“Customer Connection” – Cycle 3 finalized
End of 2015 the 3rd Cycle of the Customer Connection initiative for SAP Portfolio and Project Management has been completed. In total 43 improvements are delivered based on the ideas of our installed base customers. The related developments have been delivered by SAP Notes and/or by Support Package (SP) only (in case delivery by SAP Note is not possible). Target releases are 6.1 (for all improvement requests) and 6.0, 5.0 (for some improvement requests).
In addition to the features that we already announced in the Q4/2015 newsletter, the following enhancements have been provided:
- Enhanced Gantt Chart Fullscreen View
- Enhancements Bucket Rollup of Financial and Capacity Planning Data
- Additional options to display the assignments
Composite SAP Note 2135694 collects and links all SAP Notes released for Customer Connection Cycle 3 for SAP Portfolio and Project Management. It also includes a PDF file giving an overview of all released Customer Connection PPM developments of Cycle 3 as well as a PDF file with details about each released Customer Connection PPM development of Cycle 3.
SAP Portfolio and Project Management 6.1 – new features
In addition to the new features developed in Customer Connection Cycle 3, a number of new features have been delivered for PPM 6.1 through Support Package 05 that has been released mid of February. Highlights are
- Integration with SAP Document Center
You can now integrate documents which are attached to project elements in Project Management in SAP Portfolio and Project Management with SAP Document Center (formerly known as SAP Mobile Documents). For Details see SAP Note. As a result, your project documents are made available as a corporate document repository which can be accessed from PCs, laptops, smartphones, or tablets connected to your SAP Mobile Documents server anywhere. This enables you to view and maintain project documents from outside the Project Management application and download them to mobile devices for offline use. For details, restrictions, and information how to set up the integration, see the SP05 Release Notes, as well as the Configuration Content (available as PDF attachment of SAP Note 2026421), page 188. - Integration with SAP PLM Engineering Record (requires SAP ERP 6.0 EHP8 SP 01)
In product development projects, for a lot of engineers, project tasks are just the work packages which they use to log their actual work time, update the status of their work, follow the scheduled timeline, etc. The real detailed work is managed by using SAP PLM engineering records (ER). In order to make the access to engineering records easier, new object links for PLM Engineering Record have been introduced for the task and checklist item. Information on the ER can be displayed directly within PPM and the user can easily navigate via a link to change and display the ERs. You can also display the engineering records linked to the project and portfolio elements via PLM Object Navigator in PLM Web UI to capture an overview.
For more information, please check SAP Note 2217509 and see the SP05 Release Notes, as well as the Configuration Content2026421), page 57-58, 77, 196-197, 238.
Technical Information
- PPM 6.1 on SAP ERP 6.0 EhP8
On January 20, 2016, SAP Enhancement Package 8 for SAP ERP 6.0 (aka EhP8) had its RTC. The new EhP8 requires to have NW 7.5 underneath. SAP Portfolio and Project Management 6.1 is released for installation on top of EhP8. The 6.1 FAQ Note 2026407 has been updated accordingly. Please be aware that all lower PPM releases are not released for installation on top of EhP8. - PPM released for SAP Business Client 6.0
SAP Portfolio and Project Management 5.0, 6.0, and 6.1 have now been released for usage with SAP Business Client 6.0 (for Desktop). SAP Business Client 6.0 is the latest child in the SAP Business Client family formerly known as SAP NetWeaver Business Client (NWBC), available on SAP Service Marketplace. The SAP Notes 1402912, 1826387, and 2026422 have been enhanced accordingly. - Java browser plugins
SAP Portfolio and Project Management is using Java Browser plugins in some areas, e.g. for the Gantt graphic in project management. Java browser plugins will be in deprecation status from March, 2017, please refer to note 2283330 for the official SAP statement about Oracle plans to deprecate Java browser plugins.
