Change log for Z-Table Maintenance (via SCDO)

Generally we don’t need table logging for custom table maintenance (SM30), but it is important and needed for some cases. All customizing tables are automatically recorded by default but if you use regular Application tables (master and transaction data), you’re about to get your hands dirty .)

Automatic table change logging

Actually this is not suitable for our case because we want to log particular tables but it’s good to know..

You can use Automatic table change logging by setting the “Log Data Changes” flag under the table “Technical Settings” in SE11 (p.s. You must activate the table again after saving it, otherwise it will not be effective).

Next, to be able to log the table changes you must activate the system profile parameter Rec/Client. The default setting is OFF (no changes are logged). BASIS Team can assist you in this.
 Setting Rec/Client Parameter for Logging

(*) This can seriously affect the system performance in a bad way. SAP recommends not to use the value All.

In a nutshell, SAP recommends this option only in systems where this is worthwhile, because all tables with “Log data changes” option will be logged, so this has a major impact on performance (Even for one client)

You can now view the changes via transaction SCU3 (Table: DBTABLOG)

Logging using Change Document Objects (SCDO)

To log changes for particular tables in SM30 Maintenance, we can use change document objects and its associated functions.

Let’s do it step by step;

1. Go to SCDO and create a Change Document Object (Choose Yes for opening Namespace Pop-ups)
   
2. Insert the entries and choose Utilities → Generate update pgm.
   
3. In the opening pop-up, give function group name (it will be created if it doesn’t exist) and generate the update program for the object by clicking Activate.
4. In the Data Element → Further Characteristics Tab, set the “Change Document” flag for the objects which you want to track changes. As you recognise, many SAP standard data elements come with the selected flag.
5. You can now insert appropriate calls in the corresponding programs, for our example we will use Table Maintenance Events.
6. Under the table maintenance (SE56) go to Environment → Modification → Events.
   Give the events & subroutine names as shown in the figure and click the Editor icon to create suggested include (L<fg_name>F01).
   

Now, you can just copy and paste the code snippet (link is below) into the created include. It will begin to create logs in CDHDR-CDPOS tables.

Source code:  

(Fork me on GitHub if you want to contribute)

SCN Blog

P.S. For suggestions or reviews pls. contact.