When it was first introduced in 2004, SAP Solution Manager was billed primarily as a central support component to manage applications and help desk functions within an IT environment. Since then, SAP Solution Manager has evolved into a robust set of functionalities that spans nearly the entire breadth of a typical SAP landscape.

Despite this, many companies have allowed SAP Solution Manager to languish untouched in their IT environments. A common refrain among these companies is that they ignore SAP Solution Manager because they contract with outside companies to outsource certain areas of support.

Several experts interviewed by ERP Expert said these companies are missing out on the full range of advantages offered by SAP Solution Manager. Even companies that outsource their SAP application support, SAP system monitoring, and other types of support can benefit from several of SAP Solution Manager's functionalities.

"If a company says it doesn't need it because they're outsourcing support, they're missing out on a lot of opportunities," says Winni Hesel, partner, Enowa Consulting. "You can really just go down the list of SAP Solution Manager functionalities and find several things you should be using."

Reason #1: Because it’s still the best way to support your SAP system

If your company is outsourcing support for its entire IT system, there’s a good chance the outsourcing firm is using one of several third-party support software tools. These include the HP OpenView and BMC Remedy support solutions.

Even if this is the case with your support contractor, you can still use SAP Solution Manager to support your SAP system and applications by integrating SAP Solution Manager and the third-party tool. SAP offers APIs that make building connections between SAP Solution Manager and other tools relatively simple, according to the experts, and most of the most popular tools already offer built-in integration capabilities with SAP Solution Manager. Help requests affecting the SAP system can be automatically routed to SAP Solution Manager and handled more efficiently.

“A lot of companies fear that having a second tool means having help desks in two systems instead of one. But that’s really a moot point. Your help desk, whether internal or external, can still work with the tool they used before. However, with SAP integration that ticket can get copied into SAP Solution Manager, where your SAP people have the best system to resolve SAP issues,” says Hesel.

However, marrying SAP Solution Manager to an outsourcer’s preferred tool introduces another issue. SAP Solution Manager expert Wenceslao Lacaze says negotiating appropriate service levels is more challenging when the two complementary tools are integrated.

“It is not very complex to create the interface between the two tools, but the main issue is how to create the new SLAs (service level agreements),” says Lacaze.

Reason #2: Because managing change is critical

While some outsourcers may offer provisions for change management, auditors may insist on a complete, documented trail of change requests, approvals, and implementations. Unless an outsourcer is able to promise full compliance under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or other governing regulations, you may be better off using the end-to-end change management functionalities available in SAP Solution Manager Change Request Management (ChaRM), according to experts.  

“With ChaRM, changes are not managed from the transport request perspective anymore. The customer can manage the changes in form of projects — with workflows, approvals, and phase controls (for example, changes are transferred to test environments only during test phases). This increases substantially system reliability, preventing untested changes from getting into production environments and unwanted changes from getting implemented,” says Cristiano Canzone of SAP Brazil.

ChaRM includes advanced functionalities, such as Retrofit (which keeps operations and project environments up-to-date), and cross-system object locking (which prevents changes from concurrent projects from causing issues to each other). 

Reason #3: Because it improves SAP projects

One of the key functionalities of SAP Solution Manager is a set of pre-packaged templates and tools for SAP implementations and upgrades. Within SAP Solution Manager, users can build business blueprints, follow implementation and upgrade roadmaps, and map out configuration and process steps into a structured tree that includes all transactions, configuration steps, programs, customization, and all project documentation, according to Canzone.

Even if your company relies on an outsourcing or consulting firm during the initial SAP rollout, you should consider employing SAP Solution Manager to build the project, says Hesel. That way, all relevant documentation is accounted for and kept in-house, and you don’t have to rely on an outside party to retain appropriate documentation.

“Whether you’re doing enhancements or rolling out an SAP system, SAP Solution Manager really documents your processes and tracks custom development. That’s something that obviously benefits your company, because it’s typically not the role of an outsourcer to document solutions,” says Hesel.

The benefits of documentation accrue continuously during the life of your SAP landscape. The documentation can be used to guide future SAP initiatives, and to speed up issue resolution.

“If everything is documented in SAP Solution Manager, when a ticket comes in you are better able to find out where the problem is. Your support team — whether internal or outsourced — can resolve the issue much more quickly,” says Hesel.

Reason #4: Because it improves your ongoing testing practices

SAP Solution Manager’s built-in testing workbench is a key component when using the solution for upgrades and implementations. However, the testing functionality can be used for just about any testing scenarios you require. Figure 1 shows a sample test case status analysis in SAP Solution Manager.

Figure 1

A test case with errors

Because SAP Solution Manager offers a central location for testing across multiple applications and systems, it is an invaluable resource for project managers seeking to assess the impact of any enhancement pack or service pack.

“This is a key function for the future,” says Hesel. “Even if you outsource support, you can still use the business process change analyzer in SAP Solution Manager to see the impact of any changes.”

Reason #5: Because monitoring your business processes is more important than ever

While SAP Solution Manager offers the ability to monitor your technical environment — including disk usage, server performance, and other metrics — it also offers the unique ability to monitor your business processes, says Canzone. If you have created a well-constructed process tree within SAP Solution Manager, the Business Process Monitoring functionality allows you to identify the implications of technical and application issues along an entire business process.

“For example, if an order-to-cash process is being monitored and something goes wrong, the system issues an alert to the process. A support analyst can then analyze the problem, drill down to the point of the issue, and discover that an interface to the bank is running at a higher response time than the usual. He can solve the problem even before the client knows about it, avoiding the need for the customer to open a ticket,” says Canzone.

Reason #6: Because it plugs you into SAP

SAP Solution Manager is not only a tool for approaching business and technology issues in-house, say experts. It’s also a gateway for communication and collaboration with SAP Active Global Support (SAP AGS).

Programs such as SAP Safeguarding allow SAP Solution Manager users to engage SAP directly through a central interface. SAP can then offer streamlined services and content to support integration validation, upgrades, or operations.

What now?

To determine whether the wide variety of functionalities available in SAP Solution Manager are appropriate for your needs, experts suggest engaging in a thorough review of SAP Solution Manager components and mapping them to your company’s landscape. You may find several areas in which you can improve your processes and projects.

One of the key steps to getting the most out of SAP Solution Manager, according to Hesel, is to determine where it belongs in your environment.

“Because it’s half technical and half business-related, a lot of companies don’t know where to put it. If the Basis team is in charge of it, they don’t worry about the business stuff. You might want to move it toward a PMO (project management office), which is where it should be,” he says.

Canzone recommends a five-step approach to building out your infrastructure with SAP Solution Manager:

Step #1: Use SAP Solution Manager Service Desk to manage SAP notes. Once your organization is comfortable with this process, you can expand use of SAP Solution Manager Service Desk to include both SAP and non-SAP trouble tickets.

For more on configuring SAP Solution Manager Service Desk, see the SAPexperts article, “Demystify the CRM Configuration Behind the Service Desk,” by Nathan Williams.

Step #2: Build process trees to document existing SAP applications such as SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) or SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) using the Solution Document Assistant in SAP Solution Manager. If implementing any new applications, use the Implementation Project functionality to create documentation for new projects.

For more on the Solution Documentation Assistant, see the SAPexperts article, “Best Practices for Configuring the Solution Documentation Assistant,” by Prakhar Saxena. For more on implementing projects, see “Guide Your Implementation Project with SAP Solution Manager,” by Gaetano Altavilla.

Step #3: Implement ChaRM to control configuration and development flows. This can be done whether your process trees are in place or not. ChaRM includes standard flows that can be tailored to fit your company’s needs.

For more on configuring ChaRM, see the SAPexperts article, “The Starting Point for Authorization in Change Request Management,” by Eddy Kostons.
 
Step #4: Once your process trees and change management procedures are mature, you can move on to the monitoring functionalities of SAP Solution Manager. Canzano recommends beginning with system monitoring — if you’re not outsourcing that functionality already — then moving on to business process monitoring.

For more on business process monitoring with SAP Solution Manager, see the SAPexperts article, “Prepare to Keep Your SAP Systems in Top Shape with Business Process Monitoring,” by Kehinde Eseyin.

Step #5: Integrate SAP Solution Manager with third-party tools such as HP Quality Center, BMC Remedy, or ARIS Platform products. This will allow you to use the advanced functionality of SAP Solution Manager without abandoning your existing tools or outsourcing arrangements.  

For more on integrating SAP Solution Manager with outside tools, see the SAPexperts article, “Monitor Your Entire SAP Landscape From One Central Point,” by Labinot Bytyqi.

Davin Wilfrid

Davin Wilfrid was a writer and editor for SAPinsider and SAP Experts. He contributed case studies and research projects aimed at helping the SAP ecosystem get the most out of their existing technology investments.

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