Proposed life cycle for ABAP language conversions (UK to German)
Please note the below lifecycle example assumes that the SAP system along with a number of bespoke ABAP's have been developed and implemented in the UK. The requirement is for the system along with many of the bespoke developments to be deployed in Germany.
1. UK application consultant to review the current developments required by GER.
- Identify any required functional/logic changes (e.g. how a development determines appropriate plants).
- Identify all user interface texts and agree German translations with German users.
N.B.
Developments may have associated messages (error, warning, information and success messages) that do not appear in the specification and that may not be known to the application consultants. These can be identified by viewing the associated program(s) (as detailed in the ABAP Technical specifications) and carrying out simple finds for the word "message". Double clicking on the message numbers will display the associated text. - Update the requirement specification and gain its endorsement from Local and representatives as appropriate.
2. Requirement submitted to the Development Team for estimating.
3. ABAP consultant to review the extension programs.
- Determine whether any code changes would be required to enable normal language conversions to take place (e.g. identify if there are any hard coded text literals).
- Determine if there are any conversion issues that are not covered by the revised requirement specification. Communicate any issues back to the application consultant.
- Compile a list of objects (program names, message identifiers etc.) that would be required when using the standard SAP facility (transaction SE63) for adding the translated text.
- Provide an estimate for any required ABAP work.
4. Development request to be authorised, prioritised and scheduled.
5. ABAP consultant to apply any required ABAP modifications.
6. German text conversions to be applied via standard utility (transaction SE63).
N.B.
This task would probably be most suited to the ABAP consultant, but could be done by the UK application consultant, as it does not affect the ABAP code itself. The transaction simply requires the input of the object name (e.g. the associated program name) and it displays a list of associated texts in English with empty fields for the input of the German translations.
7. Extension to be tested by the UK application consultant.
8. Extension to be passed to GER for testing.