By Curtis Gaska, Solution Architect, Symmetry Corporation,
As an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool, SAP Solution Manager 7.2 covers a lot of ground. It’s useful in everything from big picture portfolio to project use cases, to improving the nuts and bolts of documentation and version control. Like a lot of SAP applications, no one uses SolMan for everything it can do, but there are some great improvements in version 7.2 that will benefit almost everyone.
1. SAP HANA Support
Reengineering SAP’s application stack for SAP S/4HANA has been an ongoing process, which is part of the reason so many businesses paused at SAP Suite on HANA.
With SAP Solution Manager 7.2, users can finally run a SAP HANA landscape. This obviously makes it more appealing to users already on SAP HANA, but it also provides a great entryway into SAP HANA for companies that haven’t yet made the move.
2. Better Planned Downtime Management
SAP Solution Manager 7.2 helps administer planned downtime more effectively, minimizing the time requirements and disruption of maintenance activities. Solution Manager Work Mode Management (WMM) makes it easy to plan downtime across multiple systems, turn off alerts and technical monitoring during planned downtime, and report on downtime.
SAP Solution Manager 7.2 works with the Maintenance Planner to streamline the whole maintenance process, modeling dependencies, decreasing the effort and time required to plan and execute maintenance, and allowing your SAP Basis support team to better respond to the company’s maintenance needs.
3. Better Technical Monitoring
The improved technical monitoring of SAP Solution Manager 7.2 makes it easier for admins to avoid unplanned downtime, maintain high system performance and responsiveness, and plan upgrades before the system is overtaxed. Admins can tackle issues before they cause major performance degradation, with real time monitoring and notification. Once alerted, admins can use SAP Solution Manager 7.2 to perform quick root cause analysis, fixing issues or assigning, prioritizing and routing tasks to the service desk.
Solution Manager 7.2 goes beyond basic SAP infrastructure monitoring functionality, providing a single window into the entire landscape. SolMan 7.2 is an application-aware monitoring platform with tunable monitoring templates, allowing you to efficiently document, monitor and maintain all the components your business depends on.
4. Better SAP Upgrade Project Management
An SAP upgrade project can deliver invaluable new functionality, and boost efficiency and performance. However, SAP upgrades are labor and time-intensive, and any tools that make them easier are invaluable — both to vendors and SAP users.
SAP Solution Manager 7.2 facilitates improved SAP upgrade management planning and execution, through the Project Administration Work Center. A range of predefined SAP upgrade templates deliver significant improvements over SolMan 7.1. With system role-based features, and build-once, deploy-to-many functionality, Solution Manager 7.2 SAP upgrade templates provide project standardization, and make the process faster, simpler and less costly.
Not every company needs SolMan 7.2’s strategic tools, but every company can benefit from its core functionality improvements. SAP Solution Manager 7.2 delivers meaningful benefits across industries. With good planning and the right technical partner, it’s a great improvement to any SAP stack.
About the Author
Curtis Gaska is a solution architect on Symmetry’s expert SA team, delivering complete SAP® technical solutions from upgrades to complex landscape implementations. Curtis pairs his sound SAP technical expertise with sales skills to knowledgably advise clients, and prospective clients of Symmetry’s services and product offerings throughout each stage of the sales cycle. Curtis has a unique ability to deliver technical knowledge to create customs solutions per the client requirements, by not only taking the technical specifications into consideration but also the business drivers particular to that organization in turn creating an optimal SAP environment.
