This might be taking the most time in larger organizations. SAP will allow 1 Cloud ALM per customer. But the customer might have multiple SAP systems managed by multiple SAP competence centers. In this case, you need to align who will call off the Cloud ALM system.
Identity provider choice
You can use Cloud ALM with integration to your own corporate identity provider or use the SAP IAS (Identity Authentication Service).
SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Focused Run have a lot of overlapping capabilities.
The goal is not to push a tool, but to monitor, safeguard and secure SAP system running by customers. The tool is a means and not the goal.
What we will discuss:
High level positioning of Cloud ALM, Focused Run and Solution manager
Current status in 2023 for the tools
Possible considerations
This positioning blog is for the year 2023. Next year when new functions and insights are available the positioning and considerations can change.
High level positioning of Cloud ALM, Focused Run and Solution manager
The below picture is the best one and is taken from the Focused Run overview presentation:
Positioning:
Solution manager: it works, but no new developments, supported until 31.12.2027
Focused Run: suitable for large customer and advanced needs
Cloud ALM: standardized setup
Cloud ALM vs Focused Run
Cloud ALM is a standardized SAP service. It has certain capabilities, but no extensions. Due to its standardized setup is can be made working very fast with a few clicks. The functions will work fast, but configuration options are limited to the use cases provided by SAP. Data volumes on Cloud ALM are not to be too high, since the UI’s are still designed for small and medium customers with lower amount of systems, alerts, etc.
Focused Run admins will be quick to adopt SAP Cloud ALM since there is a large similarity in concepts and UI.
Comparison table:
Dimension
Cloud ALM
Focused Run
Technical setup complexity
Low
Medium for ABAP, High for non-ABAP
Technical setup time
Low
Low to medium
Maintenance effort
Low
Medium
Upgrading to unlock new functions
No effort, SAP takes care
High effort to upgrade
Volume of data that can be handled
Low to medium
High to very high
Complexity of scenario’s that can be handled
Low
Low, medium, high
Extension possibilities
Very limited
Possible with API and custom code
Feature extensions
Fast, bi-weekly
Every half year major and minor features will be added
Current features
Limited, but growing fast
Extensive, don’t expect major extensions
Considerations
Currently running SAP solution manager
If you have functions running on SAP solution manager, first consideration is the move to SAP Cloud ALM. SAP solution manager hosts normally EWA, CHARM, documentation/implementation and/or monitoring functions. An SAP readiness check is available to check your move from SAP solution manager to Cloud ALM. Read this blog on the how.
Currently running SAP Focused Run
If you are currently running SAP Focused Run, you most likely will keep it the next few years. But still do keep track of the SAP Cloud ALM functions, and try them out.
SAP Cloud ALM might be a good solution to monitor less important systems with lower demand like sandboxes, development and test systems. These system typically don’t need intense monitoring, but mostly availability monitoring.
SAP Cloud ALM might be a good solution to monitor your SAP Cloud hosted and SAP BTP scenarios. Setup in Cloud ALM for these scenarios is far simpler than setting these up in SAP Focused Run.
SAP Focused Run will never be enabled for business process monitoring. That functionality is now available in SAP Solution manager and will only be available in the future in SAP Cloud ALM.
Monitoring solutions for running installations
If you have a running SAP installation and are looking for a good monitoring solution, then it is wise to check both SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Focused Run. Depending on your needs you can choose between both.
Check the road map of SAP Cloud ALM as well to see if missing gaps will be addressed in the upcoming year.
The business case for a monitoring solution is different per line of business. The main business case is roughly: “We will avoid or solve much faster Y major incidents per year. Each major incident costs is about xxx.xxx USD/EUR”.
New solutions
For new SAP solutions: first consider using SAP Cloud ALM. Only when expecting very high volume and very high monitoring requirements, set up SAP Focused Run.
Cloud ALM usage rights
Cloud ALM is in principle for free within the usage rights. The usage rights can be found on this link.
Important restrictions: 8 GB in size (in 2023) and only 1 Cloud ALM per customer.
Summary
SAP Cloud ALM functions are growing fast and are definitely worth using. SAP Cloud ALM is a highly standardized function. This makes it for SAP possible to deliver new functions fast and easy to integrate and easy to use. The highly standardized functions come with a setback that the solution cannot be extended to any particular need you might have.
