SAP Standard for E2E Solution Operations Document Version: 1.0 – 2014-12-12 CUSTOMER SAP Standard for Solution Documentation SAP Solution Manager 7.1
SAP Standard for E2E Solution Operations
Document Version: 1.0 – 2014-12-12
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation SAP Solution Manager 7.1
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Typographic Conventions
Typographic Conventions
Type Style Description
Example Words or characters quoted from the screen. These include field names, screen titles,
pushbuttons labels, menu names, menu paths, and menu options.
Textual cross-references to other documents.
Example Emphasized words or expressions.
EXAMPLE Technical names of system objects. These include report names, program names,
transaction codes, table names, and key concepts of a programming language when they
are surrounded by body text, for example, SELECT and INCLUDE.
Example Output on the screen. This includes file and directory names and their paths, messages,
names of variables and parameters, source text, and names of installation, upgrade and
database tools.
Example Exact user entry. These are words or characters that you enter in the system exactly as they
appear in the documentation.
<Example> Variable user entry. Angle brackets indicate that you replace these words and characters
with appropriate entries to make entries in the system.
EXAMPLE Keys on the keyboard, for example, F2 or ENTER .
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Document History
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Document History
Version Date Change
1.0 2014-12-12 First version created
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1 SAP Standards for E2E Solution Operations .............................................................................................. 5 1.1 Control Center Approach ........................................................................................................................................ 6
2 Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation............................................................................ 9 2.1 Standard Solution Documentation and Application Lifecycle Management ..................................................... 9
2.1.1 Aim ......................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2 Scope ...................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Benefits ................................................................................................................................................... 11
2.2 Basic Architecture ................................................................................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 Prerequisites ......................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Technical Basics .................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.3 Logical Component Concept ............................................................................................................... 13
3 Lifecycle of Solution Documentation ........................................................................................................ 14 3.1 Plan ......................................................................................................................................................................... 14
3.1.1 Project Types ......................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.2 Business Process Structure ................................................................................................................. 14 3.1.3 Business Process Design ..................................................................................................................... 15 3.1.4 Initial Documentation or Re-Documentation ..................................................................................... 16 3.1.5 Solution Documentation Use Cases .................................................................................................... 17
3.2 Build ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17 3.2.1 Core and Mission-Critical Business Processes .................................................................................. 19 3.2.2 Integration Scenarios ........................................................................................................................... 19
3.3 Run .......................................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.3.1 Handover and Maintenance ................................................................................................................. 23 3.3.2 Reporting ............................................................................................................................................... 24
3.4 Optimize ................................................................................................................................................................. 24 3.4.1 Solution Documentation Assistant ..................................................................................................... 25
4 Driving Continuous Improvement ..............................................................................................................26 4.1 Quality assurance tasks ........................................................................................................................................ 26 4.2 Quality Targets and KPIs....................................................................................................................................... 26
5 Training ..........................................................................................................................................................29 5.1 Expert Guided implementation Sessions ............................................................................................................ 29
6 More Information ......................................................................................................................................... 31
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
SAP Standards for E2E Solution Operations
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1 SAP Standards for E2E Solution Operations
IT organizations face new challenges every day as they attempt to remain effective and future safe while also
keeping costs for day-to-day operations as low as possible. They are also being challenged more than ever to
demonstrate their value to businesses. Therefore, it is important to optimize the day-to-day tasks that have less
obvious business value and to use KPI and benchmark-based reporting to make IT processes more visible,
demonstrating the real value that IT can provide.
In order to minimize the costs of IT, it is necessary to standardize and automate IT processes end-to-end (E2E)
without reducing the SLAs required by the business, such as stability, availability, performance, process and data
transparency, data consistency, IT process compliance, and so on.
Based on the experience gained by SAP Active Global Support (AGS) while serving more than 36,000 customers,
SAP has defined process standards and best practices to help customers set up and run E2E solution operations
for their SAP-centric solutions.
The Build phase of SAP best practices supports a Build SAP Like a Factory approach, consisting of the following
processes:
Custom code management
Change, test, and release management
Incident, problem, and request management
Solution documentation
Remote supportability
During the Run phase of a solution, adapting your IT infrastructure to a Run SAP Like a Factory operation impacts
both application operations and business process operations. Therefore, operations processes, such as technical
monitoring, end-to-end root-cause analysis, technical administration, and data volume management need to be
optimized to achieve state-of-the-art application operations. In business process operations, the same applies to
business process and interface monitoring (including performance optimization), data consistency management,
and job scheduling management.
Quality management processes and tasks need to be established throughout the lifecycle to guarantee
continuous improvement of the end-to-end operations processes while simultaneously ensuring the flexibility
needed to react to changing requirements.
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
SAP Standards for E2E Solution Operations
Figure 1: Organizational Model for Solution Operations
This figure shows an organizational model for solution operations that aligns SAP best practice topics and E2E
standards with SAP's control center approach.
The Operations Control Center executes and controls the Run SAP Like a Factory processes, while the Innovation
Control Center ensures optimal custom code management and a smooth transition to production with integration
validation procedures. SAP connects to these control centers from the Mission Control Center to ensure that
professional support is available to the customer. The following Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
functions are not provided directly in one of the control centers because they must be handled across different
areas:
Change, test, and release management
Incident, problem, and request management
Solution documentation
Remote supportability
The quality management methodologies are an essential part of SAP's Advanced Customer Center of Expertise
(CoE) concept and ensure that the KPI-driven processes are continuously improved across all processes and
teams. In addition, the quality manager roles ensure consistent and value-centric reporting to the business and
management. This unified reporting platform is known as the Single Source of Truth.
1.1 Control Center Approach
The Operations Control Center (OCC) is the physical manifestation of the Run SAP Like a Factory philosophy. The
OCC allows for automated, proactive operations, which simultaneously reduces operational costs while increasing
the quality of IT services, leading to improved business satisfaction. The OCC also drives continuous improvement
of business processes and IT support. To achieve these goals, it relies on a close interaction with both the
Innovation Control Center (ICC) and the SAP Mission Control Center (MCC).
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SAP Standards for E2E Solution Operations
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Figure 2: Interaction Between ICC, OCC, and MCC
The OCC is a central IT support entity at the customer site, which monitors the productive SAP environment as
well as important non-SAP applications. During operation, the OCC requires a workforce of 2 full-time equivalent
(FTE) per shift to ensure that incidents are detected and resolved as quickly as possible. The OCC is equipped
with large screens that display the status of business processes, IT landscape components, as well as exceptions
and alerts. If problems occur, you use a video link to get live support from SAP and partners. The customer usually
sets up the room with assistance from SAP Active Global Support (AGS). The customer is responsible for
managing the OCC and the team of technical and functional IT operators who act on the alerts.
The OCC is most effective when closely integrated with other IT processes, such as IT Service Management
(ITSM) and Change Management. Central monitors and dashboards based on application and business process
operations display the current status of business and IT-related processes. This data can also be used to drive
continuous improvement.
An effective system monitoring and alerting infrastructure is fundamental to the success of an OCC.
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
SAP Standards for E2E Solution Operations
Figure 3: OCC Concept
The OCC is most effective when closely integrated with other IT processes, such as IT Service Management
(ITSM) and Change Management. Central monitors and dashboards based on application and business process
operations display the current status of business and IT-related processes. This data can also be used to drive
continuous improvement.
An effective system monitoring and alerting infrastructure is fundamental to the success of an OCC.
For Job Scheduling Management, the OCC supervises all background monitoring processes, SAP controls and
legacy background operations. It reacts to job monitoring alerts according to predefined error-resolution
activities, and triggers follow-up activities for error handling if the relevant task are not completed within a certain
timeframe.
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation
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2 Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation
The SAP Standard for Solution Documentation describes how to document processes, information, technical
objects, and requirements that need to be addressed to ensure consistent solution documentation throughout
SAP Solution Manager Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). The SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
is owned by application management. As with other standards, people with a variety of roles work together to
apply this standard. End-users, business process owners, development architects, project team members, and
the program management office contribute to and rely on landscape and business process information.
Solution documentation enables you to align your enterprise and IT services, and increase transparency, which
allows you to accelerate IT activities and improve their results. SAP Solution Manager enables you to document
SAP solutions and non-SAP applications running in your system landscape. In addition to the benefits of central
and reliable solution documentation, there are several reasons to change your documentation. The following key
drivers for software changes require you to also amend your solution documentation:
Functional enhancements required to increase user productivity
Financial and environmental legislation
Sustainability criteria to increase the corporate image
Regular maintenance and implementation of support packages
Implementation of a new solution or innovation via new enhancement packages
2.1 Standard Solution Documentation and Application Lifecycle Management
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) traditionally focuses on the software development lifecycle in
combination with other practices and tools related to governance and operations. This definition aligns well with
the most widely accepted and adopted industry standard for IT Service Management, namely the IT Infrastructure
Library (ITIL). The application lifecycle consists of six phases:
Phase Description
Requirements Collecting requirements for new or adjusted applications
Design Translating requirements into feature specifications and creating or adjusting
business processes around the new requirements
Build Developing and Customizing deployed solutions
Deploy Handing over from project into the operations
Operate Delivering the application-based service required by the business
Optimize Discussing potential improvements based on performance measurements and
initiating new developments
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation
Figure 4: Interaction Between ALM and Solution Documentation
Solution Documentation serves as a platform for maintaining relevant information regarding all of these phases in
one central location. This is known as the Single Source of Truth concept. Therefore, Solution Documentation
covers all ALM phases starting with tracking requirements through the design, build, and test phases right up to
the handover, production, and operations phases. To ensure that this broad coverage is maintained, Solution
Documentation must be closely integrated with other ALM areas, such as Test Management, Change Request
Management, and Business Process Monitoring.
2.1.1 Aim
To properly document your business processes, you can begin either when blueprinting for a new application or
during productive usage of an application. The second option is referred to as reverse documentation. The
documented business processes are prerequisites for later business-process-driven blueprint, configuration,
testing, verification, and re-documentation tasks. For example, if you use the Solution Documentation Assistant,
Solution Documentation contains information about the following aspects of your application:
Core business processes
Related technical objects, such as transactions, programs, custom code, and background
Jobs and interfaces
Related (non-SAP) system and software components
Process-relevant documentation
In addition to this, there are variations of Solution Documentation. For example, the Minimum Documentation for
Test Management covers everything that allows you to use Test Management features in SAP Solution Manager.
For more information, see the Error! Reference source not found. chapter.
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation
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2.1.2 Scope
In general, Solution Documentation contains the following two main types of documentation:
Technical landscape documentation Documents systems, servers, and the technical interfaces between
these systems. This is mainly created during the initial setup of SAP
Solution Manager and managed system configuration. The data is
reused for functions like Technical Monitoring and Job Management.
Business process documentation Structured in a clear, three-level hierarchy, which is used as the basis
for the documentation of related technical objects, such as
transactions, programs, custom code, background jobs, and
interfaces.
This standard focusses primarily on business process documentation. In addition to all the SAP objects, you can
also maintain non-ABAP and non-SAP objects and documents. Solution Documentation serves not only as the
platform for SAP and non-SAP processes but also ensures that all involved systems can be documented properly.
2.1.3 Benefits
Solution Documentation acts as a central application for all documents and technical objects, which serves as a
single point of communication between operations, development, and business departments. Therefore, one of
the main benefits is a central, unified documentation platform for SAP and non-SAP processes and objects.
During the different phases of the application lifecycle, multiple employees use and interact with this
documentation. Developers can maintain technical specifications, testers can access their test cases, application
management teams can check for technical objects when an incident is reported, and business process owners
can see the current status of process implementation. The information is reused in each of the ALM phases. With
the help of a tool like the Solution Documentation Assistant, you can identify unused and undocumented
transactions, and verify business processes on a regular basis to keep this transactional data up to date. For more
information, see Optimize.
Another common problem is a lack of governance when processing documentation. Different file shares and
share points often are used. Solution Documentation allows you to search for information easily by using
keywords and attributes, maintained status values, including digital signatures, and document versioning. All
involved parties have more control over the changes happening in their documentation and transparency is
improved.
In addition to more transparency and control, your documentation remains up to date. The relevant organization
can ensure this by using the following tools:
Solution Documentation Assistant, which allows you to analyze processes
Change Request Management, which indicates changes to the system and consequent changes to the
documentation.
Business process documentation provides the following features:
Central and clearly structured documentation of business processes, related systems, and technical
information
Methods and tools like Solution Documentation Assistant to keep this documentation up to date
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation
Business, landscape, and technical view enables internal business and IT process alignment
2.2 Basic Architecture
The SAP Standard for Solution Documentation does not need to be implemented itself. Instead, it needs to be
established when implementing, operating, or changing your IT solution or organization.
2.2.1 Prerequisites
This chapter explains the configuration steps and permissions necessary to use solution documentation features
in SAP Solution Manager.
Required Setup
SAP Solution Manager offers a guided basic configuration, which can be used after installing or importing support
packages containing all of the technical configuration process steps. In SAP Solution Manager Configuration
(transaction SOLMAN_SETUP), you need to complete the following scenarios:
System Preparation
Basic Configuration
Managed System Configuration
For more information about technical landscape documentation, see the SAP Solution Manager Master and
Operations Guides on the SAP Service Marketplace at https://service.sap.com/alm.
General Configuration Aspects (RFC, ST-ICO)
During the required setup, your IT and system administration department connect all managed systems to SAP
Solution Manager by establishing the required Remote Function Calls (RFCs).
You can navigate to and work in the following areas once you have set up the required connections:
The evaluation system during business blueprinting (system role evaluation)
The development system during business blueprinting and configuration (system role development)
The test system to perform test activities (system role quality assurance)
SAP also recommends implementing Solution Tools Implementation Content (ST-ICO) to be able to use the full
range of functions available in SAP Solution Manager.
The ST-ICO contains predefined contents, such as standard processes, shipped via the Business Process
Repository. This content can be used during the various phases of an implementation project.
2.2.2 Technical Basics
Technical landscape documentation is mainly done during the basic configuration of SAP Solution Manager and
contains the documentation of system, server, database, and software component documentation. It is created
by the following teams:
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Overview of the Standard for Solution Documentation
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Application management team, for example, the business process operations experts
SAP IT experts
Technical SAP Solution Manager experts
The data is displayed and maintained in the SAP Solution Manager Administration work center and System
Landscape Management.
Non-SAP components can be integrated in the solution documentation as well. Technical landscape
documentation allows you to automatically collect and display third-party system information by using the
System Landscape Directory (SLD) or Landscape Management Database (LMDB).
As with SAP applications, technical landscape documentation is often reused, for example, when performing root
cause analysis, creating business process documentation, testing, system monitoring, or during business process
operations.
Core business process documentation includes non-SAP business processes. Like SAP processes, non-SAP
process steps can be linked with the above mentioned documents, custom code documentation, configuration
information, and test cases, and displayed in the business blueprint graphics.
2.2.3 Logical Component Concept
You create logical components as part of a properly maintained system landscape. A logical component is a
system-related entity that describes an instance of an SAP product. It specifies on which SAP or non-SAP product
a dedicated business process or process step runs.
Typically, enterprise and IT departments determine which logical components are required for a project. A logical
component can be defined for any combination of an SAP product and a main instance. It can also be defined for
non-SAP or third-party products. This helps to describe the entire software solution in SAP Solution Manager,
regardless of whether SAP or non-SAP software is implemented.
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
3 Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
3.1 Plan
The purpose of this phase is to prepare and create your project based on the business requirements. You also
define your general settings in this phase. Based on this, you start to develop a business blueprint that provides a
general idea of how an enterprise’s business processes should be mapped in one or more SAP systems. You
continue to use the business blueprint in SAP Solution Manager during the realization phase (configuration and
testing). You reuse the project structure you created in the business blueprint phase to configure and generate
test plans.
3.1.1 Project Types
Depending on the initial situation of your project, you need to select the correct project types to start the project.
If a global rollout is necessary, the template project provides additional tools to help with this process. The next
section introduces the individual project types in detail.
Project Type Objective
Template project Used to create and distribute templates
Contains a defined project structure and allocated objects, such as documents,
test cases, Customizing objects, and developer and training material.
Objects can be reused for follow-up projects.
If you have multiple SAP Solution Manager systems, templates and their
contents can be transported.
Used to creating a standard process hierarchy or efficiently controlling global
rollouts.
Implementation project Used to implement business processes in your SAP landscape
Maintenance project Used to control and document changes to the production systems (solutions)
Supported by the use of Change Request Management
Receives all maintenance activities and urgent corrections
Upgrade project Used to implement and document additional functions, or improve existing
functions that are associated with a current solution
3.1.2 Business Process Structure
SAP Solution Manager allows you to design business processes on the following three different levels:
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
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Business process step
Usually related to a transaction, a background job, a Web UI, or similar system activity. Sometimes it makes
sense to document some activities within the business process flow as well. The business process step is the
most granular entity in business process definition and is assigned to a system where it is executed.
Business process
Collection of business process steps, grouped according to certain criteria, such as business content or SAP
modules combined to process chains.
Business scenario
Collection of business processes to be executed one by one resulting in the execution of an operational
procedure. Scenarios can be organized according to business unit, SAP module, or other kinds of grouping,
for example, template-related groupings.
3.1.3 Business Process Design
You can assign documentation to each of your business process steps. As such, your documentation must follow
the logical flow of each of the business process steps.
In general, there are many ways that business processes can be represented in SAP Solution Manager. However,
the best ALM integration can be achieved by applying an end-to-end design. For this, you can choose one of
methods depending on your organization's structure and assigned responsibilities, and which requirements have
been raised to business process handling in ALM.
End-to-End Processes
When designing end-to-end (E2E) business processes, you need to consider what the process will involve. This is
difficult when you first begin to create your business process documentation, and the problems usually occur
when considering organizational aspects, such as responsibilities, user access, and monitoring capabilities.
However, the E2E model shown in the following figure is the most reusable business process model for
documentation purposes, test capabilities, interface documentation, and business process monitoring.
Figure 5: End-to-End Process
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
Modular End-to-End Processes
If you want to organize your solution documentation according different modules, for example, business process
responsibility, maintenance activities, and projects, SAP recommends using another business process model. In
this model, you combine the business process steps present in different modular business processes, such as
purchase order processing and invoice processing, into one end-to-end business scenario. Although the E2E
business process in this model does not actively use each business process step in each modular business
process, each modular processes still plays an important role.
Figure 6: Modular E2E Process
3.1.4 Initial Documentation or Re-Documentation
Depending on your current setup, you need to decide whether to focus on initial documentation or re-
documentation of your business processes and the related solution landscape. This should be done before you
make any upgrades.
Using implementation projects correctly ensures appropriate solution documentation in the Run and Optimize
phases. If you begin documentation during the Run phase, you should re-document your core business processes
in SAP Solution Manager as well. Unlike a complete implementation project, with this method, you only need a
subset of information.
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Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
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3.1.5 Solution Documentation Use Cases
The following use case scenarios show how you can manage Application Lifecycle Management in SAP Solution
Manager using a business process model approach. They also show how to manage documentation and test
capabilities. All cases are based on business process models. For more information on single use cases, see the
best practice document for Solution Documentation on the SAP Service Marketplace at
https://service.sap.com/alm.
The following three main use cases are available during the planning phase:
Use Case Advantages and Disadvantages
One project as single source
of truth
Advantage:
Simple architecture
Efficient testing
Technical and organizational flexibility
Disadvantage:
Less clear project and operations view
Lower transparency
Solution as single source of
truth
Advantage:
Full flexibility to document planned and current processes
Clear separation of planned and current processes and documentation
More governance enables you to control document changes
Integration with documentation and Change Request Managament
Disadvantage:
Increased manual effort
No reuse (regeneration) of test plans
Limited technical and organizational flexibility
Template as single source
of truth
Advantage:
Clear visibility and flexibility of planned and current processes and
documentation
More governance enables you to control document changes
Integration with documentation and Change Request Managament
Generation of template test plans
Disadvantage:
Increased manual effort
3.2 Build
The Build phase begins after you have defined a concept, chosen a solution documentation use case, and chosen
a method for maintaining the processes. In this phase, you fill the created projects with business processes and
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
enhance them with technical objects and documentation. All activities can be started from the central
Implementation and Upgrade work center, which is divided into the different project phases.
Maintaining content in the Solution Documentation Project is divided into two phases. In the first phase, the
business blueprint, scenarios, business processes, process steps, and attached executables, such as
transactions, are maintained along with the related project documentation. This structure can be used to sign-off
with the customer or business department. In the following phase, the configuration phase, the structures are
enhanced with technical objects, such as IMG-objects, Z-tables, and programs. In addition to the technical
objects, all necessary information for Test Management is added. Test cases, technical bills of material (TBOMs),
and transaction-automated test cases have to be maintained to ensure a proper test phase in SAP Solution
Manager.
To create this content, you can use one of the following methods:
Creating content manually
Scenarios, processes, and process steps are maintained during the blueprint phase. Later on, technical
objects and documents are added during the configuration phase of your project.
Reusing existing Documentation
o Business Process Repository (BPR)
BPR is a central pool of SAP standard processes
o SAP Templates and Roadmaps
SAP Templates and Roadmaps are a set of predefined processes and methodologies for different SAP
products and industry specific solutions
o Excel
You can upload of existing documentation maintained in a predefined Excel spreadsheet, which can be
used for processes, transactions, attributes, developments and configuration data
o Other projects
You can transfer existing information from projects within SAP Solution Manager
Using Reverse Business Process Documentation (RBPD)
Analysis of a currently running productive application with checks of executed transactions and used tables
The RBPD content was created as a strategic collaboration between SAP and IBIS. The RBPD analysis is
performed in the Solution Documentation Assistant. An RBPD analysis allows you to re-document your business
processes directly from your SAP systems. Re-documentation is completed by analyzing the current system
usage and is supported by comprehensive analysis content delivered by SAP. The content uses SQL statements,
which are executed on the database to check the existence of dedicated customizing and master data. The initial
analysis provides an overview of SAP standard processes being used on the managed system. For more
information, see the Service Marketplace in the Software Download Center for ERP, CRM, NetWeaver, Solution
Manager, and some industry solutions.
The RBPD analysis provides the following benefits:
Complete transparency regarding SAP application usage with the most important business processes
Comprehensive representation of the current implemented and used business processes
Quick and easy access to documentation for SAP standard business processes in SAP Solution Manager
Easy approach to creating a central basis for further ALM processes used for ALM topics like Test
Management
All maintained processes and documentation provided using the different creation methods can be expanded with
additional selection criteria. You can do this by using one of the following two options:
Keywords
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Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
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Used in project internal structuring. Keywords, such as integration test relevant, can be assigned to processes
and documents.
Attributes
Used in project independent structuring. Multiple variants of attributes can be assigned to structures,
documents and technical objects. All attributes are handed over to follow-up projects
In addition to these project standards, there are further standards that need to be applied after being defined in
the Plan phase.
Document types used in the project to define templates and the behavior of the documents
Status values for processes, for example, in process, approval released, used to track the current level of
implementation
Status values and schemas for documents used to clearly track document changes
Roles and responsibilities for projects the different processes and documents are also important points. These
roles need to be defined during the Plan phase and assigned to all relevant objects. This allows you to reuse these
assignments with the key words and attributes during the run phase to easily track responsibilities and issue
reports.
3.2.1 Core and Mission-Critical Business Processes
The number of core business processes is typically very limited and can be adapted by enterprise departments.
Core business processes are the most important processes, which have a major impact on the company’s
business if they are disrupted.
Mission-critical business processes are new or technically challenging business processes, for example, which
require custom developments or non-SAP components that need to be administrated and monitored closely.
Documentation in SAP Solution Manager does not have to model every variant for each process step in detail. The
aim is to create an understandable structure containing relevant information that can be reused by other teams
and other application lifecycle capabilities.
3.2.2 Integration Scenarios
IT Project Management (cProjects).
Integrating SAP Solution Manager Projects and cProjects allows you to plan and manage projects in an IT
environment, using SAP Solution Manager functions.
You can improve your SAP Solution Manager projects with the project management capabilities in cProjects. You
can perform detailed project planning and structuring activities, manage resources, and hand over plans for
implementation. Time and status feedback allow you to monitor the progress and resource consumption of your
project.
You can use the project management functions in IT Project Management to manage, for example, project time,
resources, and status. SAP Solution Manager projects are linked to cProjects for technical operations. Requests
for change are also integrated with tasks in IT Project Management by integrating with Change Request
Management.
You can use the project management capabilities in cProjects to manage SAP Solution Manager projects. When
assigned, the cProjects is the leading project management tool, which replaces some SAP Solution Manager
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project management functions. You can use this for implementation and maintenance. Data entered into IT
Project Management is mapped and transferred to an SAP Solution Manager project, and the SAP Solution
Manager project administration data entry capabilities are disabled to guarantee data consistency. The following
figure shows an overview of this integration:
Figure 7: IT Project Management Integration
Change Request Management
To manage any changes made in development systems, you can use the change request function. You can use
this function to perform maintenance work or for implementation and upgrade projects in your landscape.
Change Request Management provides functions that allow you to manage the following three main change
management processes:
Change Administration
Manage change requests, change categorization, approval workflow, and status reporting
Project Management
Manage project planning, project documentation, such as customizing changes or development
specifications, and test processes
Change Logistics
Make Customizing changes and implement developments, as well as manage transport scheduling, including
seamless integration with TMS, and transport tracking
Combining these three processes allows you to fully control any changes that you make to your landscape.
You can create a request for change for both business processes and business process steps. You can find
information about existing requests for change in both the business process structure and the change request
itself. This means that you can also find it in the relevant change documents in the Projects assignment block. As a
result, you can combine technical work with documentation tasks to link Change Request Management to
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
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business process documentation directly. In this assignment block, you can also jump directly to the business
processes in the project. By doing this, you ensure that change-related documentation is always in sync with your
actual technical implementation.
Test Management
Test management processes depend entirely on your current business structure. However, they constantly
require and reuse any existing documentation about your landscape.
Solution documentation is used in the following areas to support test management:
Create TBOMs
Reuse structures, including transactions
Reuse keywords and attributes
Implement automatic and manual test cases
Structures, transactions, keywords, attributes, test cases, and TBOMs are the minimum documentation
requirements for test management.
SAP Solution Manager provides a range of tools to support you during testing. Depending on your system, you
can either create new business processes or verify the impact of any updates on your existing processes.
Figure 8: Test Management Integration
You need to create TBOMs if you want to use the Business Process Change Analysis tool. Technical bills of
material are containers that hold every table and object used by a certain business process step. You must create
TBOMs during the design and build phases of your implementation process. You compare TBOMs with future
upgrade or change transports to assess any impact on business processes. This information can be used for risk-
based test scoping and planning.
You can then begin to plan your test processes based on the information collected during the change impact
analysis.
Test plans are split into different test packages which are assigned to the related testers. During this planning
phase, you can reuse different keywords and attributes. For example, the keywords test relevant UAT and test
relevant regression, and the attributes for divisions and units within your enterprise. You need to create these
filters in your solution documentation before you can use them. Once you have defined them they will help you to
define the scope of your tests.
You then assign testers to test packages containing individual test cases and instructions on how to carry them
out. When performing the test, testers can jump directly to the correct transaction on managed systems provided
that you have previously assigned them in Solution Documentation.
Testers can find test documents in the Test Cases tab, in Solution Documentation. Here, you will not only find
manual tests but automatic tests, for example, eCATT or Component Based Test Automation (CBTA) scripts as
well.
All of this allows to reuse test cases different test types, rollouts, and releases. Solution Documentation serves as
the central platform for all test-related documents.
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
Custom Code Lifecycle Management
You use Solution Documentation to store documentation centrally. Therefore, customer transactions and custom
code need to be identified and maintained in the relevant business processes. First, you use Solution
Documentation Assistant to analyze your productive to create a list of used and unused Z-transactions and
reports. Used reports have to be assigned to the right business process to enhance your SAP Transaction
documentation.
For more information, see the SAP Standard for Custom Code Management.
Business Process and Interface Monitoring
Business process monitoring reuses business process structures after they have been moved to the operations
phase. After you have designed, developed, and tested your structures, you must ensure that core business
processes are running without any exceptions.
If you chose the solution as single source of truth solution documentation use case, you can monitor your
business processes. Otherwise, you need to create an additional solution. For more information on solution
documentation use case, see Solution Documentation Use Cases. Based on the processes in the underlying
systems, you can set up a wide range of monitoring processes. These include technical monitoring processes for
IDocs, QRFCs, and background jobs as well as business-related monitoring processes, such as the number of
overdue sales orders or deliveries.
The business monitoring objects allow you to improve these processes by identifying training and process design
gaps. If critical situations occur, you can alert the person responsible by email, SMS, or by reporting an incident in
SAP Solution Manager.
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
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Figure 9: Business Process Monitoring Integration
You can prepare for business process monitoring integration during the design and build phases by defining and
maintaining attributes and priorities for all processes. This helps you to determine critical processes that you
need to monitor closely and attributes, like country, which can help to setup specific monitoring processes.
3.3 Run
Solution Documentation in SAP Solution Manager allows you to identify, add, or implement new or extended
business processes and technical information.
The information collected here constantly grows and is structured by the solution documentation in SAP Solution
Manager in a clear and comprehensible manner.
This chapter provides an overview of how to execute projects using SAP Solution Manager as a documentation
tool and the benefits of this information when reusing project data.
3.3.1 Handover and Maintenance
In the run phase, you focus on maintaining productive processes. After an initial setup, you have to hand your
documentation over to daily operations.
You can do this in one of the following ways:
Approach Description Tasks
Solution-based Hand over all data to this solution.
It serves as the single source of
truth for the entire landscape
Copy all processes from the
implementation projects into the
central solution via the Solution
Directory (Pull Method)
Create a new Solution based on an
existing documentation project
with the help of the “Copy Projects
and Solutions” available in the
Implementation & Upgrade work
center
Project-based Define the central documentation
project which serves as the single
source of truth in your landscape
Either the implementation project
is used as single source of truth
and is defined as productive after
the project phase ends or all
processes has to be copied into the
central documentation project
SAP recommends that you work according to team member assignments and status values attached to
processes. With the help of the process statuses, you can clearly see which processes are currently being
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
implemented and which are already finished and operating productively. When a process is marked as productive,
all documents and technical objects assigned to this process need to be up to date.
There are multiple ways of keeping your documentation up to date. One is way is to use Solution Documentation
Assistant regularly to check your processes against your current system usage. Another way is to define
organizational structures and roles, such as business process owners, who are responsible for each business
process, and note this in the administration tab.
A quality manager can also assist with, verify, and check processes and documents on a regular basis. Rules need
to be defined, for example, each process has to have a process description.
You can also integrate with Change Request Management to assign each change to a business process, in the
Service Message tab. This technical change also causes changes to documents. Therefore, every time a change is
assigned, the responsible person has to check the documentation and keep it up to date.
3.3.2 Reporting
Reporting allows you to maintain an overview of the current status of your documentation. You can use it during
both the plan and run phases to check processes, documents, and other objects. It is not based on bar, pie, or
stacked column charts like typical reporting functions. Instead, it focuses on retrieving the right objects from your
central documentation store.
You can access reporting directly in transaction SOLAR_EVAL or from the Reports navigation are, in the
implementation and upgrade work centers. In addition, the project phase specific transactions (for example
SOLAR01 for the Business Blueprint) allow you to jump into the reporting transaction (Environment –> Project
Analysis). All assignments that are done in the business blueprint or in the realization phase of a project can be
evaluated.
The project analysis and analysis results display options are very flexible. You can use selection criteria to restrict
the scope of the analysis. If you are only related to parts of the project you can restrict the area where you want to
search with the help of keywords, attributes but also your assignment as a team member to certain business
processes. You can create standard analyses and save them as selection variants. All elements displayed in the
results can be called directly from the reporting output or you can jump into SOLAR01 (Blueprint) or SOLAR02
(Configuration) to the right process node. Therefore, SOLAR_EVAL is not only a reporting tool it is the general
access to your documentation.
3.4 Optimize
Improving your business process documentation allows you to improve the business processes themselves. To
do this you need to do the following:
Check documentation requirements with key users and business process champions
Improve your documentation concept, for example, by making adjustments to document handling processes
or using different project types
Regularly review documentation (quality assurance)
Change and update business process documentation
To ensure that you benefit from your documentation you need to make sure that it is kept up to date. Therefore, IT
staff should work closely with all documentation users adapt the documentation concept and processes to the
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Lifecycle of Solution Documentation
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needs and requirements of all users, for example, by creating new documentation types and adjusting attributes
or status values. You must also establish a regular review process for all scenarios and processes.
It is difficult to apply concrete Key Performance Indicators to documentation. However there are some criteria
that you can use. For example, you can check the following:
All processes have a process description assigned
All process steps have an executable variant, for example, transaction or CRM WebUI
Test cases are assigned to all critical processes
Key attributes are assigned to all process nodes
Each process node has a responsible team member and status
The amount of documentation you have is not a good indicator of good documentation quality. You can only
ensure this by using a clearly defined process, for example, by not allowing document writers to release their own
documentation.
3.4.1 Solution Documentation Assistant
In SAP Solution Manager, the Solution Documentation Assistant helps to identify unnecessary transactions and
process steps to help you improve your documentation.
Solution Documentation Assistant verifies and rates customers’ business process documentation. It does so by
using data about how often technical objects related to the business process structure are used. Usage-frequency
provides an overview of potentially obsolete objects and makes mission-critical objects clear.
It is an excellent starting point for initial documentation or verification of existing documentation.
Scope
o Analyze the template, implementation, and maintenance projects
o Analyze usage of technical objects like transactions, reports, BADIs, and custom developments
o Analyze SQL statement to enable live system analysis from a business perspective
o Use existing SAP Solution Manager infrastructure, like system connections and technical statistical data
Benefits
o Accelerated initial solution documentation
o Enhanced solution and transparency of use
o Simple and fast system consolidation
o Improved business performance
o Standardized processes by making comparison of business processes at different locations
o Optimized test planning
o Cost-efficient documentation thanks to automated verification
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Driving Continuous Improvement
4 Driving Continuous Improvement
This chapter focuses on improving the quality of your processes and is relevant for the CCOE's quality manager.
4.1 Quality assurance tasks
To ensure quality management, you need to perform the following key tasks:
Ensure identification of process exceptions and gaps
Ensure documentation of top issues, system landscape, and custom code
Include and align key aspects of solution documentation to business requirements
Ensure media-break reduction and establish a Singe Source of Truth
Identify of critical success factors
Identify of KPIs and benchmarking, for example, technical, quality, and business
Answering the following questions will help you to identify areas that need to be addressed:
Are core business processes documented?
Are solution landscapes and production systems documented?
How is your top-issue reporting defined?
Have you established quality gate management?
Have you created project documentation?
Which KPIs and scorecards do you use?
How do you execute and control SLA reporting?
How do you document and track change requests?
How do you ensure transport transparency?
Do you use an issue resolution database?
4.2 Quality Targets and KPIs
The following quality targets are important to the maturity of your solution documentation management and drive
value recognition of your IT department:
Reduce complexity and improve transparency and controllability of your IT environment
Accelerate documentation creation and reduce effort to increase efficiency
Increase reaction time to meet business requirements and business innovation
Clearly defined parameters and measurable objectives are required to assess the quality of your solution
documentation management processes. The key parameters should be collected and evaluated in regular
reports. Historical data created in this way can be used to identify trends and then derive the necessary
information.
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Driving Continuous Improvement
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The following table describes the main challenges for each of these quality targets and which KPIs can be used to
measure them:
Quality Target Challenges KPIs
Reduce complexity and improve
transparency and controllability of
your IT environment
Visibility
Lack of a consistent, unified
view of all critical assets
Not correctly using and
involving IT assets can affect
risk assessment results for, for
example, change requests.
Percentage increase in the time
it takes to resolve issues
following solution
documentation creation
Percentage of change requests
or transports causing incidents
with high business impact after
solution documentation in
place compared to before
Percentage of incidents or
complaints successfully
resolved within SLAs or by
using knowledge database;
Accelerate documentation creation
and reduce effort to increase
efficiency
Time consuming
documentation effort in terms
of cost for operation
Non-aligned documentation
sources especially lead to
increased complexity and
maintainability of updated
documentation
Missing or misleading
standards/guidelines for
documentation increase the
multitude of documentation
types, increasing the effort of
alignments and re-work
Implementing and following a
standardized methodology to
reduce the effort and costs for
maintaining your SAP
landscape and solution
implementation
Percentage of effort reduction
for project implementation
Number of tools available for
documentation (avoid media
breaks)
Frequency of documentation
reviews to ensure updated
Single Source of Truth
Frequency of guideline reviews
to ensure updates and
simplification
Ratio of critical business
processes documented to
overall critical business
processes to ensure
completeness of solution
documentation
Ratio of custom developments
documented according to SAP
Standard to overall custom
developments
Number of operation handbook
updates after go-live (t=0)
Increase reaction time to meet
business requirements and
business innovation
Demonstrating the benefit of
solution documentation with
the support of different tools
Consistent and uniform
documentation guidelines
Percentage of increased
reporting speed for
operational/compliance needs
Trend in manual report
creation
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Driving Continuous Improvement
Quality Target Challenges KPIs
Standardize and simplify
business processes and
system infrastructure due to
increased transparency of all
subsidiaries
Streamline IT architectures
Harmonize data
Ensure optimized business
processes
Ensure automation, especially
in terms of reporting to
increase speed and reduce
effort
Trend in utilization of assets
Percentage of synergy effects
realized
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Training
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5 Training
SAP offers the following training courses relating to solution documentation:
SMI310 Implementation Projects with SAP Solution Manager
Goals
Understand the concept of SAP Solution Manager with the focus on supporting implementation (and
upgrade) projects based on SAP Best Practices
Explore tools, services, and methods in detail to successfully and efficiently implement complete software
solutions and new enhancements
Learn how to create a structured, comprehensive, standardized, and above all reliable collection of
information about all ongoing projects and the status of the productive SAP solution, which in turn is the basis
for informed, fact-based decisions and measures during the entire lifecycle of the solution.
Course Content
Explore the key concepts of SAP Solution Manager in the context of implementation projects based on SAP
best practices
Define a project and document the system landscape for the solution to be implemented
Design and document the business processes, including business requirements
Learn how to create business process variants
Configure business processes
Use the Document Management in SAP Solution Manager
Organize, perform and document all project-related test activities
Use roadmaps as the underlying project methodology
Explore reports to support project management activities
5.1 Expert Guided implementation Sessions
For Enterprise Support Customers, SAP offers Expert Guided Implementation Sessions (EGI).
Expert Guided Implementation (EGI) sessions are a combination of remote training, live configuration, and on-
demand expertise, which allow you to perform complex activities with the help of experienced SAP support
engineers. The instructor will demonstrate what to do step by step. Afterwards, you can perform the relevant
steps in your own version of SAP Solution Manager. If you have any questions, you can then contact an SAP
expert via phone or e-mail.
For Solution Documentation the following EGIs are available:
Expert Guided Session for Solution Documentation I
Expert Guided Session for Solution Documentation II
Expert Guided Session for Project Implementation
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SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
Training
More information regarding the content of the EGIs and time schedule can be found at the EGI calendar at
http://www.service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001780312008E
Figure 10: Overview on the different EGIs in the different topic areas
SAP Standard for Solution Documentation
More Information
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6 More Information
Documentation Link
Expert Guided Implementation information and
booking in SAP Service Marketplace
http://service.sap.com/expert-guided-implementation
Administering remote connection with SAP
Solution Manager
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_sm71_sp10/helpdata/en/2
8/9015dd452e48fabfb86098cda89e5b/content.htm?fra
meset=/en/45/51fbdbd4941803e10000000a1553f7/fra
meset.htm
Remote supportability https://support.sap.com/support-programs-
services/remote-support-component.html
Solution Documentation Assistant http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71 Application
Help SAP Library Solution Documentation Solution
Documentation Assistant Work Center
Custom Development Management Cockpit http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71 Application
Help SAP Library Solution Documentation Custom
Development Management Cockpit
www.sap.com/contactsap
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