Patent ID: 8225303

Claim:
A method for providing a business scenario, comprising: executing a first deployment unit on a first application platform; replacing a second deployment unit on the first application platform with an upgraded second deployment unit on an upgraded second application platform; executing the upgraded second deployment unit; transmitting messages related to the business scenario over a communications link between the first deployment unit on the first application platform and the upgraded second deployment unit on the upgraded second application platform to provide the functionality of the business scenario distributed between the first application platform and the upgraded second application platform; replicating master data related to the business scenario from a first data storage accessible by the first deployment unit on the first application platform to a second data storage on the upgraded second application platform, wherein the second data storage is accessible by both the first deployment unit and the upgraded second deployment unit, thereby synchronizing the master data in the first data storage with the master data stored in the second data storage; and executing a customer add-on module on the first application platform, the customer add-on module being a customized software program that provides user-defined functionality in the business scenario and communicates with the upgraded second deployment unit via messages.