SAP Solution: ALM

The S/4 conversion is the biggest challenge for existing SAP customers since the changeover from R/3 Enterprise to SAP Business Suite 7. An S/4 architecture means the release change to the Hana database, the decision about private cloud or public cloud and the adaptation of the license model.

The maintenance end of SAP Solution Manager is approaching, the non-successor SAP Cloud ALM does not meet your requirements? ESM Suite can either directly form the core of your ALM tool chain or integrate seamlessly with your already established tools.

It is an adolescent reflex to want to own everything. SAP is preparing to acquire its partner LeanIX for around one billion EUR. Signavio's misfortune seems to be repeating itself.

Still up to date? When the CCC forum of the German-speaking user group was canceled last year, there was a great deal of uncertainty. Is there no such thing as SAP Basis anymore?

But while SAP is celebrating the digital transformation with S/4 at one pole, existing customers are trying to keep the IT infrastructure and ERP architecture running at the other pole.

Often, a lack of resources is the impetus for change. Many existing SAP customers are confronted with the well-known shortage of IT specialists. One successful solution is automation at SAP Basis in the CCC/CCoE.

There are currently two currents in the SAP community. At one pole is SAP with many business innovations, at the other end the existing customers and partners with IT tools to harden infrastructure and ERP architecture, a bipolar challenge.

SAP has not been able to get a grip on data chaos for many years, one of the many findings from the DSAG Technology Days in Mannheim. Whether NetWeaver PI/PO, Data Hub, Smart Data Integration, Data Fabrics, Information Steward or now Datasphere, there is no shortage of ideas.

There is a remarkable illustration from SAP centered on ALM, SAP's Application Lifecycle Management product. It will be the SolMan successor for a hybrid cloud architecture and much more. The illustration gives the answer to the future role of SAP Basis and thus the further development of the Customer Competence Center and Customer Center of Expertise.

Testing is an essential component across the entire ALM. But only those who integrate continuous testing into the DevOps pipeline can deliver updates quickly enough - how do companies best achieve test automation?

The user association made it crystal clear in Leipzig: SAP on-prem solutions are still in demand. SAP board members Thomas Saueressig and Christian Klein had to correct their position. Cloud computing will not be a success for SAP in 2023.

The roadmap of SAP Solution Manager (SolMan) and SaaS solution SAP Cloud ALM poses more questions than it answers. One thing is certain: SAP Cloud ALM is not an adequate replacement for SolMan.