SAP Solution Manager 7.2 brings with it a new, web-based technical architecture, and this means some changes in functionality and some new concepts to learn.
The Solution Concept
The solution is the container holding all information about a company’s systems and processes. It is likely that only one solution is necessary per company. It houses all versions of solution documentation, including the Production branch.
The Branch Concept
The solution comes with a Production branch by default, representing all the systems and processes as they are used by end users. A Maintenance branch can be created, and this will use copies of processes and related documents that are in the maintenance path. Any number of branches can be created, such as a Development branch, an Innovation branch, or even an Implement CRM in the Cloud branch–these replace the SOLAR01 and SOLAR02 transactions from earlier Solution Manager versions as document and process repositories. As you move the real-life processes and technical components of each branch into Production, you release the documented processes, technical components, and documents into the Production branch. (And bonus, if you use ChaRM that is handled automatically for you whenever you move a system change into the Production system.)
The Library Concept
All solution documentation in Solution Manager 7.2 is housed in libraries, so everything is referenceable and reusable. You assemble your end-to-end business processes from library components, whether they be Process Steps, Interfaces, Executables, Development objects, Configuration objects, Alerting objects, or Analytics. You can refer any of these components as you build out your Business Processes, or create copies and update individual, specific versions.
Process Management and Process Monitoring: Finally Together!
In earlier versions of Solution Manager, project documentation could be leveraged when setting up Business Process Monitoring, but it had to be brought over to the “Solution” side, which had a different architecture from the “Project” side of the platform. Now everything is on the same architecture, so alerting objects can be added into Solution Documentation just like any other object, and then leveraged for business process monitoring needs–no more dual maintenance.
Logical Component Groups
One other significant change in the solution landscape for Solution Manager 7.2 is the introduction of logical component groups. Logical component groups represent–rather obviously–groups of logical components, but across branches. This provides a level of flexibility when updating your landscape, such as in the Change Request Management (ChaRM) use case. This functionality is covered in the blog, Change Request Management (ChaRM) – Painless process of making changes to your change landscape with SAP Solution Manager 7.2.
Hopefully this helps you understand some of the foundation of SAP Solution Manager 7.2. If you need additional information, feel free to request a demo from us.
Lori Sanders – Practice Lead – CoreALM
