Exploring System Landscapes for Implementation

SAP for Me is the central entry point for customers and partners. It is used to trigger the provisioning of systems during implementation and provides a wide range of self-service tools to manage the software portfolio.

SAP Cloud Identity Services provide secure access to SAP cloud applications. These services are the first to be provisioned, typically consisting of two tenants (test and production). It includes:

• SAP Cloud Identity Authentication Service (IAS) manages authentication and single sign-on.
• SAP Cloud Identity Provisioning Service (IPS) handles the automated provisioning of identities to various target systems.

SAP Cloud ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) is included at no additional cost within the foundational support package. Running on SAP Business Technology Platform, it provides applications designed to support project management, system operations, and service request management.

SAP Central Business Configuration also runs on SAP Business Technology Platform. It is used to activate business process content and manage configurations centrally for SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems.

SAP Business AI Platform is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that enables organizations to develop, host, and manage integrations, extensions, and applications. It provides a wide range of functionalities to enhance the standard capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

The implementation follows a structured system landscape to ensure quality and stability.

At the start of an implementation project, SAP for Me is a critical resource. A customer system administrator with the IT Contact permission uses the Systems & Provisioning dashboard to trigger the provisioning of all systems required for the project.

• Customizable Home Page: Personalize your experience by selecting from various predelivered SAP cards.
• Integrated Calendar: Track upcoming product events, license key expiration dates, and support sessions.
• Customer Insights Dashboard: A dynamic reporting tool that provides a personalized overview of your SAP landscape. It analyzes usage KPIs, support case status, and SAP Enterprise Support consumption across cloud and on-premise solutions.
• Mobile Access: The SAP for Me mobile app (iOS and Android) provides full transparency into your product portfolio and support tasks from any location.

All users have access to several core dashboards designed to streamline the management of their SAP portfolio:

• Finance & Legal: This dashboard is for customers to manage SAP orders and payments. It also provides insights into licensed products and monitors license consumption.
• Portfolio & Products: This area offers a comprehensive overview of the customer's on-premise and cloud products. They can track usage, view product roadmaps, and explore recent innovations.
• Services & Support: This is the central hub for managing support needs. Customers and implementation partners can search Knowledge Base Articles (KBAs) and SAP Notes, as well as create and monitor support cases.
  Note

  SAP for Me has replaced the decommissioned SAP ONE Support Launchpad for all support case management.
• Systems & Provisioning: Use this dashboard to review the systems you are entitled to and to quickly initiate the provisioning process.
• Users & Contacts: This dashboard provides access to key contact information at both your company and SAP. Administrators use this area to manage S-users within the organization.

For partners, SAP for Me integrates the functionality of the SAP PartnerEdge launchpad. To access these views, your S-user ID must be linked to an active partnership in the SAP Manage My Partnership tool. If you require access, you should contact your Partner Security Manager.

The following dashboards are available specifically for SAP partners:

• Customer Success: Allows partners to manage their customers' on-premise and cloud environments, including licenses, products, and orders.
• Partner Solutions: Designed for build and solution extensions (Solex) partners to review and manage their specific partner-developed solutions.
• Partnership: Provides access to partnership details, including track status, certifications, authorizations, competencies, and development environments.
• Sales & Marketing: Offers visibility into business planning, revenue performance, deal execution, and the sales pipeline.

SAP Cloud Identity Services consists of two primary services:

• Identity Authentication: Handles authentication, single sign-on, and user self-service processes.
• Identity Provisioning: Manages the automated lifecycle of user accounts across different systems.

If a customer does not already have an instance of SAP Cloud Identity Services, the process is automated:

• Trigger: A customer system administrator triggers the provisioning of any purchased SAP cloud solution via SAP for Me.
• Automatic Creation: The SAP Cloud Identity systems are automatically provisioned.
• Notification: The administrator receives an email notification to activate their account.
• Activation: Once active, the administrator can proceed with provisioning the remaining SAP cloud systems required for their implementation.

During the early stages of an SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementation, the system administrator performs the following tasks:

• User Management (Identity Authentication): The administrator creates user accounts and assigns initial permissions for the implementation team. This provides team members access to essential tools, including:
  • SAP Central Business Configuration
  • SAP Cloud ALM
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems
  • SAP Business AI Platform
• Automated Sync (Identity Provisioning): The administrator runs provisioning jobs to automatically trigger the creation of these user accounts and the assignment of permissions across the newly provisioned systems.

• Provisioning: SAP Cloud ALM is provisioned through SAP for Me.

• User Management: Users are created and permissions are assigned via SAP Cloud Identity Services. This applies to all implementation project team members, including both partners and customers.

This component manages the implementation process based on the SAP Activate Methodology, transforming theoretical tasks and deliverables into actionable project items.

• For Project Managers:
  • Partner Project Manager: Responsible for initial setup, including selecting the correct SAP Activate Roadmap (SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition - Implementation), defining milestones, setting up the team, and assigning roles.
  • Customer Project Manager: Post go-live, the customer PM sets up projects for upcoming release upgrades to capture only the Run phase tasks required during and after an upgrade. They select the SAP Activate Roadmap for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition - Upgrade to assign tasks to the relevant roles on the internal customer team responsible for preparing systems for upgrade and testing after the upgrade has been installed.
• For Team Members: Users can document progress on tasks and mark them complete.
• Monitoring: The Overview app provides visual dashboard tiles for progress tracking, while the Analytics app generates detailed reports for stakeholder meetings.

Designed for the customer's IT support team, these applications provide a "one-stop shop" for monitoring the health of the entire integrated system landscape.

• Visibility: Provides a holistic view of all systems configured as a managed landscape.
• Proactive Support: Enables IT teams to identify and address potential issues before they impact business operations.
• System Setup: For systems to be visible to the operations apps, they must first be set up as managed landscapes in the Landscape Management app in the Administration section.

This component streamlines and provides transparency for the end-to-end service delivery process between SAP and the customer.

• Transparency: Customers can track action items for specific SAP services requested outside the standard implementation scope.
• Collaboration: Facilitates direct communication with the SAP Service Delivery Team.
• Outcomes: Allows customers to review service results and assign follow-up tasks once a service is delivered.

The Administration section is used by the customer IT Contact as part of the process of setting up users with access to Cloud ALM after those users have been created and permissioned in SAP Cloud Identity.

The Transformation section is used for Selective Landscape Transformation implementations, which often include a combination of both SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition in a 2-tier ERP scenario.

The RISE with SAP Methodology section is used for implementations of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.

The tool serves several critical purposes during the lifecycle of an SAP S/4HANA Cloud system:

• Business Process Activation: It allows users to activate business process content tailored to specific local versions and countries.
• Finance Settings Definition: Key settings that impact the entire system, such as group currency and fiscal year variants, are defined here.
• Organizational Structure Management: Users build the customer's organizational hierarchy directly within the tool.
• Specific Configuration: It facilitates the entry of configuration values required for active business processes.

The Project Experience provides a structured sequence of activities to guide users through the activation process. This interface allows project teams to:

• Monitor overall project status.
• Track completed and pending activities.
• Navigate through phases, each culminating in a defined milestone.

When new business processes are introduced during a release upgrade, SAP Central Business Configuration enables customers to adopt these innovations seamlessly.

Users can move the project back to the relevant phase to select new processes, add necessary organizational entities, and complete follow-up configuration tasks.

Once finalized, business content is automatically released to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud development system, from which it can be transported to test and production environments.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition Trial

A shared landscape providing guided tours. It allows users to experience applications through various business roles, guiding them through standard process flows and tasks.

Access the free trial here.

Starter System

A preconfigured system containing the full enterprise scope and sample data aligned with the test scripts from SAP Signavio Process Navigator. Implementation consultants use this system during the Explore phase of the SAP Activate Methodology to conduct Fit-to-Standard workshops.

Here, customer experts learn to navigate the system while partners gather configuration and customization requirements, which are then documented in SAP Cloud ALM.

Note

The Starter System is terminated 365 days after the contract start date.

Sandbox System

An optional system often used as a replacement for the Starter System after it is decommissioned. This is particularly useful for multi-phased rollouts where implementation activities continue for new countries or entities after the first go-live.

The Development system contains two distinct client tenants:

Development Tenant (Client 080)

Used for developer extensibility (on-stack) within the SAP S/4HANA Cloud ABAP environment.

Developers use ABAP Development Tools (ADT) to work with released SAP business objects.

Changes here are client-independent, meaning development objects built here can be accessed from the customizing tenant if permission is granted. This is because development objects are stored in database tables without a client column.

Changes are released for transport with the Transport Organizer.

Customizing Tenant (Client 100)

Used for business process configuration and key user extensibility via SAP Fiori apps.

Changes here are client-dependent, meaning configurations or extensions made here can only be accessed within the customizing tenant. This is because master and transactional data is stored in database tables within a client column.

Business configurations are released using the Export Customizing Requests app, while key user extensions are transported using the Export Software Collections app.

The Test system (formerly known as the Quality system) is used to validate all configurations and extensions. The Import Collection app is used to bring in the development requests, customizing requests, and software collections released from the Development system. The Import Collection app is also used to forward the validated development requests, customizing requests, and software collections to the Production system.

The Production system is the final environment for live business operations. Once validated in the Test system, an administrator uses the Import Collection app to move all configurations and extensions into this system for productive use.