Guide index

Technical guides on SAP® software topics

These guides set out which questions to ask and which evidence to gather before making a decision on SAP® software topics. Each one focuses on a single subject, carries its sources and a last verification date, and gives product-dependent information together with its scope.

Prepared by Castintech
Last verified 23 September 2026
5 min read
Sources

What are these guides for?

The aim is to make the route to a technical decision visible: which uncertainty is being resolved, what evidence is needed, which decisions should be kept apart and which assumption creates risk. The guides do not hand out ready answers; they offer an assessment framework that helps an organisation find its own.

Each guide includes a checklist and a list of common wrong assumptions.

Which guide helps at which decision point?

Extension decisions under a clean core approach

A decision framework for checking whether an extension request can first be met by standard capability, at which level it could be built, and what it brings in terms of upgrades, lifecycle and governance. The product context in which the level model applies is stated separately.

Decision point:
when a new extension request arrives, or an existing extension is reviewed
Readers:
solution architects, technical leads, developers
Assessing a custom code inventory

A method for turning an object list into an inventory you can decide with, using evidence of use, business ownership, dependency, change frequency and links to critical processes. It also states plainly what an inventory cannot tell you.

Decision point:
at the start of transformation, upgrade or maintenance planning
Readers:
teams planning an inventory, IT managers, developers
Error handling and safe reprocessing in integrations

A product-independent engineering framework for separating error classes, designing safe reprocessing with idempotency and drawing the line for manual intervention.

Decision point:
when designing a new integration, or after recurring integration errors
Readers:
integration owners, solution architects, developers
Gathering evidence in a performance investigation

An investigation method for starting a performance problem with a measurement question, setting a baseline, telling the bottleneck apart from the symptom and not claiming the effect of a change without measuring it.

Decision point:
when a performance complaint comes in, or before committing resources to an improvement
Readers:
technical leads, developers, IT managers
Technical uncertainties before a transformation

A framework for classifying pre-transformation uncertainties, from product and release scope to data, authorisations, testing and fallback, and tying each one to a decision owner. It also covers how to use maintenance timeline information with the correct product scope.

Decision point:
before a transformation decision or plan
Readers:
CIOs, IT managers, transformation teams

How do sources and currency work?

Every piece of product information is tied to an official SAP source, and the source’s date is shown alongside our last verification date. Where the source page has no date, this is stated as “not stated on the page”. General engineering principles and Castintech’s interpretations are not attributed to SAP; they are written separately from the official definition.

Documents that require a login or a maintenance agreement are not treated as read and are not used as sources in the guides. Information from SAP documentation is put in our own words; long quotations are not used.

Why are these guides not part of the news feed?

Castintech’s news pages follow the business agenda. These guides are not tied to any news event and are written for a more technical reader. So they are kept in a separate index, do not appear in the news archive or agenda feed, and do not go through the automated content pipeline.

Each guide is written as a standalone document, to be updated when its subject changes.

What does the last verification date mean?

The last verification date shows the most recent day on which the product-dependent information in a guide was checked against its official source. It does not guarantee that the information is still valid today; product names, scopes and timelines can change. We recommend checking the relevant information at its source again before making a decision.

What does this index not claim?

The guides are general technical explanations. They are not implementation guidance for a specific product release or installation, and they do not replace an assessment specific to your organisation. We do not claim that the approaches described in the guides will deliver any particular timeline, cost or performance outcome. We suggest using them as preparation before a decision.

Frequently asked questions

In what order should the guides be read?

Each guide stands on its own. If you are planning a transformation, starting with the guide on pre-transformation uncertainties and then moving to the custom code inventory and extension decision guides makes it easier to connect the topics.

Are the guides written for a specific SAP product?

Most sections are product-independent assessment frameworks. Information that depends on a product or release is given with the scope in which it applies and linked to an official source.

Can the checklists be used as they are?

They work as a starting point. Every organisation’s processes, releases and risks differ, so the lists need to be adapted to your own landscape.

How often are the guides updated?

We do not commit to a fixed update frequency. Sections with product-dependent information are verified again before a guide is published and when a change at the source is noticed; each guide shows its last verification date on the page.

Other pages in this section

Sources

This page contains no externally sourced claims. Each guide carries its own sources and last verification date on its page.

Last verified: 23 September 2026

SAP is the trademark or registered trademark of SAP SE or its affiliates in Germany and in other countries.

This content has been independently prepared by Castintech.

Independence note

Castintech does not claim any partnership, authorization, endorsement or sponsorship relationship with SAP SE.
SAP and the SAP product names mentioned on this page are trademarks of SAP SE or its affiliates.
The work Castintech offers is independent technical consulting and support.