Digital transformation is essential in today’s business landscape, and SAP S/4HANA has been a game-changer in this regard. However, implementing a successful S/4HANA transformation project can be challenging, with several factors contributing to its complexity. One way to simplify this process is by using the Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build.

There are various challenges involved with any large-scale project, an S/4HANA implementation can and will impact over 80% of business processes and will need to account for all the integration points with various third-party tools and end-to-end connections with clients, banks, or other institutions depending on the model of organization. SAP Solution Manager with Focused Build is the recommended methodology and set of tools provided by SAP to guide any development or maintenance projects. This allows for a single source of truth against which to compare the Design, Development, Testing, Reporting, and Monitoring phases of any development lifecycle.

While SAP Solution Manager Focused Build for S/4HANA implementations does provide the tools and methodology, most organizations are utilizing other tools for their project management or their development. CoreALM developed the Azure DevOps, Jira, and ServiceNow connectors to account for these gaps in utility.

There are obvious and practical benefits to this methodology combining the best of what SAP Solution Manager Focused Build provides along with enhancing it with various tools and extensions.

Project Team Leadership:

Project Team leadership benefits from the CoreALM Product lines by utilizing their current toolset (Azure DevOps, Jira, etc.) in conjunction with SAP Solution Manager. Reporting is often a huge pain point for leadership as it is what allows the PMO or Executives to keep track of progress and make decisions on the overall project status such as further allocation of resources, timeline updates, or making changes to the Process completely.

The CoreALM Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build creates a bi-directional bridge that will map status by status between the two tools. By defining the relationship in this manner, Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build has the flexibility to take into account nearly any ADO Mapping that you may currently be using. The Advantages are as follows:

1. Requirements, Work Packages, Work Items, Defects, and Defect corrections created & managed from ADO to SolMan or Solution Manager to ADO.
2. SAP Solution Manager Project Management tool captures the Releases, Waves, and Sprints, as well as defines the KPI’s required before moving forward.
3. Report the progress of Development, Track Defects, Issues, Risks, and export out reports to Excel.
4. Identify the Entire Business Process structure and everything which is being Enhanced or where gaps my lie.
5. All current reporting within Azure DevOps would stay the same so current efforts may continue, with a supplement from a structured tool (SAP Solution Manager Focused Build)

Development Team:

The Development Team can use the Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build to sync work packages into Azure DevOps as features and work items into Azure DevOps as backlog items.

The benefits of using the Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build include:

1. Improved Collaboration: Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build enables teams to collaborate effectively, regardless of their location or time zone. This enhances communication, leading to faster and more effective decision-making. Solution Manager provides workflow notifications and defined Fiori apps to ensure every role has direct access to the work they need to complete.
2. Increased Efficiency: Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build provides automation capabilities that enable teams to focus on more critical tasks, improving their efficiency and productivity. This results in faster delivery of high-quality products and services. Tools in SolMan like CBTA allow for automated testing, built-in reporting, and defined processes users are forced to follow to ensure no one goes astray.
3. Enhanced Project Management: Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build provides built-in tools for Agile project management, having the Project Management toolset gives you the timelines, Gant Charts, define KPI’s, and Quality Gates, Phase by Phase breakdown of work, reports, and issue/risk tracking.
4. Improved Quality: Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build provides built-in testing capabilities, ensuring that the products and services delivered are of high quality and meet the business’s requirements. With Focused Build Test Suite there is a flexible but extensive testing process for Dev, QA, Pre-Prod, Prod, and any other combination of environments to test against, ensuring nothing gets past defined Quality Gates.
5. Better Visibility: Azure DevOps Connector for SAP Solution Manager Focused Build provides built-in reporting capabilities, allowing businesses to monitor progress and identify potential issues before they become problems. Project Managers are provided with their own suite of reporting, Test Managers, Architects, Release Managers, and other roles are all provided with their own set of tiles defining the work they must do.

If you have more questions on Azure DevOps SAP Solution Manager Focused Build and the challenges and benefits, feel free to reach out to our team. We are always willing to answer questions and hold webinars and write blogs like this to help the SAP Solution Manager Community.