Quantcast
Channel: SCN : Blog List - SAP Solution Manager
Viewing all 337 articles
Browse latest View live

Basic BRFPlus example to confirm if an Employee is a Team Lead (Manager) or not.

$
0
0

Greetings.

 

For the functional and technical SAP users working with CRM or ChaRM, sometimes the fact that they do not have a Developer Key refrains them from having access to write basic ABAP code to get by in some scenarios.   BRFPlus is a new tool still for which you do not need a developer key.  That fact gives some kind of freedom to us, the non-developers, who have some basic SQL or SAP Query experience.

 

Scenario.

 

1. We have a need to confirm is an Employee (EE) in the form of BP is a Manager of an Org. Unit.  We want to use BRFPlus to retrieve in a boolean variable if the EE is Manager (1) or not (0).

 

2. We want to know how to add the BRFPlust call within an ABAP program.

 

Part 1. will show how to create the BRF+ Function.

Part 2. will show how to test it out and how to call it from an ABAP program.

 

 

Let's begin.

 

1.  Our BRFPlus Function.

The HR relationship from A012 determines if a EE is Manager.

 

In Part 2 of one of our previous blogs we explain in step 5 how the HR data is stored for ChaRM in our system http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/alm/solution-manager/blog/2014/01/22/sap-crmsolman-charm-multiple-target-agents-via-sap-workflow--minimal-abap-development--part-2

In essence the HR data that reflects the Org Structure found in transaction PPOMA_CRM is stored in tables HRP1000 and HRP1001.   Let's follow with an example.

 

1.1 To retrieve the records for our case, we start with a BP number (BP ending with 28), which is stored in field SHORT of table HRP1000.  The entry found contains in field SOBID the correspondent CP (Central Person) number associated to that BP.

HRP1000_3.gif

 

1. 2.With that, we search table HRP1001 for a record which Object ID matches the one we retrieve from the step above.   We refine that search looking for a SCLAS field = S (Position).  From the found record we retrieve the contents of a field SOBID.   That is the S (Position) the BP holds.

HRP1000_3.gif

 

1.3 With that we search again in table HRP1001, where ObjectID = the SOBID entry found above.  If in that table there is an active entry (BEGDA and ENDA)  with SUBTY = A012, that S (Position) is Manager of the Org Unit in field SOBID.

HRP1001_4.gif

 

Note:  In other words, we follow the path CP-S-O (Central Person to Position to Org. Unit), to get to know if a BP is Manager of an Org. Unit.

 

Let's provide the screen shots of the BRFPlus function we created to satisfy that.  The BRFPlus function receives a BP number and provides in an output boolean variable whether the entered BP is a Manager (1) or not (0).

 

Launch transaction BRFPLUS.

The first thing you need to do is to create a container where all your BRFPlus developments will be stored.

BRFPLUS_8.gif

 

Provide some basic information, like package name and save and activate (always).

BRFPLUS_9.gif

 

With the cursor in the new folder, right click and create a function.  BTY, the core object in BRFPlus are functions.    You can create any additional object, like rules, actions, data objects, expressions, etc., but the only element that interact with the exterior are Functions.

BRFPLUS_A.gif

BRFPLUS_B.gif

 

Select the Tab Signature and add the Import Parameter.

BRFPLUS_I.gif

BRFPLUS_J.gif

 

Now add the Export Variable.

BRFPLUS_K.gif

BRFPLUS_L.gif

Things should look like this.

BRFPLUS_M.gif

Back to the tab Properties, Select Function and Event and click the little square below and select create [expression]

 

BRFPLUS_C.gif

 

The top expression that we are about to create is the gate we enter into the HRP tables.  It is the first select statement.

BRFPLUS_N.gif

NoteIs Reusableis a very useful, because you can then use this expression in any other BRF+ function in the future.

 

Note:  We are not attaching all the screens, as there are many that ask you if you want to save the parent object.  Always answer yes to those ones.   Parent because we started with the function and now we are jumping to an expression, which switches to another screen, so BRF+ needs to make sure the work is saved as we progress.

 

Now, create the 1st data retrieval.  As you have created all the parameters and variables, do not type in the empty oxes, but rather select the little triangles besides each field to select the correspondent object from the DB.

 

Also, keep in mind the mapping you must enter, which is reflected at the bottom of the picture.   It is quite easy to forget about it, as you have to expand (SHow Mapping), to have access to it.

BRFPLUS_P.gif

Save your changes for now.   The 1st type of the retrieval is completed.

 

Press the back button of the object to continue.

BRFPLUS_Q.gif

 

Now we are creating a Ruleset.

BRFPLUS_R.gif

BRFPLUS_S.gif

 

We are adding two rules, one to retrieve teh S (Position), and the other one to confirm that S is a Manager or Not.

This area is possible one of the trickets ones BRF+ has.  It is not straight forward hwo to create the select statements and a lot of test and try was required until we were able to know how to properly insert the correct SQLs.  Be patient yourself whend doing the same.

 

Click the Insert Rule button > Create.

BRFPLUS_T.gif

BRFPLUS_U.gif

BRFPLUS_V.gif

BRFPLUS_W.gif

BRFPLUS_X.gif

and so on and so forth, until.

 

BRFPLUS_Y.gif

 

Select from the available fields FINALOBJECT2, open up Sho Mapping and add the missing field.

BRFPLUS_Z.gif

Save.

 

If you press the Back button you will see that the 1st rule is completed.   Let's finish the same way Inserting the second rule.

BRFPLUS2_1.gif

BRFPLUS2_2.gif

BRFPLUS2_3.gif

 

The process is the same as before, so we only attach the final screen.

BRFPLUS2_7.gif

BRFPLUS2_8.gif

 

 

The final screens, testing an example of call from an ABAP program are found in Part 2.

http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/alm/solution-manager/blog/2014/01/24/basic-brfplus-example-to-confirm-if-an-employee-is-a-team-lead-manager-or-not-part-2


Basic BRFPlus example to confirm if an Employee is a Team Lead (Manager) or not (Part 2)

$
0
0

This is the second and final part of the blog

Basic BRFPlus example to confirm if an Employee is a Team Lead (Manager) or not.

http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/alm/solution-manager/blog/2014/01/24/basic-brfplus-example-to-confirm-if-an-employee-is-a-team-lead-manager-or-not

 

We continue completing the SQL statements to complete the exercise and test the solution.

BRFPLUS2_9.gif

BRFPLUS2_A.gif

BRFPLUS2_B.gif

Same way

BRFPLUS2_C.gif

BRFPLUS2_D.gif

If by any chance a rule is not in the right place, you move it up or down.

BRFPLUS2_E.gif

Now the rules are in the right execution order.

BRFPLUS2_F.gif

You can save.  Also press Activate, which will give you the option of activating all referenced objects

BRFPLUS2_G.gif

 

Your Function is ready for testing.

BRFPLUS2_H.gif

 

To test out the Function, right-click on the function and choose.

BRFPLUS_2.gif

 

Input a BP of somebody who is a Manager and select Show also Results of Intermediate Steps, the Run Simulation.   You can also use the Import Test Data to import a file to test your Function.

http://scn.sap.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-100787-370754/BRFPLUS_6.gif

BRFPLUS_6.gif

The result shows that the entered BP is a Manager.      The nice thing about the simulation is that you can see where in the processing a link was broken.

http://scn.sap.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-100787-370753/BRFPLUS_5.gifBRFPLUS_5.gifBRFPLUS_5B.gif

As you can see in PPOMA_CRM, the BP ending with 28 is a Manager.  The Functon works fine.

PPOMA_CRM2.gif

 

Testing the function for BP ending with 44, the result is False.  The BP is not a Manager.

BRFPLUS_7.gif

 

 

Back in the function module, always using the Back to Workbench button, by expanding the Show More in the header, you get the Function ID, which is to be used when called in ABAP.   That piece of information will be used in the next section.

BRFPLUS_1.gif

 

That takes us to the final part of the blog.

2.  How to call a BRFPlus function in an ABAP program.  All the code below is standard, hence you need to define all the variables exactly as mentioned below.   The only elements we provided are the ones in bold characters:

 

The BRFPlus unique identifier:                001E0BEA00C41EE39E93CE6349D5E0FC.

The BRFPlus Input Parameter name:      BP_INPUT

The BRFPlus Input Parameter variable:   lv_rfcrequestertype crmt_partner_no

The BRFPlus Output variable:                lv_isteamlead type boolean.

 

You will need to add the code below to your ABAP program.

 

data:   lo_factory        type ref to   if_fdt_factory,
          lo_function      
type ref to   if_fdt_function,
          lo_context       
type ref to  if_fdt_context,
          lo_result          
type ref to  if_fdt_result,
          lv_result_string
type           string,
          lx_fdt              
type ref to   cx_fdt.

...

* Init BRFPlus

 

lo_factory  = cl_fdt_factory=>if_fdt_factory~get_instance( ).
lo_function
= lo_factory->get_function( iv_id = '001E0BEA00C41EE39E93CE6349D5E0FC' ).
try.
   lo_context
= lo_function->get_process_context( ).
   lo_context
->set_value( iv_name = 'BP_INPUT' ia_value = lv_rfcrequester ).
   lo_function
->process( exporting io_context = lo_context
   importing eo_result = lo_result ).
      lo_result
->get_value( importing ea_value = lv_isteamlead ).
   catch cx_fdt into lx_fdt.
   loop at lx_fdt->mt_message assigning <ls_message>.
   write / <ls_message>-text.
   endloop.
endtry.
* End of BRFPlus

 

 

 

Some bibliography for you.

1.  BRFPlus - Business Rule management for ABAP Applications.

http://www.sap-press.com/products/BRFplus-%E2%80%94-Business-Rule-Management-for-ABAP-Applications.html

 

2.  BRFPlus.  There is this 1-2 days training in BRFplus you can get for free.  Excellent material, well organized.   There 3 sessions that tell you how that works.

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-8824?rid=/webcontent/uuid/90754865-f283-2b10-6d9f-b10f3c28c3a0

 

Enjoy,

 

Juan-Carlos

Add external URL to Navigation Bar WEB UI

$
0
0

This is step-by-step example how you can create Direct link and group, to launch external URL f.e. your companies MS PS server or any else.

There is already blogs in CRM but they are all a bit complicated for Solman's so I decided to put here a step-by-step guide.

 

Example Scenario: Add external URL to Navigation Bar in WEB UI.

 

Steps:

  1. Setup URL based Launch Transactions
  2. Configure Transaction Launcher using Wizard
  3. Create Logical Link, Create Direct Link Group
  4. Assign all to Business Role
  5. Make it visible in Business Role
  6. See results
  7. Some words about authorization control C_LL_TGT for Logical Links

 

1. Setup URL based Launch Transactions

 

Tcode SM30, view CRMV_IC_LTX_URL, choose maintain hit New Entries

URL 1.png

Save.

 

2. Configure Transaction Launcher using Wizard

 

Tcode  CRMC_UI_ACTIONWZ

URL 2.JPG


Continue

 

Give name to Launch Trans. ID like ZLAUNCH_MSPS_LINK

URL 3.JPG

Continue

 

Fill Description and Hadler Class you may call it e.g. ZCL_CRM_LAUNCH_MSPS_TASKS

Mark check box New Window

URL 4.JPG

Continue

Transaction Type = B URL Transaction

URL ID created Z_MSPS

URL 5.JPG

Continue

URL 6.JPG

Continue

URL 7.JPG

Complete

URL 8.JPG

 

3. Create Logical Link, Create Direct Link Group

 

Tcode CRMC_UI_NBLINKS create new logical link for this

Give name, Type C Launch Transaction, parameter ZLAUNCH_MSPS_LINK

Parameter Class always CL_CRM_UI_LTX_NAVBAR_PARAM

Fill Title and Description

URL 9.JPG

Save.

 

Now Create Derict link group

URL 10.JPG

Choose Assign Links To Direct Link Group and add here our Z* link created

URL 11.JPG

 

4. Assign all to Business Role

 

Stay in same Tcode choose Define Navigation Bar Profiles, choose business role you want this to be added f.e. ZSOLMANPRO

Now hit Assign Direct Link Groups To Nav. Bar Profile assign here Z* direct link group created

URL 12.JPG

 

5. Make it visible in Business Role

 

Tcode CRMC_UI_PROFILE choose Business role where you added New Z* direct link group and hit Adjust Direct Link Groups

Mark Visible checkbox

URL 13.JPG

Hit Adjust Direct Links and mark Visible for LogLink ID

URL 14.JPG

Save, now we are done and can view / test it !

 

6. See Results

 

Finally launch tcode SM_CRM and look at Navigation Bar

URL 15.png

Hit link MSPS my tasks

 

URL 15.JPG

 

7. Some words about authorization control C_LL_TGT for Logical Links

The authorization object C_LL_TGT controling this to be able to see this you must be sure you have it

 

Example

 

C_LL_TGT

LL_TYPE  : C

LL_TGT    : ZLAUNCH_BBP_LINK

Do you need to notify SAP WF Agents with separate WF Items, or altogether with the same WF Item, using a single WF Task?

$
0
0

Good day colleagues:

 

This is just a quick trick with which you can quickly decide whether you want to

 

1) Create/submit multiple SAP WF Items of the same SAP WF Task to a list of Agents, but each action upon the Item is independent, hence resolving it does not affect the other Agent's Workliskt, or

 

2) Create/submit a SAP WF Item to all your Agents, same SAP WF Task, so that the first one who works upon it and resolves it, removes the Item from his/her own Worklist as well as from the other Agent's,

 

 

Condition:  You have a multiline ApprovalAgents container element in your WF.

 

Advantage:  1.  The SAP WF Task for the approval does not have to change in any of the 2 cases explained, only the WF Step's Miscellaneous Tab does.

                    2.  This saves you from having to implement a SAP WF Fork.

 

My promise to you:  It is going to be short this time, I promise.

 

 

1. Each Agent gets a separate SAP WF Item.

 

SWDD_7.gif

Add or make sure your ApprovalAgents multiliner container object is added in the field below.

SWDD_5.gif

 

Testing the SAP WF, as explained with detail in http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/alm/solution-manager/blog/2014/01/23/sap-crmsolman-charm-multiple-target-agents-via-sap-workflow--minimal-abap-development--part-4, to obtain.

SWDD_6.gif

 

 

2.  All Agents get the same WF Item.

 

We had to reduce the expression &APPROVALAGENTS[&_WF_PARFOREACH_INDEX&]& to &APPROVALAGENTS&

SWDD_2.gif

SWDD_4.gif

Testing the SAP WF, we obtain.

SWDD_1.gif

 

 

Regards,

 

Juan-Carlos Garcia-Garavito

How to switch ABAP system data to a Solution Manager 7.1 or JAVA SLD

$
0
0

Hi Experts,


With this blog i would like to share my experience to thrust ABAP Systems data to Java SLD or Solution Manager 7.1 for Stack XML file generation & for central Monitoring purposes.

There are so many documents available on internet & also on SDN forum about ABAP system data push to Java SLD but here i'll elaborate/share more steps for successful connection with data transfer from ABAP systems to Solution Manager System.

I also request to experts to precise me if 'm wrong somewhere in this blog, this would even help me to gain more on this topic.

Here  i starts with some prerequisites tests on ABAP system end.

Pre activities on ABAP System

(a) Creation of RFC destination from ABAP system to your JAVA system or Solution Manager through SM59.

(b) Maintain SLD Access data via transaction SLDAPICUST, here provide Alias name ,host name of your Java system or Solution manager with  Port 50000  &  admin user password of Solution Manager as like below.

1.jpg

(c) Create one more RFC i.e SAPSLDAPI under SM59 with connection type as T (TCP/IP) and under Technical system use Registered Server Program with ID SAPSLDAPI_<SID> , here SID would be of your Solution Manager e.g SAPSLDAPI_SOL.


2.jpg

Give IP address of Java System or Solution Manager under Gateway host with sapgw00 as Gateway option and save the connection for a successful test.

(d)  After these previous steps run transaction SLDCHECK to get below results & screen on your browser.

3.jpg      4.jpg
         

RFC Destinations SLD_UC and SLD_NUC

These two RFC connections will create if not present when you configure the target SLD via transaction RZ70 in ABAP system on activation.

Under Transaction RZ70 we need  provide SLD Bridge : Gateway Information

Provide Host Field, enter the name of gateway host (would be hostname of Java System/Solution Manager )  & gateway service (sapgw00) .As we want to send/push data of ABAP system towards Solution Manager so here i have given hostname & gateway information of Solution Manager.

Execute the start data collection this will results screen

5.jpg


and under SM59 you'll able to find SLD_UC as well as SLD_NUC RFC connection which are created automatically by activation & execution of Start Data collection. For more information, see SAP Note 584654.

Activities on Solution Manager end

Now check whether "SAP_LMDB_LDB_0000000001" job (program name: AI_LMDB_R_SYNC_RUNNER) is continuously running successfully or not on Java System , because it plays vital role to drag data from SLD to LMDB .

6.jpg

Now on Solution Manager Go to Transaction SMSY_SETUP & select Transport Management System TMS/RFC & schedule data transfer from TMS/RFC  (F8).

After completion of job SAP_LMDB_LDB_0000000001 you'll be able to find ABAP system data into SMSY

Alternately we've one report named AI_SC_REFRESH_READ_ONLY_DATA for the collection of data for ABAP Systems if you maintained necessary details of ABAP system on http://service.sap.com marketplace.

Execute report AI_SC_REFRESH_READ_ONLY_DATA in transaction SA38 & provide your customer number to execute in background.

One more report named SMSY_FETCH_SYSTEM_UPDATE we can use to fetch the selected ABAP System data, for this execute SMSY_FETCH_SYSTEM_UPDATE in SA38 & provide System ID as well as System type in my case i selected SAP_BCSystem as SLD Classe for ABAP system.

7.jpg

and click on Read system data.

Next step is to maintain the ABAP Host via LMDB transaction as Servers & Hosts are no longer to maintain with SMSY .

8.jpg


Provide the necessary details for successful creation of new Host entry under Landscape Management database. Similarly create the Database information via LMDB.

9.jpg

After feeding database details under LMDB need to maintain Product System

  10.jpg      11.jpg       

Select Copy to make it Active under Installed Product versions & Save your entries. After saving sometimes you get message .23.jpg

For this edit the new Product System to flag it as relevant as like below screen & save.

12.jpg

Major step is to Resync the newly created system from the SLD .To perform this edit Technical system via LMDB & execute option Re Sync from SLD .

13.jpg

Sometimes we get an annoying error message  14.jpg

To avoid this error refer SAP Note 1766713 which tells to execute one standard report RLMDB_SYNC_TECHNICAL_SYSTEM with options as in screen

15.jpg

Here we can opt deletion of data which is created manually under LMDB & SMSY.

16.jpg

After successful execution of report RLMDB_SYNC_TECHNICAL_SYSTEM again try to Re Sync SLD data this time you'll be provided with screen

17.jpg

via LMDB & click on OK .

18.jpg

One more step is to assign Product Instances by searching Product Instance on clicking Add button.

19.jpg

Last we need to maintain RFC connection under Product Systems. Select new added ABAP system from SMSY transaction Product Systems & this switches you to LMDB on browser window to maintain RFC connections.

20.jpg

Click on RFC Maintenance & provide required ABAP user password & Solution manager Administrator user password details to maintain a successful RFC connections.

21.jpg

Under SMSY perform check for RFC destination.

22.jpg

Finally in Solution Manager work centers under Managed System Configuration you'll find your ABAP system & after that we can configure it or to generate Stack file (*.xml) for upgrade procedures as well as for centralized system monitoring.

 

Hope you guys will find this blog as helpful for you as well as for reference purposes.

Once more i request to all please precise this blog if found wrong somewhere & share your experience with me to make this blog more useful for others.

Regards,

Gaurav Rana

Solution Manager – What is New Today, Planned for the Future – ASUG Webcast Part 1

$
0
0

SAP's John Krakowski gave this webcast to ASUG this past Thursday.  He gave credit to ASUG, and credited ASUG for collaboration.  This is part 1 of 4 blogs.

 

1fig.png

Figure 1: Source: SAP

 

First he highlighted efforts by adopting SolMan SP10 – these are the mobile applications.  Job progress mobile application, Dashboards mobile application, business process monitoring includes analytics in Solution Manager.

 

These can be downloaded immediately from the iTunes App store, and have demo mode so you can see them immediately after downloading.

2fig.png

Figure 2: Source: SAP

 

Since August of 2011 SAP has 10K productive installs with 300 installs every month.  On the right side IT Service Management are Pink Verified. What does that mean?  If you are aligned with ITIL standards, you have a fully supported verified solution.

3fig.png

Figure 3: Source: SAP

 

Investments, no matter where you start, are integrated, said John.  You have built-in integration according to Figure 3.

4fig.png

Figure 4: Source: SAP

 

White paper released (SMP logon req'd) this talks about how customers can accelerate and improve major releases and projects through business suite.  This is a framework to manage testing, releases, downtime management, custom code in an optimized way to realize two releases a year.

This was a challenge to read this white paper to level set you against your organization against best practices.

 

John said if you are thinking of implementing HANA, Solution Manager can help manage the HANA application and project.

5fig.png

Figure 5: Source: SAP

 

If you are on Solution Manager 7.0, he encourages you go to 7.1 SP10

 

Mainstream maintenance ended for 7.0 on 12/31/13. Support does not end, but it moves into customer-specific maintenance – no new notes, no new SP’s.

 

Key links provided for Solution Manager 7.1 SP10:

This information was provided by John during the webcast:

 

Release note: http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1843689

 

You can find links to the following new documentation on the Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71:

 

RKT content is available at http://service.sap.com/rkt-solman - > SAP Solution Manager 7.1 -> Solution Roles, SP10.

 

SP10 Feature Pack 2 – more than bug fixes as it is delivering new enhancements to Solution Manager platform.

 

SP5 was Feature pack 1

 

To be continued...

 

Meet John this month in person at SAP Admin 2014   in Orlando and ASUG Annual Conference in June

Solution Manager – What is New Today, Planned for the Future – ASUG Webcast Part 2

$
0
0

SAP's John Krakowski gave this webcast to ASUG this past week.  Part 1 is here.  This is part 2.

 

Today:

1fig.png

Figure 1: Source: SAP

 

John said you can manage releases with the new IT Portfolio and Project Management Integration with SAP Solution Manager.

 

In the past, this was not integrated with other life cycle processes and tools.

 

To support this strategy to execute major/minor releases, SAP has direct integration with cProjects in SolMan

 

From cProjects in SolMan project you have direct access to SOLAR* transactions

 

2fig.png

Figure 2: Source: SAP

 

Your PMO organizations can manage 1 to many projects using cProjects.    You can manage staffing, tasks, and assignments

 

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP10:  Only Test What Matters with Test Management

3fig.png

Figure 3: Source: SAP

 

Testing is important, universally recognized as a high effort, expenses but necessary test cycles that we all manage.

With 7.1, SAP introduced CBTA – component based testing automation tool.

4fig.png

Figure 4: Source: SAP

 

With SP10, CBTA has been enhanced per Figure 4.

 

The user interfaces are listed on Figure 4.  SAP has enabled custom function creation to create automated test scripts,  an improved wizards to step through set up, and an improved process flow analyzer to validate steps as you create test automation scripts.

 

John said this is a tool to investigate.

5fig.png

Figure 5: Source: SAP

 

BPCA is the change impact tool.  It can reduce testing cycles, said John.

6fig.png

Figure 6: Source: SAP

 

The initial creation and maintenance of TBOMS; with SP10 you can create TBOMs with background jobs, with no manual effort

 

He said you can regenerate at any time with any frequency.

7afig.png

Figure 7: Source: SAP

 

SAP has improved test scope optimization, allowing you to check the test effort for changed objects.

This is a follow on capability to BPCA allowing you to adjust test windows

 

To be continued…

 

Meet John this month in person at SAP Admin 2014   in Orlando and ASUG Annual Conference in June

Solution Manager – What is New Today, Planned for the Future – ASUG Webcast Part 3

$
0
0

SAP's John Krakowski gave this webcast to ASUG this past week.  Part 1 is here.  Part 2 is here.


This is part 3.


SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP10: IT Service Management

1fig.png

Figure 1: Source: SAP

 

Why consider IT service management?  Figure 1 explains.  John says you can’t find a better product that is pink verified across 15 processes.

 

With SAP Support , the use of ITSM is covered under maintenance agreement including non-SAP components (Enterprise Support +)

2fig.png

Figure 2: Source: SAP

 

Figure 2 shows a history of ITSM

 

Before 7.1 it was known as Service Desk or application incident management

 

With 7.1, to be aligned with ITIL SAP adopted ITSM

 

SP5 has the Pink verified processes

3fig.png

Figure 3: Source: SAP

 

In SP10 you can create IT service orders as shown in Figure 3

4fig.png

Figure 4: Source: SAP

 

Figure 4 depicts the IT service order and the end user portal

 

End users can select key services by IT organizations – password reset, new employee process, BYOD

 

A guided procedure is used

 

You can fulfill service order, end to end

 

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP10: Change Control Management

5fig.png

Figure 5: Source: SAP

 

There are challenges and concerns re: change control activities

 

Figure 5 shows the central transport management which is the technical layer to manage – ABAP & non ABAP, use quality gate management and change request to manage.

 

Classic CTS was introduced in 1992.  SP10 covers new Central CTS, this is an option to improve synchronization and bundling challenges.

6fig.png

Figure 6: Source: SAP

 

Figure 6 covers a concept called a cluster collection which are like systems – DEV-ERP, test –ERP,

 

A collection is a unit of work could include a program, table change, iView change in portal – those three components could be a unit of work or request for change.

 

At a technical level, these changes can be synchronized.

 

7fig.png

Figure 7: Source: SAP

 

Figure 7 shows at the top the ability with central CTS you can reassign changes include modifiable and released transports

8fig.png

Figure 8: Source: SAP

 

You can assign changes from one project to another, different cycles

 

You can change a regular change into an urgent change and fast track into system

 

Central CTS must be used with Quality Gate or Change Request Management.  It will not work with third party product.

 

To be continued…

 

Meet John this month in person at SAP Admin 2014   in Orlando and ASUG Annual Conference in June


Solution Manager – What is New Today, Planned for the Future – ASUG Webcast Part 4

$
0
0

SAP's John Krakowski gave this webcast to ASUG this past week.  Part 1 is here.  Part 2 is here.  Part 3 is here


This is the final part.


SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP10: Custom Code Management

1fig.png

Figure 1: Source: SAP

 

What custom code is used, is it justified, using the UPL as shown in Figure 1

2fig.png

Figure 2: Source: SAP

 

Figure 2 shows how UPL works.  When transactions are used, all objects are logged on SAP kernel.  The UPL tracks and reads kernel level logging, and the UPL is stored in BW which provides you ability to evaluate data and reduce custom code footprint.

 

Demo

3fig.png

Figure 3: Source: SAP

 

Figure 3 shows an operations dashboard showing system availability and performance across the systems.  You can drill into a system and you can send this to someone for review

4fig.png

Figure 4: Source: SAP

 

Figure 4 shows the job progress monitor capability, which allows you to keep better track of active, scheduled and completed jobs with drill down capabilities.

 

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP10: Application Operations

5fig.png

Figure 5: Source: SAP

 

Figure 5 shows the timeline

 

With 7.1 introduced new monitoring and alerting infrastructure

 

On the right with SP10 SAP has started the process to harmonize business process monitoring into monitoring and alerting infrastructure; this is to be completed by end of year (planned)

 

Job monitoring is already harmonized (Figure 4).

6fig.png

Figure 6: Source: SAP

 

You can view job monitoring activities in a common view, UI, as shown in Figure 6

7fig.png

Figure 7: Source: SAP

 

Figure 7 shows that interfaces landscape monitoring improvements

 

Interfaces are more complex in landscapes and you can view it as shown in Figure 7.

8fig.png

Figure 8: Source: SAP

 

Guided procedures have been expanded (SOLMAN_SETUP)

 

Guided procedures are used in many use cases in 7.1

 

You can tailor guided procedures for troubleshooting

 

Planned Innovations

Planned innovations are subject to change; the usual SAP legal disclaimer applies.

9fig.png

Figure 9: Source: SAP

 

Figure 9 shows phase 2 of development and future direction, including enhancement scope and effort analyzer and final phase business process monitor

10fig.png

Figure 10: Source: SAP

 

SP11 is planned for calendar week 11. It is coming soon.  One capability SAP is introducing is the enhancement scope & effort analyzer, with the change impact of enhancement or support pack without implementing it.  It is a guided procedure with little or no effort.

 

If your timeline to get to SP10 crosses over when SP11 is available, John recommends applying SP11

11fig.png

Figure 11: Source: SAP

 

Figure 11 is future architecture to run Business Suite and SolMan on HANA with the “slimmest SolMan platform ever”.  No data replication, savings of 70% of running SolMan on HANA

 

Resources provided by SAP:

Instant Access to SAP Solution Manager Expert Knowledge

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 Wiki:  http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SM/Solution+Manager++7.1

SAP Enterprise Support Information: http://service.sap.com/alm

SAP Solution Manager Homepage: http://service.sap.com/solutionmanager

7.1 Ramp-Up Knowledge Transfer: http://service.sap.com/rkt-solman

Cloud demo: http://www.sapsolutionmanagerdemo.com/

 

Meet John this month in person at SAP Admin 2014   in Orlando and ASUG Annual Conference in June

PI monitoring enhancements in Solution Manager 7.1 SP10

$
0
0

Couple of weeks before we have upgraded our solution manager from SP7 to SM7.1 SP10. We were tested all the changes in our existing configurations like CCLM, TechMon, EEMon. During the testing, we found very significant changes in PI Monitoring, through this blog I would like to list down some of my findings.

 

 

UI Enhancements in the Technical setup

 

 

Improved SM 7.1 SP10 delivered new additional monitoring capabilities to monitor entire PI scenarios.

 

In SP10, there is no dedicated PI monitoring setup options in solman_Setup. Now all the PI scenarios completely integrated with interface and channel monitoring. It is quite significant, Now We can configure monitoring of all the interfaces channels, web service, Idoc communications, status of message flow and various PI components, message search etc on centrally at one place.

 

 

Why Integration

 

 

The main reason for Interface and PI monitoring integration would be that most of the PI monitoring scenarios lies on interface monitoring too, if both are defined in single place it helps the both business support users and application support help desk consultants.

 

 

First Look

 

 

Interface and PO Monitoring setup under solman_Setup -> technical monitoring divided to 4 major scenarios.  Now Pi monitoring is one of them.

 

Very first would be our usual interface monitoring which taken care of RFC communications, web services, Idocs. This is also enhanced to monitor tRFC,qFC,GW services. Second is our regular Connection monitoring which is dedicated monitoring setup for HTTP and TCP/IP RFCs. As per the latest roadmap Solution Manager – What is New Today, Planned for the Future – ASUG Webcast Part 4 document shared by Tammy that SAP has the roadmap even to integrate interface and connectivity monitor together under the tag as ICMon, we can expect this in future releases. Third one would be our previous PI monitoring which has component, message, channel monitors as same as in the previous releases without any change, message search feature also same as before. The new Message flow monitoring (MFMon) has been added now additionally, which helps monitoring of your B2B scenarios.

 

Central view of all monitoring under one place looks very more simple and more efficient.

 

 

t2.JPG

 

 

New Message flow monitoring ( MFMon)

 

 

If you checked on SM 7.1 SP7, we do have message monitor and it also has some term as message flow monitor.  But this is different from the new message flow monitoring. Starting from the prerequisites and setup both are highly varied. The earlier is used just for getting the overview of message flow only between the components PI components like integration engine, adaptor engine, Proxy etc.

 

In SP10 PI Monitoring message monitor sub tab message flow monitor renamed to message overview monitor to avoid confusions.

 

 

t2.JPG

 

 

The new message flow monitoring is actually for monitoring cross system message flows, this is more on business relevant. The exact use case for this new message flow monitoring could be the earlier requirement for Jonathan Ma here How to monitor sxmb_moni in the ABAP systems(business system)?

 

MFMon exactly fit for such B2B Scenarios. SAP strategy for Solution manager is that solman could support all the latest innovations. The original concept of MFMon is from one of the PI 7.3 innovation which is PI Integration visibility component. It is the major prerequisite for MFMon setup and moreover MFMon consumes needed monitoring data from there.  More technical details about PI integration visibility, you can refer here Integration Visibility - Administering Process Integration (PI) - SAP Library

 

 

t3.JPG

source : SAP

 

 

 

Workflow Monitoring

 

 

This is solution manager support for Business process Management ( BPM ), to monitor custom process flow defined in BPM via Technical monitoring alerting framework.

 

I am very eager to check these new features, waiting for my PI sandbox for test drive. If any of the other experts tested these features, please comment here your feedback about these new monitoring features. Is that really fulfilling all the business requirement? How promising the message flow monitoring? please share your view.

Urgent Change Request in Quality Gate Management in SP10

$
0
0

There has been a significant improvement in the Quality Gate Management area in SP10 which did not make it to headlines as other features did. In SP10, QGM has been armed with Urgent Change concept and I took time today to explore this new feature. As we all aware Urgent Change has been part of ChaRM framework since long time and now in SP10 we can use this feature in QGM also.

 

What does this mean to Projects?

 

Earlier in the QGM we had only one type of Change Request which is "QGM Change Request". The movement or TRs inside a Change Request was strictly governed by the Milestone or Q Gates. But there were scenarios where, if you used QGM for a maintenance projects then if something had to be fixed in Production at the earliest, then it has to wait  till the all the Q gates are passed. But in SP10, you need not wait untill all Q gates are passed, "if something needs to be fixed in Production urgently then it will be fixed urgently"

 

How does Urgent Change in QGM work in SP10?

 

In the QGM projects while creating a Change Request, you get an option to create a Change Request of type "Urgent Change" as shown below;

 

sshot-1.png

 

Once the Urgent Change Request is created it will be in a status "To be Approved". This needs to be approved by the Quality Manager and Quality Advisory Board. Once approved, now you can create a Transport Request under this Urgent Change Request.

 

sshot-2.png

 

sshot-3.png

 

The Urgent Change Request and Transport Request can be imported into Production system even if Q Gates/Milestones leading to Production system are in stage "Initial".

sshot-6.png

In above example , if I had tried to import a normal QGM Change Request and its TR to Quality/PreProd/Prod then I would get the following error;

 

sshot-9.png

However Urgent Change Request would sail pass this barricade smoothly and correction would be imported into Production system on priority.

 

Can we make use of Urgent Change Request in existing project after upgrade to SP10?

 

I tested this part and got to know that you can not make use of Urgent Change Requests in already running QGM Projects soon after upgrade to SP10. If you create a new QGM project in SP10 then this feature would be available by default.

 

Existing QGM Project would continue to have following option

 

sshot-1.png

 

New QGM Projects

 

sshot-4.png

 

Cheers,

Vivek

QGM improvements with Solution Manager 7.1 SP10

$
0
0

Solution Manager 7.1 SP10 brings improvements in many areas, as we have already seen here in SCN. Last month I was working with Quality Gate Management scenario (QGM), which is part of the Change Control Management, and could notice some improvements in this area too.

 

As in ChaRM, QGM has been integrated to Central CTS and to IT Calendar in SP10.

 

A new check was added during the set up of the project:

    • Disable transport release in Scope phase

 

Some features that we already had in ChaRM were introduced to QGM, such as:

    • Downgrade protection
    • Task Lists
    • Urgent Change
    • System logon

 

 

First of all, I recommend you to read the General Note for QGM 7.1: 1509091. This note mentions the new features, product limitations, authorization roles (I also mention some info about authorizations in my blog) and inform many other notes that must be checked depending on the Support Package you have.

 

One specific problem that I had was corrected by SAP note 1964353 - QGM: Landscape Graphics shows gray shapes since ST710 SP10mentioned in the General Note:

 

"Starting from 7.1 SP09; new SICF /SAP/PUBLIC/BC/QGM was created to provide access to QGM MIME repository. This service need to be kept activated otherwise the landscape graphic will not be displayed correctly."

 

 

Central CTS integration

 

Central CTS provides a technical infrastructure for the enhanced flexibility functions in Change Control Management. It can be used not only with ChaRM but also with QGM projects. There is an excellent doc about Central CTS here in SCN that I recommend: How To... Set Up cCTS for ChaRM and QGM

 

In QGM you will see a checkbox to define if you will use the new infrastructure or not during the set up:

 

qgm_img7.jpg

Disable transport release in Scope phase

 

During set up, in step 4 (Assign Quality Gates to System Roles) you can flag that Transport Release cannot be done in phase Scope:

 

qgm_img8.jpg

Trying to release original transports while phase is scope:

qgm_img1.jpg

 

 

Downgrade Protection

 

There is a new button in the QGM area of the Change Management work center where you select the projects (same area where you find Set up), for Downgrade Protection check:

qgm_img9.jpg

This button starts the Downgrade Protection check for the project you selected, and you can see it looking at the Details area:

qgm_img11.jpg

 

When releasing transports in QGM, if Downgrade Protection is active you will see if there are Conflicts. A message such as

 

"Release of transport XXXKNNNNNN, XXXKNNNNNN, XXXKNNNNNN canceled due to open conflicts" will be shown.

qgm_img2.jpg

In this case, the release action has been canceled. You need to identify the conflicts and either set their status to "Ignored" to ignore them or try to solve the conflicts manually. Then you can repeat the release action.

It's important to consider that if you ignore the conflicts, the system will no longer consider these conflicts and execute the action. Ignoring conflicts might lead to inconsistencies, so be very careful.

Picture below shows the details of a Downgrade Protection check:

qgm_img3.jpg

Task List in QGM:

 

From SP10 on, a Task List can be created for the QGM Project. Below you can see an example of an implementation project with QGM active and a task list created:

qgm_img4.jpg

 

qgm_img5.jpg

 

If you work with Maintenance projects, you can create a maintenance cycle. In this case, instead of having the End of Project Q-Gate, you have a Q-Gate called Deploy to Scope.


It’s possible now to import only transports from a change, instead of all the transports of a project. An import subset is done in this case, not import project, but then keep in mind there are risks of wrong import order and downgrades:



qgm_img6.jpg


Urgent Change in QGM


Besides the transaction type SMQC for Changes in QGM that we already know, which was introduced in SolMan 7.1 since the first Support Package, now there is a new transaction type SMQU, which means QGM Urgent Change.

Vivek Hegde has already mentioned in details this new feature introduced to Quality Gate Management in his blog.


System Logon


In the Details area, below tab System Landscape Graphic, there is now a button for Logon to the systems. You select one of the systems of your project landscape and then click Logon to jump to the system (if you use the work center in a web browser, it will ask you to open SAP GUI)

qgm_img12.jpg


qgm_img13.jpg


Integration to IT Calendar


Again in the Details area you have tab "Calendar View". In this screen you see your project milestones in a calendar, and now there is a button "IT Calendar" to take you to the IT Calendar in Solution Manager. Tobias Hauk has explained a bit about this feature in his blog New features of Change Request Management (ChaRM) with SP10 (FP2).

qgm_img14.jpg

The IT Calendar integrated to QGM and ChaRM allows you to establish a central calendar for all your projects and changes:

    • Change cycle phases
    • Change transactions
    • QGM phases
    • QGM Q-Gates and milestones


Please be aware of some required settings that need to be configured in Solution Manager:


  • Specify for which system roles the entries will be created in the IT calendar for change cycle phases and QGM phases,.
  • Specify a threshold for the grouping of similar objects (example: set a threshold of 5 for Request for Change means that all requests for change on a particular date are grouped if their number exceeds 5).

 

Ex. of one of the IT Calendar settings:

qgm_img15.jpg

 

IT Calendar showing QGM project phases:

qgm_img16.jpg

You will find more information about IT Calendar in this blog: IT Calendar and CHARM integration Solman 7.1 SP10 (How To)

ITSM / ChaRM Data Migration: some typical customer cases...

$
0
0

In this new blog, I'd like to elaborate on one very particular aspect of the SAP Solution Manager Upgrade Projects for which I already provided some insights there: http://scn.sap.com/community/it-management/alm/solution-manager/blog/2013/11/22/solution-manager-71--fresh-installation-or-upgrade--some-experiences-from-the-field. To be more specific, I would like to expose the main Data Migration scenarios challenges I could observe on various projects with the adoption of Solution Manager 7.1...

 

The preferred path to the release 7.1 of SAP Solution Manager is in most cases -as discussed in the previous blog- the upgrade of the existing system . It removes hidden costs and allows to leverage existing master data (logical components, iBase/Components, User Master Records, Business Partner Master Records etc.). Nevertheless, an upgrade also means radical changes in the CRM engine powering IT Service Management (ITSM) and Change Request Management (ChaRM) :

  • CRM 5.0 is replaced by CRM 7.0 EhP1
  • User Interfaces change from classical SAP GUI to SAP CRM Web UI
  • New 7.1 transaction types (SMIN, SMCR, SMMJ etc.) replace the old 7.0 transaction types (SLFN, SDCR etc.)
  • After the Upgrade, processing of 7.0 transactions is allowed, but only new 7.1 transactions shall be created

Image 4 640.jpg

The schema above (source: SAP) describes the transition phase for ITSM / ChaRM

 

For the organizations that have been using Incident Management or Change Request Management for an extended period and heavily rely on those scenarios to support internal or external audits, this historical data is very precious and needs to be retained.

Unluckily, when upgrading to Solution Manager 7.1, it ends up more or less like having two different tools : the 'legacy' with ABAP tickets and the 'new' one with CRM WebUI tickets. And during the transition period, you have to jump constantly from one tool to another, which is frustrating from an end-user perspective and do not help the adoption of the target 7.1 solution.

To avoid such a situation and to allow a lean and smooth transition to Solution Manager 7.1 ticket usage, the option of performing a full Data Migration can be considered. Here are the typical cases I encountered :

 

(1) - "Migration" of the 7.0 ABAP tickets into 7.1 CRM WebUI tickets within the same upgraded Solution Manager.

In this scenario, the Solution Manager is upgraded (master data are kept...) and the old ABAP tickets are of course accessible in CRM_DNO_MONITOR.

But to simplify the transition, the open tickets are migrated into the target 7.1 transaction types. The ticket number and statuses usually are identical, the metadata (processing log, changes to document) are retrieved as well as all attachments, text entries, business partners assignments etc.

Closed tickets can be migrated as well, and put in a closed (read-only) status in the target ticket type.

If some data mapping or transformation is required, management rules are implemented. Even more important, exception rules are implemented to manage missing or irrelevant data cases.

SOMITO-1.jpg

Some advanced migration tasks can also be considered :

  • Creation of document flow (linkage between tickets)
  • Assignment of Transport Requests (modifiable and even released one) to Change Documents
  • Re-assignment of Change Documents to new Project cycles
  • Upload of Cross-System Object Lock entries in Solution Manager

 

(2) - "Migration" of the 7.0 ABAP tickets into 7.1 CRM WebUI tickets between two different Solution Manager systems.

In this scenario, an "old" Solution Manager contains the ABAP tickets and will be decommissioned. A new fresh installation of Solution Manager 7.1 is performed. This strategy brings new challenges, as the complete set of master data do change as well !

During the migration, ticket numbers are often kept, the statuses are identical, the metadata (processing log, changes to document) might also be transferred (auditing purposes). And for sure all attachments, text entries... are migrated as well. The migration scope certainly involves all open tickets, for which further processing will be required afterwards. But usually also all closed tickets that will be migrated into read-only documents. Like in the previous scenario, data management and exceptions management rules are utmost important.

SOMITO-2.jpg

The same advanced migration tasks as mentioned earlier can be considered :

  • Creation of document flow (linkage between tickets)
  • Assignment of Transport Requests (modifiable and even released one) to Change Documents
  • Re-assignment of Change Documents to new Project cycles
  • Upload of Cross-System Object Lock entries in Solution Manager

 

(3) - "Migration" of tickets from a Legacy (non-SAP) tool into Solution Manager 7.1 CRM WebUI tickets.

In this last scenario, a third-party tool (Remedy, Lotus Notes etc.) holds all the tickets that should be migrated, as it will be decommissioned by SAP Solution Manager 7.1 (fresh installation). This strategic move offers a lot of opportunities, as Solution Manager is not simply a ticketing tool but a comprehensive and integrated IT Management platform.

In this scenario, the complexity is to extract from the legacy tool a structured list of all existing tickets, with all key information that will be required to populate SolMan ITSM/ChaRM tickets. Beforehand, a complete set of master data has to be created in Solution Manager and the target processes have to be designed and implemented before migrating.

Finally, the migration can be performed, mass creation of 7.1 tickets in the target system. A common requirement is that the ticket get generated with their original creation date (in the past). The metadata (processing log, changes to document) can be transferred as text file and attached to the ticket like all other kind of attachments. And again the migration scope encompasses both open and closed tickets.

As previously data management and exceptions management rules are a key to data migration success.

SOMITO-4.jpg

At last, some advanced treatments can be requested post migration, similar to the one we exposed earlier.

  • Assignment of Transport Requests (modifiable, sometime released one) to Change Documents.
  • Assignment of Change Documents to new Project cycles
  • Upload of Cross-System Object Lock entries in Solution Manager using standard function modules

 

In a nutshell,

those are the main data migration scenarios and challenges I had to deal with so far. This return on experience relies on 15 migration projects, ranging from few thousands of tickets up to a massive 100,000 tickets. Each and every single of those project falls into one of the category described here, and even though the expectations and constraints were always somewhat different, my objective here was to emphasize the common patterns...

Hopefully this small overview was interesting for the community. If you have particular questions or inquiries, feel free to post your questions or to contact me directly..

SAP Job Progress Monitoring available for download in Apple's App Store

$
0
0

Does this sound familiar to you:

…based on time-based schedulers, resulting in latency, idle time and gaps in critical processes. It took many people with “eyes on screens” watching everything to make sure the billing and payment are correct….."

 

Would you like to predict if your background jobs end on time? Imagine the following scenario:

During the evening, in production environment the over-night batch job chains are started.

The IT application manager is already at home. From his mobile device he logon to the company network, and launches the job progress monitor from his mobile device. The app shows him the overall status of the over-night batch chains.

He can easily identify how many jobs are completed already and how many are still in the waiting queue, when the over-night batch job chains can complete and are the key performance indicators required by the business department can be fulfilled or endangered.

The collection manager can easily check the payment job and can post payments as soon as they are received.

 

 

The SAP Job Progress Monitor application in SAP Solution Manager provides the following functionalities:

  • Group multiple job chains to monitor together
  • View overall group progress and job chain progress; drill down to job details
  • View the current activity distribution (percentage of active, scheduled, completed, and canceled jobs) within each group or job chain
  • View runtimes and estimated and actual end times of job chains
  • Send a snapshot of job chain progress by e-mail
  • Call a Solution Manager Scheduling Enabler (SMSE)-certified external scheduler such as SAP CPS by Redwood

 

The application is available for download from the following app stores: 

 

The configuration is explained in chapter two of the setup guide.

 

Please note that the SAP Job Progress Monitor requires an SMSE-certified external job scheduler like SAP CPS by Redwood and is available as of Support Package 10 of SAP Solution Manager.

Standard SAP Configuration to send SMS through SMSGlobal

$
0
0

Hi,

I was playing around and I found this excellent Document about how to send SMS from SAP,  from Dinesh Singh,

 

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-18406

 

My idea is help you in test this funcionality

 

You need to open an account in http://www.smsglobal.com/ and then go to the API Keys
Screen Shot 2014-03-17 at 5.05.14 PM.png

 

Now you can go to SCOT and Update the URL connection using the following.

 

http://www.smsglobal.com/http-api.php?action=sendsms&user=5psx0scp&password=<password>&from=+56911111111&to=<reci_addr>&text=<message>

 

Now you are able to send SMS from SAP :-))


SAP Insider Admin 2014 Solution Manager Jump Start - Part 1 - Key SAP Notes

$
0
0

Today I attended the Solution Manager jump start session with SAP's John Krakowski

 

It was packed full of information.  I will share what I can.

 

John said for Solution Manager it is "the Why and not just the What"

 

He said Solution Manager "helps support the lines of business, bring things together so company can stay at “competitive” edge"

 

He mentioned his theme for today "Two value releases per year"

 

He said if you are doing a Solution Manager 7.1 release tomorrow to go to SP11

 

He said the release strategy is listed in note 394616

 

For every support package for SolMan there is a Release Information Note (RIN); he said this is the most critical note BEFORE applying SP to system

 

  • Main note that 1595736 – a list of RINs for a specific support package – read it
  • Limits, restrictions, gotchas, prerequisites

 

He explained that a customer experienced pain re: diagnostic agents; SAP messages opened but the issue is described in RIN

 

He suggested being proactive and that RINs are critical

 

Another challenge is the diagnostic agent

 

SAP notes 1365123  - 1858920 – 1473974 – outlines automatic updater for automatic systems let Solution Manager update systems


Service & Support Tools – ABAP Managed systems

  • Update them when have a maintenance window
  • -Use Service & Support tools to gather and send to SolMan

 

LMDB– with 7.1 you are up close and personal with LMDB and need more data than SLD provides

  • SolMan is the only end to end support
  • Need a central repository for the systems
  • Key 1734860 is a key note
    • Lists all of LMDB resources

 

If you haven’t yet upgraded or installed 7.1 – ensure set up SAP Monitoring – greatly enhanced in 7.1 – improved in 7.10 to keep finger on pulse of SolMan – SAP administrative work center

 

He said to let it be early warning system

 

One common major challenge that all customers have – performance in SolMan system – sizing wise, technically Solman has enough hardware but it is not tuned.  How to troubleshoot?  See SAP Note 1835721 for performance troubleshooting tips and tricks

 

More to come!

JohnK.PNG

SAP Insider Admin 2014 Solution Manager Jump Start Part 2 - Releases

$
0
0

This is part 2 of my notes from today's Admin 2014 Solution Manager Jump Start with SAP's John Krakowski

 

Part 1 is here SAP Insider Admin 2014 Solution Manager Jump Start - Part 1 - Key SAP Notes

 

SAP Mobile Solution Manager apps: You can learn about these at http://help.sap.com/solutionmanager71 then select http://help.sap.com/sm-mobileapps

  • End user experience mobile apps
  • Performance and availability
  • Keep finger on pulse of remote locations
  • It is a web dynpro? Yes
  • Does it use Gateway? Yes, that is out of the boxs

 

SP10 has dashboard apps

 

Business Process Monitoring which is a “sister application” has over 300 indicators

 

Solution Manager has over 10K productive installations with 300 go lives every month

 

It is ITIL verified and the first one to have 15 processes verified

1fig.PNG

Figure 1: Source: SAP

 

Figure 1 shows the ICC which is looking at projects timelines

 

OCC helps IT administrators what is going on in business

 

MCC is premium engagement – Max Attention – direct access to Mission Control Center in Newtown Square.  If you have requirements and see SAP standard functionality not met SAP looks at it.  If can’t be done, what is planned.  Goal is to reduce custom code and to help customers reduce custom code.

2fig.PNG

Figure 2: Source: SAP

 

John said “not one tool that does it all like SolMan” (Figure 2)

 

Wherever you start – have assurance that integration is guaranteed

 

How well can tools support the latest products available to you from SAP?

 

Are existing tools enabled to support HANA?  Solution manager today can run and operate your HANA project

 

SolMan is keeping in step with latest products

3fig.PNG

Figure 3: Source: SAP

 

John wants everyone attending the Jump Start to publish a quote similar to the one in Figure 3.

 

He suggested focusing on a particular pain point

 

Take away from him was when you have a key issue/challenge – include Solution Manager as part of the conversation

 

Two Value Releases

4fig.PNG

Figure 4: Source: SAP

 

Nervous about custom mods and nervous when doing custom mods and hundreds of transports

 

Testing effort is huge and doing soup to nuts testing

 

Downtime windows are shrinking

 

White paper released (SMP logon req'd) this talks about how customers can accelerate and improve major releases and projects through business suite. 

 

This 70+ page white paper should be used as a baseline to compare against you are managing areas and see how you align with what SAP recommends to customers.  Something to compare against as opposed to calling in SAP or whoever you bring in

 

Core components

5fig.PNG

Figure 5: Source: SAP

 

Figure 5 shows the costs of managing changes based on some assumptions

6fig.PNG

Figure 6: Source: SAP

 

Regression testing, downgrades – if this is in DNA, SAP is offering tools to work a synchronized strategy

 

You define windows for a major releases and minor releases

 

Looking to build a schedule to align projects to.  Today many are using spreadsheets / project is part of it

 

What are the tools to help you align?

 

7fig.PNG

Figure 7: Source: SAP

 

If doing SP’s then apply a technical enhancement package if available.  This is a best practice.

 

How can from an IT point of view always consider applying the available enhancement packages to your system

 

SAP wants this to be a starting point to reduce your custom modifications

8fig.PNG

Figure 8: Source: SAP

 

Why? In terms of performance tuning, latest code line, especially related to HANA

 

SAP is developing a new code line for HANA

 

If have a HANA based system there is a separate SP for HANA based systems

 

Efficiencies are realized taking advantage of enhancement packages

 

To be continued...

Automation of Early Watch Alerts

$
0
0

Maybe you know the problem - Early Watch Alerts are created in Solution Manager and tables DSVASRESULTSGEN and DSVASRESULTSATTR get bigger and bigger. You can send the EWAs as email, but still the data remains in the database.

 

So after the email setup (hint: running report RDSMOP_MAIN can save a lot of time*), best thing to do is to configure a periodically job with RDSMOPREDUCEDATA as step (see https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/546685). E. g. you can delete all sessions of specific SIDs and leave sessions not older than 90 days.

 

solman1.jpg

Selection of multiple SIDs

 

solman2.jpg

Set retention

 

If you're running on Oracle on Linux / UNIX, you can use this cronjob to reorganize the tables:

 

0 1 4 1,3,5,7,9,11 * su - ora<SID> -s /bin/sh -c "brspace -c force -f tbreorg -a reorg -t DSVASRESULTSGEN"

0 1 5 1,3,5,7,9,11 * su - ora<SID> -s /bin/sh -c "brspace -c force -f tbreorg -a reorg -t DSVASRESULTSATTR"

 

* Although SAP has put a message which doesn't allow customers to use the old SOLUTION_MANAGER / DSWP transaction, you can still run the report in SE38 and use the old GUI:

 

solman3.jpg

ARIS vs Solution Manager

$
0
0


There is a common question during Implementation projects that the customer and project team always ask - Why ARIS & Solman and why not just one of them.

 

This blog aims to clearly provide a distinction among the two.

 

ARIS is an Enterprise Level Business Process Modeling tool. The Business Strategy of the Organization gives birth to Business Processes across the different Organizational Unit. These are drafted in the ARIS modeling tool as a 7 level structure.

What is distinctly different in ARIS is that it does not matter if the Process broken upto the Process step or activity or task is running on SAP or any other system. ARIS just aims to map all the processes that runs in the Enterprise.

 

The IT Strategy leads to a "Project" - an implementation, upgrade or other kind of project. If this project is an SAP Project, then we could use Solution Manager in addition to ARIS.

What Solution Manager does is to import the Business Process from ARIS to a 3 level structure and "translate" these processes into the "SAP Objects world", namely the Transactions, IMG Objects, Dev. objects, etc.

Basically Solman in that sense is merely a "Translator". Business Process translated to the equivalent SAP Object.

The Business processe now gets a Transaction, Program, Job or other SAP objects assigned against it, the IMG documentation, other project documentation gets added etc. thereby completing the translation to an SAP world.

 

So

Business Strategy -> ARIS

IT Strategy -> SAP Project -> Solution Manager

 

The key point is - tomorrow if the Business process that is in ARIS need to run on a mobile device or a third party system replacing SAP etc, these processes should still be available on ARIS. The SAP translated objects just gets replaced with the new system that is being implemented.

 

Now, what are the synchronization directions?

 

ARIS -> Solution Manager

 

From ARIS all the Business processes that are "In Scope" for the Solution Manager "Project" should be synchronized from ARIS to Solman

Ideally, for the Business Processes the synchronization should always be one sided. From ARIS to Solman. This is because of where we started this article from - the processes at the Enterprise level is irrespective of whether they run in SAP or non-SAP. The processes should first be defined in ARIS and if they are running in the SAP systems then they are translated into the SAP object world in Solman!!!

 

Solution Manager -> ARIS

Any SAP artefacts that are created during the "Project" have to be synchronized from Solution Manager to ARIS.

We start with the "Project" itself.

 

First synchronize the Solman project into ARIS, copy the processes into this project and then start your synchronization to Solman.

 

Next will be the "Document types" and related "Status values". These have to be defined in Solman project and then imported into ARIS and reused from the Process Library against the processes.

Also the "Systems" which are created in the System Landscape need to be synchronized into ARIS. Note here that the Systems (SAP & non SAP legacy systems) are added to the LMDB of Solman thereby completing the Technical landscape documentation and then grouped into logical components are assigned to the Project. This is now reverse synchronized to ARIS.

 

You could also create "End User Roles" in Solman and synchronize back to ARIS.

 

In summary any SAP objects that need to be depicted in the process flow on ARIS has to be created in Solman and send back to ARIS.

 

Hope now that this article provides clarity on whether ARIS and Solman need to co-exist. Once again - Yes, they should!!!

What is the added value of SAP Solution Manager to your business?

$
0
0

Dear reader

 

As service delivery manager in charge of promoting Solution Manager the first thing that I found it interesting is : a customer within SAP Enterprise Support and SAP MaxAttention we have no addittional license fees to pay.

Interesting link: https://websmp109.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000033422011E/__start.htm

 

Since we implemented the automated registration of incidents in our sevice management tool thanks to SAP Solution Manager.The next steps is to implement CHARM.Still it is not easy to convince new customers.What are your arguments to convince your customers to go onboard with SAP Solution Manager?

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Kind regards,

Theressa.

Viewing all 337 articles
Browse latest View live


<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>