System Recommendations is a tool within SAP Solution Manager that assesses the implementation status of relevant security notes, with the aim of helping maintain the security of SAP systems against potential vulnerabilities and attacks.
System Recommendations is directly connected to SAP Support to download the necessary security notes and monitor their implementation status in systems through background jobs.
This application primarily operates with ABAP, JAVA, HANA, and other types of SAP systems that support connectivity with Solution Manager.
Configuration
The primary requirements for using System Recommendations are as follows:
- Connect SAP systems with Solution Manager.
- Enable System Recommendations for each system (Step 5 in the system configuration).
- Schedule the job for collecting note and patch information (AGSNO_RPT_COLLECT_DATA).
Recommended Note Categories
The main categories of notes reported by the application are as follows:
- Security Notes: This is the most important category, encompassing SAP Security Patch Day notes, which are SAP’s recommendations for actions and patches relevant to system security.
- Other types of notes: Hot News (news), Performance Notes (performance improvements), Legal Change Notes (legal requirements), and License Audit Notes (licensing).
Interface and Functionality
Access to the application is provided through the Fiori portal:
System Recommendations displays all connected systems collectively, although they can also be viewed separately by system type.
It allows interaction with different systems to perform the following actions:
- Show Support Packages: Displays the versions of system components.
- Show SAP Notes: Displays notes that affect the system.
- Refresh SAP Notes: Updates the list of notes that affect the system.
Selecting one or more systems displays information about the applicable notes. The key information displayed includes:
- System
- Note Number
- Text
- Release Date
- Affected Component
- Note Category
- Implementation Status
- Note Type
More information about the notes can be obtained because System Recommendation is directly connected to the SAP portal, where additional details about the note’s corrections can be found.
Change Request Management (ChaRM)
One of the most intriguing features of System Recommendation is its integration with Change Request Management (ChaRM). This integration enables the creation of change requests to import notes into all selected systems and also utilizes the Change Impact Analysis functionality to automatically assess the effects of changes on systems.
This functionality closes the change management cycle related to notes and patches, starting from their publication by SAP and introducing the possibility of automating the process and controlling the system modification process in a unified scenario.
Once notes are implemented, they will no longer appear in the list of pending notes for implementation. If you choose not to or cannot implement them, it’s also possible to update their status to remove them from the list of pending notes. By default, there are five predefined states for classifying a note, and custom states can be created as needed:
