EPOS Connect 25: New Release 25.6, Blue@RISE Add-on, and Insights into the Future of SAP Basis Automation

Planned as an SAP add-on, Blue@RISE will be available in the RISE with SAP environment. From the EPOS side, a new app is also in development that will run within RISE with SAP and enable user administration – two exciting strands of development that clearly point the way forward.

A participant summed it up perfectly: “An event with real added value for the SAP Basis community.”

As presented at the customer event on October 30, the smart SAP Basis automation suite EPOS is expanding not only with new apps in its 25.6 release, but also with significant improvements across all existing ones.

With this version, EPOS now offers 18 automation apps. New additions in 25.6 include: SAP Transport App – for automated handling of SAP transport and the Java Update App – for automated Java updates in connection with SAP environments

A complete overview of all new features in 25.6 can be found in the graphic below.

Also announced: EPOS and all apps have now fully transitioned to the WebUI. The “old” .NET GUI will no longer be supported. The release of the new EPOS Version 25.6 is planned for the end of this week.

“Empirius will continue to invest heavily in EPOS and all associated apps, accelerating development to meet customer needs,” reported CEO Hans Haselbeck.According to Haselbeck, EPOS license sales continue to rise steadily. Likewise, sales of Empirius’ core product BlueCopy, the automation solution for SAP system copies, remain strong. The number of BlueCopy installations grew to well over 100 last year.

As in previous years, one of the highlights of EPOS Connect was the impulse sessions with live demos.

During these sessions, the Empirius development team shared practical tips, tricks, and “how-to-do” examples – showing SAP Basis teams how to quickly resolve common challenges through small, effective code changes or customizations.

Examples included BlueCopy as well as the EPOS Apps Security Notes and SAP Certificate Management.

The sessions quickly evolved into lively, productive discussions between developers and attendees. Questions from participants were answered on the spot – often helping others in the room as well.

Under the motto “from practice to performance”, representatives from TÜV SÜD shared their experience using EPOS.

TÜV SÜD first implemented BlueCopy and later expanded their use to include EPOS and several apps. Their results were impressive: automation with EPOS led to significant time and cost savings across all maintenance-related SAP Basis tasks.

You can read more about the TÜV SÜD success story in our case study.

*Mehr zum Einsatz von EPOS bei TÜV SÜD, können Sie hier in der Success Story nachlesen.

The final part of the event focused on RISE with SAP, divided into two perspectives.

First, CTO Marcus Bogenstätter outlined what RISE with SAP means for SAP Basis teams and how Empirius is responding.

The key point: the RISE with SAP cloud model currently does not allow access to the operating system (OS) or database (DBMS). Put simply – “you can’t get to certain things,” affecting both RISE customers and SAP Basis tool providers.

SAP now handles Basis tasks like system copies as service requests. However, quality assurance of those copies still lies with the customer’s SAP Basis team.

This is where Empirius comes in – specifically with pre- and post-copy automation.

Empirius is developing an add-on for RISE with SAP under the project name Blue@RISE. The plan is to make the add-on available to SAP customers by the end of the year, with SAP certification to follow.

A survey among BlueCopy customers whose companies are moving to RISE with SAP revealed strong demand for such an add-on.
The main reason: without BlueCopy, they miss the familiar convenience and efficiency – and the speed of system copies in the RISE world was seen as suboptimal.

In a thought-provoking closing session, Peter Färbinger, Editor-in-Chief of E3 Magazine – a leading SAP community publication – offered a critical yet constructive look at RISE with SAP.

He explained that a RISE setup typically consists of two contracts:

- One for the S/4HANA transition
- One for the cloud operation

As is often the case with SAP, these agreements are generally negotiated and signed at the executive or financial management level, often without direct involvement from SAP Basis or IT departments.

The audience fell silent when Färbinger mentioned that under certain RISE contracts, SAP reserves the right to delete customer data just one day after a contract termination.

He noted that future EU regulations are expected to address this issue.

He also shared insights from an RISE with SAP proof of concept conducted by a large enterprise, highlighting numerous findings – among them that RISE with SAP does not reduce SAP Basis teams. In fact, many organizations will likely need to expand them to meet new operational demands...