What was I thinking when I booked an 8:00 AM hands on session, the morning after the Women in Technology Design Thinking event? Yikes! However, I managed to get myself up and going, and even arrived on time to SCI261, Best Practices for Dealing with Security Notes by SAP Active Global Support. Even for those quite familiar with Security Notes, it was a good session to reinforce the importance of having a plan for reviewing and applying them. In my estimation, one key takeaway was the reminder to not overlook a security note just because you are not using some part of the solution. If you have the software installed, you should still apply the Note, because who could be using that functionality? Yes, the hacker, of course.
Following that session, I hurried over to the Clubhouse to facilitate my Expert Networking session for security and GRC professionals. I was pleased that I had a good turnout at the session, and most of those present were somewhere in the process of deploying or upgrading to GRC 10.0, so we had a very productive discussion.
An SAP Mentor meeting with Mark Yolton, Senior VP of the SAP Community Network, was the next up on my agenda. As always, Mark was very interested in our views about TechEd and the Mentor initiative. It gives me a good feeling about participating in this community knowing that our input is sought on making good programs even better.
After lunch, I had a little time to regroup before my 2nd interview on SAP TechEd Live. This time we were discussing the Women in Technology Design Thinking event held Wednesday evening. I hope that a design thinking workshop becomes a regular part of the TechEd program going forward. The recording is posted on the
SAP TechEd Online web site.
I also had a chance to speak with one of the speakers from my morning session, Frank Buchholz from SAP AG, and we continued our discussion about security notes. Frank wanted to be sure that message was out to security professionals of the importance of promptly raising a customer ticket with SAP support to report any defects found in security notes and to be sure that the ticket is escalated to the security support group.
Later in the afternoon was our ASUG Security Influence Council Update session. It was a team leadership event, with Greg Capps, ASUG Security SIG Program Chair, Kathleen Kochtan, the Influence Council Customer Chair, Kristian Lehment from SAP AG, and I sharing the podium and facilitating the discussion. This Influence Council kicked off last summer and has been hard at work, teaming with product managers from the NetWeaver platform, SAP GRC, and Solution Manager, among others, making the case for our requirements and recommendations. We reviewed the latest updates from the council and encouraged participation as the council continues our work. If you are an SAP customer and ASUG member interested in joining us, send an email to
influence@asug.com .
After relaxing over dinner, it was time for the big social event of the week, the private concert by
OneRepublic. A private concert for 6,000 or so of your SAP community colleagues is always a highlight after an intense week of education and networking.
It has been a memorable week at SAP TechEd, and I am glad to have had the opportunity for the sharing, learning, and networking. If you were not here, I hope you consider joining us next year.
