This document gives you an overview of the upgrade and update procedure of SAP Business Suite with the Software Update Manager (SUM) tool using its Zero Downtime Option (ZDO).

To reduce the technical downtime of your SAP Business Suite system to the minimum, SAP introduced a procedure that allows users to continue using the business functions of the system during the upgrade or update activities. This feature is provided with the Zero Downtime Option (ZDO) feature of the Software Update Manager (SUM) tool.

This document explains the high-level concept and the principles of ZDO, giving you a transparency you need to understand how ZDO is organized and functioning. Going further you receive an initial information on planning, preparation, and follow-up activities as well as information about using SUM with ZDO.

The focus is on the special features of ZDO, assuming you´re familiar with SAP upgrade and update procedure using SUM tool. The information in this document is intended primarily for SAP system administrators with operating system, database, and SAP NetWeaver Application Server knowledge, and would be interesting and useful for the functional experts as well as project managers.