How Cloudhouse works with SAP
Since 2009 Cloudhouse has been supporting clients as they migrate and future-proof the legacy applications that are critical to their businesses. We’ve gained a wealth of experience in the field of enterprise software. This blog focusses on SAP – one of the biggest names in the business and thought to have more than 420,000 customers in over 180 countries.
German-based SAP is perhaps most well-known for its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, which sits at the core of many businesses. It’s a fantastic product which understandably has many loyal customers. ERP software handles a huge range of tasks including order taking, configuration, warehouse management, manufacturing planning, shipping, financials, and so on. It is often one of the most important software components in a company’s operations.
Huge scope – but customers can require complex implementation
If your company uses SAP software, you may be familiar with SAP R/3, which was revised to be SAP ECC (ERP Central Component), the most recent version being released back in 2004.
Because it covers such a huge scope, SAP can require many integrations with other systems. It is often configured directly to match each customer’s business requirements. This can mean that deploying SAP can be a very involved process. Larger companies may have a team of people working on it for several years. So, it’s no surprise that a new major release can cause headaches: migrating such a big piece of software is a huge project in itself.
Add to this the fact that staff will have been trained on how to run key business processes according to the way their specific implementation is configured, so making a change will require additional training.
For these reasons, customers may have chosen instead to keep an older version of SAP running on their infrastructure to avoid a costly and disruptive upgrade. Although this version may be perfectly functional for their business needs, the knock-on effect is that they may also have to retain an older version of Windows to keep it operational. And this brings with it other downsides, with the resulting increased security and compliance risks.
If this is the situation your company is facing, Cloudhouse can provide a solution that means you don’t have to refactor, recode or upgrade.
How can Cloudhouse help?
Alchemy, our pioneering compatibility packaging, can be used to ‘wrap’ the whole application, including the configuration and scripts, into a package. This process ensures that the application will be compatible with any modern Windows OS with no changes to its functionality, but with all the security, compliance, and performance benefits that this brings.
These are some of the SAP projects we have worked on successfully with previous clients:
- SAP R3 3.1i + Oracle 7.2
- SAP R3 4.6 + SQL 2005
- SAP R3 4.6c + SQL 2005
- SAP R3 4.7 + Oracle 10.2.0.5.0
- SAP R3 4.7c + SQL 2005
- SAP ERP ECC 6.0 EHP5 + Oracle 12.1.0.2.0
- SAP ERP ECC 6.0 EHP7 + Oracle 12.1.0.2.0
- SAP CRM 5.0 + SQL 2005
If you don’t see your SAP software here, we are still confident we can help. So confident in fact that we offer a 100% promise: all new clients who purchase a license agreement with us will be able to run their legacy Windows app on the latest version of Windows – or their money back.
If you have a legacy SAP application, get in touch to find out how Alchemy can help. Our knowledge and experience mean we can hit the ground running with your requirements and find solutions that work – without the need to refactor, recode or upgrade.
And don’t forget, we offer a 100% Promise to new to all new clients who purchase a license agreement with us: you will be able to run your legacy Windows app on the latest version of Windows or your money back.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Commercials
Cloudhouse costs are split into two elements – the licensing required to deploy application compatibility packages, and the professional services needed to create the application compatibility packages.
Licensing is offered on a per user basis for desktop applications and a per server basis for server applications. There are discounts available based on volumes.
Professional Services costs are dependent on the nature and complexity of the application. We quote a cost for packaging once we have been able to see the application, or portfolio of applications.
Contact us here with your requirements and we will provide you with a quote.
Packaging and Maintaining Applications
Cloudhouse provide the Professional Services to package applications.
Cloudhouse recommend packaged applications are tested in the standard UAT environments used for natively installed applications, or applications packaged in App-V. The more representative the test environment is of the live environment, the greater the chance of finding any issues prior to go-live.
Service packs and updates can be applied to the applications in a package using the Editor, refer to Updating, Editing and Maintaining Containers which describes how a new snapshot is created for the update, and how it is then applied to the package.
Operations
Cloudhouse recommends the same team who manage the operations of native apps.
Applications running in Application Compatibility Packages can be deployed, and managed with same tools, or scripts used to deploy natively installed applications e.g. SCCM, InTune, LAN Desk. Please refer to Supported 3rd Party Products and Versions for details.
Support
The Cloudhouse Package does not include OS components, it only contains the packaged application plus Cloudhouse components. Cloudhouse recommend the same team that is responsible for supporting applications packaged with App-V, or delivered as natively installed applications, support Cloudhouse Application Compatibility Containers.
Full documentation is made available to Cloudhouse partners and customers as required.
Training
Cloudhouse offers a full packaging service that can scale to meet any requirement. In the event, however, that a partner wishes to offer application compatibility packaging as part of a wider solution, Cloudhouse will work with that partner. Please contact us here for details.