Lost!!!

If you have watched the Emmy award winning series, you could empathize with the plight of the people lost on the mysterious island. Confused and no clue where to go next. Sometimes, I feel SAP consultants experience the same feeling when they are asked to look for something on Service Marketplace. LOST!!!

Then if a team member claims that he/she knows where to find for it, the emotional restlessness is transformed into a sense of admiration. If one isn’t lucky enough, forums, wiki or blogs come really handy. But why not find the way out ourselves. It is just a ‘Portal’ and all you need to know on Service Marketplace is some quick-links, only the few important ones. Here, I am enlisting a few important shortcuts which would help you ‘tame the beast’. Obviously, the list in not complete and additions are always welcome but here I am trying to cover only the ones which I deem really important.

Pre-Installation

• http://service.sap.com/asap – You would find all the ASAP Road-maps here
• http://service.sap.com/instguides – This link is for the Installation Master Guides and the following are some of its variants
  • http://service.sap.com/instguidesnw70
  • http://service.sap.com/instguidesNW73
  • http://service.sap.com/swdc – For downloading SAP software (Key to the treasure. You would find everything here)
  • http://service.sap.com/sizing – Information to help your hardware sizing decision
    • http://service.sap.com/quicksizer – Web-based tool to assist you in sizing your SAP solutions

Post-Installation / Support

• http://service.sap.com/system-data – Maintain your company’s system data
• http://service.sap.com/user-admin – Maintain your company’s user data
• http://service.sap.com/patches – Download support packs and patches
• http://service.sap.com/licensekeys – To obtain your license keys
• http://service.sap.com/message – Raise an OSS message to SAP

Always Helpful

• http://service.sap.com/pam – Product Availability Matrix -t he Holy Grail of knowledge. It answers most questions.
• http://service.sap.com/releasestrategy – To understand SAP’s maintenance and release strategy
• http://service.sap.com/sp-stacks – For all the Support Pack Information we need from Release Notes to Maintenance Schedule
• http://sevice.sap.com/security –  Storage of Security Guidelines and Security Notes
• http://service.sap.com/notes – Do you really need a description?

The more you use these quick-links, the more you would get comfortable navigating through the Marketplace. The biggest secret is that on almost every page of the Service Marketplace, you would find its associated quick-link at the bottom of the page. Also, I would suggest not just using these shortcuts superficially but also try traversing through the other links that you find under these. So, the next time when you need to find something on Service Marketplace, you know that “All Is Not LOST”!!!