SolMan 7.2 for Hana

The last hour has come for Solution Manager 7.1 - mainstream maintenance ends at the end of 2017. SAP users who use more than just the Maintenance Optimizer and the generation of Early Watch Alerts should plan their migration early.

After the upgrade, the most obvious difference is probably the new interface - everything is in Fiori style. All in all, the Solution Manager has become much more holistic. The new functions all work together much more seamlessly and sensibly.

One of the first and most important application scenarios is monitoring. There is no other monitoring tool that is superior to SolMan when it comes to monitoring SAP landscapes. With the introduction of Hana, operating processes and responsibilities need to be reorganized anyway.

In this context, it also makes sense to revise and define the service level agreements. These usually form the basis for a monitoring concept. As the operation of a Hana environment is certainly somewhat more complicated and unfamiliar at the beginning than classic SAP Basis operation, daily checklists are also useful in the Solution Manager.

SolMan also remains true to its "single source of truth" approach in hybrid approaches, i.e. the mixed operation of on-premise and cloud. Although a Solution Manager from SAP is operated in a cloud scenario, relevant data is transferred to the SAP customer's Solution Manager and is available there for use in other scenarios.

Management of changes

Another relevant scenario is the management of changes. The change request management component, together with business process documentation, is becoming increasingly important.

A transition to S/4 requires some process adjustments, as a lot also changes in the technology. The earlier a user is aware of their processes and has documented them, the more time there is for sensible adjustments and reengineering.

The new solution documentation differs significantly from the familiar three-level hierarchy and has grown massively in scope. Enterprise support customers can now also model their processes graphically in a meaningful way and thus also document them. There are also integration solutions for Aris and Signavio, although the latter are certainly more relevant and practical.

Release management

Many SAP users today are often trapped in "continuous development" - requirements are "ordered" by the business department, implemented by IT and tested or put into production at any point in time. Changes are often not bundled into releases as users find this too rigid.

With the change towards S/4 and, at the latest, a hybrid operating approach, it is almost impossible to manage changes at transport request level. Some users are likely to be overwhelmed without release management.

The transport system is also made more complicated by the fact that with the new Hana objects, the handling remains in the STMS, but the objects still have their own specific characteristics. As a result, the transport behavior (similar to Java) is different from classic Abap development.

Custom code management, which is often still a wallflower today, should also be looked at more closely. SAP users who are planning a transition to the cloud can use it to manage and consolidate their modifications at an early stage and build them back into the standard.

Custom code management can also identify code duplicates, i.e. copies of SAP standard routines. These are also passé in a cloud solution and must be removed at an early stage.

Investing pays off

Even if users still feel they have time for the transition to S/4, it is worth investing in documentation, change management and test management at an early stage. These processes in particular are not set up and anchored in an organization overnight.

In order to avoid being overtaken on the right, as was the case during the transition from R/3 4.6C to ERP 6.0, these issues should be addressed and prepared for now. Solution Manager 7.2 is an excellent tool that can support SAP users in the operation of Hana landscapes.

However, it is not a sure-fire success; organizational changes and good discipline are urgently needed.