Gorka Jauregui
With the advent of RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP, many customers are wondering if the SAP Basis team is still needed. The common perception is that, by taking the infrastructure and a large part of the technical stack to the SAP cloud or its associated hyperscalers, the Basis role disappears. However, the reality is quite different: Basis does not disappear, it is transformed.
SAP assumes certain technical responsibilities in these as-a-service models, but this does not eliminate the need for an internal Basis team. In fact, the role shifts from a purely operational focus to one more oriented to governance, control, integrations, security, optimization and service continuity.
What really changes for Basis in RISE and GROW?
The most relevant changes are marked by the official SAP roles and responsibilities matrix. It specifies that SAP is mainly in charge of:
- Infrastructure (IaaS) and its availability.
- The operating system and managed database (including patches and updates).
- SAP system kernel and standard patching.
- Managed backups.
- Monitoring of certain technical KPIs of the platform.
But this new model does not mean that the client is left without technical work: it is simply redefined. The client must now guarantee the correct functional-technical management of the SAP environment, focusing on coordination, supervision, quality, security and operability.
What does (and should) the customer's Basis team continue to do?
Although SAP manages infrastructure and lower levels of the stack, the customer retains many essential responsibilities. Among the most important functions that continue under the Basis team are:
Transportation management and change control.
- Review, governance and assurance of good practices in the transport flow.
- Change lifecycle definition (ChaRM, CTS+, DevOps with transport pipelines, etc.).
- Coordination with integrators and functional partners.
Security, access and compliance.
- Internal user management.
- Administration of roles and authorizations.
- Audits, SoD and regulatory compliance.
- Integration with corporate Identity Providers (Azure AD, Okta, etc.).
Integrations and connectivity
- Configuration and support of RFC, HTTP, OData, CPI, PI/PO or other client middleware connections.
- Supervision of critical interfaces.
- Certificate management, trust stores and hybrid connectivity.
Functional-technical monitoring.
- Although SAP monitors the platform, the customer must monitor its actual business operation, for example:
- Functional background jobs.
- Interface performance. – Growth of specific tables. –
- Analysis of dumps (ST22), locks (SM12), queues (SMQ1/2), workflows, etc.
Management of add-ons, developments and extensions.
- Validate compatibility of Z-programs, custom Fiori Apps and third-party add-ons.
- Coordinate technical tests before updates applied by SAP.
Environment management, landscape and technical roadmap.
- Design the landscape strategy (development, quality, pre-productive, productive).
- Planning upgrades, sandbox systems, test environments, system cloning, refreshes, etc.
- Coordinate with SAP any relevant changes in the service.
First and second line technical support.
- Analysis of technical incidents affecting business processes.
- Previous diagnostics before scaling up to SAP.
- Proactive communications and ticket tracking.
SAP Relationship Management (Service Delivery). The customer’s Basis is the key contact partner for:
- Service Requests. –
- Management of planned updates.
- Critical Incident Reviews (P1). – Review of SLAs and KPIs
The value of Basis equipment is not reduced: It becomes more strategic.
In RISE and GROW, the Basis goes from being “the department that manages servers” to being the technical center that ensures that SAP really works to serve the business. Without an internal Basis:
- There is no real governance of the system.
- No control over integrations or security. – No ability to validate changes.
- There is no technical defense for serious incidents.
- The customer’s technical roadmap is not managed.
- The result would be an SAP environment completely dependent on third parties, with little control and less responsiveness.
Ensure a stable SAP environment
SAP Basis does not disappear with RISE and GROW. It evolves into a more modern, cloud-aligned role with a governance focus, where the key is no longer to keep machines on, but to ensure that the SAP environment remains stable, scalable, secure and aligned with business objectives. Having a strong Basis team is not optional: it is the guarantee that the cloud service managed by SAP works the way the customer needs it to.
