As SAP continues to enhance SAP Solution Manager, the features and benefits of the SAP CRM-based toolsets (e.g., Service Desk and Change Request Management) continue to become more robust. With the continual evolution of these application support tools, a business case for adopting SAP Solution Manager as a core component for application support becomes stronger.

The new Time Recording feature for the Service Desk is just one example of how SAP increases the strength of a business case for implementing SAP Solution Manager. Time Recording gives support teams added functionality that is critical for tracking and reporting on SAP incidents. The availability of this feature allows you to use SAP Solution Manager as a single, central platform for SAP application support incidents. For SAP clients who are already live with Service Desk, Time Recording can seamlessly integrate into existing processes without interrupting operations.

The Time Recording features are flexible; you can use them within the Incident Management work center or within the standard Service Desk in the SAP GUI. Even if you already use the Service Desk, you can go back and log efforts against messages that have been created after performing the steps in this article. In addition, you can have message processors manually record their effort based on customer-defined activities or set up Time Recording reminders that prompt message processors to record their time.

I will provide an overview of how Time Recording and Time Recording reminders work both within the Incident Management work center and from the Service Desk in the SAP GUI (more commonly known as transaction CRMD_ORDER). I then describe the key configuration activities to configure Time Recording for new and existing Incident Management procedures. In addition, I share tips to help your support organization ensure a smooth deployment.

Time Recording with the Incident Management Work Center

Apply Support Package 21 to your SAP Solution Manager system as a prerequisite to configuring Time Recording. A new Time Recording tab becomes available when processing a ticket within the Incident Management work center. For SAP clients using the work center functionality (available as of SAP Solution Manager 7.0, Support Package 15), you have the option to manually record support effort on the Time Recording tab directly within the Service Desk message.

Figure 1 shows the new Time Recording tab available for a Service Desk message within the Incident Management work center. Select the Time Recording tab and click the Add button to record the support effort (Figure 2). Table 1 provides a breakdown of basic Time Recording information you should know.

Figure 1

Service Desk Message in Incident Management work center

Figure 2

Adding a Time Recording entry from work center

Table 1

Time Recording basics

Time Recording with the Service Desk in the SAP GUI

Even if work centers are not enabled in your SAP Solution Manager system and you use transaction CRMD_ORDER to perform Service Desk activities, you can still leverage Time Recording. With the application of Support Package 21, the Time Recording tab is not available in the standard CRMD_ORDER screen you are familiar with when processing support messages.

However, you can use Time Recording by calling an action similar to how you would call an action to send a message to SAP, email a business partner, or print a message. Figure 3 shows the same Service Desk message as Figure 1. However, this message is processed within transaction CRMD_ORDER in the SAP GUI. Additionally, the actions toolbox was selected manually by the message processor and a new action (Time Recording Call) is available.

Figure 3

Adding a Time Recording entry from transaction CRMD_ORDER

After saving the Time Recording Call action, a Web Dynpro application appears and provides an entry screen that is identical to the view presented when adding a time entry from the Incident Management work center (Figure 4). From this screen, you have the option to add, delete, and save Time Recording data just as you do in the Incident Management work center. Figure 4 shows the same support message with multiple activity types recorded.

Figure 4

Web Dynpro application after the Time Recording Call action is executed

Time Recording Reminders in the Work Center and CRMD_ORDER

As I mentioned, you can configure Time Recording reminders as an optional method to prompt the message processor to record the time spent on each message. When enabled, Time Recording reminders trigger the same Web Dynpro application shown in Figure 4 in both the Incident Management work center and transaction CRMD_ORDER. Table 2 identifies the options available for setting up Time Recording reminders.

Table 2

Options for enabling reminders

Now that I have provided an overview of how Time Recording and Time Recording reminders function, I’ll walk you through the configuration activities you need to perform to set up Time Recording in SAP Solution Manager.

Configuration 1: Specify Activity Descriptions

The first step for configuring Time Recording in SAP Solution Manager is to define the activity types against which your support efforts are recorded. The entries in my example are general examples based on standard ITIL activities throughout an Incident Management process. Activity types may vary from organization to organization but generally should be based on standard ITIL processes. Another option is to use activities that are used in another tool for recording the time investment spent to process incidents. In any event, the activity descriptions you choose to set up should support your requirements to logically record and report the time spent specific to your support organization’s metrics.

You can find the configuration activities to enable Time Recording by following IMG menu path SAP Solution Manager > Scenario-Specific Settings > Service Desk > Service Desk > Time Recording. (Note that the IMG paths in this article are based on SAP Solution Manager 7.0 with SAP enhancement package 1 and Support Package 23.)

When you open the Specify Activity Description activity, the Display View “IC Webclient Profiles”: Overview screen appears (Figure 5). The system displays all existing IC WebClient profiles in a table. Select the DEFAULT table entry from the IC WebClient Profiles column and double-click the Activity Description in the Dialog Structure on the left.

Figure 5

IC Webclient profiles overview table

After clicking the Activity Description folder, the Change View “Activity Description”: Overview screen appears (Figure 6). Click the New Entries button to specify new activity descriptions.

Figure 6

Activity description overview table

In the New Entries: Overview of Added Entries table that appears, maintain the values in the Text No. and Text columns (under the Activity Description) as shown in Figure 7. You should include numbers (e.g., 01, 02, 03) in front of each activity description based on the order you want them to appear when recording the support effort. Note that the system does not use the numbers you put in the Text No. column to sequentially order them in Time Recording. Make sure to click the save icon at the top of the screen to save your work. In my SAP Solution Manager demo system, I have no products defined in the Product column shown in Figure 7, but your system may be different. If products are defined for your Service Desk scenario, assign the relevant ones in the Product column. In IMG documentation, SAP advises you not to check the Flag check box, so I did not do that here.

Figure 7

Overview of new entries table

Configuration 2: Specify Initial Time Unit Value

The default time unit value (e.g., minutes or hours) appears at initial time recording. You can record the support effort based on minutes and/or hours; specifying the initial time unit value determines which time unit value is set as default when you initially record your time. To maintain this configuration setting, navigate to the Time Recording configuration activities in the IMG as described in the previous section and open the Specify Initial Time Unit Value activity. The Change View “Time Rep. – Default Values”: Overview screen appears with no values in it (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Time reporting default values table with no values

In the IC WebClie… column, select your profile (e.g., DEFAULT). In the Time Unit column, select the value that you want to initially populate for the message processors. You can use H for hours or MIN for minutes. After you save your entries, the New Entries: Overview of Added Entries screen appears (Figure 9).

Figure 9

The table is now filled

Configuration 3: Activate Time Recording

Although activating Time Recording specifically relates to setting reminders, it actually contains an additional piece that is required to configure the Time Recording functionality. Activating it has two parts:

1. The actual activation of the functionality
2. The optional setup of Time Recording reminders

You must first check to see which action profile is assigned to the transaction type you are using to process support notifications. The standard SAP-delivered transaction type for support notifications is SLFN. Because I enhanced the standard process for support notifications in my example, I copied the SLFN transaction type into my own transaction type that I called ZLFN.

To identify which action profile is assigned to your support notification’s transaction type, follow IMG path SAP Solution Manager > Scenario-Specific Settings > Service Desk > Service Desk > General Settings > Define Transaction Types. Highlight the transaction type used to process support notifications and scroll to the left. In my example, the standard SLFN0001_ADVANCED action profile has been copied to the ZLFN0001_ADVANCED action profile and assigned to the ZLFN transaction type (Figure 10).

Figure 10

Assignment of action profile to transaction type

Now that you’ve assigned action profile ZLFN0001_ADVANCED, the next step to configure Time Recording is to set up the reminders. Follow IMG menu path SAP Solution Manager > Scenario-Specific Settings > Service Desk > Service Desk > Time Recording > Set Time Recording Reminder. After you execute this task, a Choose Activity screen appears (Figure 11). Double-click Activate Time Recording.

Figure 11

Choose Activity screen

Next, the PPF: Applications in Customizing screen appears (Figure 12). Highlight the row that contains the entry SAP CRM_ORDER on the screen and then click the Define Action Profile and Actions button.

Figure 12

PPF: Applications in Customizing table

Next you see the Display View “Action Profile”: Overview screen (Figure 13). This contains all the action profiles that are in your SAP Solution Manager system. Scroll down to find the action profile assigned to your support notification transaction type (e.g., ZLFN0001_ADVANCED). Select the action profile and double-click the Action Definition folder in the Dialog Structure on the left.

Figure 13

Select Action Profile

The Display View “Action Definition”: Overview screen appears. You can enter into change mode by clicking the display/change icon (the pencil and eyeglasses on the top left side of the screen). The action definition table includes all actions that belong to the action profile that is assigned to your specific transaction type.

Check to see if the action definitions ZLFN0001_ADVANCED_TIME_REMIND and ZLFN0001_ADVANCED_TIME_RE_MAN (or SLFN* if you are using the standard delivered action definitions) are active. If they are not active, uncheck the box in the Inactive field column and then save your work (Figure 14).

Figure 14

Activate Time Recording action definitions

Configuration 4: Set Up a Reminder

Now you are ready to enable Time Recording reminders. Return to the IMG and open the IMG activity Set Time Recording Reminder again. This time, double-click the activity Set Up Reminder (Figure 15).

Figure 15

Select the Set Up Reminder option

The Change View “Time Recording Reminder”: Overview screen appears. In the Transaction Type column, select the transaction type you are using for support notifications. In the Time Remin column, specify the behavior of the reminders for that specific transaction type and then save your work (Figure 16). You can refer to Table 2 for a description of each entry.

Figure 16

Set Time Recording reminder

Now that you have performed the configuration, I will show you how to calculate the effort of support messages by accessing standard SAP Solution Manager reports specific to Time Recording.

Effort Reporting in SAP Solution Manager

SAP Solution Manager offers a straightforward and basic way to report on the time spent processing Service Desk messages recorded by members in your support organization. The user running this report must have the role of Service Desk Administrator in SAP Solution Manager. You can analyze effort reporting by executing transaction AI_SDK_EFFORT in SAP Solution Manager. Figure 17 shows the initial screen for calculating the effort for support messages. The fields Last Change, Transaction Type, and Priority are required fields that you must maintain before analyzing the output of this report. I used sample reporting criteria for my example.

Figure 17

Screen where you can calculate efforts with a Service Desk Message report

Figure 18 shows the results of this report. It provides useful results based on the criteria you specified, and you have several options for summarizing the data or exporting it to Microsoft Excel.

Figure 18

Results of effort report

Nathan Williams

Nathan Williams is the Global SAP Solution Manager Practice Lead at Monocle Systems. For over a decade, Nathan has supported organizations in their efforts to leverage SAP Solution Manager as an integral component to manage their SAP solutions across the entire application lifecycle. Coordinating with IT, business, and program management teams, he has effectively defined strategies to help SAP customers seamlessly transition to SAP Solution Manager processes and capabilities. He is the author of ITSM and ChaRM in SAP Solution Manager and a co-author for SAP Solution Manager – Practical Guide.  

You may contact the author at nwilliams@monoclesys.com.

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