Kiran Patel
Head of ERP & Project Management
Bluefin Solutions
SAP Solution Manager… too complex and no real value?
25 Oct 2010
SAP Solution Manager, SAP NetWeaver Platform, Project Management & Methodology, Consumer Business
The twists and turns that SAP have made in trying to get customers to adopt Solution Manager has been quite remarkable! The product has now existed for many years yet the ‘take up’ has been patchy at best. The reason for this is quite simple.
- Perceived complexity of the product
- Difficulty in getting to grips with the value the product can add
- Knowing where
The first thing that companies must get away from is trying to implement a technical solution. I would argue that many of companies who currently do use any of the Solution Manager functions do so because it was implemented to address short term tactical problems and not long term strategic benefits e.g “we have to be seen to be using Solution Manager for SAP Enterprise Support”.
- What were your strategic reasons for doing anything in Solution Manager?
- Can you quantify the tangible benefits you have received by using the tools?
- How did you decide where to start, and do you know what the next steps should be, for building a Solution Manager platform?
If you can appropriately answer these questions then you are one of very few companies who are in a good place to leverage the “true” benefits the Solution Manager suite provides. If you are not in this position then this at least provides some food for thought!
Solution Manager is not just a series of tools, it is a platform for reducing total cost of ownership and for reducing risk in the world of never ending IT change. The diagram below illustrates at a high level the scope of the functionality, but the real power is understanding how to translate each of these areas into a Business strategy that will drive out true tangible benefits.
The start of any Solution Manager program should not start with understanding the technical tools the solution offers, but to understand the Business challenges that it will help to address.
This is similar to implementing any other SAP component such as ERP or CRM, you wouldn’t implement the product without knowing the Business value you are expecting to achieve and the challenges you are looking to address.
Some takeaways, following the trend of all good things come in threes:
- Build a solid business case from the start
- Implement Solution Manager using an appropriate methodology as you would implement any other SAP component
- Allocate the right resources and ensure appropriate governance is in place. You will not implement a good solution by 'dabbling' with available resources.
This is the first of a series of blogs which will aim to remove the mystery of Solution Manager. Next blog: SAP Solution Manager... Business Driver
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