Despite all the prophecies of doom
With the Solution Manager with Focused Build and Focused Insights, Focused Run and Cloud ALM, SAP currently offers the best ALM product portfolio for the most diverse needs.
If the backlog is not clearly defined and prioritized right at the start of the “requirements to deploy” process, the project risk increases: a lack of transparency leads to delays and additional work. Efficient change management requires clear planning and control so that no rework is required.
SAP has responded to this with the preconfigured best-practice solution Focused Build, making the existing SolMan solution more agile, user-friendly and – last but not least – transparent through full integration.
The SAP ALM methodologies are a clear advantage when planning projects: on the one hand, they are based on the wishes of the user companies – with the SAP Customer Connect program, customer wishes have flowed directly into the product in recent years – and on the other hand, best practices can also be used that build on the project experience of many SAP implementation projects.
In the area of Run and Operations, SAP has taken the diagnostics, monitoring and analysis functions to the next level with Focused Run: Focused Run not only warns of problems at an early stage, but also extends system monitoring so that machine learning, pattern matching, cluster analysis and various visualizations can also be used.
All the valuable experience gained from the on-prem products ultimately flows into the latest SAP Cloud ALM product. Since 2018, SAP has added Cloud ALM to its portfolio and can optimally support cloud-centric projects from planning through to implementation.
Extensions to the range of functions are in the pipeline so that operations functions will also be available in Cloud ALM by 2022. The aim is therefore to ensure that customers with few on-prem solutions also receive an optimal ALM solution.
The strength of the products lies in the fact that the solutions are integrated. Individual areas are not organized in isolated silos, but in value chains, which makes it possible to combine their advantages. The solutions are far more than just monitoring tools: The products support entire scenarios such as “Requirements to Deploy” or “Detect and Correct”.
Where the problems with non-integrated solutions are already programmed, because there is no up-to-date documentation of the company processes or because related changes are not (or cannot be) tested integratively, the ALM solutions from SAP, if implemented and used correctly, minimize the risks, the time required and the costs.
At the same time, both company processes and changes in the system become traceable, making audits unproblematic and the system landscape finally transparent. Full transparency is also underpinned by Focused Insights, which allows complex relationships to be displayed in dashboards quickly and easily.
With Focused Build, every release with all developments and changes in the SAP system landscape is planned from start to finish. This creates an enormously powerful ALM tool. While Excel spreadsheets are passed around with “Management by Office” and the search for documentation and dependencies takes on epic proportions, Focused Build displays and manages all process steps in an up-to-date, transparent and clear manner.
The test scenarios are optimally integrated and supported. Tests can be repeated automatically and are controlled in real time using dashboards. And since SAP projects need to become more efficient so that SAP user companies can cope well with the upcoming major changes, but also the many small changes within a complex solution landscape, all these facts contribute to success. A professional ALM with the Solution Manager and Focused Build sets the course so that a project can be completed reliably and cost-effectively.
This article originally appeared in E-3 magazine
