CTM can be used to transport configuration data changes between systems in a structured manner leading to the modification of configuration data in a production system. It supports the testing of configuration changes on development and test environments prior to deploying them on a production system. It does not however remove responsibility from the administrator from understanding what they are transporting and when it should be transported.
For example, if there is a rate change for a particular benefit, but the particular rate table change is accidentally not brought from the test system to the production system this could result in incorrect eligibility output. Another example is where there are two successive changes made to a business object and included in separate change sets but the change sets are applied in reverse order. This could cause changes in the initial change set to be overwritten and not applied to the production system.
Given the examples here of how CTM can be used incorrectly, it is recommended that customers incorporate the use of CTM into their own release process to give due attention to the contents of a change set and to ensure the correct and timely activation of a change set on the production system.
However even with the tightest release process, things may still occasionally go wrong and therefore the remainder of this chapter describes features that can be useful in such scenarios. Please refer to section 5.2.2 - Data Management Policy for more information on recommended procedures for managing Business Object Creation and Modification.