Tag: SAP Cloud ALM

For posts relating to CALM

SAP Cloud ALM – What’s New in Week 22

SAP Cloud ALM keeps evolving, bringing sharper tools and improved workflows to help users better oversee their landscapes. This latest update highlights the impactful enhancements from the past two weeks. With a focus on usability and expanded capabilities, each change is designed to simplify daily tasks and boost overall efficiency. If you missed the previous post in our update series, you can find it here.

Administration

User Management has 2 new updates:

The Approval Requests card has been renamed to Role Assignment Requests.

There is also a new card available called Role Assignment Configuration. New card allows user administrators to turn off the automatic assignment of roles in SAP Cloud ALM, providing flexibility to use custom roles instead of SAP-delivered standard roles. This is beneficial for organizations with internal role management systems, ensuring that user authorizations align with their specific requirements.

  • Activate this feature to turn on the automatic assignment of roles.
  • Deactivate this feature to turn off the automatic assignment of roles.

Keep in mind that turning off the automatic assignment of roles, all current role assignment requests will be deleted. Also note that user administrators need to take care of the role assignment.

Implementation

Test Plans introduced Testing Sequence feature which allows Users to define the sequence of test cases within a test plan. The defined sequence determines the order in which the test cases are displayed in the Test Execution app.

To add a sequence to the unordered test case list, choose Add Sequence. Then enter numbers (without decimals) to represent each test case’s position in the sequence.

Test Execution displays now Sequence column showing predefined logical sequence added in Test Plans application.

Processes allows now users to view additional attributes in the solution process viewer for assigned library elements.

  • For Applications assigned to solution activities, users can now see the Application ID as well as the Type, Title, technical ID and icon if the assignment was created in the Process Authoring app.
  • For any Interfaces assigned to solution processes and Configurations assigned to solution processes or activities, a new column shows you the Category of that library.

Clicking the title of the assigned library element allows users to navigate directly to its corresponding entity in the Libraries app.  For application assignments that originate from standard content, it’s not possible to navigate directly to the Libraries app as the corresponding application does not exist there.

Documents has new interface library relation available. Users can now assign or unassign relations to the interfaces library elements from within the Documents app. Allowing to see the assigned relations listed in the table Interfaces on the object page of a document.

Several apps

SAP has released new how-to videos to help users get more from SAP Cloud ALM:

These quick guides offer practical tips for improving efficiency and managing changes effectively.

Operations

Integration & Exception Monitoring supports now monitoring messages for SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud Version 2. Users get a detailed status overview of the incoming and outgoing messages and it’s possible to drill down to single messages to check individual issues and message details.

Business Service Management allows now to configure reminders in the form of Event Actions x minutes, hours, or days before the Maintenance event starts. For this, users need to have the Business Service Management Administrator role in application.

For event actions such as email, chat notification, and operation flow, it’s possible to set the Condition to Before Start and enter the Time in the following range:

  • Minutes: 5 minutes – 44640 minutes
  • Hours: 1 hour – 744 hours
  • Days: 1 day – 31 days

Several areas

Get to know SAP Cloud ALM, Required Setup section now features helpful videos to guide global administrators through the steps that are necessary to set up SAP Cloud ALM for productive use.

Additionally, it’s possible to indicate which steps have been completed by choosing Mark as Done.

There’s quite a bit of information to explore – feel free to watch the videos, review the descriptions, or follow the step-by-step instructions at your own pace. If anything is unclear or you need assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out – we’re here to help.

​​SAP Cloud ALM – What’s New in Week 20

SAP Cloud ALM continues to grow with every update, delivering smarter tools and smoother experiences for users managing their landscapes. This update brings users the key enhancements introduced over the past two weeks. From usability improvements to expanded functionality, these changes are all about making day-to-day operations more streamlined and effective.

Services

Issues and Actions Management has 2 new Features available.

Users can now view the existing comments by default in the Issue/Actions Details page. Earlier, the comments had to be accessed manually using Show/Hide Comments.

Overview page has new filters available for the issues and/or actions, allowing users to filter by Priority, Status, and SO Number.

SAP Business Transformation Center

Modeling introduced new Associated Cycles tab in the Transformation Model Version app. This tab lists all cycles that have been derived from the selected transformation model version.

Cycle and Monitoring allows now to restart the cycle preparation and cycle transformation while still in progress, even with the status “In Progress with Error”.

Implementation

Analytics has new export to PDF feature in the Requirement Distribution app. This allows users to export requirement traceability data into a PDF format, including a cover page, table of contents, and detailed requirement information. This functionality is beneficial for users who need to share or archive traceability data in a standardized and easily accessible format.

Documents allows now to create templates for the consistent structure of documents and use them for the document creation.

In Libraries it’s now possible to maintain relations between interfaces by assigning and unassigning interfaces in the app.

Processes has 2 new updates available.

When calling up the details for a solution process in the Solution Process Viewer, users can now see information about any interfaces that are assigned to it. As well as the name of any assigned interfaces, users can also see their respective IDs and icon representing the Process Authoring app as the origin of where these interface library types were created.

The Interfaces section is currently only shown if corresponding assignments exist.

Users can now see the respective IDs for any requirements, user stories and tasks that are assigned to a solution process. Furthermore, to make it easier to find the right items when assigning requirements, user stories or tasks to a process, users can now search through the list of proposed values using either parts of their title, their ID, or the scope title.

Operations

Configuration & Security Analysis allows now users to mark preferred managed components as Favorites. Managed components that are marked as Favorites show up in the Favorites section of the home page. And they are displayed even if they aren’t included in the selected scope. This allows users to quickly navigate frequently used or preferred managed components without having to define the scope every time.

RISE with SAP

System View has enhanced the Upgrade Assessment card under Software Stack category and renamed it to SAP Readiness Check Key Results. The card now provides an overview of the most important findings of the latest SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA Upgrades run for system. Users can assess if they’re prepared to upgrade system or estimate the effort required for it.

The card displays the following key results:

  • Number of Relevant Simplification Items
  • Number of Relevant Compatibility Scope Items
  • Number of Total Custom Code Findings
  • Number of Impacted Remote Interfaces
  • Number of Unavailable & Deprecated Apps in the target release
  • Number of Recommended SAP Fiori Apps

To initiate a new SAP Readiness Check, choose New Analysis. To view all the details of the last SAP Readiness Check run, choose Latest Result.

​​SAP Cloud ALM – What’s New in Week 16 and 18

The latest SAP Cloud ALM enhancements are here!  

With the latest updates, SAP continues to fine-tune and expand its capabilities, streamlining operations, boosting productivity, and making your daily work easier. In this edition, we highlight the key enhancements from the past 4 weeks, giving you a quick and clear look at the newest features designed to simplify workflows and elevate the user’s experience. 

SAP Business Transformation Center 

Modeling has this time 2 new updates available.  

There is now a new tab called Transformation Tables, in the Manage Transformation Model app, where users can see a list of all tables from the corresponding transformation model taking part in the migration project. A Transformation Tables tab is also available in the Transformation Model Versions app, where users can see a list of all tables that are part of the corresponding transformation model version. 

A new write behavior type Delete and Insert is also now available. It allows users to delete all records from a custom transformation object in an SAP S/4HANA target table and refill it with data from the source system, ensuring the table contains only the latest data.  

In Cycle and Monitoring now the target system preparation phase automatically deletes HCM Configuration table data, if copied from source system during shell system creation. 

Implementation 

Processes has a new solution scenario, SAP Services Content for Airline Backoffice now available and has been added to the list of supported solutions for Process Management. 

Test Preparation introduced 3 new enhancements. 

Test Preparation allows now a mass-upload of manual test cases from scratch by using a spreadsheet. It’s also possible to use the template provided directly in the app, if needed. 

Users can now also upload test cases that are based on SAP Best Practices test scripts. These test scripts can be found in the relevant solution processes, under Accelerators. 

The SAP Best Practices test scripts are based on entire solution processes, so it’s recommended to adjust them to users’ needs before uploading them. It’s also recommended limiting the number of activities to 20 and the number of actions to 100 per test case. 

Under Relations, users can now assign interface library elements to test cases. This helps to ensure the interface’s test coverage and improve overall traceability throughout implementation project. It also lets users track the statuses of related test cases from the Libraries app. 

Tasks has 4 new updates this time.  

Tasks introduced the possibility to assign multiple processes to project tasks, requirements, user stories, and defects using Mass Edit functionality. 

It’s also possible now to assign sprints and other timeboxes as start and end dates to items via the Task API. 

Changes made to custom fields in Tasks API are now visible in the history.  

There’s new role template task manger imp_tkm_TaskManager is available. Assigning this role template to a role collection, user can manage user stories, project tasks, requirements, test cases, defects, and quality gates. It’s recommended to combining this role template with the Project Viewer role collection to enable navigating to all related entities.  

In Projects and Setup, the SAP Activate Roadmap SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition (3-system landscape) – Implementation, is now available in Japanese. 

Features has now Transport of copies notification available. If the creation, release, or import of a transport of copies fails, the user who triggered the action receives a notification. 

In Cross-Project Overview, the Process Hierarchy Assignments app now includes new columns and tabs for Test Preparation and Test Execution, enhancing user experience by providing structured access to test-related data. 

There’s also a new column configuration for library type, allowing users to view and manage library elements assigned to hierarchy nodes. 

In Libraries it’s now possible to display test cases that were assigned to interfaces. Links can be used to navigate to the Test Preparation app. 

Requirements has 2 new updates this time: 

For requirement statuses and approval states, there is now a controlled and structured workflow to ensure that approvals follow a defined process. 

To ensure that the scope of a requirement is locked and no longer changeable, the descriptions of requirements that have been set to the following approval states or requirement statuses are now read-only: 

Requirement statuses: 

  • Successfully Tested 
  • Confirmed 
  • In Approval 

Approval states: 

  • No Approval Required 
  • Rejected 

Operations 

Configuration & Security Analysis now supports monitoring for:  

  • SAP security recommendation data for SAP Custom Domain service, Cloud Foundry environment 
  • SAP security recommendation data for SAP Cloud Logging service. 

Configuration & Security Analysis has also enhancement to the download functionality in the Changes page. There are now additional options to download the entries in the Stores table in the Changes page.  

The available options are: 

  • Download Table – Downloads the Stores table. 
  • Download Table with Changed Items – Downloads the Stores table and the details of changed items in the stores. 

Real User Monitoring introduced new service type view. Now, the New Request Overview enhances the existing Request Overview page by allowing users to filter and view dimensions such as Service Name, Request Name, Request Type, and Action. This improvement provides a comprehensive overview of service metrics, aiding users in better analyzing and managing their requests efficiently. 

Job & Automation Monitoring now supports resolution P, the metric value for the provided period, is now supported in Job & Automation Monitoring Analytics API. 

Business Service Management allows now to receive events of type Planned Availability. These events from SAP are for private cloud systems. These are usually up-time reservations that are required to perform a service request. These events are either created by SAP or in the Event Calendar. Users can also configure Event Actions for this event type. 

In Business Process Monitoring, it’s now possible to create up to 15 custom KPIs for components based on SAP BTP. Once the initial setup is completed, the custom KPIs can be used for monitoring purposes in the same way as standard KPIs, allowing users to get fully personalized insights tailored to specific business needs. 

RISE with SAP 

System View has now enhanced Software Stack Assessment, to align with the clean core principles, ensuring that system is always on the latest SAP S/4HANA release or at least the latest feature package stack. It’s equally important to install the latest feature package stack/support package stack to take advantage of SAP-delivered innovations and mitigate security risks. 

Besides checking the status of the current SAP S/4HANA release installed on system, users can now assess if software stack has the status Innovation-Ready and Security-Compliant. 

Services 

Service Results has a new subsection, called Issue Overview, under the Management Summary at the template level. It shows the overview of issues embedded in the content of the service results. 

Several Areas* 

It’s now possible to instantly translate any SAP Help Portal page into 39 languages using AI-powered machine translation. 

SAP Cloud ALM is now available in the following additional languages, which users can select in profile settings: 

  • Czech 
  • Croatian 
  • Dutch 
  • Polish 
  • Slovak 
  • Thai 
  • Ukrainian 
  • Vietnamese 

Flexibles Change Management with SAP Cloud ALM

How to get started – step by step and with a clear focus

New requirements from the business, legal adjustments, technological innovations – all of this is daily business and has an impact on SAP landscapes.

This makes it all the more important to have change management that does not “paralyze”, but rather supports, guides and ultimately creates freedom again. However, the question often arises when starting out:

How much structure is enough? And how much freedom is allowed?

The answer is: it depends – on the maturity level of your organization, the governance requirements and the system landscape.

If done correctly, SAP Cloud ALM offers a flexible but clear model for this: change management with increasing maturity. It allows you to start lean – and scale up in a targeted manner when complexity or compliance requirements increase.

Our experience at blue.works

We have already implemented different variants in practice – from super lean to fully integrated. And our clear insight: 

There is no right or wrong – only “What suits the organization?”

Because every organization is set up differently:

  • Some teams need quick implementation without a lot of bureaucracy.
  • Others need clear approval channels and complete ITSM processes.

Our task: to develop the right setup together – pragmatic, efficient and capable of growth.

Feature-controlled start – “Super Lean”

Minimum effort, maximum effect.

This variant has a clear focus on teams that want to start quickly but do not want to compromise on traceability and efficiency.

How it works:

The “feature” object is at the center. This is controlled by defined statuses (“In test”, “Successfully tested”, “Ready for production”, etc.) and forms the basis for change verifications. Approvals or other control elements are partially omitted. Why “in part”? Quite simply, the feature in SAP Cloud ALM already provides a good status flow. In the future, it will also be possible to attach a test case to the feature and work with additional roles (developers, testers). If this is not enough, an external workflow engine can also be connected.

Advantages: 

  • Good Workflow 
  • Reduction of unnecessary permits
  • Transparent implementation and simple test verification (later also via test case)

Restrictions: 

  • No integration in incident or test case management (planned)
  • Traceability is made more difficult for more complex projects
  • No automatic link to ITSM processes

Recommendation: For organizations that want to get started pragmatically – without investing time in oversized processes.

Requirement-driven expansion – “Lean with approval”

More structure – without losing mobility.

This is where the request becomes the central control instance. It serves as the basis for approvals and can bundle several features. The request is therefore something like a “change request”.

What it brings:

  • Simple extension of the change process if initial guidelines, approvals or internal specifications are to take effect
  • Linking test cases directly in the request
  • Possibility to group features with a common goal

Advantages: 

  • Increased degree of control
  • Better transparency for larger projects
  • More security for quality-critical changes

Restrictions: 

  • Not yet a complete incident process
  • Depending on the governance, maintenance can become more complex
  • The “naming” does not fit quite so well (“requirement” instead of “change request”).

Recommendation: For organizations with moderate compliance requirements that want to enable controlled freedom.

Fully integrated – “Lean with ITSM integration”

When all systems talk – and you keep track of everything.

In this variant, SAP Cloud ALM is integrated into an existing ITSM tool – e.g. via the blue.works alm360 Hub, which, thanks to its flexible architecture, can integrate any ITSM tool that offers an external interface (API). This creates a seamless process from incident to change and deployment management. This is an important step towards the “Business Transformation Suite”.

What this makes possible:

  • Classic change process including approvals, documentation and traceability 
  • Clear assignment of incidents to transports
  • Consistent end-to-end transparency  

Advantages: 

  • Optimal governance for complex environments
  • Central control across all tools
  • Traceability and compliance ensured throughout

Restrictions: 

  • Technical integration required
  • Higher initial outlay, but sustainable benefits 

Recommendation: For companies that want to set up their entire IT transformation strategically and do not want to take any risks in terms of quality and control.

Conclusion: Start smart. Scale with clarity. 

Every change needs structure – but not every structure has to be complicated. The big advantage of the SAP Cloud ALM approach is that you can start where you are today.

Whether you are a small, agile feature team or manage complex corporate IT: with the right setup, you not only achieve clean go-lives – you also create the basis for: 

  • Efficiency in implementation
  • Transparency across all levels
  • Trust between business, IT and external partners

Want to know which model suits your setup? We accompany you from the idea to implementation – tried and tested, based on partnership and goal-oriented.

SAP Cloud ALM – What’s New in week 14

The latest SAP Cloud ALM-Updates enhancements are here! 

As SAP continues to evolve, new features and refinements are introduced to help optimize processes and improve efficiency. This update covers the most important improvements from the past two weeks, giving a clear overview of the latest capabilities designed to simplify workflows and enhance the user experience. 

Services 

In Issues and Actions Management it’s now possible to set the status of a standalone action to Accepted to acknowledge the action to SAP. 

Issues and Actions Management now allows to view the System assigned to an issue or a standalone action by the service delivery consultant. This gives users an insight into which System the issue or the standalone action is associated with, and users can take the necessary steps to execute it. 

Implementation

In Projects and Setup, when users add systems to a system group, the business types of the systems are now displayed. 

Processes now allows to create scope from a DDA spreadsheet file for SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition to avoid manual effort on users side, as well as for the public edition. In addition, for the SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition solution scenario, the Solution Scenario Version drop-down list now shows the latest version only. 

Keep in mind that the DDA spreadsheet file format for the private edition differs slightly from that on the public edition.    

Process Hierarchy Assignments introduced side panel UI redesign. Now, the information presented in the tabs in the side panel is formatted in the form of tables to make navigating and viewing the contained information easier. 

For the Features app, the Developer role is now available. With this role, users can create and assign transports and transport references, and create transport of copies.  

Analytics has 2 new updates.  

New features have been added to enhance defect reporting in the Defect Reporting app. It works by aligning the Time Frame filter with the start and end dates of chosen test plans. This ensures accurate data representation across all tabs. In response, charts and tables in the History, Created vs. Resolved, and Defect Distribution tabs adjust accordingly. 

The requirement distribution by release feature allows users to view requirements categorized by release through a new dropdown entry in both the Overview and Analytics apps. This feature is beneficial for tracking and analyzing requirements across different releases, enhancing project management and planning efficiency. 

The new app Guided Implementation is now available. It provides a structured step-by-step approach for the work on the tasks that were assigned to users and user roles. 

There’s a welcome screen in the app, which provides guidance on the topics that should be worked on. Project leads can also use it to navigate to the Analytics app. 

Project Leads can now create projects from within the Guided Implementation app. 

Operations 

Health Monitoring now supports SAP Market Communication for Utilities. As a first metric, information about the certificates of the customer tenant and their expiry is available. 

In Integration & Exception Monitoring, users can now view the business attributes of messages that contribute to the alert in email notifications. A new column, Business Attributes, has been added to the Additional Information table of the email. Where, you can view the business attributes of the messages that provide more context about the messages. 

Business attributes include: 

The business attributes sent by the service or system. 

The attributes defined in the Collect Additional Attributes section. 

A new option, Update, is added to the Memory Used by Messages table in Integration & Exception Monitoring. When triggered, the memory usage details for each service / system is calculated and presented in a tabular format. 

In Job & Automation Monitoring users can now view the run time data (raw data that is in the selected time but not yet aggregated) and the aggregated data as per your selected time frame in the Analysis table and in the Trend Charts. Earlier, only the aggregated data as per hourly aggregated timestamp was displayed irrespective of the chosen time frame. 

Job & Automation Monitoring also allows now to further refine the jobs or automations displayed using the Name filter in Monitoring Filters and Analysis Filters. Users can do this by specifying the initial or the final characters of the job or automation name using the asterisk (*) symbol. The following can now be applied to refine the jobs or automations displayed: 

  • Using * before the characters. 
    • example: *xyz. This retrieves all jobs or automations whose names end with xyz. 
  • Using * after the characters.
    • example: efg*. This retrieves all jobs or automations whose names begin with efg.  

Administration 

Landscape Management has 2 new updates. 

To provide more clarity, SAP introduced the Deployment Mode field for services and systems in the Landscape Management app. 

It shows in which kind of landscape a service or system is deployed, for example: 

  • SAP public cloud 
  • Other public cloud 
  • SAP Private Cloud 
  • On-premise 
  • BTP-Systems

For cloud landscape directory systems with the roles HEC* (SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud), SAP Cloud ALM now displays additional landscape information on the Instances & Databases tab:  

  • Instances
  • Databases 
  • Related Systems

RISE with SAP 

In System View dashboard, three new cards were introduced under the Extensibility category: 

  • Setup for ABAP Cloud Development 
  • Unused Customer Objects
  • Execution of Customer Objects 

Each card represents a KPI that helps users to monitor system’s extensibility compliance according to SAP’s clean core principles. These KPIs let users identify deviations and take corrective actions as needed.  

Check whether best practices are followed when setting up an ABAP Cloud development environment. Identify the share of unused customer objects in the system and determine their proportional contribution to overall code execution. 

SAP Cloud ALM: Real User Monitoring for SAP Analytics Cloud

Data-driven decisions are only as good as the tools behind them. Even the most advanced analytics platforms can fall short if performance issues slow users down. That’s where Real User Monitoring (RUM) in SAP Cloud ALM makes a difference.

By continuously tracking real user interactions within SAP applications, RUM helps identify performance bottlenecks early, improve system responsiveness, and boost overall productivity.

This is especially relevant for SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), a key analytics tool for many organizations. With the latest RUM enhancement, it’s now possible to monitor SAC user interactions in real time. IT teams gain valuable insights into front-end performance and can act quickly to resolve any issues that arise.

Enhanced Visibility into User Experience

Real User Monitoring now delivers live user interaction data within SAP Analytics Cloud, enabling IT teams to quickly detect and resolve performance issues. With this enhancement, businesses can better understand how users engage with analytics tools and ensure a seamless experience.

Key Features and Benefits

Monitor Response Times for Stories

  • SAC users interact with stories, which are interactive reports displaying business data.
  • RUM in SAP Cloud ALM now captures response times for these stories, helping to assess performance at a granular level.

Focus on Front-End Performance

  • The current enhancement primarily tracks front-end components of SAC.
  • IT teams can monitor load times, interaction speeds, and other UI-related metrics.

Quickly Detect and Resolve Issues

  • By analyzing real-time data, teams can proactively identify slow-loading reports or lagging interactions.
  • This leads to improved user experience and business productivity.

Practical Use Case Example

Optimizing Performance for Business Analysts

A multinational company relies on SAC for financial reporting. Business analysts notice that certain reports take longer to load during peak hours. With RUM in SAP Cloud ALM, IT teams can analyze response times and pinpoint bottlenecks in the front-end performance, allowing for timely optimizations.

Why This Matters

Real User Monitoring in SAP Cloud ALM gives organizations the insights they need to fine-tune their analytics landscape. With real-time data on how SAC stories perform, teams can quickly spot issues, improve responsiveness, and ensure a smoother user experience – all of which supports better decision-making.

This latest update is a step forward in making performance monitoring more effective within SAP Analytics Cloud. And it’s just the beginning: future enhancements to RUM and SAP Cloud ALM will continue to expand coverage and help boost analytics performance across even more systems.

Do you need help setting up RUM for SAC?

We have already helped a number of organizations successfully implement Real User Monitoring and integrate SAP Analytics Cloud – from initial setup to training on the SAP Cloud ALM monitoring apps.

If you want to optimize the performance and thus the efficiency and acceptance of your SAC installation, we are here to help.

Let’s work together to maximize the full potential of your analytics tools.

Contact me or our experts today.