Both SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Solution Manager provide comprehensive tools for the implementation of business processes (characterized by the lifecycle phases Requirements, Design and Build & Test in Application Lifecycle Management). You can make good use of the implementation contents, which is updated regularly, by adapting it for use in your company-specific context.
SAP Cloud ALM
The following interaction shows tools that SAP Cloud ALM offer for the support of the implementation of business processes.
Among others, SAP Cloud ALM Process Management offers the authoring of customer solution processes to extend predefined SAP Best Practices and reference content with custom practices and the modeling of Solution Value Flows and BPMN diagrams. In addition, it supports the conduct of Fit-to-Standard workshop and to capture requirements from it.
Project and Task Management: A project is a container that helps in reporting and managing information. SAP Cloud ALM allows creation and management of multiple parallel projects. A task contains set of instructions and procedures to perform various activities in a project. A task denotes progress in a project. To complete a project, you need to complete all the tasks in a project.
Test Management helps you determine the testing scope needed for cross-system business processes, manage the tests centrally, and carry out the tests. SAP Cloud ALM covers test preparation, test execution (both manual testing and the integration of automated testing tools), defect management and test analytics.
Note
The Test Automation Framework includes the integration of cloud-based test automation providers such as the test automation tool for SAP S/4HANA Cloud and Tricentis Test Automation for SAP (which offers test automation for SAP UIs including SAP cloud products).
Change Enablement and Deployment Management with SAP Cloud ALM accelerates the delivery process with orchestrating heterogeneous transport mechanisms. It ensures reliability by making upgrades and changes a "non-event" with orchestrated go-live based on release versions and it increases transparency via built-in traceability to keep track of the deployment of your changes throughout your landscape. The entity for change documentation is the feature, which is
a vehicle to deploy functionality throughout your landscape and ensure traceability via history,
an orchestrator of different transport containers for various software components, and
a container of landscape information and deployment approvals.
For more information, see SAP Support Portal, area ALM → SAP Cloud ALM → Implementation.
SAP Solution Manager
For SAP Solution Manager, these tools include the following:
Solution Documentation
Test Management
Custom Code Management
The Solution Documentation process supports you with the automatic evaluation of business processes in the SAP Solution Manager system. It thus helps you to optimize your business processes. You can analyze the actively used business processes and the use of new applications, for example. The wizard for the Solution Documentation performs a structure-specific analysis of the business processes, which helps you to prepare for upgrade projects and to evaluate new functions and customer developments. When you have documented your business processes in a detailed way, you can then use this documentation as a basis for the monitoring of the business processes (see the following figure).
Log on to the preparation SAP Solution Manager system for E2E classes (fully configured SAP Solution Manager system, which already contains some documentation for business processes).
In transaction SM_WORKCENTER switch to area Project and Process Management → Solution Documentation. Here on the upper right part, select Operations and Production System from the dropdown lists. The double click (one after the other) on Business Processes → End-to-End Processes → E2E_Order-to-Cash → E2E_OTC_Sale-from-Stock Direct Sales and take the first screenshot.For the second screenshot, use the public demo environment for SAP Solution Manager (link available from https://support.sap.com/en/alm/demo-systems/internet-demo-system.html). Here logon and switch to area Business Process Monitoring → Business Process Monitoring. In area Process Diagram, select an existing business process as indicated on the screenshot.
Test management helps you determine the testing scope needed for cross-system business processes, manage the tests centrally, and carry out the tests. Test management involves the phases Test Scope Identification, Test Planning, Test Execution, and Change Deployment.
SAP standard software is developed, comprehensively tested, and documented according to proven standards. The individual applications are integrated with one another. Customers can develop their own applications to enhance the SAP standard software. These custom developments meet special requirements or offer functions that the SAP standard software does not provide yet. However, custom developments do not always meet the quality standards of SAP standard software, they are often not documented sufficiently, and there is no overview for making the number or use of custom developments transparent. The SAP Solution Manager system provides a process that enables you to structure, coordinate, and optimize your custom developments, starting with the current situation. The Custom Code Management process is the central starting point for accessing all the functions you need to generate a comprehensive overview of custom developments. In turn, this enables you to continuously optimize their quantity and quality, as well as the implementation methods, and even the impact of changes on the SAP objects used.
The integration between the SAP Solution Manager system and the project management functions of SAP Portfolio and Project Management (SAP PPM) make it possible for you to manage project times, project resources, and status values.
