ZBasisAdm.com Consulting - Basis documentation you should have for your SAP systems

When I start with each client, I like to collect as much 'meta' information as possible. To make my job easier and to leave each client with a solid deliverable, I collect each of the following items:

I. General – Client Background

1. Where is the client located?
2. What is the clients business?
3. Are there access requirements for the site and building?
4. What are the operating hours?
5. Who are the key contacts?
6. What are the up time requirements?
7. Who are the client's other key vendors?
8. Who handles the operating system environments?

II. Infrastructure

1. How to connect with the client (is a VPN used)?
2. What operating system(s) and database(s) are utilized?
3. Which third party applications connect to the SAP systems?
4. Are there any special security requirements?
5. Which flavor of virtualization is used?
6. Are there any DR requirements?

III. Diagrams

1. Landscape
This should include all the SAP systems and any relevant connected systems
2. Transports/Updates
Shows the flow changes between systems
3. Network
How are the systems connected?
4. Server/Virtualized Instances and Systems
Where to the systems reside?
What processors and memory is on each system?
Do any of the systems share database instances?
5. Data Flows
How does data move between each of the systems?

IV. Processes

1. Change management
How are changes approved and moved through the systems?
Is there a ticketing system such as Jira utilized?
2. Communication
Who should be alerted when issues come up?
Is there an incident call tree?
3. Incident Management
How are issues and problems managed?
Are incident tickets created and are RCA's expected after problems resolved?
4. Security
Who and how are security requests handled?
5. Project Management
Is there an internal team that manages each project?

V. Strategies and Standards – Infrastructure

1. Backups
How and where are backups saved?
How are backups and restores requested?
2. Business Continuity
3. Downtime
When and how long are the scheduled maintenance periods?

VI. Strategy and Standards – SAP Specific

1. Client Strategy
Are there separate configuration and development clients?
2. Security Standards
Are there gateway or message server security requirements?
3. Authorization Standards
Are there firefighter roles available for production systems?
Is there a policy for who can run debug mode or SE16 in production?
4. Transports
Who imports transports?
Is there a scheduled date/time for production imports?
5. SLD
What infrastructure has been setup for the SLD systems?
6. ABAP
Is there a code review process in place?
7. System/Data Refreshes
Is there a scheduled process for refreshing data back to other systems?
8. Updates/Upgrades
How often are updates scheduled for the systems?
Is there a review process for SAP upgrades?
9. Monitoring
Is there a monitoring matrix that shows when alert messages should be generated and who should receive those alerts?
10. System Settings
Who approves the opening of systems?
Who should be notified what systems are opened and closed?