Automating System Copy & Refresh
As System Copy and System Refresh remain essential to SAP operations, Basis teams face increasing pressure to deliver up-to-date, production-like environments faster, more frequently, and with fewer resources. But the traditional, manual runbooks behind these processes are long, complex, and prone to human error.
In the Whitepaper, “Automating System Copy & Refresh,” Avantra explores a modern approach to streamlining these time-consuming activities. Learn how automation reduces manual effort, accelerates delivery, and ensures system consistency across SAP landscapes - whether on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid.

Key Learnings and Challenges Explored
The Whitepaper uncovers the hidden complexity behind System Copy and System Refresh processes and the operational pain points SAP teams face when relying on manual execution:
- Highly manual processes: System Refresh runbooks often span dozens of pages and require days or weeks of execution.
- High risk of human error: Detailed steps such as RFC updates, Secure Store key adjustments, and transport synchronization are easy to miss or mis-sequence.
- BDLS bottlenecks: Converting Logical System Names is notoriously long-running, often adding full days to refresh cycles, especially on large or non-HANA systems.
- Shared infrastructure risks: Non-production systems can unintentionally interfere with production if isolation steps are missed.
- Inconsistent execution: Each SAP environment has unique post-copy requirements, making manual standardization difficult across systems.
These challenges make automation not only beneficial, but essential for delivering faster, safer, and more reliable System Refresh operations.
Our SAP Landscape is very complex; we can’t even imagine managing or monitoring it without Avantra. No other tool on the market can give us the same results.
Richard Tresch
Head of SAP development - Coop
Key Solutions and Strategic Insights
Avantra’s Whitepaper outlines how SAP teams can modernize System Copy and System Refresh by embracing intelligent automation purpose-built for SAP operations.
With Avantra, organizations gain:
- Automated post-copy steps to eliminate most human intervention.
- Accelerated BDLS processing, running conversions in parallel to drastically reduce runtime.
- Automated system isolation to prevent cross-system communication with production.
- Customizable workflows that reflect each system’s unique requirements.
- Consistent, repeatable execution that reduces manual effort and operational risk.
- Better alignment between production and non-production through more frequent, cost-effective refresh cycles.
Avantra enables SAP operations teams to reduce effort, improve reliability, and free skilled Basis staff to focus on higher-value initiatives.
Take control of your System Refresh operations - with Avantra, now you’re really running.

Automate repetitive SAP operations tasks
Optimize quality and control of SAP operations
Identify problems and anomalies and resolve them quickly
Simplify the creation and maintenance of automation workflows
Enforce consistency in operations
Improve quality and reducing human error
Enable self service for business owners, shortening time to value
Provide a single point of truth, streamlining operations considerably
Enhance security practices within your SAP IT operations
Provide full transparency across your SAP ecosystem
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Observe in Real Time
faster update release cycles
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Optimize in No Time
shorter system refresh times
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Innovate All the Time
SAP downtime reduction
Real results. Across real landscapes.
"We needed better access to data about critical operations… our engineers were so busy reacting to day-to-day urgency, we had to outsource more strategic activities..."
"By using Avantra, we have been able to prevent serious failures in our SAP production systems. Today, we only need 1 to 2 hours to install server updates, we have been..."
Optimize quality and control of SAP operations
Avantra platform options
Automate, Automate, Automate
The Avantra Automation Platform is built on the recognition of the growing connectivity of industrial environments and the need to both leverage and contain that. We do so for SAP operations by automating three functions which are mostly manual: observing the system status quo, communicating variances with those responsible for maintaining it and implementing improvements. Or, as we say at Avantra: observing, engaging, acting..
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“To monitor and administer our scope of SAP systems at the level of quality achieved with Avantra, we would need about 50% more people in the SAP Basis area without Avantra”
Felix Hausheer Team Lead SAP Basis, Innflow
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Whitepaper: RISE with SAP
This whitepaper, written by Avantra's Global Head of Solution Engineering, Tyler Constable, takes a look at how RISE with SAP contracts are written and how the automation and observability that comes with the Avantra platform frees up time for basis engineers to focus on greater value projects.





