multiple prod instances for 1 business app

[Joshua Chen FX]

hello,

would you create a new business application for each prod instance (application service).

e.g. prod1, prod 2, prod 3 (app service1, app service2, app service 3)

all 3 app services consumed by business  appp 1  (1:N)

OR

each app service consumed by business app1, 2,3 (1:1)

[CasperJT · Accepted solution]

Hi Joshua,

In my opinion you can do either. It will depend on your use case for the Business Application.

A couple of things that might lead you to the right answer for you organization would be

• Do all three instances support the same capabilities
• Will all three instances have the same roadmap
• Will it best suit the design domain conversations to have one or multiple Business Applications

A couple of examples that I have worked with:

1. One Business Application with multiple production instances:

Several production sites were using the same Business Application to manage parts of their production. All of them used their instances in the same way and were on the same development cycle. They needed local installations to aid performance and availability.

2. Several Business Applications although the technology stack was the same

This could for instance be ServiceNow where a company has multiple instances, but is using them for different things. One instance may be used by IT to manage ITSM and DevOps, while another is used for HR Services and a third is used for CSM. In this case each instance serves a unique purpose in the organization supporting different capabilities and will in all likelyhood have independent roadmaps.

I hope this helps.

//Casper

[CasperJT · Accepted solution]

Hi Joshua,

In my opinion you can do either. It will depend on your use case for the Business Application.

A couple of things that might lead you to the right answer for you organization would be

• Do all three instances support the same capabilities
• Will all three instances have the same roadmap
• Will it best suit the design domain conversations to have one or multiple Business Applications

A couple of examples that I have worked with:

1. One Business Application with multiple production instances:

Several production sites were using the same Business Application to manage parts of their production. All of them used their instances in the same way and were on the same development cycle. They needed local installations to aid performance and availability.

2. Several Business Applications although the technology stack was the same

This could for instance be ServiceNow where a company has multiple instances, but is using them for different things. One instance may be used by IT to manage ITSM and DevOps, while another is used for HR Services and a third is used for CSM. In this case each instance serves a unique purpose in the organization supporting different capabilities and will in all likelyhood have independent roadmaps.

I hope this helps.

//Casper

[Andreas Borell · Accepted solution]

I'd say "it depends". No data model is perfect or identical across enterprises - but avoiding un-necessary duplication is always a good thing. If you think about using two or more very similar business applications, consider what is different between them. If all data on them would be identical apart from the names, why do you need more than one? The reverse is also true - maybe you use SAP ECC across your whole enterprise as the ERP solution. But you have multiple production instances (application services) and some of those application services have a different business ownership and risk profile because they only serve low value markets in far away corners of the world, while some of the other instances serve your 24/7 production facilities and have other business stakeholders - then it may make sense to have different parallel business applications to show this and allow for IT Risk Management stratification. Those business applications probably link back to the same business capability (ERP).