With the introduction of the RISE with SAP methodology, we highlighted the Integrated Tool Chain and the transformation tools and services in the SAP Cloud ERP package. We outlined the activities within the standard framework and gave a snapshot of deliverables transitioning from sales to delivery, alongside the related artefacts. This section explores a key component of the RISE with SAP methodology, explaining how the Integrated Tool Chain helps define, map, and execute activities in the customer's transformation landscape.
Customers embracing a clean core approach are, on average, realizing up to 75% incremental business value and are less likely to experience incomplete or cancelled IT modernization projects. Customers and their implementation partners use the integrated toolchain to support the end-to-end business transformation journey.
First, an implementation project starts with SAP LeanIX to analyze the customer’s existing landscape architecture and identify their current systems and integrations. It’s important to understand what your current IT landscape looks like to accurately plan a transformation.
For customers with an existing SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA system, SAP Signavio is used to evaluate the customer’s existing business processes and identify where improvements can be made. A free one-time data load is available through SAP Signavio Process Insights, discovery edition. There are additional business process analysis and optimization tools within the suite of SAP Signavio, for example SAP Signavio Process Manager to document custom business processes in the standard Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) format.
During implementation, there will likely be use cases where custom extensions need to be built. For more complex extensions, we recommend building and hosting them in the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) to keep the core ERP system as clean as possible. SAP BTP can also be used to build and host an integration that connects the extension with the target system. There are services on SAP BTP that support low/no-code development (SAP Build Apps, Process Automation) and services that support pro-code development (Business Application Studio, ABAP environment, SAP Build Code) along with integration services (Integration Suite, Connectivity Service) described in the SAP Discovery Center.
As the implementation project moves into business process configuration, integration setup, and data migration, it’s important to test the processes, integrations, and data to verify everything is working as expected. Tricentis Test Automation is a tool embedded in SAP Cloud ALM that can be used to create and run manual and automated business process tests. SAP and Tricentis have a partnership with a dedicated product, Tricentis Test Automation for SAP.
After a new system has been implemented, it’s important to enable end users in how to navigate the new processes. SAP Enable Now allows customers to create guided simulations where employees can learn step-by-step how to complete a business process in a simulated view of the system. Many of these simulations are already available for customers who use the standard business processes from SAP Signavio Process Navigator along with the process flow diagrams, test scripts, and other process documentation.
If users are frequently getting stuck in certain business processes, SAP WalkMe can be used to identify workflow issues and provide personalized guidance and automation of the process.
Throughout the implementation, SAP Cloud ALM plays a key role as the digital backbone for the project execution, task management, project reporting and clean core success plan. By supporting project management and governance, SAP Cloud ALM helps the implementation team meet their transformation milestones while maintaining system integrity, ultimately driving faster, high-quality, and more sustainable business outcomes. After go-live, the operations-focused apps enable the customer’s IT department to monitor their landscape, improve efficiency, and identify future opportunities for improvement.
Note
- SAP Cloud ALM and Tricentis Test Automation for SAP are included for all customers as part of the Enterprise Support for cloud editions.
- All customers have access to SAP Build Work Zone, because it’s necessary to set up and configure the SAP Mobile Start app.
- Customers purchasing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition receive limited licenses to SAP Build Apps and SAP Build Process Automation along with an entitlement of Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA) credits that can be used to consume services on SAP Business Technology Platform, and an entitlement of AI Units that can be used to consume AI services as part of the RISE with SAP commercial package.
- The other SAP solutions listed as part of the integrated tool chain require an additional cost.
Helping the customer transform
Having understood the basics of each tool in the integrated toolchain and their roles during the transformation phases, let’s map out the workflow from the perspective of a new implementation. This workflow and process will highlight each phase of the customer’s transformation journey, detailing how the integrated toolchain supports each step.
Note
The integrated toolchain is designed to orchestrate every phase of the RISE with SAP transformation, blending the strengths of SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, and SAP Cloud ALM into a seamless end-to-end journey. The foundation is a collaborative methodology that not only addresses the technical requirements but also ensures that business and IT stakeholders are aligned and empowered to maximize value from the earliest discovery phase through to continuous improvement after the go-live.
The process starts well before formal project kick-off, with a focus on transparency and value realization. Early in the Discover phase, leverage SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX to gain immediate visibility into your current end-to-end business processes and to understand your application landscape. This includes analysing your most important applications, identifying which are SAP, and mapping interfaces to non-SAP systems. LeanIX is particularly helpful here, and its out-of-the-box integration with SAP Cloud ALM makes capturing and maintaining your SAP landscape easy and efficient.
With Lean IX synchronized to your processes and SAP Signavio, the out-of-the-box integration lets you connect applications to processes and run reports to see which applications support which processes, so you can begin shaping your target architecture. At the same time, rather than assessing processes in isolation, SAP Signavio provides a holistic view by overlaying process performance metrics—such as best-run scores for critical processes—and highlighting underperforming areas that warrant deeper analysis in the Prepare phase.
From this high-level process map, users can drill down through successive layers, from the process to granular task-level diagrams for specific activities embedded within the process. Each process step is enhanced with KPIs: number of transactions, performance bottlenecks, and detailed analytics visualizations (like "spaghetti diagrams" and variant analysis) that uncover inefficiencies, path deviations, and improvement opportunities.
What makes this approach especially powerful is the real-time connection between process models and enterprise architecture. Each process is mapped to its supporting business capabilities and further aligned to the actual IT applications executing those steps. For example, a particular task within a process might be executed through a legacy application while approval is handled in the Cloud ERP Suite. Application details, such as lifecycle status, end-of-maintenance information, and other critical metadata can also be fetched through a click.
The integration deepens with SAP LeanIX, which synchronizes the process hierarchy and associated application data from SAP Signavio. Within SAP LeanIX’s process application landscape, users see a structured inventory of all applications intersecting with each business process and sub-process. This not only clarifies which applications interact at each workflow step but also highlights redundancies or legacy systems that could be rationalized. The time slider functionality allows planners to simulate future state application landscapes, envisioning scenarios like deprecating a legacy application to streamline operations solely onto the Cloud ERP Suite.
Building this transparency relies on a dynamic inventory within SAP LeanIX, populated automatically through SAP Cloud ALM’s API integration. Users can review a suggested application list—covering both SaaS and on-premises systems—tailor what gets imported, and visualize the real-time application portfolio. This inventory forms the data backbone for identifying, prioritizing, and planning transformation initiatives. This integration brings all discovered SAP applications into SAP LeanIX and gives organizations a head start to build the inventory. Other integrations, AI-based inventory builder, and manual data entry enrich the captured application portfolio to provide visibility of the organization’s IT landscape.
The next phase involves moving from assessment to actionable planning. High-level transformation initiatives for example, the RISE migration using the integrated toolchain, are created in SAP LeanIX as initiative "fact sheets". These capture the strategic vision and set the stage for deeper project planning. Detailed task breakdowns and operational checklists are managed in SAP Cloud ALM, with both platforms kept in lockstep via direct integration.
You can create high-level initiatives in SAP LeanIX and sync those to SAP Cloud ALM. However, the detailed IT project management happens in SAP Cloud ALM, and you would synchronize those projects with milestones (e.g., automatically retried Activate milestones) to SAP LeanIX where all information comes together in an aggregated way. With a few clicks, SAP LeanIX initiatives are synchronized to corresponding Cloud ALM projects, importing all phase dates, milestones, and quality gates from SAP Activate roadmaps. This automated synchronization accelerates project setup, centralizes management, and ensures all stakeholders are working from a unified and current source of truth.
Within SAP Cloud ALM, organizations have immediate access to pre-built SAP Activate roadmaps—choosing between different project templates tailored for their needs (e.g., implementation, expansion, etc.). Project setup is streamlined: not only are phases and milestones automatically generated, but organizations can also designate responsibilities among SAP customers or partners, leveraging integrated partner management tools when needed.
Progressing into the Explore phase, the integrated toolchain enables 'to-be' process modelling in SAP Signavio. Here, future state business processes are collaboratively defined through standardized workshops. Once ready, they are formally handed over and synchronized to Cloud ALM—maintaining SAP Signavio as the single source of truth for process design, while allowing Cloud ALM to manage execution, traceability, and testing going forward. This synchronization is bi-directional and continuous: any updates in SAP Signavio are instantly reflected in SAP Cloud ALM, ensuring process documentation never drifts from project reality. Additionally, you would use SAP LeanIX to keep track of all the changes in your application landscape and the impact of change/executed transformation initiatives.
In the Realize phase, SAP Cloud ALM serves as the central nerve center for all project activity. The platform provides a project dashboard that tracks progress by phase, lists upcoming tasks for each team member, and aggregates all key performance indicators relating to project delivery. Unique to SAP Cloud ALM is its deep linkage between process artifacts and every related project entity—be it documentation (such as functional specifications), detailed requirements, user stories, deployment orchestration features, test cases, or defect logs. For any implemented process, teams can trace backwards through user stories and requirements and follow forward through deployments and testing, ensuring readiness for go-live and easy identification of bottlenecks or failed tests. Responsibilities and dependencies are explicitly surfaced, enabling swift resolution and accountability.
Throughout this entire journey, all integrated tools are kept synchronized, providing a unified platform that underpins collaboration across all organizational layers. The transparency afforded by real-time data sharing ensures that both business and IT have an aligned understanding of goals, ongoing status, and required actions. This convergence of process intelligence, architecture management, and project execution enables organizations to proactively identify value, measure outcomes, manage risk, and drive continuous improvement far beyond initial project delivery.
The RISE with SAP Methodology Dashboard shows real-time system status and gives helpful suggestions for keeping your processes up to date and efficient. SAP Signavio and SAP Cloud ALM help organizations design and align their business processes, making sure everything fits standard best practices and is easy to track. For testing and quality checks, Syniti and Tricentis automate the process, which saves time and reduces mistakes. SAP EnableNow and SAP WalkMe support employees by giving guided training and tracking how well new systems are adopted. SAP LeanIX keeps track of the customer’s transformation progress and suggests improvements over time, while SAP BTP Build allows users to quickly make process changes using low-code tools. All these tools work together in SAP Cloud ALM to make sure changes are tracked, projects move faster, and companies get results sooner.
By uniting these tools and methodologies, the solution supports complex SAP transformations at every step—accelerating timelines, reducing risk, improving quality, and ensuring that value is realized, measured, and sustained.
Further Resources to learn more
To help you visualize how everything fits together, you can explore this click-through demo for a step-by-step representation that connects the concepts covered in the previous section.
The following video demonstrates the RISE with SAP Methodology integrated toolchain including SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, Cloud ALM and WalkMe.