SAP today announced the SAP Cloud ALM solution, a cloud-based application lifecycle management (ALM) tool that helps track and manage the needs of customers of cloud solutions from SAP.
SAP Cloud ALM starts with the implementation portal for SAP S/4HANA Cloud and is expected to be available in the fourth quarter 2018 with the next release of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. SAP intends to extend SAP Cloud ALM from implementation support for SAP S/4HANA Cloud with a road map towards the entire application lifecycle of all cloud solutions from SAP, planned to become available by 2021.
Access to SAP Cloud ALM will be based on the customer’s existing contract.
“As SAP customers continue to pursue cloud-based applications, providing access to cloud-centric ALM offerings is more important than ever,” said Andreas Heckmann, senior vice president, Support Delivery, SAP. “With SAP Cloud ALM, we’re giving customers an application lifecycle management offering that is ready for immediate consumption and thus best fits their solution preferences and business needs.”
The implementation portal provided by SAP Cloud ALM for SAP S/4HANA Cloud is planned to help customers:
- Perform quick team onboarding and scoping: At the beginning of every implementation project of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP customers are equipped with product and release-specific task lists based on the SAP Activate methodology and the implementation road map for SAP S/4HANA. The lists also specify task sequences and the roles to assign to boost efficiency.
- Follow a fit-to-standard implementation approach: SAP Cloud ALM fully supports the SAP Activate methodology for SAP S/4HANA Cloud by providing all the tools required for fit-to-standard workshops. Customers get a clear view of the steps required for successful deployment in the cloud at the outset of the project based on content from the SAP Best Practices package for SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
- Configure SAP S/4HANA Cloud and track project progress: SAP Cloud ALM guides the customer through the implementation process and tracks project progress automatically.
“SAP Cloud ALM is a major advance in SAP’s ability to deliver quality software and services to customers,” said Josh Greenbaum, principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting. “The ability to use the cloud to better track and manage the customer lifecycle is an important next step in the evolution of SAP’s cloud efforts and will provide an important point of differentiation in a market that is still waking up to this potential.”
It is planned that SAP Cloud ALM will serve as a complementary offering to SAP Solution Manager, the ALM on-premise flagship solution from SAP. With the introduction of SAP Cloud ALM, customers can choose the most suitable ALM solution for rapid implementation and support best-run operations for their SAP solutions.
