SAP Solution Manager – a new version

SolMan is a tool supporting the management of application cycles in accordance with the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) methodology, from solution planning through implementation to monitoring. The full ALM support is provided by tools: Project Management, Process Management, Test Management, Change Control Management, IT Service Management, Customer Code Management.

The new version of SAP Solution Manager 7.2 has undergone a number of changes to facilitate ALM-related work for users. It includes a new interface based on SAP UI5, as well as new dashboards supporting projects, tests, monitoring and many other activities from which metrics are collected. New tools for business process modeling have also been added to enable documentation and configuration to be prepared for monitoring these processes.

Scenario – Brownfield

In order to support the implementation of S/4HANA in the Brownfield scenario, SAP has prepared a predefined solution for SAP Solution Manager, providing step-by-step guidance through the conversion process.

The solution includes:

  • full documentation of tasks to be carried out as part of the project,
  • tools that support conversions,
  • test documentation.

The solution is available to all companies using SAP. Thanks to the well-prepared implementation methodology, we obtain a proven and safe conversion path to S/4HANA in the Brownfield model.

Phase by phase

In the S/4HANA Roadmap guide provided by SAP, we get a list of phases and tasks for each phase. The strategy divides the implementation into 6 basic stages:

  • Discover – defining priorities, a target architecture, carrying out the Readiness Check
  • Prepare – selecting an implementation scenario, starting planning, creating an implementation plan
  • Explore – configuration of systems, activation of content from SAP Best Practice, confirmation of technical functionality
  • Realize – configuration of systems, testing, user training
  • Deploy – verification before Go-Live, execution of Go-Live
  • Run – support after Go-Live, stabilization of the solution

Each phase is fully documented. As a result, every task can be carried out in a simple and planned manner.

Readiness Check at the start

The first step is to carry out the so-called Readiness Check. This will allow us to assess whether our SAP environment is ready for conversion.

The Readiness Check report provides us with a wide range of information regarding the planned conversion:

  • Consistency of the business functions used so far with S/4HANA.
  • Coherence of existing components.
  • Custom code analysis with the information on which code needs to be adjusted in order to work properly on the new SAP S/4HANA.
  • Recommendations regarding SAP Fiori applications. It indicates which Fiori applications we should run in order to keep the functionalities used so far.
  • Information on the hardware platform required for S/4, during and after individual conversion phases (RAM, disk resources; at the initial phase, after cleaning, when using shadow instances, etc.). In addition, we will find out how much space we can recover if we perform archiving earlier, and how much space the largest tables will take after the conversion.

Documentation of tasks and processes

The Roadmap for conversion to S/4HANA made available by SAP Solution Manager can be imported, for example, to:

  • Project Management in SolMan. This allows you to assign defined tasks to selected consultants. In addition, it enables the ongoing management of the conversion project and the monitoring of its progress.
  • Process Management in SolMan. This allows you to document business processes, to add schemes in BPMN, and to create documentation, e.g. on interfaces, test documents.

An alternative solution is to download a ready-made project to the MS Project or to generate a project plan in the form of an MS Excel file.

The process models generated in the BPMN standard are used first in the Design phase during conversion, then in the Build, Test phases and, of course, in the Run phase. Process modelling helps document full processes, which enables us to facilitate communication between IT departments and end users, for example. Additionally, such a solution is an ideal starting point for the automation of process monitoring.

Change management

While executing each step from the list in the Project Management application, we can use another SAP Solution Manager tool – Change Request Management (ChaRM). By assigning change documents to each task, we can:

  • make changes after prior approval,
  • document each change,
  • use mechanisms supporting the security of transport uploading: CSOL (blocking objects), DGP (saving transport sequences), ToC (transferring copies of transports),
  • upload changes using the defined workflows.

Test management

The next key step in the conversion to S/4HANA during the project is testing. SAP Solution Manager provides the Test Management tool.

The tool is designed to plan tests in selected systems in the relevant order. It helps perform manual tests as well as automatic scripts in the systems. When downloading content for the project of conversion to S/4 HANA, we also get a full test package for each module.

The ready-to-use documents contain the most important information documenting the tests, together with detailed descriptions of the steps to be taken by the tester. The available dashboards make it possible to view the status of tests in the project and to react to potential problems.

Benefits

Thanks to the solution provided by SAP and the use of SAP Solution Manager, we can safely carry out the entire project of system conversion to S/4HANA in the Brownfield scenario.

SolMan creates a comprehensive environment for conversion project management, documentation, testing, analysis, reporting, change management and many other tasks. An important issue is the use of the system conversion documentation for subsequent maintenance work. In the future, it will allow you to quickly respond to potential problems and will provide support during knowledge transfer while training new users. Furthermore, it will help keep documentation in one centralized place.

Support for conversion to S/4 with SolMan
The technical conversion to S/4HANA carried out in the Brownfield approach has many features in common with the classic upgrade project. For many customers working in not highly complex SAP environments, the conversion to S/4HANA using SolMan can be a good option. SNP (now All for One Poland) ensures comprehensive implementation of such projects. Our customers can benefit from the knowledge of experts with many years of experience in SAP upgrades and migrations.
Dariusz Kurkiewicz, Implementation Team Leader, All for One Poland