Application lifecycle management for SAP landscapes: Straight from SolEd, these are the innovations to look out for in 2020

At SolEd 2019 in Heidelberg in December, both SAP experts and customers agreed that a professionally managed IT organization today is based on good application lifecycle management (ALM). Without ALM, and without a sustainable approach, delays, planning errors and additional costs have to be expected.

But the benefits of ALM don’t stop with the money you save. ALM improves system transparency, tidies up system documentation, and ensures that the entire SAP landscape is up to date. This, in turn, guarantees that your systems run safely and stably, and that audits pass without greater problems.

All the while, it doesn’t matter whether the landscape is operated on-premise, hybrid or in the cloud.

And in case you missed it: SAP’s Focused Build and Focused Insights add-ons for the Solution Manager are available completely free of charge starting January 1 this year. They are part of the maintenance contract, and can be used indefinitely without additional licensing costs.

And that’s good news. The role of Focused Build as a project management method should not be underestimated. The presentations at SolEd, including our own, made it very clear that this agile methodology represents a huge leap forward, and that it brings great added value in terms of quality, security, and effort, especially for upcoming S/4HANA projects.

The SAP Solution Manager 7.1 has reached the end of its lifespan. Upgrading to SolMan 7.2 is inevitable and at the same time the perfect opportunity to implement Focused Build.

The transparency you can achieve by implementing Focused Build is also underpinned by Focused Insights, which can be used to display complex relationships in dashboards in a simple and easy manner.

Supercharging security dashboards with Focused Run

Focused Run was originally developed for the monitoring of large amounts of data. By now, it also offers the same advantages to customers with extended requirements, especially in the area of ​​security. Focused Run not only warns of problems at an early stage, but also extends monitoring so that machine learning, pattern matching, cluster analysis and various visualizations can also be used.

Focused Build to be integrated with S/4HANA Readiness Check and SAP Analytics Cloud

For Focused Build, further exciting news is already in the pipeline: In addition to the integration of Focused Build in the SAP Analytics Cloud, support for various project and landscape types will follow shortly.

Another upcoming addition is the S/4HANA Readiness Check integration for conversion projects, which can be used to automatically generate requirements and work packages in the assessment list.

Launchpad apps for everyone

Thanks to Launchpad Apps, the general transparency for all users of the interface is improved. They include Custom Code Analytics, Data Volume Management and SAP EarlyWatch Alert Workspace. What they all have in common is that they are modern, interactive interfaces that make data analysis easier.

They are accessible from anywhere, and supplied with data by activation in the Solution Manager and standard EWA data uploads.

This brings more benefits for users, and goes far beyond the scope of ​​monitoring and project management. For example, the Data Volume Management app supports any HANA-based system and helps companies optimize storage usage. With Custom Code Analytics, a new interactive user interface has been added that gives the CCLM a better visual level.

All of this promises to simplify processes. Though caution is still advisable: The know-how required to bring the data to the cloud, to analyze it and to get the best out of the information collected should not be underestimated.

GIT-capable change and transport management (gCTS)

The increasing number of SAP users with hybrid settings in their landscapes has prompted SAP to introduce a new approach to transport control and deployment. The add-on is already integrated in SAP S/4HANA 1909 as well as SAP Solution Manager 7.2 SPS10.

SAP is also planning to integrate it even more strongly into the SAP NetWeaver ABAP stack, so that all GIT functions are supported, even in retrofit scenarios.

Support backbone change

Not only is SAP working on completely new functions in the ALM area, but it is also constantly improving and consolidating existing functions. A good example of this is the Support Backbone Change: We would like to remind you again how important it is for customers to make adjustments to ensure stable operations. We talk about this in more detail in an earlier article. To read it, click here.