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Upgrade
to SAP 4.6
CONTENTS:
SAP
User Group: Open Question & Answer about SAP 4.6
(01/30/2001) |
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This month's SAP User Group meeting will be an opportunity
for you to get answers to your questions about SAP 4.6.
DAY:
Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001
TIME: 2:00PM- 3:30PM
PLACE: E25-111
See the SAP
User Group Meetings web page for more information.
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SAP
Upgrade Successfully Completed
(01/29/2001) |
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The SAP Upgrade was successfully completed today. The system
is now available for work, including SAPweb.
If you haven't already gotten it, you will need to have the
new SAPgui
installed on your computer before you can do work in SAP 4.6.
SAP 4.6 Upgrade Self-Study courses are available. You can
do the self-study in a proctored class (see the SAP
Training web pages for course availability), or do the
self-study at your desk.
Self-studies, quick reference cards and web documentation
has been updated per the upgrade for the primary SAP functions.
All remaining documentation will be updated within the next
few weeks. See SAP
for MIT Documentation on the Web.
**COPY
OF EMAIL TO SAP USERS FROM CHUCK SHAW, DIRECTOR OF FSS**
Good
Morning,
I
am pleased to report that the SAP upgrade to release 4.6 this
past weekend was successful, and you can now access the system.
If you experience any difficulties -- now or in the future
-- please contact the Business Liaison Team at business-help@mit.edu
or your School/Area
Business Consultant for assistance.
Thank
you for your patience and support,
Chuck
Shaw
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Screen
prints in the new Mac SAPgui
(01/25/2001) |
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In previous versions of the SAPgui, it was possible to print
the contents of an SAP screen. In the new SAPgui, this functionality
is not supported. For printing hard copies of SAP documents,
the preferred method has always been printing the related
reports and look-ups which are designed for formatted print
output. See the Reports section of the SAP
for MIT Documentation on the Web.
If you want to take pictures of your screen, you can use
the Mac OS screen capture function. This function creates
a picture file (e.g., "Picture 0") and saves it
either on your startup disk (your Macintosh hard disk) or
to the clipboard. It is recommended that you insert the picture
file into a Microsoft Word (or similar) document to print
so that the entire image will fit on the page.
The Mac OS help provides instructions for taking pictures
of your screen:
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SAP
4.6 Announcements Summary
(01/25/2001) |
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See a concise Summary of the
SAP 4.6 Upgrade Announcements.
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1/10/01
Tech Talk article information sent to aac-aoquery list
(01/22/2001) |
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Diane Shea sent the contents of the 1/10/01 Tech
Talk article to the aac-aoquery list as another reminder
of what will happen during the upgrade and shutdown.
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Financial
Systems Update - SAP 4.6 Upgrade Issue Published
(01/12/2001) |
| The January issue of the Financial Systems
Update is dedicated to the SAP 4.6 Upgrade. It includes
information about the process and timing of the upgrade; training,
documentation, and support for the upgrade; how to be prepared
for the SAP shutdown during the 1/25-1/29 upgrade period. |
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Self-Studies
and Quick Cards for SAP 4.6 Now Available
(01/07/2001) |
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In preparation for the SAP 4.6 upgrade, self-studies and
quick cards are now available. The self-study courses, one
for the PC platform and one for the Macintosh platform, describe
the changes to the SAP system in version 4.6. Several quick
cards are available as a preview to working in SAP 4.6.
You can order or download these documents from the new Paper
Documents web page for post-upgrade documentation.
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New
SAPgui for Macintosh Platform Now Available
(12/27/2000) |
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In preparation for the SAP upgrade, a new SAPgui is now available
for the Macintosh platform. You can download and install the
new SAPgui from the SAPgui Installers
page. Information about the new
SAPgui is also available.
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New
"Refresh" Button
(12/26/2000) |
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Most SAP buttons will look the same or slightly updated with
the new SAPgui. An exception is the Refresh button on the
Workflow Inbox screen. This is what it looks like in the current
SAP release 4.5  .
With the SAPgui 4.6 it will look like this 
and still be named Refresh. After the SAP 4.6 upgrade on January
29, the new button will be renamed Update.
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Variants:
What to Expect
(12/26/2000) |
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We do not anticipate any problems with the report variants
as a result of the upgrade. However, you should be aware there
is a small chance you may need to recreate your variants in
4.6c and to do this you should record the information stored
in your current variants. If you encounter any difficulties
or experience any problems, please contact the Business Liaison
Team.
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Chuck
Shaw, Director of FSS, Announces ASPCC Approval of Timeline
(12/21/2000) |
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The
following is a copy of the email announcement from Chuck Shaw,
Director of Financial Systems Services:
Dear SAP users,
I am writing to let you know that yesterday morning, MITĂs
Administrative Systems and Policies Coordinating Council approved
the timing of the SAP 4.6 upgrade for late January 2001.
There will be four more platform-specific ¦delta˛ demonstrations
to show you the major differences between the current and
new version of SAP. All of these one-hour demos will be held
in Room
1-190 at 10am on the following days and platforms:
- January 9 PC platform
- January 17 Mac platform
- January 23 Mac platform
- January 25 PC platform
Self-study training exercises that you can do in your office
will be available January 8. These exercises can be downloaded
from the web or ordered through the Copy Technology Center
after January 8. Another option will be for you to do the
exercises in the Learning
Center, W89, with an instructor present.
Documentation for the 4.6 upgrade will be rolled out in the
following two phases:
- On January 8, all "delta" documentation for
specific functionality changes will be available on the
web. Quick cards will be available for downloading, or by
ordering from Copy Tech, and the cards also will be handed
out at the Learning Center sessions.
- On January 29, documentation for the remainder of the
SAP functionality will be available.
Please remember that people who do their work in SAPweb will
not see any differences.
The SAPgui
installer for Windows is available. The installer for
Macs should be available sometime next week. (Now available
12/27/00. See SAPgui
Installers page.) Please review system requirements before
installing.
I also want to give you plenty of notice that in order to
complete the upgrade, the entire SAP production environment
(including SAPweb) will be unavailable beginning at 10pm on
Thursday evening, January 25 through mid-morning on Monday,
January 29.
Please be in touch with your school or area Business Consultant
in FSS or the Business Liaison Team in IS if you have questions
or need assistance.
Thank you and Happy Holidays,
Chuck Shaw
Director, Financial Systems Services
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SAP
"Delta" Demos Scheduled
(12/06/2000) |
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If you would like an overview of the changes you can expect
with SAP 4.6, you can attend one of the one-hour "delta"
demonstrations:
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Tech
Talk Article: Upgrade to SAP Planned
(12/06/2000) |
| MIT Tech Talk published an article today about plans to upgrade
the SAP system. See the article Upgrade
to SAP planned in the December 6, 2000 Issue of Tech
Talk.
The topics discussed are also covered in the email
announcement from Chuck Shaw, Director of FSS. (When the
electronic version of the Tech Talk article is published,
a link to it will be provided here.)
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Chuck
Shaw, Director of FSS, Announces SAP Upgrade Plans
(12/05/2000) |
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The
following is a copy of the email announcement from Chuck Shaw,
Director of Financial Systems Services:
Dear SAP users,
As you probably have heard, we are planning to upgrade to
the most recent version of SAP on January 29, 2001. The upgrade
is a necessary step to accommodate both the Human Resources/Payroll
and Lincoln Laboratory SAP projects.
The final decision about the timing will be made later this
month after additional testing has been completed. I am writing
today because I want to give you some background information
to help you in planning for the upgrade.
The new version of SAP is different in look and feel than
the current version, and therefore we expect that many of
you will elect to prepare by doing training exercises in your
office or with an instructor present at Learning
Center.
As with the last upgrade, FSS will offer platform-specific
"delta" demonstrations to show you the major differences between
the current and new versions so you can determine your training
needs. It is important to point out that people doing their
work in SAPweb will not see any differences.
The one-hour delta demonstrations will begin next week following
the schedule below:
The self-study exercises and proctored lab sessions will
be available beginning the week of January 8.
The December SAP User Group meeting will be dedicated to
discussion of the version 4.6 upgrade. The meeting will be
held this Thursday, December 7, from 2 pm to 3:30 pm in E25-111,
and you are invited to attend.
An article about the upgrade will be published in tomorrow's
issue of Tech Talk. I also will be sending email to supervisors
informing them of the importance of the "delta" demo sessions
and training for those who use the SAP graphical user interface
(GUI).
As was the case with the last SAP upgrade, many members of
the community are volunteering some of their time to assist
us in the upgrade effort. More than 40 SAP GUI users from
departments, labs, centers, and administrative areas are participating
in the upgrade process by previewing the new release, evaluating
our training plans, and assisting with integration and other
testing.
I also want to give you plenty of advance notice that if
the upgrade is approved for late January, then the Production
environment (including SAPweb) will be unavailable to users
all day Friday, January 26 through noon on Monday, January
29.
The new 4.6 GUI will work with MIT's current version of SAP,
so users can download it at their convenience, even before
the large server computers are upgraded. The SAP GUI installer
for Windows 4.6 is available now via the SAP
for MIT web site. The installer for Mac users will be
available in the near future. The desktop system requirements
for the upgrade are posted on the web page. If you require
any assistance, please send mail to business-help@mit.edu.
I know that system changes can be unsettling, but we will
do everything we can to minimize the difficulties caused by
this necessary upgrade. The school and area Business Consultants
(formerly known as School and Area Coordinators) in FSS and
the Business Liaison Team in Information Systems will assist
you throughout the upgrade process and as you begin to use
the new GUI in your work. These people are there to help you,
so please call on them.
Sincerely,
Chuck Shaw
Director, Financial Systems Services
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New
SAPgui for Windows Available
(12/05/2000) |
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In preparation for the SAP upgrade, a new SAPgui is now available
for the Windows platform. The new SAPgui is not yet available
for the Macintosh platform. You can download and install the
new SAPgui for Windows from the SAPgui
Installers page. Information
about the new SAPgui is also available, including:
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Archival
Information:
Updgrade 1999
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