Discussing Application Lifecycle Management and Methodology

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Apply the SAP Activate implementation methodology to your project
  • Use SAP Cloud ALM for project management tasks

SAP Activate Implementation Methodology

SAP Activate Methodology

The implementation methodology for all SAP S/4HANA implementation projects is SAP Activate. The SAP Activate Methodology includes a structure of project phases, tasks, and deliverables that vary based on the solution you are implementing. You will find this methodology structure in the SAP Roadmap Viewer. It is the central tool that guides your SAP S/4HANA implementation project by providing specific instructions and supporting accelerators to help you execute tasks and deliverables throughout each implementation phase and after go-live. Content is continuously updated to provide current and accurate information.

The structure of SAP Roadmap Viewer includes:

  • Phases: stages of the project. At the end of each phase, a quality gate exists to verify the completion of the deliverables.
  • Deliverables: outcomes that are delivered during the course of the project. Several deliverables are included within a phase.
  • Task: work to be performed. One or several tasks comprise a deliverable.
  • Workstream: a collection of related deliverables that show time relationships within a project and among other streams. Streams can span phases and are not necessarily dependent on phase starts and end.
  • Accelerators: provide assistance in the form of How-to guides, Best Practice recommendations, prescribed templates, and links to learning materials. Accelerators can be linked to Phases, Deliverables, or Tasks.
Note
Stay up-to-date on the latest news in the SAP Activate Community.

SAP Process Navigator

SAP Process Navigator is a library of SAP Best Practices business processes for different SAP solutions. An SAP Best Practice business process is the predefined flow of steps you complete to accomplish a task in the relevant software system. For example, how to record your time in SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

The website provides country-specific versions of process models, process documentation, and process-related implementation accelerators. SAP Process Navigator can be accessed through the direct link, or from within SAP for Me > Services & Support dashboard. The following solution scenarios are relevant for the deployments of SAP S/4HANA Cloud:

SAP Process Navigator Solution ScenarioSAP S/4HANA Cloud Deployment
SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public EditionSAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition
SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud for public sector
Service Centric ERP for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition
SAP Best Practices for analytics with SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANASAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition
Enterprise Management Layer for SAP S/4HANA
Rapid Data Migration to SAP S/4HANA
Note
SAP Process Navigator is the successor of SAP Best Practices Explorer.
Note
For the remainder of this course, we reference the SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition solution scenario from SAP Process Navigator.

For each business process within SAP Process Navigator, you typically find the following information:

  • Description: A description of the business process including business benefits and key process steps covered.
  • Process flow: A visual representation of the business process and the roles involved.
  • Test scripts: A procedure for testing the activated system according to the defined business process.
  • Set-up Instructions: If relevant for the process, a set-up guide provides the steps required to set up integrations required for the business process to function correctly.

SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation Capabilities

SAP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Solution for SAP S/4HANA Cloud

SAP Cloud ALM is a cloud-native application lifecycle management tool for cloud-centric customers. It provides extensive implementation and operations capabilities for cloud solutions with the two components of SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation and SAP Cloud ALM for Operations. SAP Cloud ALM is included in your cloud subscription with SAP Enterprise Support.

Key Features:

  • Implement cloud-centric solutions with a preconfigured, content-driven guided workspace based on SAP Activate methodology and Best Practices.
  • Run Fit-to-Standard workshops and manage all implementation, testing and deployment activities.
  • Accelerate team member onboarding, define business process scope according to project milestones, manage requirements, and track project progress.
  • Ensure smooth business operations without disruptions with proactive monitoring and alerting.
  • Increase business-process execution quality and performance by finding and analyzing issues on business process, integration, user, and application level.
  • Understand solution health and efficiency with advanced analytics and intelligence.
Note

SAP Cloud ALM can be integrated with SAP Central Business Configuration to enable a seamless transition between implementation project management and landscape configuration.

Note

In hybrid implementations, a combination of using Cloud ALM and SAP Solution Manager may be necessary. SAP Solution Manager is the best solution for customers with mostly on premise solutions. SAP Cloud ALM is the best solution for customers with mostly cloud solutions. Cloud ALM is also an ideal choice for customers moving toward a cloud-centric landscape from on premise.

Learn more about SAP Cloud ALM

SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation

SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation combines the SAP Roadmap Viewer methodology with the predelivered business process content in the SAP Best Practices Explorer. CALM for Implementation provides visual dashboards to track completion of tasks and deliverables from the implementation roadmap.

Select each core capability to get more information.

Key Features of SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation

  • Self-guided and content-driven implementation based on SAP Activate methodology and Best Practices content
  • Fast onboarding of project Teams and Progress Monitoring of implementation activities
  • Project planning synchronized with SAP Cloud solutions release timelines
  • Manage Implementation Tasks - automatically generated and adapted to customer scope
  • Supports Fit-to-Standard workshops with convenient visualization of Business Models and Process Descriptions
  • Prepare and manage manual and automated tests
  • Integrated reporting capabilities

Learn more about SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation

SAP Cloud ALM for Operations

SAP Cloud ALM for Operations enables customers to monitor processes and be alerted to potential issues. This ensures smooth business operations without disruptions, and increases the business process execution quality and performance. SAP Cloud ALM allows customers to be proactive in addressing potential issues, and empowers them to more fully understand how their cloud solutions run.

Select each SAP Cloud ALM Operations feature to understand its function.

Key Features of SAP Cloud ALM for Operations

  • Empowers customers to understand healthiness of SAP business solutions:
    • Provides full stack monitoring and alerting covering business processes, integration, users, applications, and healthiness of cloud services and systems​
    • Acts as collaboration platform between LOB and IT​
    • Allows to conduct root cause analysis on technical as well as on business process level​
  • Enables customer to increase operation efficiency by automating corrective actions as well as regular operation tasks​
  • Helps to predict anomalies in business process and application operation by event correlation and learning out of the collected data (AIOps)​
  • Provides transparency regarding availability of business services including business downtimes, business events and business SLAs

Learn more about SAP Cloud ALM for Operations

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