UserXpress

What is UserXpress?

UserXpress transforms SAP user management, saving valuable time and money by streamlining a range of everyday tasks.

With UserXpress, you can:

Leverage a customizable global user table to eliminate manually logging on to multiple clients and systems. Quickly and efficiently meet everyday reporting and provisioning needs. Manage tens of thousands of users from one tidy screen. Search for users in real time, with immediate results. Report on IDs using an intuitive, query-building interface.

Our Brochure

Problems UserXpress Solves

With SAP, the leaver process can take hours because a user can have an ID on dozens of systems, each of which need to be locked down individually. But with UserXpress, all it takes is a few clicks to lock, disable, end date, and remove all profiles for a user or a group of users. The process literally takes seconds.

Moreover, UserXpress relieves analysts of the cumbersome process of making an authorized copy of an existing user ID, as when a new employee joins the company and is given the same access as an existing employee. All the analyst needs to do is use the FastCopy feature to immediately populate the new user’s ID on each client and system.

The Benefits of UserXpress

Time savings of 70% performing SAP user administrator tasks
UserXpress transforms time-consuming, complex, and frustrating tasks into single, speedy, responsive actions
Actions span many clients on many systems simultaneously
The product installs in seconds, with no new hardware, configuration, or consultants required
All users, all clients, and all systems, accessible through one screen
User management is eased via customizable global user table
Respond to user queries in seconds
Affordable
New releases monthly

Tasks that once took hours or days are done in minutes
More time for business-critical tasks as a result of the time savings
Easy to learn and use with expert support with you every step of the way
Reduce contractual burden by easily & quickly identifying users who no longer use your SAP systems
Better Security - Reporting and User Deactivation makes cleaning up derelict accounts easy
Up and running in 10 minutes on your workstation with no changes to your SAP systems
Complex, real-time querying and reporting, exporting to Excel
User cleanup from mergers and acquisitions

UserXpress is powered by a robust interface that has SAP Certified Integration with SAP NetWeaver.

This interface, provided by SAP Partner Theobald Software, allows the application to seamlessly integrate with SAP NetWeaver, which in turn enables a smooth and transparent experience for administrators.

Can UserXpress Do This?

Connect to any number of systems?
Manage tens of thousands of users?
Search users instantly, including with complex queries?
Perform actions on one or more users at the same time?
Work with CUA?
Create users en masse?
Assign Roles to users?
Create ranged users such as PERFTST_01, PERFTST_02, etc. easily?
Maintain all change history locally on each system?
Install in minutes?

UserXpress vs CUA

		CUA	UserXpress
INSTALLATION	Initial Setup Effort	Extensive initial setup is required. (May take a day or longer).	None. Installs in minutes.
	Adding More Clients	Requires more effort to include a new client in CUA (half a day).	Several seconds.
	Planning	Requires significant planning before deployment, i.e. what is centrally administered and what is locally administered.	Requires no planning.
OPERATION	Change History	Full change history is only available when viewing log ons to both master and child systems.	All history stored on local SAP.
	Create multiple users across multiple systems	Requires multiple iterative runs of SU01 for each user to be created.	Using the batch user process, thousands of users can be created easily across many systems and clients.
	Reporting	Only allows for management of users. Administrator must use local reporting mechanisms.	Real time reporting against global user table.
	High level view of all users in estate	N/A	Allows all users in global user table.
	Full user maintenance	Can only be fully maintained through master and child systems.	Full user administration conducted locally.
	Enhancements	None. Development stopped in 2003.	Continuously updated with new functionality to support more of SAP’s solutions.
	Criticality	It is a single point of failure. If CUA server is unavailable, full user administration is not available.	Because it is installed locally, there is no impact to any SAP system.
	Action Duration	Subject to ALE/IDOC setup and queue processing.	All operations are conducted against the users in their own clients. Operations take an average of a second or less.
	Performance Impact	Depending on configuration, CUA can be the cause of bottlenecks.	None.

Capabilities List

USER FUNCTIONS

With the 'Multiple Change' option in the UserXpress main menu, many activities can be run against multiple users simultaneously, saving valuable time. For example, SAP recommends that you do not delete users, but rather that you lock him or her, apply a 'Valid To' date from the past, and remove all roles and profiles as well as deactivating the password. But with UserXpress, you can combine all of these tasks into one action and apply them to one or more users across many systems and clients.

UserXpress features over 30 functions that can be run against one or more users at a time, including:

Create users	Assign roles to users	Lock/unlock users
Set initial/productive passwords	Deactivate passwords	Send messages to online users
Log off online users	Manage SNC assignments	Remove roles/profiles
Assign security polices	Assign reference user to user IDs	Change license type
Change/set validity dates	Copy users from system to system	Copy users from client to client
Manage parameter IDs for users	Assign Work Center Details	Change or assign a users alias
Set email address	Change Company Name assignment	Change the user type (Dialog, System etc.)
Assign a Cost Center	Assign an Accounting Number	Change a users default (Date Format etc.)

LICENSING INSTALLATION OPERATION

How is UserXpress licensed?

Our product is licensed by user. This simple approach to licensing means that you don’t have to worry about the number of systems or clients you will connect to, or the number of users that you will manage via UserXpress.

What is the license type?

The licenses are per-seat (named user). Each user has their own license with their details securely stored in it. At the moment, floating a license across multiple users is not an option.

What information is stored in the license?

The end user’s name, email, work address, and contact telephone number are all stored in each license.

How secure is the information stored in the license?

UserXpress uses an extremely high-bit public-private key encryption system to secure the data in the license, so users can increase their productivity while knowing that their information is fully protected.

Is there a limit to the number of systems to which users can connect or maximum number of user IDs that can be managed through UserXpress?

No. Users can connect to all of their systems and manage all users without any additional license concerns.

Are some functions limited by license type?

No. All UserXpress functions are available to anyone with a license. Also, there are no additional plug-ins needed to access all of UserXpress.

How much do licenses cost?

Licensing is tiered, and each tier is priced differently depending upon the number of users. The current tiers are:

LICENSING TIER	USERS COVERED
Tier 1	1-5
Tier 2	6-10
Tier 3	11-15
Tier 4	≥16

For pricing per tier, please contact us at info@1905ideas.com.

If a licensed user leaves the company and a new person hired, do I have to purchase a new license?

In this situation, simply send us the name of the person who left the company and the new hire and we will re-issue the license under the new user at no additional license cost to you.

Does UserXpress come with a trial license?

Yes. UserXpress installs with an automatic 30-day evaluation license.

Where can I view the End User License Agreement?

The full EULA can be viewed here.

Where does UserXpress install?

On the user’s PC or workstation.

What are the PC requirements?

UserXpress will run on Windows 7, Windows 8 & Windows 10.

Are there any prerequisites for the installation and the operation of UserXpress?

UserXpress is based on Microsoft’s .Net framework version 4.51, so that is required. The SAP GUI must also be installed. Currently, SAPGui up toand including 7.6 is supported.

Do I need any special privileges to install UserXpress?

UserXpress installation requires that you be the administrator or an equivalent user.

Do I need to acquire a license before installing?

UserXpress comes with a 30-day evaluation license. After the evaluation license expires, you will need to acquire a new license.

Is there any configuration involved?

No. The application installs in moments and is immediately ready to go.

Is there any configuration or transports required for the managed SAP system?

There are no transports or configuration of any kind required on the managed SAP system.

How does UserXpress know which SAP systems I have?

UserXpress will retrieve all available systems from the saplogon.ini file and present them to you.

What do I need to do to begin user management?

Simply connect to the systems you want to manage and UserXpress will do the rest. Once all the users are loaded on your screen, you’re good to go.

Will UserXpress run on my 64-bit system?

Yes. The SAP interface we use (ERPConnect, written by our partner Theobald Software) requires that you place a file in the Windows systemdirectory. It takes only a moment to follow the instructions.

Do I need any particular authorizations to run UserXpress?

Because you use your own user ID to log on to the SAP system, your restrictions are based on what roles or profiles you have been assigned. As an SAP Security Analyst it is assumed that you have comprehensive privileges already, and you should therefore be able to run any of the actions in UserXpress readily. Note that the RFC-enabled function module RFC_READ_TABLE is used extensively, and your user ID should have adequate authorizations to cover its use. You should also have sufficient authorizations to call RFC-enabled functions.

How does UserXpress communicate with my SAP Systems?

UserXpress is powered by a secure and fully functional interface authored by Theobald Software. The interface features SAP Certified Integration with SAP NetWeaver. All communication from UserXpress is conducted through this interface.

How does UserXpress make the changes to a user record?

UserXpress uses SAP’s functionality to administer any changes to a user ID. SAP provides a standard interface to allow remote administration of users, so you use the same functionality as with the transaction SU01.

Where is the change history kept?

Because UserXpress uses SAP’s functionality, all change history is kept and stored in the client to which the application is connected. All change history can be viewed as it would be ordinarily.

Can I connect as a service user?

Yes. However, double-clicking a user entry or clicking the SU01 button will not open up an SAP GUI session to SU01 as this would not ordinarily be allowed.

What is AutoStart?

When UserXpress starts and the AutoStart function is enabled, the system will automatically connect to any chosen SAP systems and load users from that client.

Can I prevent UserXpress from automatically connecting to systems when starting?

Yes. In the control panel, simply unclick the AutoStart button to prevent UserXpress from automatically connecting to clients upon start up.

What is the passphrase?

The passphrase is used to log on to the application and is a requirement of UserXpress.

Are there any restrictions on the passphrase?

The passphrase must be a minimum of 12 characters long. Any combination of letters and characters can be used.

Is my passphrase stored securely?

A cryptographic hash function (meaning the contents of an encrypted message cannot be decrypted) is taken of the passphrase, and this hash is stored in a configuration file. Each time an attempt is made to log on to the application, a hash function is applied to the entered passphrase. This is then compared to the hash stored in the configuration file. If they match, then the application continues. Otherwise a warning is issued indicating an incorrect passphrase was entered. A user’s passphrase is never stored -- only a hash of the passphrase.

Are the passwords used for AutoStart stored securely?

Yes. A cryptographic hash function (meaning the contents of an encrypted message that cannot be decrypted) is taken of the password. This hash is then used by another cryptographic function to encrypt the user ID and password used to connect to a client. The encrypted user ID and password are stored in a local configuration file.

What happens if I forget my passphrase for UserXpress?

You can reset your passphrase by clicking the ‘reset’ button on the logon screen, but any connections that have been flagged for AutoStart will be deleted, and the AutoStart list will be empty. You will need to configure all of your connections again.

What happens if I enter my passphrase incorrectly several times?

If you enter your passphrase incorrectly five times, the application will exit.

Is there a limit to the number of clients I can connect to?

You can connect to as many clients as you would like.

Why is there no configuration required on the managed SAP system?

SAP systems come delivered with a set of functions that allow specifically for remote user administration. UserXpress uses those same functions, so no additional functionality needs to be added to the systems.

What versions of SAP are supported?

UserXpress has been tested in SAP NetWeaver systems from 7.0 to 7.4. Most functions also operate on SAP WebAS NetWeaver 640.

What is the global user table?

The global user table is the grid that holds all of the users in the application. From there you can make changes to any number of the users. You can also search using simple and complex queries.

Why can’t I find SAP* or DDIC in the global user table?

Inadvertent changes to these users could cause serious issues with system operations, so they were omitted from the application.

Is there a limit to the number of users that can be stored in the global user table?

UserXpress has been tested with over 100,000 user IDs with no loss in performance or operational capacity.

Can I change the order in which the columns in the global user table are arranged?

Simply click on the header of a column and while holding it, drag the column to customize its placement.

How do I search for a user?

In the field beneath the column header ‘User’ simply start typing the user ID. The list will automatically show users who match your criteria.

Can I filter on more than one column?

By using the filter underneath the column header or indeed using the filter built into the column header itself, you can build any number of complex queries and combine them with other criteria from other columns. As you build up your query, the results are shown in real time.

How long does it take to see the changes made for an SAP user on a system?

The changes are made instantly. It’s as if you are using SU01 on the SAP system.

How do I select more than one user for action?

If you wish to select additional users, hold the shift key down while selecting other users with your mouse.

Why can’t I start SU01 when I’m logged in as a service user?

Service users by definition are not allowed to use dialog functionality. By not allowing SU01 for service users through UserXpress is keeping with that security paradigm.

When I try to connect to a client, I get an error "Connect to SAP gateway failed.. Error: max no 100 conversations exceeded." How do I resolve that?

Set the User Environment variable CPIC_MAX_CONV=500 on your PC. (Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> User Variables -> New)

Videos

These are some of the traditionally cumbersome and frustrating SAP user administration tasks which UserXpress makes fast and easy. All videos are done in real-time. To see more features, please download our fully functioning, 30-day trial or sign up for a demo.