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SAPANST:AToolEvery
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SAPANST:AToolEveryConsultant
ShouldConsider
If you have been working with SAP, you may already know
howtimeconsuminganddauntingitcanbetosearchforany
correctionnoterelatedtoanissueorabugintheapplication.
Basically, it involves manually searching for applicable notes
in a pile of SAP notes at SMP. Sometimes, even if you find
one, it may not be welldescribed, causing users to go into a
trialanderror process. Fortunately, SAP provides some
useful tools that can aid in searching for notes. One of them
iscalledAutomatedNoteSearchTool(ANST).
WhatisANSTandhowdoesitwork?
ANSTisausefultoolthatallowseasysearchingofcorrection
notes from SAP by replicating the issue in the system. This
canbedonebyaccessingANST_SEARCH_TOOLwhereyou
could specify the program or transaction involved and start
the replication process. Once the issue is replicated, it will
display a selection of application components involved in its
execution. You will have to choose the component or
components where you think the issue belongs to and ANST
will start to lookup for correction notes that may help solve
theissue.Userswillhavetheoptiontoimplementaparticular
correctionnoteornot.
ANSTFeatures
1. IntegrationofNoteAssistant(SNOTE)
Fromtherelevantcorrectionnotesthatwillbedisplayed,you
canchooseandimplementanotebydoubleclickingitinthe
Download Note column. A popup request will show up to
confirmyouraction.Afterconfirmingthedownload,ANSTwill
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automatically contact note assistant (SNOTE) then download

thecorrectionnoteinpreparationfortheimplementation.
2. AllowsSpecificSelections
Ifyouarepresentedwithtoomanyirrelevantcorrectionnotes
for a particular component, you can reduce them by being
morespecificwhenselectingaparticularcomponent.Youcan
also view the objects found in the trace (replicated version)
pertaining to each subcomponent and then search for notes
applicable to a single object. Doing so will eliminate a
significant number of irrelevant notes, making it easier to
searchfornotesthatwillhelpsolveanissue.
3. HelpsinCustomerCodeIdentification
Not all issues you will encounter may be related to the
standard SAP code but to customer code such as user
exists, fieldexists, Badi implementation or modified standard
code. Identifying such error is easier with the use of ANST.
This can be done by clicking on the Customer Code button
anddoubleclickingontherowthatcorrespondstotheobject
youwanttovieworedit.
4. Allowstracestobereusedordeleted.
Once an issue is replicated in the ANST, it creates a trace
that can be reused at any point in time. Past traces can be
accessed by clicking on the Open Trace button and the
traces you created as well as their descriptions will be
displayed.Ontheotherhand,youmayalsodeleteatraceby
simplyclickingtheDeleteTracebutton.
5. Providesanoptionforcustomizingtables
Iftherearenocorrectionnotesavailableforaparticularissue,

THEBLOG
ABOUT
DISCLAIMER
CONTACT
theproblemcouldbeduetocustomizingissueswhichcanbe

corrected by changing the setting. For this purpose, ANST

displays a list of customizing tables by clicking on the
Customizingtableicon.Onceatableisselected,youwould
be able to access transaction SM30 which has a table view
withfillednamesoralistofviews.
6. Allowscustomizationofsearchparameters
For optimum performance when searching for notes, ANST
also allows you to control certain search parameters. For
instance,youcanactivateordeactivatetheobjectthatwillbe
used for searching notes by clicking on the Objects
Customizing icon. There is also an option to consider the
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initial date from which the search will start so that any notes
released before the initial date stated would not be
considered.
AdvantagesoverManualSearching
ANSThasseveraladvantagesforitsusers:
1. Users will no longer be bothered about thinking for the
right keyword in searching for correction notes. In
manual searching, wrong keywords can lead to many
irrelevantnotes.
2. ANST saves you the time from running through a
number of OSS notes which in the end might also be
useless and will not solve the issue. Notes displayed
through ANST are already filtered and can be readily
implementedwhenneeded.
3. The list of custom codes which may include user
exists, BADI and enhancements are just a click away
duringtherecordingprocess.
4. You will no longer have to spend time using the layer
debugging functionality just to see how and where the
codesarebeingused.
5. Withmanyhelpfulfeatures,ANSTistotallyfree.
Overall, SAP ANST is a great tool which can help users

resolveanySAPissuesquicklyandeasilywithnoadditional
cost. It is also easy to use with just a little learning curve
required.Iwouldrecommendusingthistool.Youcanreferto
OSSnotenumber 1818192 FAQ: Automated Note Search
Toolformoredetails.
Whataboutyou?
HaveyouusedANSTtooltofindrelevantSAPnotesrelated
toanissue?
Shareyourexperienceandopinioninthecomments.

ByAyoubHabchi | October4th,2014 | SAPTips | 2

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2Comments
carlosmartinezescribano December3,2014at
10:41pmReply

Nodoubt.ANSTisatooleverySAPconsulrant
shouldknowanduse.
Excellentarticle
Carlos

AyoubHabchi December3,2014at10:52
pmReply

ThankyouCarlos.

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