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    The part I of the SAP Solution Manager 4.0 series of weblogs targets on the functionality of Roadmaps in Solution Manager. The Part II of weblogs series, Project Preparation or Administration phase of Solution Manager 4.0 is explained. In subsequent parts, other features of Solution Manager will be explained.
What is SAP Solution Manager:
    SAP Solution Manager is a tool, which assists in application management as per ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) environment. The tool supports the entire lifecycle of solutions mainly having six phases – Requirements, Design, Build, Deploy, Operate & Optimize as per ITIL standard.
    It runs in a separate central system to which all the other SAP systems are connected. These other systems are called as Satellite Systems.
Latest Version:
    SAP Solution Manager 4.0.
Features of SAP Solution Manager:
  • Solution Manager helps in all types of project management like Implementation, Upgrade, Maintenance, Rollout etc. by providing the project specific template.
  • It is in line with SAP’s AcceleratedSAP. And provide Roadmaps for the different types of projects.
  • It has Business Process Repository, which talks about SAP’s best practice of running the business.
  • It has eLearning feature, which offers the training along with feedback over web.
  • It has test management feature, which offers the central storage repository for storing the automated eCATT scripts along with manual scripts. The results of testing are centrally stored and always available.
  • It has its own standard Helpdesk feature, which is both SAPGUI based and web based.
  • The Helpdesk feature is totally linked with Change Request Management, which helps in transport for changes required in production issues.
  • It has Solution Monitoring as well as Diagnostic feature, which helps in Operation Phase of project.
  • Solution Manager has lots of inbuilt reports, which server the different areas of it.
  • It is linked with SAP Service Market Place.
  • It can generate Installation/Upgrade key.
  • It has its own Knowledge Warehouse for central documentation storage.
  • It can integrate with ARIS, a detailed graphical business process modeling tool
  • It can also integrate with Mercury tools like QTP for testing in web based environment.
Phases of Project Management As per AcceleratedSAP (ASAP) Model:
  • Project Preparation Phase
  • Business Blueprint Phase
  • Realization (Configuration) Phase
  • Testing Phase
  • Final Preparation for Cutover Phase
  • Production Go Live Phase
  • Support Phase
What is Project Preparation Phase:
    In the project preparation phase of any project, the team is identified, the landscape is identified. The quality standards for the project are identified, which will be used for quality audit. The deadline of projects is identified at higher level. High level scope is planned.
    All above activities with lots of advanced features are available in Solution Manager, which integrates different phases of the project and the satellite systems too.
SAP GUI based Transaction for Project Preparation Phase:
    SOLAR_PROJECT_ADMIN
Web based Wizard’s Transaction for Project Preparation Phase:
    AI_SPS (Quick Project Set-Up)
Menu Path for Project Preparation Phase:
    SAP Menu -> Tools -> SAP Solution Manager -> SOLAR_PROJECT_ADMIN Project Administration
Prerequisite of using Project Preparation in Solution Manager:
    The logical components of the satellite systems landscape should be created in SMSY transaction. The quality standards of documentation templates should be available. The list of team members along with their role in the project should be available.
Types of SAP Projects in Solution Manager:
    There are following different types of Projects in Solution Manager based on the functionality that is offered in different phases like Blueprinting, Configuration etc.
  • Implementation Project: A Project to implement business processes in an SAP landscape
  • Template Project: A project to create a template. A template makes project structure, or parts of it, with its assigned objects (documentation, test cases, IMG activities), available to other projects. This is mainly used in Rollout Projects.
  • Upgrade Project: A project to upgrade existing systems.
  • Maintenance Project: A project for maintenance of existing systems.
  • Optimization Project: A project to optimize the flow of business processes, or the use of a software solution.
  • Safeguarding Project: A project to resolve a critical situation in the implementation or use of an SAP solution.
Web Wizard (Quick Project Set-Up) for Project Creation:
  • Web wizard is especially useful in the cases, when someone is using Solution Manager for the first time & does not have much knowledge about the Solution Manager.
  • The project setup can be done without the satellite landscape details mapped into it. Further the project can be taken into Blueprint phase. And as needed, the satellite landscape can be mapped back using SOLAR_PROJECT_ADMIN transaction.
  • The prerequisite for using this web wizard is that there has to be an entry of the Solution Manager server into the host file of the desk, where this application will run & the proxy should be turned off from the web browser.
  • Now, log in to Solution Manager with a user ID having authorization of AI_SPS transaction.
  • Goto transaction AI_SPS transaction. It will open the Project Administration transaction over web.

Project Preparation in Detail:
  • Log in to Solution Manager with a user ID having authorization of SOLAR_PROJECT_ADMIN transaction.
  • Goto transaction SOLAR_PROJECT_ADMIN transaction.
  • The list of existing projects will be displayed in the transaction. Click on Create button from the application toolbar to create a new Implementation Project.
  • In the Create Project popup, give some significant name of the Project & select the type of the project from the standard dropdown of SAP. Here Implementation Project type is selected from the dropdown. Click on Continue to create the project.
  • Once the project gets created, the Project Administration screen appears with different tabs like General Data, Scope, Proj. Team Members, System Landscape, Milestones, Organizational Units and Project Standards. Give the project title as Demo for Implementation Project in the Title at the header, which is a mandatory field.
  • General Data tab:
    • General Data tab contains the information about the Project Management, Project Status, Project Language and details on the planned & actual dates along with resources in Person Days (PD).
    • Project Language is mandatory field. Once selected and saved, language can not be changed. The further phases of Project Management in SolMan will be available in this language. Project Description can also be maintained, which is a long text field.
    • The Project Status can be selected from the standard dropdown. The values in the dropdown can be customized as per need in the Project Standards tab here.
    • The Planned start date & end date can be given along with the resource allocation in person days. The actual date values can be also entered here.
  • Scope Tab:
    • The Scope tab contains the different tabs for Template Selection, Roadmap Selection, Industry Selection and Country Selection.
    • The Template tab can be used for the selection of Templates. Templates with public visibility are available for other projects to reuse. The templates are mainly used for Rollout projects, where the reference location’s implementation becomes template for the rolling out implementations of other locations. If Template is selected in Project Administration phase, all the relevant details of Business Blueprint, Configuration & other phases of template are imported automatically in the current project.
    • The Roadmap tab shows, the ASAP roadmaps for different kinds of project management in SAP. Here, select the Roadmap for mySAP ERP Implementation so that team members can use this roadmap for each of the phase of the Project Management.
    • In the Country Selection tab, countries can be restricted for the team members.
    • There are other settings also available here in the Scope tab, which can restrict the usage of Business Blueprint Structure & Blueprint relevant documentation to the team members.
  • Proj. Team Members Tab:
    • The Project Leader can specify here the SAP Team members & generic team members also, which might not necessarily be a SAP ID in system. There is a button as Check Against User Master Record, which will highlight the non SAP users.
    • For SAP users, the ID can be selected from the search help and Role in the Project can be selected from the dropdown. The Role can be managed from the Roles in Project button. Also, the User Administration (SU01 transaction) can be done directly from this tab.
    • There is a check box option for restricting the access of Project Structure to users. If the checkbox is selected, only the users mentioned in this tab will have access to project in edit made. Other users can access the project structure nodes in display mode.
    • This project members list is linked to the different phases of SolMan like Roadmaps -> Project Team Members tab, Business Blueprint -> Administration tab, Configuration -> Administration, Configuration & Development tabs.
    • Save the Project by clicking the Save button from standard toolbar.
    • A popup comes for the Enhancements for Documents. This is for the Knowledge Warehouse of Solution Manager, where all the documentation will be stored for the current project. Click on Continue to save the project.
  • System Landscape Tab: In the System Landscape tab, there are four sub tabs mainly Systems, Central Objects, IMG Projects and Change Requests.
    • Systems Tab:
      • Here the details about the Satellite system are maintained in the form of Logical Component. To this logical component, the satellite system of one landscape is attached. Select the search help for selection of Logical Component (which are already created in SMSY transaction). More than one logical component can be attached in the Solution Manager project.
      • The list of the Logical Components is displayed. Select the required one & click on Continue.
      • The Logical Component with the details will be added into the project.
      • The logical component can be completely replaced with some other logical component in the entire project structure using Replace Log. Components icon at the bottom.
      • The logical components can be even selected from the Business Blueprint Scenarios, if in case they don’t’ exist already. There is button called Select Scenario at the bottom.
      • System Landscape Check: Using the System Landscape Check button at the bottom, one can ensure the consistency of the system landscape, which is added in the project. It ensures the smooth navigation to the satellite systems in different phases of project like Business Blueprint, Configuration, and Test Management etc. It checks for the presence of logical components for the SolMan project, logical components and the logical system based on the same product release, the releases and the Support Package statuses of the logical systems sufficient to be able to navigate in the component systems with the SAP Solution Manager, the logical systems having RFC connections and the RFC connections functionality. It generates the information or error message depending on the check performed for the selected logical component.
      • System Roles: The default system role appears like Evaluation System, Development System, Quality Assurance System, Production system, Training System etc., which can be changed as per the requirement. The system roles are specific to a project.

        To meet the system landscape needs, more number of system roles can also be added using the System Role Assignment button at the bottom. The system roles, which are in use, can not be deleted.
      • The transport route between the landscapes of the logical components in the satellite systems can be managed using Shipment Routes button at the bottom.
    • Central Objects Tab:
      • In the Central Objects tab, the central system for objects like eCATT Test, Manual Test Cases and External Applications is maintained. By default the central server is the same server i.e. Solution Manager Server.
      • As per requirement, any other system can be specified here as central landscape for storage, which will be connected to Solution Manager via RFC connection. Solution Manager will interact with this system using this RFC.
      • Once the RFC connection is established between the central server & Solution Manager, the central system appears in the search help list. Select the one central system as per need.
      • There is an obligatory flag, which will forces all the team members to use only this central system for storage of eCATT Test development, Manual Test Cases & External Applications in Test Cases tab of Configuration phase.
      • If no logical component is selected in Test Cases tab of Configuration phase, Solution Manager will automatically store the contents in to this central system.
    • IMG Projects Tab:
      • If the logical components are assigned in the Systems tab & project is saved then the IMG Projects tab will have the IMG projects. Corresponding to the number of the logical components, IMG Projects entries are automatically created in this tab. The IMG projects are created in the satellite system for configuration settings under it.
      • The green and red traffic lights indicate whether Project IMGs have already been generated and distributed in the satellite system.
      • To generate & distribute the IMG projects, use the icon Create IMG Project at the bottom.
      • This will take the control to the satellite system for IMG Project creation. Follow the steps & create the project. As the project gets created, the message appears in satellite system and the status changes to green signal in the Solution Manager.
      • If any IMG project already exists in the satellite system, that project can be linked to the current Solution Manager project instead of creating new IMG project. This can be done by using the Replace icon at the bottom.
    • Change Requests Tab or Projects Cycles Tab:
      This tab is related to activating Change Request Management, Helpdesk, Task List along with Variants, Creation of CTS Project and assignment of cProjects project to the project landscape.
  • Milestones Tab:
    For monitoring the progress of project in Roadmap, milestones can be defined under this tab. This is integrated with the Roadmap of the project.
  • Organizational Units Tab:
    This tab is used to enter the organizational units of the project including functions, time zone & country.
  • Project Standards Tab:
    • Status Values Tab:
      • Status Values tab shows the default status available in Solution Manager.
      • These statuses are mainly used in different phases of Solution Manager like Project Administration phase -> Project Status values, Blueprint phase -> Documentation status values, Administration status values, Configuration Phase -> Documentation status values, Administration status values, Development status values and Configuration status values.
      • One can edit the status values as per need using Project Template button at the bottom.
      • Click on Project Template button at the bottom for creation of new status values. On the right side of the Status tab, give the new value with details. Move this entry to the left side for the current project so that it can be utilized for the current project.
      • As the entry comes on the left side, Check and Save the value. Close this dialog box.
      • Now, the entry appears on the right side, which is common pool of the status values. Select the entry and move it to left side for the current project.
        img src="https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/weblogs/images/37984/PA26.JPG" mce_src="https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/weblogs/images/37984/PA26.JPG" width="569" height="258" border="0" alt="image">
      • As the entry comes on the left side for the current project, save the project.
      • After saving the project, this newly created status value starts appearing in the Project Status dropdown in the General Data tab.
    • Keywords Tab:
      • Keywords are the words, which can be used for reporting purposes. They are part of the Project Documentation or General Documentation attributes in the Business Blueprint phase and Configuration phase.
      • To create keywords, click on the Project Templates button at the bottom in the Keywords tab. Create the entry for the keyword on the right side and move it to the left side for Project keywords.
      • As the entry comes on the left side, check & save the keyword.
      • The Keyword now appears on the right side of the unused pool of keywords. Move the keyword on the left side.
      • The keyword appears on the left side for the current project. Now, this keyword is available for use for further phases of this project. Save the project.
    • Documentation Types Tab:
      • This tab contains lots of SAP standard documentation templates by default.
      • As per the quality standard of organization, different types of documentation type can be maintained along with their templates. The life cycle of the document through different status values can be maintained via Status Schema IMG setting. The approval process can be mapped via Digital Signature IMG setting.
      • For maintaining the custom documentation type, click on the Project Template button at the bottom.
      • Enter the Documentation Type, Name, and File Extension. Select the checkboxes for Global (document type will be available to all projects), several (Under the same node of business scenario/process, several documents of this document type can be created), Business Blueprint Relevant (If the document contents are required to insert in the business blueprint document, which can be generated automatically in the blueprinting phase). Status schema, if created in IMG, can be entered here.
      • To upload a document template for this new documentation type, select the document type and select Document Template -> Import option from the bottom.
      • Select the template from the desktop and save it. While uploading the template, click on Yes for popup of Enhancements of Documents & Released status for template. Move the document type to left side.
      • Once the document is moved on the left side, check and save this dialog box.
    • Tabs Tab:
      • The Tabs tab is used to control the different tabs in different phases of project.
      • Here, the required tabs can be hided and they will never be available for the team members in the relevant phase.
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