Create project team members in SAP Cloud ALM
After a project team member's record is established in SAP Cloud Identity Services, they can be onboarded to SAP Cloud ALM.
While the IT Contact is responsible for eventually providing access to the entire project team, the immediate priority is granting access to the partner and customer project managers. These roles are essential for the initial setup of the implementation project and the subsequent assignment of tasks to other team members.
Watch a video
Watch this video to learn how the IT Contact can set up users in SAP Cloud ALM.
Define project roles
The partner project manager should begin by reviewing the standard roles already available within the system. These roles are fully customizable; you can edit or delete existing ones or create entirely new roles to fit the project's needs.
For example, creating specific roles for line of business (LoB) experts in each functional area is often beneficial. Since a single role can be assigned to multiple individuals, this approach ensures that tasks associated with a specific LoB are automatically directed to the entire team of configuration experts responsible for that area.
Create project with SAP Activate Roadmap and Timeboxes
The partner project manager’s next step is to create the project and select the appropriate SAP Activate Roadmap: SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition – Implementation.
After entering the project name, navigate to the Timeboxes tab to define the timeline for each phase. A common best practice is to start with the customer's planned go-live date and work backward to populate the remaining timeboxes.
When planning, keep in mind that the Fit-to-Standard workshops in the Explore phase are typically the most time-intensive and should be allocated the largest duration. These timeboxes are essential for project tracking; they allow the Overview app to visually display the days remaining in a phase and the progress of completed versus pending tasks.
Add team members to roles
Once the project is created, the project manager must align the project team members with their relevant roles. During this step, you should also deactivate any standard roles that are not required for your specific project to keep the environment organized.
For more complex project structures, you can create a Team. This feature allows you to group a collection of different roles or individual users into a single entity, making it easier to manage and assign tasks to specific workstreams.
Assign the scope
To define the project scope, navigate to the Scopes tab and select the Manage Scopes link. This opens the Manage Scopes app, where you will align the system scope with the business processes selected during the Digital Discovery Assessment (DDA).
The DDA is a critical document completed by the customer executive sponsors during the Discover phase. If the assessment is not readily available, the partner project manager should ask the customer project manager to retrieve it from the executive sponsors.
Once you have the DDA, you can mirror the selected business processes in SAP Cloud ALM using one of two methods:
- Manual Selection: Manually choosing the individual business processes within the app.
- File Import: Exporting the scope from the Digital Discovery Assessment tool and importing it directly into SAP Cloud ALM.
Keep in mind the DDA is just a starting point – the final scope will likely change after all Fit-to-Standard workshops have been completed.
We will first cover the steps for selecting the scope manually.
Process scoping manually
To select the scope manually, begin by choosing the latest SAP Best Practices package for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and selecting Save.
Next, click the Process Scoping button. This allows you to select the specific business processes and their corresponding local versions that will be included in the project.
Manual selection of business processes
To select the scope, start by filtering for the local versions (countries/regions) required by the customer. Next, use the Business Process Group filter to narrow the list by line of business. Before proceeding, scroll to the bottom of the page to ensure all solution processes are loaded in the list.
Referencing the Digital Discovery Assessment (DDA) results, locate the corresponding processes in SAP Cloud ALM. You can use the business process ID in the search field to quickly identify specific items. For each process identified in the DDA, click the slider in the Scope column to add it to your project. Every process selected during the discovery phase must be included here to ensure alignment. Once all processes are added, select the End Scoping button to finalize your selection.
Faster alternative: Import the scope
An efficient alternative to manual selection is to export an Excel file from the customer’s original Digital Discovery Assessment (DDA) and import it directly into SAP Cloud ALM.
Since members of the partner implementation team typically do not have direct access to the customer’s DDA, the partner project manager may need to guide the customer. If the customer executive sponsor has not already exported the file, the partner project manager can instruct them to access their assessment through the Supply Chain of Selling app.
In the customer's personal DDA, open the More drop-down menu and select Import & Export. Choose the Export Excel button to download the file version required for SAP Cloud ALM. This file can then be uploaded via the Manage Scopes > Scope from file option.
While in this menu, it is also recommended to select Export to JSON for CBC. This file can potentially be used to automate business process selection in SAP Central Business Configuration. However, this is only effective if the project scope remains identical to the original DDA. Because partner LoB configuration experts often identify necessary additions or removals during Fit-to-Standard workshops, the JSON file may not be used if the scope evolves during the Explore phase.
Create a system group
The system group is used to group the SAP S/4HANA Cloud starter, development, test, and production systems together and link them to the project.
To set this up, navigate to the Projects and Setup app, select the System Groups tab, and then select Create. Since the partner project manager may not know the specific names of all provisioned systems, they should request this information from the IT Contact. Once the system group is saved, it can be assigned to a deployment plan.
Create a Deployment Plan and assign System Group
The deployment plan helps you track upcoming software releases for your systems. For SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, completing all upgrade activities across the entire system landscape takes approximately one month. During this period, the implementation project must pause so the team can evaluate new features, determine how they affect the current scope and customizations, and decide if any newly released business processes should be activated.
To configure this, navigate to the Projects and Setup app, select the Deployment Plans tab, and choose Create. Enter the upcoming releases that fall within your project's implementation timeboxes. After saving the deployment plan, assign the previously created system group and save the settings again.
Assign Deployment Plan to Project
In the Projects and Setup app, select the Projects tab and search for your project. Select the Deployment Landscape tab within your project, selected Edit, and assign your Deployment Plan. Save your changes to link the landscape to the project.
Note
Learn more about how to use SAP Cloud ALM with the following resources: