP technical user accounts in local rules has been improved. These user accounts are now assigned to a cost-neutral license to reduce the overall license costs.

Update of rule set templates

  • The S/4HANA Cloud License Intelligence rule set templates have been enhanced to reduce license consumption by identifying users with the S/4HANA Cloud Support Access license type.

Reports
Improvement of STAR reports

  • With the new release, the S/4HANA Trusted Authorization Review (STAR) reports in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software have been improved based on experience and customer requests:
    • The new STAR Execute Classification report classifies the roles, profiles, and users of a selected system according to a selected authorization object classification. Optionally, the report can also check usage. The report results are saved (one for each classification/system combination) and form the basis for the user evaluation and role evaluation reports. The report processes data in blocks to avoid a short dump due to insufficient memory.
    • The new STAR Overview Status Classifications report lists the results of the STAR Execute Classification report in a table, showing for which classification/system combination results are available. You can delete results.
    • The improved STAR User Evaluation report has new result columns to show the possible usage of objects and roles and objects and roles with usage classified with the target license type.
    • The improved STAR Role Evaluation report has the new Quick Win result column. This column shows how many users have a role and only this role leads to a higher license type. If the role was deactivated for an account, it resulted directly in a lower license type.

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Corrections​

Contract management

  • The measurement information for 27 Extended Warehouse Management product templates has been updated to ensure correct measurement across all licensing models.

Dashboards

  • Fixed a bug that caused the configuration of the License type distribution dashboard tile to dump.

Data

  • In job swarms for loading data from ABAP systems, the error notifications now display error messages always separately for each data source.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented the offline loading of IDOC data.

Master Job

  • Follow-on jobs are now executed with a 10-second delay after the Master Job, even if a shorter delay is set, to ensure that the follow-on jobs are always executed.

System measurement

  • Active license types are now shown in the system measurement configuration overview when the system is an offline system.

4.0.4​

Release date: 2024-04-29

New​

Administration
Load ABAP user master data if display of USRACL table is prohibited

  • The latest SAP Service Packs prohibit loading contents of the USRACL table. This leads to errors when loading ABAP data in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software. As of release 4.0.4, the USRACL table is loaded only if allowed. If an error occurs during loading, the SNC name field of the user master data is set to ? for all users in the affected system.

Change lists
Display of authorization roles when unassigning all user roles

  • When a rule set has the Unassign all authorization roles action and the recommended changes are saved in a change list, the Old value field for the users in the change list is set to “*”, meaning that the changes cannot be undone. With the new release of Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software, there is now a setting in Customizing to resolve the roles when updating user master data. When this setting is activated, all single roles are resolved and displayed in the change list. This makes it possible to undo changes, if necessary.

Migration
FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications migration

  • There is a new report to migrate data from FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications to Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software. By executing the report, you can migrate the system landscape and the statistics data stored in the FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications staging database. Please note that the migrated statistics data is incomplete because it does not have the dialog steps as in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software.

Enhancements​

Contract management
More information in product overview

  • The product overview now has more columns to display the following product information:
    • Metric
    • Block size
    • From price list
    • Until price list
    • Measurement method
    • Link to measurement documentation

New product templates

  • 14 SKUs have been added to the product templates.

Update of Cloud (SaaS) product templates

  • The Cloud (SaaS)/SAP BTP product templates have been updated with the measurement metrics.

License Intelligence templates
Update of rules templates

  • The License Intelligence rules templates for technical dialog accounts (*_TECH_DIA) have been updated to provide more accurate results.

  • The License Intelligence STAR rule set templates for S/4HANA and S/4HANA Cloud have been updated to classify all users without authorizations from the authorization object classification as Engine Usage.

Update of usage profile templates

  • The License Intelligence usage profile templates have been updated according to the S/4HANA release 2023.

  • The License Intelligence usage profile templates have been updated to better detect HR-related Web Dynpro applications.

  • The License Intelligence usage profile templates have been updated with additional transaction codes and Web Dynpro services.

Reports
Resolve composite roles in STAR role evaluation report

  • The STAR role evaluation report now resolves composite roles to display the classification of the contained single roles in the report results.

Corrections​

Contract management

  • The formulas of the SAP S/4HANA Utilities product templates now check the correct usage indicator for inventory determination.

Reports

  • Deleting the results of STAR reports now deletes the data in all relevant tables.

Rules

  • The value help of the Role classification condition now displays the full role classification ID.

  • Fixed a bug that caused the Authorization objects assigned condition type to not work correctly.

Deprecated​

Reports

  • In the STAR role evaluation report, the Use default license type option has been removed because it has not been in use internally.

4.0.3​

Release date: 2024-03-08

Enhancements​

Contract management
Update of product templates

  • The product templates have been updated according to the SAP List of Prices and Conditions Q1/2024. These changes include:

    • 61 new Cloud SKUs added

    • 69 Cloud SKUs retired

    • 13 new on-premise SKUs added

    • 21 on-premise SKUs retired

    • 10 SKUs are available again after not being in the SAP List of Prices and Conditions Q4/2023

    • 11 SKUs have new names

Corrections​

Contract management

  • The formulas of some IS-U product templates have been updated to ensure correct inventory detection.

Rule sets

  • Fixed a bug that when a user left the display or maintenance view of a rule set, an incorrect warning pop-up was displayed that the rule set had been changed.

  • Fixed a bug that caused the detailed view of rule set results to dump if a rule set contained a Role change action type for ABAP systems and the rule set was executed with non-ABAP systems in scope.

Software transport

  • A performance enhancement introduced in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software 4.0.2 was incompatible with high ABAP platform versions, causing the import of software transports to be terminated with return code 8. This bug has been fixed in release 4.0.3.

System measurement

  • Fixed a bug that caused some links to the official SAP engine documentation in the system measurement results not to work.

4.0.2​

Release date: 2024-02-16

Enhancements​

Administration
Changed default value of Overview Jobs report

  • The default value for determining jobs in the Overview jobs report has been changed from /DYNAM/* to /DYNA*.

Contract management
More SAP product templates

  • There are now more product templates for products from pre-2008 price lists.

Update of SAP product templates

  • The SAP product templates have been updated to reflect the changes in engine measurement as of SAP Information 01/2024.

Cost allocation
Reduced memory consumption of cost allocation executions

  • The memory consumption of cost allocation executions has been reduced to prevent dumps when a large number of users and conditions are involved.

Data
Changes to loading BusinessObjects data

  • Some BusinessObjects systems deliver a slight variation of the usual output format. As a result, some enhancements have been made to loading BusinessObjects data in Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software:
    • Output format detection and acceptance of both formats for user data, application data, and usage data
    • New naming schema for HTML debug files to simplify the assignment of files to data types

Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​​ Software license routine
Change of the user aggregation field

  • In the Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software license routine, the user aggregation field for S/4HANA Public Cloud systems has been changed from the User ID field to the User alias field. This change allows for better consolidation of users across on-premises and cloud systems and typically results in a lower number of accounted users in the Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software license.

Corrections​

Data

  • The user data import from S/­4HANA Cloud systems has been adapted to the latest CSV format.

Data source administration

  • Fixed a bug that caused the loss of reporting groups of a data source when cutting and pasting the data source.

Export and import of objects

  • If an object export contains a local rule that uses an authorization object classification, the export file does not contain the dependency on the classification. Therefore, the rule set and the local rule containing the classifications are not usable on the importing system and cannot be viewed or deleted. This has been fixed. Additionally, a correction report is now available on the importing system. Please contact Snow support if the problem occurs on your system.

Rule sets

  • When switching between the results of rule set executions, the change list data in the Protocol data tab is now initialized.

  • Changing the active status of a local or global rule now affects the active status of the rule set in which the local or global rule is used.

4.0.1​

Release date: 2024-01-15

Enhancements​

Authorization roles
More authorizations in role /DYNAM/MASTER_ALL

  • The job scheduling S_BTCH_NAM and BTCH_NA1 authorization objects have been added to the /DYNAM/MASTER_ALL authorization role for the Master Job feature.

Contract management
More SAP product templates

  • There are now more than 50 additional SAP product templates for products from pre-2008 price lists.

Cross-functional objects
Price list selection in authorization object classification

  • In the classification of authorization objects, you can now select a price list to define which license type is assigned to which step. Therefore, the assignment of license types to steps in customizing is no longer necessary and has been removed.

License Intelligence templates
Updated S/4HANA Private Cloud rule sets

  • The S/4HANA Private Cloud License Intelligence rule sets have been updated to reflect SAP's changes to S/4HANA Private Cloud systems. To ensure correct license classification and minimize license usage, one rule was updated, and two new rules were created and implemented.

Master Job
More programs for follow-on jobs

  • The Compliance analysis and Delete periodic data of ABAP systems programs have been added to the selectable programs for defining follow-on jobs.

System measurement
Non-unique units in system measurement

  • In ABAP system measurement, the unit IDs are no longer unique in engine measurement. The combination of application and unit is now used to show the unit names correctly in the system measurement results. The order and colors of the columns have been adjusted to visualize the new logic.

Warning functions
Changed determination of engine applications and units

  • Since engine unit IDs are no longer unique for engine determination, the determination of engine applications and units has been changed in engine warning functions.

Corrections​

Authorizations

  • The incorrect assignment of the contractual user type GBO to the authorization role /DYNAM/SATELLITE_DATA_LOAD, which resulted in the usage of a S/4HANA Cloud Advanced Use license at every customer, has been fixed.

Contract management

  • The formulas in the Digital Access product templates have been adapted to the USMM measurement factor.

  • Fixed a bug that caused the Compliance analysis report to dump if the selected license contract contained a product whose usage count was based on a formula, the formula contained an indicator, and the indicator contained spaces.

Reports

  • The STAR report for the results of authorization object evaluations now shows the correct result when another result is selected after the first result has been shown.

  • Reporting groups are now taken into account for the results of the report ABAP data overview.

Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​​ Software license routine

  • When the compensation with higher license pools is active, the default license pool now accounts for the 10% tolerance.

Deprecated​

Contract management

  • As of Release 3.2, the product type in Contract management is used for information purposes only. Therefore, the Overview product types tab in contracts, which showed the aggregated numbers per product type, is no longer required and has been removed.

System measurement

  • Since unit IDs are no longer unique in engine measurement, masking of engine units based on unit IDs has been removed from customizing.

4.0.0​

Release date: 2023-11-10

New​

Administration
Master Job

  • Many Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software tasks, such as data loading, warning functions, or reports, can be scheduled as background jobs. However, most typical users like, for example, license managers or external licensing consultants do not have the necessary authorizations to execute these tasks.
  • With the new Master Job feature, non-technical users can now simply and intuitively schedule regular tasks independently of SAP Basis. In a Master job, you can schedule all necessary tasks as follow-on jobs. When the Master Job is executed, it schedules the follow-on jobs with the ​time delay specified​ in the respective follow-on job. You can specify the daily time for the execution of the master job and whether the follow-on jobs are executed with the user ID of the user who created the master job or with a different user ID. There is also a protocol to check whether all follow-on jobs have been successfully executed.

Basic functions
Installed and latest available product version on the start screen

  • To help you keep track of which Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software version is installed on your SAP system and whether a newer version is available, information about the currently installed version and whether a newer version is available is now shown directly on the start screen.

General
SAP certification

  • A SAP certification shortens the implementation time, reduces integration costs, and ensures compatibility with your SAP security and technology infrastructure. With the release of 4.0.0, Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software has once again been successfully certified by SAP (SAP Integration Scenario ABAP ADD-ON FOR SAP S/4HANA 2022). This certified SAP integration means that Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software not only meets SAP's minimum requirements but has also passed rigorous testing by the SAP team.
  • The following functions have been successfully tested and certified:
    • Assign software components and namespace
    • Package add-on using SAP Add-On Assembly Kit
    • Deploy using SAP Add-On Installation Tool (SAINT)
    • Integrate with SAP S/4HANA
    • Technical uninstallation test
    • SAP Solution Manager Ready functionality
    • Compatible with SAP S/4HANA
    • Compatible with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition
    • Works with RISE with SAP

License Intelligence templates
Extra local rules for identification of Business Partners

  • The License Intelligence templates already had local rules for the identification of Business Partners by user group or email address. With the new release, there are now four extra local rules that allow you to easily identify Business Partners also based on company code, cost center, department, or user name.

SAP STAR rule sets

  • There are two new License Intelligence rule set templates specifically for S/4HANA and S/4HANA Cloud systems. With these rule sets, you can classify users based on the authorization object classifications of the S/4HANA Trusted Authorization Review (STAR) while optimizing the number of users.

Enhancements​

Basic functions
Documentation publicly available on Snow Docs

  • You can now access the Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software documentation in Snow Docs without entering credentials.

Change lists
Undo processed changes

  • You can now undo the changes you made by processing change list entries.

Contract management
Database fee relevance of products

  • For each SAP product, you can now specify whether the product is relevant for SAP Application Value (SAV) and/or HANA SAP Application Value (HSAV) database fees.

Distribution of the USMM measurement results among different products

  • The compliance analysis now distributes the USMM measurement results of a unit ID to all SAP products whose inventory is determined based on this unit ID, starting with the lowest material number. This is required for products with tiered prices that have a different material number for each price level.

Potential products for unlicensed engines

  • The results of the compliance analysis now show potential products that you can purchase to license unlicensed engines.

Usage indicators for flat fee and self-declaration products

  • For SAP products of the types flat fee and self-declaration, you can now maintain usage indicators based on the USMM unit IDs, including a threshold for each indicator. Only when the threshold is exceeded, the product is considered active in the compliance analysis.

Validity of price lists

  • There are now two fields in the product details that show when and until a price list is valid for informational purposes.

Templates
Notification texts and duplicate rules

  • There are now templates for notification texts and extra templates for duplicate rules:
    • Seven notification text templates for data loading and systems measurement errors and three notification text templates for user license, engine license, and activity check thresholds.
    • Two new duplicate rule templates: one for identifying duplicate users with different user accounts but the same first and last name and one for identifying duplicate users with different user accounts but the same SNC: Printable name.

SAP products

  • The release of 4.0.0 introduces a large number of new SAP product templates named after the material numbers. Snow Optimizer for SAP​®​ Software contract management now has over 8,000 SAP product templates ready for use.

Corrections​

Administration

  • Creating a BusinessObjects data source entry in the data source administration now does not require entering a REST Web Service RFC destination if data is loaded but not changed.

  • Eliminated database conflicts when processing data load jobs in parallel with job swarms.

Contract management

  • When the inventory of a product is determined with a formula based on the USSM measurement results of the Unit ID, the usage indicator in the formula is now taken into account in the calculation.

  • Deleting a termination item in a license contract now increases the number of active product licenses in the frame contract accordingly.

  • When sorting the items in the product tab of a contract and selecting the detail view of an item, the detail view of that item is now shown.

Cost allocation

  • You can now select background execution in the Execute Cost Allocation report menu.

Reports

  • Fixed a bug that caused the STAR report for evaluating user authorization objects to dump when showing the user list in consolidated view.

  • In the CPU Consumption Profile Analysis report, errors in the analysis option for the number of used objects in a usage profile have been fixed.

Rules

  • Fixed a bug that caused rule set executions containing a local rule with the ABAP role classification condition to dump.

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