SAP provides a large portfolio for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). In most cases, it makes no sense to implement all possibilities in a big bang. So how to start?
This depends on different influence factors such as the maturity of your IT processes, your IT projects and project pipeline, and your cost pressure and cost structure compared with peers. Select those parts of the ALM portfolio first that bring the highest value to your company.
Explore the Value
In general, ALM processes bring various benefits to you:
- Reduced Total Cost of Operations - Today's economy requires a greater focus on lowering costs within your organization.
- Business Continuity - Maintaining business continuity is the key to success. As landscapes become larger and more complex, there is a greater need for integration and mission-critical support.
- Business Process Improvement - The business environment today requires transparency of business process exceptions and KPIs. Improving business processes is critical to your organization's success.
- Protection of Investment and Accelerated Innovation - Protecting IT investment while introducing innovations is critical in today's economy. You have to be able to adapt to new requirements without business disruptions.
Consider the priority of these values as well as the current situation of your organization to find out the direction that would bring the highest value for you.
Define Your Roadmap
Once the operational requirements are clear, you must define what parts of the operations processes need to be implemented, enhanced or optimized to meet the requirements. You can use the SAP Standards for Solution Operations as benchmark to identify areas of improvement.
You will analyze the essential tools and processes, the functions to be implemented using SAP Solution Manager, and the required skills to manage the solution. During the scope definition, you should also identify which SAP components, business processes and interfaces have been implemented and need to be considered for operations. By comparing the value potentials and the required efforts, you will be able to identify quick wins in the implementation of ALM. Finally, you will prioritize the required actions and derive a corresponding roadmap for your organization.
You can take the Run SAP scope assessment as a reference.
Implement SAP Solution Manager
As central application management platform, SAP Solution Manager is key for the success of your ALM journey. If you don't have SAP Solution Manager yet, you should implement it as soon as possible to reap all the benefits. And even if you have an installation, it might be worth to update it to the latest support package version!
What do you have to configure in SAP Solution Manager after the technical installation? Basically, you should start the SAP Solution Manager Basic Configuration Assistant. This is a guided procedure that takes you through the initial setup, the basis configuration, and the connection of managed systems. After this has been done, you can already start using many functions like maintenance of SAP software, collaboration with SAP, root cause analysis, implementation/change/upgrade projects, test management, administration, or service level reporting.
Other functions need some additional configuration, like the definition of thresholds or definition of workflows. Also, documentation of business processes is required for some functions. E.g., you need to document your core business processes to analyze the impact of changes on them.
Expert Guided Implementation (SMP login required) is a new optimized, short-term setup service to configure basic settings for SAP Solution Manager without long-term, in-house consulting. This service balances the combination of training, practical experience and expertise on demand and allows customers to create baseline functionality for implementation of end-to-end solution operations, ready-to-use. In mostly 5 days.
Optimize Your IT Processes
Companies need an IT strategy that focuses on the management of complexity, risks and costs as well as skills and resources. Standardized procedures that leverage the experience of the organization and the software supplier are a key prerequisite for the optimization of application management.
Based on the experience of experts from SAP and customers, SAP provides standards for solution operations. The standards contain best-practice procedures on how to run the individual processes, explanations on which tools should be used, and available training and services that support the adoption of the standard.
SAP Roadmaps provide methodical frameworks for SAP projects. They give a structure to results and activities and provide the tools, services, and other methodical procedures that are recommended or required to help you achieve your objective. Special accelerators in the Roadmap structure help you with certain project tasks, by e.g. providing templates, examples, standards, product information, or best practices. As an example, the What is the Run SAP methodology provides you information and guidance of how to implement your solution operations according to the standards for solution operations. Gather knowledge of how to scope the operations to be implemented, prepare a detailed project plan, the set up, and running of your SAP Solution efficiently. The Run SAP Roadmap focuses on application management, business process operations and SAP NetWeaver administration.
The SAP Landscape Transformation assists customers in independently adapting their organizational structures to changed business requirements - including mergers and acquisitions (M&As), divestitures, and restructuring projects - and enables customers to fulfill technical and business requirements while maintaining full data consistency.
With consulting services for SAP Solution Manager, SAP Consulting is covering today's customer/projects/consultants needs for SAP Solution Manager expertise. The various Services will help to plan the deployment of SAP Solution Manager, install the system, configure the mandatory and desired functions, and train users and administrators on how to handle SAP Solution Manager.
Empower Your IT Organization
Processes can only be changed successfully if the organization is enabled to operate the new process. To support you in empowering your IT organization, SAP provides corresponding knowledge transfer.
The easiest way for customers of SAP to get further information regarding ALM is the ALM area in SAP Service Marketplace:http://service.sap.com/alm (SMP login required). Here you will find centrally many information, presentations, demos, videos, and whitepapers regarding the different aspects of ALM: ALM Processes, SAP Solution Manager & Tools; Customer Center of Expertise, Methodologies, and Services.
SAP offers several training courses or empowering workshops to facilitate knowledge transfer to your support organization. The training and certification of Run SAP provides companies, partners, and SAP consultants with the methodology to implement ALM.
The organizational model of the Customer Center of Expertise (Customer COE) drives integrated quality management, enabling transparency across business and IT units to critical challenges in SAP solution operations: ensuring business continuity, reducing costs and accelerating innovation. Establishing a Customer COE to manage quality and collaboration between all parties involved empowers an organization to manage its mission-critical operations effectively and efficiently.