Transport Forms, Business Tasks and Projects

ActiveControl has a 3-level hierarchy concept, consisting of Transport Forms, Business Tasks and Projects.

Before a transport request can be transported using ActiveControl, a Transport Form must be created for the transport request. The Transport Form is a simple form that can typically be completed in 10-15 seconds. It is used to document and categorise the changes made, so that Approvers, Testers and Auditors can immediately understand what the Transport is for.

The Transport Form can be used to associate the technically-oriented transport request with the corresponding business issue and/or requirement to which it relates. Within ActiveControl, this is referred to as a Business Task. Although it can be an optional association, it is strongly recommended that all Transport Forms be associated with Business Tasks, as this:

• Groups together technically separate but functionally-related transport requests that collectively implement the changes necessary to solve / deliver individual business issues and requirements.
• Allows for the progress and testing of the solution to a business issue or requirement throughout the system landscape to be monitored and reconciled as the solution makes its way through one or more development streams (such as in the case of branched development systems).
• Provides the business context for business users and team leaders involved in the change process (for example, from an approval perspective).

Projects within ActiveControl are used to define a logical grouping of Business Tasks. Projects are typically used within most customers for grouping Business Tasks and Transport Forms into Releases, Upgrade Projects, SAP Projects etc.

Figure: The ActiveControl 3-level hierarchy: Projects, Business Tasks and Transport Forms