About

This Module

Introduction to SAP Solution Manager

This module defines the SAP Solution Manager and outlines the benefits of using Solution
Manager and the ASAP methodology tools provided to aid in the implementation, operation, and
continuous improvement of SAP solutions.

Business Example

XYZ Corp. is about to begin a large-scale business process transformation project and has chosen
SAP software as the centerpiece. This project has been named "Project Progress" and will consist
of multiple SAP components. A comprehensive, full life-cycle tool to help drive and manage the
implementation is required. SAP Solution Manager will be used for this purpose during the
implementation and eventual hand-over to operations.

Module Duration: 2 hours

Define the SAP Solution Manager and discuss the benefits of using the various tools offered
Discuss the benefits of using SAP Solution Manager
Define the ASAP methodology and the phases of the Implementation Roadmap
Explain the features and benefits of using SAP Solution Manager for implementation
Describe the role SAP Solution Manager plays in the day-to-day operations and support of SAP
solutions
Module Objectives

SAP Solution Manager Overview
AcceleratedSAP (ASAP) Methodology
SAP Solution Manager as Toolset for Implementation
SAP Solution Manager as Toolset for Operations and Continuous Improvement
Module Content

Consultants
Project Managers
Project Team Leads
Project Team Members
IT Service Desk Managers
IT Service Desk Members
Target Audience

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About This Topic

It is important to have a clear understanding of SAP Solution Manager in the overall context of an
SAP solution implementation. This topic helps define the purpose and benefits of using Solution
Manager.

Business Example



As your project moves into the planning stage, project team members of need a high-level
overview of the SAP Solution Manager. Since the project will include multiple solutions consisting
of potentially complex system landscapes, it is imperative to provide consistent and persistent
documentation of the existing systems and the planned systems. Understanding the benefits of a
central repository is essential.

Estimated time to complete this topic: 30 minutes

Objective(s)
Define "SAP Solution Manager"
State the general purpose of SAP Solution Manager
Identify the multiple usage scenarios of SAP Solution Manager
List the benefits of using SAP Solution Manager
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Solution Manager Definition

The SAP Solution Manager is the central application management platform that customers can run
in their solution landscape to help them efficiently implement, operate, monitor, and support their
SAP solutions.

SAP Solution Manager is thus used for both Implementation and Operational Functions.

The SAP Solution Manager provides tools, content, and a gateway to SAP that helps to:

Optimize the management of your SAP solution

Ensure reliability of your SAP solution

Ensure efficient operations

Ease implementation and upgrades

Continuously adapt and improve your solution
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Customer's System Landscape

The SAP Solution Manager is a separate, complete Web Application Server installation that is
connected to all systems in your solution landscape. These various systems are called satellite
systems.

In this way, SAP Solution Manager acts as the central system of your solution landscape, allowing
business processes to be implemented, tested, and even monitored in an integrated manner, thus
avoiding duplication of effort and information and streamlining your activities.


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Increasingly Complex Systems

In the last few years, the IT world of SAP customers has grown much more complex. Instead of one
single SAP R/3 system, there are now extensive system landscapes distributed over the entire
globe involving different solutions. Thus, it has become much more complicated to manage all of
the components of the various solutions.

The management process has also become more complicated for SAP itself. For example, over the
last several years, SAP has consolidated separate information sources and services into the SAP
Service Marketplace (service.sap.com). By having a solution management system at every
customer site, SAP can offer a virtually seamless link from customer systems to the service
marketplace, helping to reduce the time for support, notes access, and so on.

Benefits of SAP Solution Manager: 1


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Benefits of SAP Solution Manager

More reliable IT solutions

Minimize risk during implementation

Avoid inconsistencies

Resolve issues quickly resulting in less down time

More efficient implementation and change management projects

Reduced cost of implementation and continuous improvement

Reduce cost of process design technical setup, business setup, support and operations, testing,
and knowledge transfer

Centralized project handling blueprinting, configuration, and testing

Reduces the costs of upgrades or continuous improvement projects.

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Benefits of Solution Manager: 2

More Benefits of SAP Solution Manager

Faster return on investment (ROI)

Accelerates implementation and continuous improvement

Availability of implementation road maps, best-practice documents, and SAP solution
management services speed learning and accelerate project

Reduced cost of operation

Provides central point of control for multi-component environments.

Facilitates technical and application integration.

More leverage from IT investments

Integrates with IT landscapes that include both SAP and non-SAP applications

Reduce their total cost of ownership without making major changes

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Summary


This topic provided an overview of SAP Solution Manager. You reviewed the uses of SAP Solution
Manager, such as allowing customers to integrate their SAP Solutions and manage other
components, including the SAP Service Desk. You also learned about the many benefits of
implementing SAP Solution Manager, such as faster ROI and reduced cost of operations.

Finally, you learned that SAP Solution Manager is a separate installed Web Application Server that
offers a complete tool set to manage the life cycle of customer solutions.

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About This Topic


This topic provides you with an understanding of SAP's standard implementation methodology.

Business Example

Project progress managers need a proven and repeatable methodology for planning and executing
the many activities involved. A thorough understanding of this methodology is required.

Estimated time to complete this topic: 30 minutes

Objective(s)
State the purpose of AcceleratedSAP (ASAP)
List the available ASAP roadmaps
List the five phases of the Implementation Roadmap and identify the purpose of each
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ASAP Methodology Defined

The AcceleratedSAP (ASAP) methodology is a proven, repeatable, and successful approach to
implement SAP solutions across multiple industries and customer environments. This
methodology evolved from a time in the mid-1990s when SAP realized that customers needed a
better approach to SAP R/3 implementations.

ASAP was first introduced as a PC-based tool set called ValueSAP, which eventually included the
Implementation, Global, and Upgrade roadmaps. The ASAP methodology is now fully integrated
into SAP Solution Manager and AcceleratedSAP roadmaps provide content, tools, and expertise
from thousands of successful implementations.

SAP is continually improving these roadmaps with enriched content based on experience gained in
implementing solutions.
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Standard ASAP Roadmaps

ASAP roadmaps outline the activities involved in implementing, upgrading, or enhancing SAP
solutions. These roadmaps are enriched with set of deliverables, accelerators, role descriptions,
and additional guides. The five standard roadmaps are listed below. To learn more about the
functions of each, move your pointer over the name of the item you want to learn more about.

Implementation Roadmap for SAP Solutions provides the methodological framework for the
project team to leverage in the implementation of a SAP solution. It covers, among other things,
the necessary project management, requirements gathering, design, configuration of business
processes, technical implementation, test procedures, training and organization change
management.
Implementation Roadmap

The Solution Management Roadmap provides a methodology for the implementation of the
technical infrastructure and its operation. The Solution Management Roadmap complements the
Implementation Roadmap.
Solution Management Roadmap

The Global Template Roadmap describes how to organize and run a project in which a corporate
template is developed. The Global Template Roadmap is geared toward more complex
implementation or harmonization projects, typically involving more than one kind of SAP solution
and a variety of sites, possibly in different countries. The corporate template is rolled out to other
sites in a follow-up project.
Global Template Roadmap

The Upgrade Roadmap is designed to help you carry out the customizing activities required for an
upgrade. These customizing activities are essential if you want to continue to use the same
functions in your business application components after an upgrade.
Upgrade Roadmap



The Enterprise Portal and Exchange Infrastructure roadmaps are simply variations of the
Implementation Roadmap.
Other Roadmaps
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Summary

In this topic, you reviewed the basics of the ASAP methodology. You learned that the ASAP
methodology is fully integrated into SAP Solution Manager, and Accelerated SAP roadmaps
provide content, tools, and expertise from thousands of successful implementations.

You also learned that there are several roadmaps available to the customer, the most popular
being the Implementation Roadmap. Finally, you learned that the Implementation Roadmap has
five phases: Project Preparation, Business Blueprint, Realization, Final Preparation, and Go Live &
Support.
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About This Topic

This topic introduces you to the use of SAP Solution Manager as a tool for implementation of SAP
solutions.

Business Example

Project progress managers are responsible for several areas of an implementation project, from
requirements gathering and definition to configuration and testing. Coordination of these
activities demands one toolset. SAP Solution Manager supports you through each phase of your
project, from planning to testing and hand-over to operations.

Estimated time to complete this topic: 30 minutes


Objective(s)
Identify project management features of the SAP Solution Manager
List the various elements of the Implementation Roadmap
Identify the features of the Business Blueprint transaction in an SAP Solution Manager system
List the most commonly used components within the Configuration transaction of the SAP
Solution Manager
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Project Management in SAP Solution Manager

The ASAP Implementation Roadmap provides a work breakdown structure that can be used to
plan and track the underlying activities and tasks of the implementation; however, it is not meant
to be characterized as a project management tool. In fact, there are links to Microsoft Project from
the roadmap, allowing a project manager to download the entire structure into an MS Project
plan.

Each phase of the roadmap provides a list of general project management activities, such as
project team status, scope management, training plan management, and so on.
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Elements of the Implementation Roadmap

The main elements of the Implementation Roadmap are:

Roadmap structure

Viewing/text area

Attachments area

The roadmap structure gives the project team a list of what to do and when to do it. This appears
on the left-side of the screen displayed. The roadmap structure can be filtered by roles so that
each team member can focus only on those items requiring their attention.

The viewing/text area, on the upper right-side of the screen, displays procedural guides,
prerequisite information, and deliverables of the highlighted structure items on the left-side of the
screen.

The attachments area on the lower right-side of the screen displays various items, such as
accelerators, issues, and supplemental documentation. In this area you can also carry-out various
tasks, such as assigning project team members and tracking the status of the highlighted item in
the roadmap structure.

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Features of the Business Blueprint

There are several features of a Business Blueprint transaction. We will focus on the following
features:

Blueprint structure

Business scenarios

Business process groups

Associated items

Blueprint document

Each feature has a direct impact on the other. Let's take a closer look at these features and how
they relate.
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Business Blueprint Features

The Business Blueprint structure is displayed on the left side of the screen. This structure is
developed through the business process workshops; all requirements gathered are recorded and
associated with a structure item. The content used to establish the structure is found in the

Central repository for components of SAP Solution Manager solutions. These components can be:

Structure elements: organizational units, master data, processes and process steps

Assignments to structure elements such as transactions or IMG activities

Business Process Repository (BPR).

The business structure displayed on this screen is based on a business scenario. The business
scenarios are first defined, and then supporting business process groups are chosen from the BPR
based on those scenarios.

These decisions are based upon the activities outlined in the Business Blueprint phase of the
Implementation Roadmap, where workshops are organized with the purpose of defining the
business process needs of the project.

On the right side of the screen, associated items are available to support the line items in the
structure on the left. Additional features such as project documentation, transaction assignments,
and graphical flow of processes are also available.

Once the blueprint structure is finalized, the blueprint document can be generated and becomes
the "master plan" for the realization phase of the project.

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Components of the Configuration Transaction

The purpose of the Configuration transaction is to use the Business Blueprint structure to
configure IMG objects in your development system. Here is a list of the most commonly used
components available in the Configuration transaction:

Project documentation

Transaction assignments

Configuration of IMG objects

Development items

Test cases

Graphics

Training materials
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Functions of Configuration

Using the blueprint document generated in the Business Blueprint phase, the project team will go
into the Configuration transaction in the SAP Solution Manager to customize the attached
development system. Customization is the configuration of the

A tool for configuring the SAP system to meet customer requirements. The Implementation Guide
(IMG) explains all the steps in the implementation process, tells you the SAP standard (factory)
Customizing settings, and describes the system configuration activities. The hierarchical structure
of the IMG is based on the application component hierarchy and lists all the documentation that is
relevant to implementing the SAP system. The main section is IMG Customizing activities, where
the relevant system settings are made. You can also document projects in the IMG such as:

The SAP Reference IMG

The Enterprise IMG

The Project IMG

Implementation Guide (IMG) objects in the target system. The blueprint structure is replicated in
the configuration screen. The associated items on the right side of the screen provide a place for
documentation, administration, tracking, IMG objects to be configured, test cases, and team
members assigned.

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Configuration Testing Features: 1

Testing is one of most important components of Configuration. A crucial part of the Realization
phase is the ability to test the functionality of the solution as you build it. Integrated into Solution
Manager is the Test Workbench, which includes the test organizer, automated testing tools, and
interfaces to third-party testing tools.

The figure depicts the integration of the testing tools provided by the SAP Solution Manager.

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Configuration Testing Features: 2
This figure shows the components of the testing workflow, from the building of test plan to the
execution of the test cases within the plan to the analysis of results.

The benefits of the testing features include:

Reduced time for test preparation and execution

Single point of access to complete system landscape

Central storage of testing material and test results

Re-use of existing testing material


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Summary

This topic focused on the various tool sets available in SAP Solution Manager. You reviewed the
major project management features such as links to Microsoft Project and a work breakdown
structure. You also learned about features of the Implementation Roadmap, such as the roadmap
structure and the accelerators area. Finally, you reviewed the major features of both the Blueprint
and Configuration transactions.
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About This Topic

The operations section of the SAP Solution Manager is the point of access to SAP support services,
including remote services, on-site services, self-services, and best practices documents. Based on
your solution configuration, recommendations for these services are triggered dynamically. The
SAP Solution Manager is the delivery platform for services delivered as part of your maintenance
agreement with SAP.

This topic will introduce you to the functions available through Solution Manager that can help
manage, support, and optimize the productive environment. Features such as solution monitoring,
Service Desk, and

Component of SAP Solution Manager used to manage SAP Solution Manager projects
(maintenance, implementation, template, and upgrade) from top to bottom: starting with change
management and project planning, through resource management and cost control, to physical
transports of changes from the development environment into the productive environment.
Change Request Management are defined.

Business Example



Project progress has successfully reached the Go Live stage of the implementation, and hand-over
to the operations staff is forthcoming. IT managers require a single, comprehensive tool to help
them effectively implement and manage solutions within multiple system landscapes.

Estimated time to complete this topic: 30 minutes

Objective(s)
Describe the concept of Solution Monitoring using the SAP Solution Manager
Explain the capability of the service desk features in SAP Solution Manager
Describe some advanced features of the SAP Solution Manager
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SAP Solution Manager During Productive Operations

Customer's "central system"

Customer's Help Desk
Customer's link to SAP Services and Support
Once we have a live production system, Solution Manager takes on the role of a central system
that integrates tools such as system monitoring, business process monitoring and the help desk.


Solution Manager is a powerful tool because it is your gateway to SAP Support. Based on your
solution configuration, Solution Manager automatically triggers recommendations for services
such as remote consulting, self-services, and best practice documents.

We'll examine these features in more detail.
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Solution Monitoring

The continually increasing number of IT solutions and components is a growing challenge for the
administration team in a computer center. The number of components has increased from what
was required with SAP R/3 (including SAP instances, database, hardware, and operating system) to
include an ever-growing range of technologies. As a result of this development, computer center
managers demand a monitoring method that is centralized (with all information in one tool), yet
can be extended to cover new components.

Instead of classic system monitoring of individual system components, we now talk about Solution
Monitoring, where entire business processes can be monitored as a whole across multiple
components. This concept is realized through the following three monitoring sections within the
SAP Solution Manager:
1.Real-time monitoring with a focus on the graphical display of business processes based on the
Computing Center Management System (CCMS)
Business Process Monitoring

2.Administration and real-time monitoring based on the Computing Center Management System
(CCMS)
System Monitoring: Central System

3.Continuous monitoring based on SAP EarlyWatch Alert
Service Level Management

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Monitoring Recommendations
Use Service Level Management in the SAP Solution Manager to lay the foundation for setting up
the correct procedures for monitoring of your SAP solution. The recommended technique is to
define an explicit monitoring concept for central system monitoring using the Computing Center
Management System (CCMS) in conjunction with the SAP Solution Manager. This form of system
monitoring, that starts with monitoring all business-process-relevant system components, is
known as the inside-out approach. The complementary outside-in approach involves using tools

from third-party manufacturers. To achieve comprehensive monitoring, SAP recommends using

both approaches simultaneously.
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Service Desk Features

Now that we have talked about some of the features of solution monitoring, we will look at
another component of the SAP Solution Manager: Service Desk. The service desk offers a complete
infrastructure for organizing and operating a solution-wide support organization at your site.

Features include:



End users can create messages that automatically collect system and context data. An interface for
third-party messaging tools is also included.
Message handling process




Allows customer to build a history database for future troubleshooting
Customer solution database




Integrated notes search from the SAP Service Marketplace, as well as the ability to implement the
notes via the SAP Note Assistant
Managing SAP Notes




Provides all functionality to centrally analyze and monitor a complete SAP solution
Solution Manager diagnostics

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Service Desk Scenarios

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Change Request Management

After reviewing the features of the Service Desk, let's examine some of the more advanced
features of SAP Solution Manager. Two commonly used advanced features are Change Request
Management and Solution Manager Diagnostics.

Change Request Management, as part of the SAP Solution Manager, integrates service desk
functionality for managing change requests. The processes supported by Change Request
Management include urgent corrections for implementing fast and direct changes in the
productive environment, and maintenance cycle activities such as regular releases and
implementation, upgrade, or template projects.
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End-to-End Root Cause Analysis and Solution Monitoring with SAP Solution Manager


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Solution Manager Diagnostics

A key requirement for efficient and safe support of IT solutions is the ability to perform root cause
analysis with speed and efficiency. Solution Manager diagnostics provides all functionality to
centrally analyze and monitor a complete SAP solution. It also reduces the time needed to train a
support consultant in root cause analysis.

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Summary

This topic reviewed the Solution Manager functions that help manage, support, and optimize the
productive environment. The features included solution monitoring and the service desk. You also
learned about advanced features of solution manager such as Change Request Management and
Solution Manager Diagnostics.
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Module Summary

This product provided an overview of SAP Solution Manager. You reviewed the uses of SAP
Solution Manager, such as allowing customers to integrate their SAP Solutions and manage other
components, including the SAP Service Desk. You also learned that the ASAP methodology is fully
integrated into SAP Solution Manager, and Accelerated SAP roadmaps provide content, tools, and
expertise from thousands of successful implementations.

You learned about the major features of both the Blueprint and Configuration transactions and
how you can use these features to develop your own customized structure. Finally, you reviewed
the features included in solution monitoring and the service desk and how these features help
manage, support, and optimize the productive environment.