Automating SAP Basis Operations: TÜV SÜD Business Services GmbH Relies on EPOS
How a large SAP customer uses our solution
Reducing weekend staffing requirements, minimizing recurring downtimes, and enabling planned system restarts outside regular working hours - overall, large SAP customer TÜV SÜD achieves significant benefits with our SAP Basis automation tool EPOS, resulting in a “massive reduction in manual effort.”
TÜV SÜD is a trusted partner for solutions in the fields of safety, security, and sustainability. The company specializes in testing, certification, auditing, and consulting services. With around 28,000 employees at more than 1,000 locations worldwide, TÜV SÜD creates real added value for its customers and strengthens trust in both the physical and digital world.
SAP Basis has always played a key role at TÜV SÜD due to the extensive use of SAP systems. TÜV SÜD Business Services GmbH employs 12 SAP Basis specialists. Across the organization, 14 SAP system landscapes are operated with 64 SIDs and more than 175 x64-based servers running on Windows and Linux.
The landscape includes SAP ERP ECC applications, multiple ERP systems, BW systems in various configurations, ABAP and Java systems, as well as CRM and HR systems. The S/4 transition was initiated some time ago. In total, approximately 25,000 SAP users are supported.
Founded in 1866 as a “Steam Boiler Inspection Association,” TÜV SÜD today employs around 30,000 people at over 1,000 locations in approximately 50 countries and stands for the optimization of technology, systems, and expertise. TÜV SÜD makes a significant contribution to ensuring that technological innovations such as Industry 4.0, autonomous driving, and renewable energy are safe and reliable.
25.000
at over 1.000
According to Katharina Hoffmann, Head of SAP Basis at TÜV SÜD Business Services, the focus is clear:
“Our goal is to optimize SAP Basis effort in meaningful areas using effective tools. We are delighted that the use of Empirius software has already enabled significant progress. The software meets our requirements and demonstrably ensures efficiency.”
After many years of using BlueCopy for automated SAP system copies, TÜV SÜD has now expanded automation with the EPOS SAP Basis automation suite, which includes more than 20 specialized apps.
The decision to adopt the EPOS suite was preceded by two key steps: a market evaluation and a detailed proof of concept (PoC). The primary objective for TÜV SÜD was to reduce weekend staffing requirements.
Previously, the SAP Basis team at TÜV SÜD was scheduled for maintenance work on at least two weekends per month, with two employees assigned each time—amounting to approximately 28 to 30 weekends per year to ensure up-to-date and secure SAP systems. At the same time, the impact of associated downtimes on daily operations needed to be minimized.
Goal
Requirement
Hans Zachenbacher, Senior SAP Basis Consultant at TÜV SÜD Business Services GmbH, explains:
“The starting point for the maintenance windows was primarily the security requirement to keep operating systems up to date and to apply OS patches promptly. At TÜV SÜD, these patches are directly correlated with SAP systems. Patching requires stopping both SAP systems and databases and restarting them afterward.
When performed manually at this scale, this process requires a considerable amount of time. Our goal was to automate this process and minimize weekend staffing as much as possible.”
„[...] “When performed manually at this scale, this process requires a considerable amount of time. We wanted to automate it and reduce weekend staffing accordingly."
„staffing during maintenance weekends has been reduced by half—meaning only one SAP Basis expert is required instead of two - this results in significant savings and a massive reduction in manual effort."
Today, six SAP Basis administrators are familiar with using the automation suite. EPOS is used during every maintenance weekend once the jobs have been defined.
Based on TÜV SÜD’s experience, adopting the SAP automation suite has clearly paid off:
“Even during the PoC, it became apparent that EPOS would generate real added value. This has been impressively confirmed in productive operation. Considering that staffing during maintenance weekends has been reduced by half—meaning only one SAP Basis expert is required instead of two—this results in significant savings and a massive reduction in manual effort.”
Another key advantage highlighted is the consistently high process quality achieved through automation. TÜV SÜD also values having fast and direct access to Empirius and its development team whenever needed.
Looking ahead, TÜV SÜD expects to expand its use of the EPOS suite beyond BlueCopy, SAP system and database start/stop, SAP kernel updates, and reporting. Additional apps under consideration include Security Notes (SEC Notes) for managing SAP security notes and Certificate Management for handling SAP software certificates.
„Our objective is to continuously build on what we have achieved and to keep developing further. Automation plays a key role in this."
“During the time EPOS has been in use since the PoC, we have seen several useful features and apps added to the suite that make our maintenance work easier, as these planned windows are also used to implement other necessary changes,” says Katharina Hoffmann.
She concludes:
“Our objective is to continuously build on what we have achieved and to keep developing further. Automation plays a key role in this. Wherever automation is possible, we will use it.”
Katharina Hoffmann
Head of SAP Basis
TÜV SÜD Business Services GmbH
Fully automated copies of complete SAP systems or individual clients.
Automatically starts, stops, and restarts SAP systems.
Automates the replacement and deployment of SAP kernel patches.
Provides targeted insights into SAP systems and databases at the push of a button.
Automatically checks new SAP Security Notes, manages them centrally, and applies them if required.
Manages SAP certificates.
The introduction of EPOS at TÜV SÜD demonstrates how automation can optimize SAP Basis operations. By using various EPOS apps in a targeted manner, maintenance effort was reduced and weekend staffing cut in half. Automation ensures consistently high process quality while also increasing flexibility when planning system downtimes.
Based on these positive experiences, TÜV SÜD plans to further expand its use of EPOS to extend automation capabilities—enhancing efficiency, operational reliability, and scalability in SAP Basis operations over the long term.
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