There has been lots of chatter recently about SAP Solution Manager, especially with Solution Manager 7.1 in ramp-up. SAP has diligently promoted this product for a few years now. But the huge challenge with broader Solution Manager adoption is the general customer perception that SolMan is a technical tool used only to help monitor systems. For this reason, selling a broader project to senior management can be challenging.

But since its debut about nine years ago as mainly a technical tool, Solution Manager has morphed into an impressive tool for complete Application Lifecycle Management – for both new and mature SAP customers.

SolMan isn’t a Basis-only technical tool

First, the perception that Solution Manager is a Basis-only technical tool for monitoring must be changed.  As a champion of Solution Manager, you have to provide the team with customer examples that show what functionality has been successfully utilized.

Solution Manager is, in essence, the ERP for IT. Most of the IT service management processes like implementations, incident management, change management, release management, systems management, and service management can be managed and tracked in Solution Manager.

Using tools like the ALM Value Calculator will help analyze and derive the financial benefits of implementing Solution Manager functions and replacing certain legacy systems.   The Value Calculator not only provides the financial benefits, but outlines the key areas for process improvements, such as testing, reporting, and reuse of code.

Here’s a sample value realization with Solution Manager for implementation functions:

(Click here for a PDF of the SAP Solution Manager Value Estimator.)

SolMan projects need a clear, defined roadmap like every other SAP project

The various functions in Solution Manager might be overwhelming, and that breadth may scare some people off. (Some people say that Solution Manager is “a mile wide and an inch deep.”)

Therefore it is important to define a clear and feasible roadmap to achieve a successful implementation of Solution Manager functions. That roadmap depends on the current stage of your organization’s SAP journey.

For instance, if you are a new SAP customer or starting a brand-new SAP implementation project, look into the solution implementation functions for project scoping, blueprinting, configuration, custom development, testing, training, and go-live.

If you are a mature SAP customer, the first step is to build your current SAP Solution via Reverse Solution Engineering, using tools such as Solution Documentation Assistant. Once you’ve built a clean and complete solution in SolMan, extend some of the operational functions such as Incident Management, Change Management, Business Process Optimization, or Diagnostics.

One of the key functions of Solution Manager, which should be of interest to both IT and the business, is Business Process Monitoring. Imagine if you are able to provide key statistics and KPI measures to your business. The business teams can also benefit directly from Solution Manager by using functions like Business Process Repository, Business Process Modeling and monitoring. This will be a huge selling factor and should enable faster adoption of Solution Manager.

Consider SolMan as a separate project with its own resources, budget and timeline

The Solution Manager implementation should be considered a separate project and include the right resources and schedule.

You’ll need a project manager, a business analyst, technical and functional consultants, and Basis team members. Be sure to utilize SolMan’s implementation content and ALM roadmap; both will help jumpstart the project and document all the implementation and configuration within the system.

But handing it over to the Basis team to roll out certain functions—such as ChaRM, Service Desk, Business Process Monitoring—is not always the best option.

Reach out to SAP and its Run SAP certified partners. The key is to find a resource that has experience both in the technical and functional aspects of Solution Manager.

In turn, a minimum two-system landscape is recommended for any SolMan rollout. As you extend the key functions like ChaRM, Service Desk, Business Process Monitoring, End to End testing, and integration to third-party tools, it is important that the system is configured and tested in a development system before migrating to a production system. I would suggest a larger system if functions such as implementation, document management, business process monitoring and BI reporting are selected.

SAP provides the standard roles and authorizations within Solution Manager; implementing the same without major modifications is recommended. Minor changes to the roles or authorizations should be feasible to fit the IT Center of Expertise organization. Mapping the roles and authorization based on your COE organization is highly recommended. All the implementation functions including the processes, documentation, configuration, custom development and testing can be housed within the Solution Manager system.

Consider SolMan a key component of your SAP landscape

This is the “single source of truth” and the key entry point to various functions within SAP. Every member of the SAP team and business will utilize it to a certain extent. It is critical to have a champion for Solution Manager to help the organization understand how it can benefit from the tool.

As you take a phased approach, be sure to determine the key milestones and implement those functions and measure the benefits. One good example: You can eliminate the current help desk tool and replace it with Service Desk in Solution Manager.

With Solution Manager 7.1, Enterprise Support customers can use Service Desk for both SAP and non-SAP components. This can be a huge cost savings for customers since you eliminate other third-party tools and centralize the key functions in Solution Manager.

In summary, Solution Manager bring in lot of functions and benefits.  It is important to establish your roadmap, key benefits and use the appropriate resources for a successful implementation of Solution Manager.

Ajay Vonkarey is a successful entrepreneur and a Solution Manager Evangelist with more than 15 years of experience in IT & other industries within Fortune 500 companies. With his solid project management, technical and communication skills, he has effectively and successfully managed large-scale SAP projects. He successfully led Alpha Sirius to be the first Run SAP Certified Partner in North America. His skills include identifying project issues and approaches, time and cost dimensions for implementations, and solving problems subsequent to go-live. He has presented on various topics on successful deployment of ALM strategies and Solution Manager at various global events including SAPPHIRE, ASUG Annual Conference and SAP Insider conferences. He is in the process of co-authoring a book on ‘Effective Application Lifecycle Management with Run SAP and Solution Manager’. He is currently the Chapter Communications Chair of the ASUG New Jersey Chapter.

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3 Comments for Tips on Selling an SAP Solution Manager Project to Senior Management

Alonso

Can Solution Manager be implemented in a nonSAP environment?
What I mean is that Solution Manager is a great tool for Project Management, Release, Problem Solving, Issues Tracker, but want to know if it can be implemented to be used separetely, like having any other development environment, a different ERP, web sites code, queries coding, etc.
So we can use SolMan workflows for approval, etc.

Thank you in advance,
Alonso

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adminasug

Hello Alonso, I will pass on your question to the author of the post. Stay tuned.

Reply



Ajay

Thanks for taking time to ready our article.
In response to your query, Solution Manager is indeed a good tool for project management, help desk, system monitoring. Majority of the function is geared towards SAP environment, but there are some functions that can be used for Non-SAP. Service Desk is a good example, that can be used for Non-SAP. It has its limitation in SDLC and does not manage code changes for non-sap systems. It will easily manage any code and programming in ABAP and SAP NetWeaver but outside of that, it cannot manage code changes in other tools like VB, .net and as such.
You can refer to the detail technical documentation on SAP website at http://service.sap.com/solutionmanager

thanks
ajay

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