Organizational aspects for template roll out in SAP Solution Manager

The use of SAP Solution Manager as an implementation tool also brings the need to ensure the quality of all activities done in this tool. A proven method is to establish a quality assurance team for ensuring all basic activities in SAP Solution Manager are performed correctly: There are several areas where governance is needed: o System Landscape: The system landscape information is the foundation for nearly all SAP Solution Manger functionalities. In this area, the quality assurance team should have access and authorizations to create and change managed systems as well as the creation of all necessary RFCs to all appropriate clients. The systems can then be grouped in Logical Components. These Logical Components will be used for all current and for the future planned projects. o Standard and design definitions: to ensure the consistency of all standards used in projects like document types, status schemas, structures, and document attributes, the group should also attend to design questions and decisions building the ALM in SAP Solution Manager as well as the decisions which non-SAP tools has to be used for ALM purposes. o The aim of this team should also be the insurance the correctness of the business process design and its quality. While the granularity of the business processes has to be ensured (please refer to the chapter Business Process design), the assignment handling has to be guaranteed as well. o Possible services for incoming projects: Project Consulting (which processes, project type and so on). Before a new project starts, the quality assurance team could discuss with Project Management how to perform the project and how SAP Solution Manager can support them in this purpose. Possible re-use of already existing business processes or documents has to be discussed. Project Creation. Central activities in SAP Solution Manager like creation of a project, assignment of a project landscape could be offered to the project team as a service. This will also ensure the quality of performed tasks. Standards Review. Definition of quality control points (Quality Gate) and regular checks of business processes and documentation quality. Business Process Design Consulting. Assurance that all new projects follow the same procedures and design to allow re-usability in ALM. SAP Solution Manager Consulting. This central team is the main contact point for all requests regarding SAP Solution Manager functionalities. Thus, all customizing and/or development activities have to be approved and activated by this team. Knowledge Transfer. Every new project team has to be trained how to use SAP Solution Manager functionalities especially for questions with respect to handling of documents, how to make developments, clarification of customizing tasks.