Business Configuration Sets

Business Configuration Sets
Purpose
BC Sets are used to transfer settings into a new database (no transactions) or into a copy of an existing database (with transactions).
· Settings that cannot be changed via the SAP Business One application should not be changed using BC Sets. Such improper use of BC Sets may cause severe inconsistencies in the database.
· BC Sets should NOT be applied in a productive environment.
· Refer to the SAP Business One Implementation and Operation Guidelines in addition to the documentation for BC Sets.
· SAP strongly recommends that you create a backup of the database before activating a BC Set.
· BC Sets must be applied by a knowledgeable person (system expert).
· A BC Set does not perform any validation or integrity checks. Therefore you must take great care to only transfer settings that can also be changed using the SAP Business One GUI.
· When creating a BC Set that includes specific customizing activities belonging to the country version you are working in, you should note that the BC Set can only be activated in a target database that has the same country version. If the target database has a different country version, the BC Set will create an error during activation. A BC Set with no country specific customizing activities can be activated in any other country version. If you want to activate a BC Set in a different country version other than where the BC Set was created, make sure that all activities also exist in the new database.
Business Configuration Sets (BC Sets) are snapshots of customized settings. They can be stored in XML files that are then applied to other SAP Business One company databases.
You can also transfer settings across different country versions of your company databases.
The following figure shows the BC Set process flow.
The BC Set Process Flow
Implementation Considerations
BC Sets are typically used in the following scenarios:
· You want to create a copy of your SAP Business One company database, however an exact copy is not really what you need. For example:
¡ Marketing documents such as orders and invoices already exist in the company database that cannot be deleted completely.
¡ Certain nonreversible customizing settings are included in the company database, for example, continuous stock, set chart of accounts, country versions.
BC Sets allow you to create a copy of the company with changed customizing settings.
· You are planning a rollout with multiple company databases in different countries. Simply copying an initial master company database will not work due to the fact that you need to create different country versions. If however 90% (for example) of the customizable settings are the same in each case, then it’s a good idea to use BC Sets to create the new company databases in order to save a great deal of time and effort. If only 10% (for example) of the customizable settings are the same, you would be better advised to create the company databases manually.
· You can use BC Sets to save specific customizing settings that solved a particular issue at one customer site. The same issue can be solved at an other customer site by simply uploading and activating the appropriate BC Set file in the new customer database .
· You can save a specific version of your customization in a BC Set file and then if necessary revert to this saved version of your system. For example, first save your old customization settings as a BC Set file, then make certain changes that you’d like to try out. You can now reapply the BC Set and revert the company database to its initial settings.
· BC Sets can also be used to transport customizing settings and document layouts (document editing) from one company database to the other. For example from a test or development environment to an operational environment.
· You are a SAP partner that has created a specific customer solution for reuse at a new customer site. Use BC Sets to save your user-defined fields and tables as a BC Set file and activate this BC Set in the new customer database.
When a BC Set is created, values and combinations of values are copied from the original customizing tables in the master system into the BC Set. When the BC Set is activated, these values are copied into the tables and views of the target system.
Note that user-defined tables, user-defined fields, and user settings can also be included in a BC Set.
Integration
The SAP Business One Data Interface API, and the SAP Business One Add-on Registration DLL, must be installed on your system before you can use BC Sets.
Note that the BC-Sets Add-on must be installed on every client and for every user that is entitled to use BC-Sets.
Features
BC Sets save table values belonging to the customization you make under Administration ® System Initialization in the SAP Business One Main Menu. For example, BC Set’s could contain the customizing settings for particular business processes. You can include the values for a complete table, or individual fields from one or more tables into a BC Set. You can also group several BC Sets (Simple BC Set) into one higher-level BC Set (Hierarchical BC Set). A BC Set is identified using the following attributes:
· Name
· Type (Simple or Hierarchical)
· Release (Min Release – Max Release)
Simple BC Set
You can use a simple BC Set to capture the existing data from customizing tables, user queries, user-defined tables, and user-defined fields. From a technical point of view, company database settings are saved as data in table columns and rows. Each column is a field, each row a record.
When you create a simple BC Set you are simply making copies of the existing customizing settings. Note that there isn’t a risk that the existing settings could be changed when you create a simple BC Set. After you have transported the BC Set into a new database, the action of uploading it into the new database does not change the existing settings. Only the activation or execution of this BC Set will cause the changes to take effect. If a BC Set is not applied properly, it can in the worst case damage or corrupt the database. Therefore, before final activation, you can use simulation mode to see which tables are updated and changed. Every change is also logged in an activation log.
Note that your company database must contain customizing settings before you can create a BC Set.
You might not want to activate the exactly same BC Set in every database. For example, the name of the company will vary for each database. You can define specific values (or fields) to be variable before you activate your BC Set. When activating the BC Set you will be asked to enter a new value or to accept the default in order to continue. Each simple BC Set contains data from a single configuration activity. Simple BC Sets can be nevertheless grouped into a Hierarchical BC Set.
Hierarchical BC Sets
Hierarchical BC Sets
A hierarchical BC Set is comprised of several simple BC Sets. You can put several BC Sets needed for a specific process together into one hierarchical BC Set that you only need to activate once. Technically there is no difference in activating ten simple BC Sets one at a time, or grouping them into one hierarchical BC Set and then activating it. A hierarchical BC Set itself does not contain any settings; you always need to add at least one simple BC Set.
One simple BC Set can be added to several hierarchical BC Sets.
Activation Log
When you activate a BC Set, a system log is automatically created containing the following information:
· Name of the BC Set copied
· When the BC Set was copied
· Errors that may have occurred
· List of tables, fields, and values that were changed
Use this information to monitor continuous change within your system.
Constraints
· Note that activating a BC Set in a new company can corrupt your database. To prevent the creation of database inconsistencies, BC Sets must be applied by a knowledgeable person (system expert).