SolMan - Underestimated Tools
If we still encounter companies today that perform their system monitoring manually, up-to-date documentation of the company processes or even a test suite is still a long way off for them.
"Management by Office" is the motto. What it means not to lose track of several hundred test cases is usually recognized too late. The SolMan tools would solve these problems, while at the same time making the company's processes transparent and improving the stability of the system landscape. Last but not least, they contribute to an efficient transformation to digital business and its secure operation.
The company processes are documented in the Solution Documentation (SolDoc) within Process Management. It is obvious that the better the actual situation is documented, the more efficiently a transformation can be carried out. With the graphical BPMN editor, this works both quickly and intuitively and is also readable for business experts.
This "single source of truth" can then be filled with S/4 best practice processes in just a few clicks - a foundation for subsequent S/4 implementation. Data Volume Management (DVM) helps to slow down the data growth of SAP systems.
Many still invest - by using more hardware resources - past the solution. However, with the migration to the in-memory platform Hana and the associated costs for memory, this is a major cost factor.
The problem is solved by using DVM to develop archiving and reorg strategies and monitor their execution. Before the transformation to S/4 Hana, this can have a decisive influence on the sizing and the memory required.
With each customer development, the effort for the maintenance of these objects increases. With every change that affects customer development or customer adaptation, these must be tested and potentially adapted.
Custom Code Management (CCM) provides more transparency in the system and helps to keep track of in-house development. Obsolete developments that are no longer used are identified and can be removed - new developments are not lost with the next change.
This reduces maintenance costs, but also supports the migration to S/4 Hana. In this way, customer developments can already be taken into account in the planning phase.
The Test Suite provides all tools for optimal testing. In addition to manual tests, automatic tests can also be configured. With Component Based Test Automation (CBTA), this option is already on board SolMan.
The Test Manager always has a complete overview of the individual tests and can use the test progress analysis to prevent the testers from becoming active until the last day of testing.
With the integration into IT Service Management (ITSM) and the new "Message Overview" app, the person processing the message can see all reported defects at a glance.
All of these functional areas use their tools to create transparency and stability in the SAP solution currently in operation, which is an important foundation for both the successful and efficient implementation of S/4 Hana and the transition to digital business.
This foundation must be created as early as possible. There is no question that with intensive SAP use, many process chains and in-house developments, more work must also be invested in SolMan - but the benefits generated clearly outweigh this.
Maybe SAP promised too much from SolMan at one point or another in the past - but even a "create sales order" didn't always look as pretty as it does today.
We can therefore only advise SAP application companies not to underestimate the benefits of the SolMan 7.2 tools and to check whether they can be used to manage the transformation to digital business more "worry-free".
