SAP Certified in Run SAP Operations

SAP SUPPORT PARTNER PROGRAM

Program Guide 2012

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SAP SUPPORT PARTNER PROGRAM

Customers require now more than ever the need for increased business process availability, data consistency and transparency, stronger business process performance, and ensured maintainability and upgradeability of their solution landscapes. To provide these results, excellent end-to-end solution operations must be implemented across the customer’s entire solution landscape. The Run SAP methodology is a proven approach to implement such operations by providing SAP standards for end-to-end solution operations, a roadmap, and trainings for people certification. The central tool for operations is the SAP Solution Manager System, the single source of truth for the customer’s landscape. The Run SAP Partner Program offers an operations certification for partners so they can better provide high quality operations by using the Run SAP methodology and resulting in reduced cost of operations for their customers.

The Run SAP Partner Program from SAP enables companies who typically provide application management, basis support, and/or hosting services to SAP customers to become certified in Run SAP operations. In adopting the end-to-end (E2E) solution operations standards, the partner is able to standardize its IT operations and processes. This standardization results in operational efficiencies and reduced total cost of operations.

The first step in the pursuit of the certification is for both parties to meet and learn more information. A Run SAP workshop is held between SAP and the interested company so both parties can share their knowledge – from SAP, Application Lifecycle Management, the E2E standards, and details regarding the criteria and process for certification, and from the interested company, its competencies in operations, organization structure, and customer profiles. The company will make a decision to move forward with the certification as a result of the workshop. The requirements defined in the criteria section below must be met and an audit passed. Once successful, the company (now partner) and SAP will sign a partner agreement and the Run SAP certified logo and usage guide will be issued.

The certification for the program is designed to ensure that the partner has adopted the Run SAP methodology and SAP E2E solution operations standards into its IT operations, created a go-to-market strategy and marketing collateral, trained resources in the core E2E standards, implemented the standards across a customer base, and set up a governance model.

The program is designed for both large (read global) and smaller (read regional) partners. Partners with annual revenue from SAP exceeding 100 million USD are required to implement standards to a larger customer base. Likewise, partners with a larger SAP delivery organization are required to train and certify more resources as the criteria is based on percentages. The details follow in this document.

Once audited and passed, the partner and SAP sign an agreement giving the partner certification in Run SAP operations. The program certification is granted for two years. Details regarding the recertification process are also found in this Program Guide.

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CERTIFICATION CRITERIA

INTRODUCTION

The main goal of solution operations is to run and incrementally improve the IT solution to ensure stable operation of the solution landscape. This process involves managing availability, performance, process and data transparency, data consistency, IT process compliance, and other tasks. In most cases, business processes are supported not by a single application but by multiple integrated business applications. These can include applications from SAP as well as applications from other vendors or those developed by the customers themselves. Therefore it is important that the solution operations process cover all components required for running the business applications end to end – a process called end-to-end solution operations.

Standardized procedures are a key prerequisite for optimizing end-to-end solution operations. Standards help leverage the experiences of the organization that defined the standard. When the solution is centered on SAP software, SAP provides the standardized procedures. This helps customers avoid errors, mitigate risks, increase the availability and performance of the solution, and streamline and accelerate the process flow. In addition, standardized procedures enable automation, thus reducing the cost of operations. They also improve the ability to trace and audit processes.

Process standards provided by SAP help customers achieve these benefits. The standards are based on best practices that have evolved from the experiences of SAP teams while serving more than 40,000 customers. Available through the SAP Active Global Support organization, the standards do not compete with existing and well-accepted standards such as the IT Infrastructure Library. In fact, they enhance existing standards by explaining in detail how application management processes work best for SAP solutions.

Each standard contains best-practice procedures on how to perform individual tasks, descriptions of which tools should be used, and information regarding the assignment of tasks to different roles. Although multiple roles may be involved in a standard process, one of these roles is assigned ownership of the standard at the customer site. The assignment of owners may differ from customer to customer. The following table is an example of how roles or owners are assigned to standards:

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For more information, refer to the white paper, “SAP Standards for Solution Operations” located on the SAP Service Marketplace (http://service.sap.com/supportstandards).

In getting certified in Run SAP operations, the partner must satisfy the criteria defined for the following areas:

Adoption of Run SAP Methodology

Go to market

People certification and training

Implementation of E2E Solution Operations Standards to Customers

Governance

The next sections describe in detail the criteria for partner certification in Run SAP operations.

ADOPTION OF RUN SAP METHODOLOGY

The key to a partner’s success in the Run SAP methodology is that it adapts its processes and procedures in IT operations to the end-to-end (E2E) standards. The adoption is

Owner Key Standards and Practice

End user, key user Incident management

Business process champion Exception handling, data integrity and transactional consistency

Program management office Change request management, quality gate management, test management, upgrade

Application management Root-cause analysis, change control management, solution documentation, remote supportability

Business process operations Business process and interface monitoring, data volume management, job scheduling management, data integrity and transactional consistency

SAP technical operations System administration, system monitoring

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therefore a key topic of the certification criteria. The partner is expected to enhance existing or create new processes, work flows, and IT manuals for Run SAP operations. An audit will take place to check that the partner has achieved these measures.

The following components comprise the criteria to satisfy the Adoption of Methodology:

IT-related operations materials enhanced with E2E standards

These types of materials include the partner’s IT operations manual, operations guides, process/procedural documentation, risk assessment guides, technical reference guides, and the like.

Internal rollout plan regarding changes in methodology

Document how the adoption of Run SAP will be rolled out to all resources within the partner organization. The document must include a summary of the operations materials enhanced for Run SAP, a short description and purpose, their accessibility, whether they are regional or global (if applicable), their target audience, and ownership.

Project Feedback Roll-in process

The partner must demonstrate what measures are in place to ensure the quality is maintained. This includes user access to documents, edit/view rights, document ownership, and the process to update documents.

The assigned partner manager from SAP Active Global Support (AGS) will provide feedback and support as needed to the partner team as the materials are enhanced. At a minimum, the AGS partner manager will schedule a midpoint check so that the partner can demonstrate what materials have been enhanced, explain how they are to be used, and describe the target audience for each. The partner will also describe any other materials that will be enhanced and a timeline for completion. SAP will provide feedback.

A demonstration of all the completed partner materials will be scheduled as a part of the audit. The materials will be presented by the partner and reviewed by SAP, covering the five criteria components described above. The demonstration will be driven from the checklist previously completed by the partner. As part of the certification process, SAP will provide recommendations, required changes, and follow-up, if necessary.

GO TO MARKET

The partner is expected to enhance existing collateral and create new collateral, both internal and external, with Run SAP content and value proposition. It is important for SAP that the partner messages Run SAP, the E2E standards, and Application Lifecycle Management in the same way as SAP. A formal demonstration will take place to check that the partner’s collateral is enhanced and aligned with the messaging from SAP.

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The following components comprise the criteria to satisfy Go To Market:

Customer Information Material

o Run SAP/SAP ALM/SAP Solution Manager Value Proposition

o Value Proposition for at least 4 E2E Standards

o Run SAP/SAP ALM/SAP Solution Manager Portfolio Offering

Customer References

o Customer Reference Plan

o Customer Implementations

o Customer Successes (for recertification only)

Rollout Plan

Document how the partner’s marketing collateral for Run SAP will be rolled out internally and externally. The document must include a summary of all the materials enhanced for Run SAP, a short description and purpose, their accessibility, whether they are regional or global, their target audience, and ownership.

The assigned partner manager from SAP AGS will provide feedback and support as needed to the partner business development team as the materials are enhanced. At a minimum, the AGS partner manager will schedule a midpoint check so that the partner can demonstrate what materials have been enhanced, explain how they are to be used, and describe the target audience for each. The partner will also describe any other materials that will be enhanced and a timeline for completion. SAP will provide feedback.

A demonstration of all the completed partner collateral will be scheduled as a part of the audit. The materials will be presented by the partner and reviewed by SAP, covering the five criteria components described above. The demonstration will be driven from the checklist previously completed by the partner. As part of the certification process, SAP will provide recommendations, required changes, and follow-up, if necessary.

PEOPLE CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING

Key to the advancement of the Run SAP methodology within a partner’s IT operations is having its employees get empowered to utilize the end-to-end solution operations standards. To help enable this process, SAP has developed a curriculum specifically designed to address the needs of those who will be executing these standards. The

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partner’s employees will be taught how to effectively use SAP Solution Manager to support and maintain SAP-centric landscapes.

The courses cover three levels: 100, 200, and 300. Each course is 5 days in length.

Level 100

o E2E Root Cause Analysis (E2E100) concentrates on the tools and standards for End-to-End Root Cause Analysis. SAP Solution Manager and the imbedded Wily Introscope and BMC Appsight tools are covered in detail. Participants in E2E100 will come out of the class with the ability to track down issues across a customer’s landscape, therefore significantly cutting down any potential time to resolution.

o SAP Solution Manager Operations and Configuration (SM100) introduces the participants to the operations and support tools of the SAP Solution Manager. Their features and functions are described and an understanding of the basic requirements for configuring Solution Manager are taught. Course ADM100 (Administration AS ABAP I) is a prerequisite.

Level 200

o E2E Change Control Management (E2E200) covers the topic of Change Control Management. It not only covers the tools SAP Solution Manager provides for managing change control, but also the steps that should be implemented to ensure quality throughout your landscape. Class participants will understand all aspects of proper Change Control including: Change Diagnostics, Change Distribution including the role of Change Request Management, and Maintenance and Test Management.

o Change Request Management and Service Desk Configuration (SM200) describes the various elements of Service Desk and Change Request Management in Solution Manager. Participants will learn to configure the SAP standard process for Change Request Management and Service Desk scenarios. Setting up the CTS+ tool is also covered. Course SM100 (SAP Solution Manager Operations and Configuration) is a prerequisite.

Level 300

o Business Process Integration & Automation (E2E300) covers Business Process Integration and Automation Management. Once participants have mastered these concepts, they will be able to proactively monitor the system landscape not from a technology point-of-view, but from a business process point-of-view. Participants will cover the business relevant topics of: Job Scheduling, Business Process and Interface Monitoring, Data Integrity and Transactional Consistency, and Data Volume Management.

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Each of the E2E100, E2E200, and E2E300 courses has a certification exam. Exam passage is required. The SM100 and SM200 courses do not have exams. Attendance only is required for the SM courses. A resource passing an exam in an E2E course or attending an SM course will be deemed certified in that course.

The following components comprise the criteria to satisfy People Certification and Training:

Number of certified resources in level 100, 200, and 300 courses

A minimum number of resources in the partner’s SAP delivery organization must be certified. The partner’s SAP delivery organization is defined to include all employees providing and managing application management (functional) and basis (technical) support for their customer’s SAP systems. This includes project managers, team leads, and the like. The number of resources is based on percentages which depend on the size of the partner’s SAP delivery organization, as follows:

o Partners with less than 1,000 resources in SAP Delivery Organization

Course Level

% of SAP Delivery

Organization certified

Min Number Required

Max Number Required

100 20 % 20 100

200 10 % 10 50

300 10 % 10 50

o Partners with 1,000+ resources in SAP Delivery Organization

Course Level

% of SAP Delivery

Organization certified

Min Number Required

100 10 % 100

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200 5 % 50

300 5 % 50

Partners certifying half their targets while meeting the minimum number required, may become certified in Run SAP Operations with the goal to meet their targets by recertification, two years later. This applies only for partners with more than 1,000 resources in their SAP Delivery organization.

Training Plan

The partner must create a 2-year training plan. This plan should include: course name, target date, location, target audience (including audience size) and delivery method. A way to track certified resources must be included, too.

SAP provides 3 delivery methods to train resources:

1. Courses scheduled directly via SAP Education

2. Courses brought to the partner site via SAP Education

3. Empowering workshops at the partner site via Partner Enablement Agreement with SAP Active Global Support

The partner manager from SAP AGS can give details regarding each of the options and help the partner decide the best delivery methods to choose.

IMPLEMENTATION OF E2E SOLUTION OPERATIONS STANDARDS TO CUSTOMERS

The partner must demonstrate its knowledge of the E2E solution operations standards by implementing and operating defined criteria over a customer base. The criteria are defined on two levels, Basic and Extended, comprising the following standards:

Basic (Mandatory) Criteria

Solution Documentation

Remote Supportability

Root Cause Analysis

Change Management - Change Control

Extended Criteria

System Administration

System Monitoring

Change Management - Quality Gates

Change Management – Change Request

Test Management

Business Process & Interface Monitoring

Data Volume Management

Job Scheduling Management

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The number of customers in the base is dependent on the annual revenue (in USD) of the partner’s SAP practice, as follows:

In addition, no more than three customers may come from a single region. The following regions are considered:

o North America

o Latin America

o Europe/Middle East/Africa

o Asia/Pacific/Australia

o Japan

The standards in the Basic Criteria must be implemented at each customer in the base. The partner is able to choose from the standards comprising the Extended Criteria such that:

If six customer base, at least 18 items must be implemented from Extended Criteria, no item implemented more than 4 times

If three customer base, at least 9 items must be implemented from Extended Criteria, no item implemented more than 2 times

Requirements for the customer base and partner are described below. The Basic Criteria and Extended Criteria are detailed in the subsequent sections. The criteria are based on

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the SAP E2E solution operations standards as documented in the SAP Service Marketplace (http://service.sap.com/supportstandards). These documents will be referenced and used in case any clarification is needed for the criteria.

Customer Base and Partner Requirements The partner will nominate the customer base and SAP will verify them, checking for recent escalations and their relationships, if any, with SAP AGS (e.g., if they are current MaxAttention customers). In the end, both SAP and the partner agree on the customer base, driven in part by the following requirements:

Each customer landscape must have a productive SAP Solution Manager system connected to at least two productive satellite systems

The satellite systems must consist of at least one productive ABAP system (i.e., ERP) and one productive non-ABAP SAP system (i.e., BW, XI, Portal)

The standards must be in the customer’s production landscape; validation checks will be performed in the customer’s production Solution Manager system

The customer’s SAP Solution Manager system must be at least version 7.0, EhP1

Partner has appropriate service agreement with customer that allows partner to implement the required standards; for example, Business Process Monitoring

Only standards implemented and operated by the partner are eligible to satisfy the criteria; standards implemented by the customer, SAP, or some other partner do not qualify

Performance checks will also be made to ensure that each validated standard is operational

Basic Criteria The Basic Criteria represent the core standards – Solution Documentation, Remote Supportability, Root Cause Analysis, and Change Control Management - and must be implemented in every customer SAP landscape. The next sections describe the criteria to be implemented at a customer to satisfy these four standards. The criteria for each standard are considered mandatory and must be implemented at each customer in the customer base for partner certification. Unless otherwise noted, mention of the customer’s Solution Manager system means the SAP Solution Manager system installed and operating in the customer’s production landscape.

Solution Documentation

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As solution landscapes are maintained and adapted to meet the business demands, planning and reporting of the respective initiatives and projects become a fundamental instrument for successful solution operations. Efficient planning and reporting require a profound documentation of the existing customer solution. This is the focus of the Solution Documentation standard.

The Solution Documentation standard provides all involved parties with a common understanding. Therefore, this standard is a prerequisite for optimizing all solution operations processes. In addition, Solution Documentation is a key enabler for business and IT alignment, not to mention that the provided transparency can accelerate IT activities and improve their results.

Key to a successful landscape planning is an accurate and complete description of the solution landscape itself with the business processes. All decision making and reporting concerning the overall solution will be based on this fundamental information.

The customer system will be validated for the Solution Documentation standard based on the following checks:

Documentation of system

o Install System Landscape Directory (SLD) in Solution Manager

o If Solution Manager SLD is the central SLD, ensure Solution Manager SLD gets data from the satellite systems

o If Solution Manager SLD is not the central SLD, connect Solution Manager SLD with Central SLD

o Ensure RFCs are generated for the ABAP stack system in SMSY

o Create logical components for the satellite systems

o Check that system details in Solution Manager SMSY and satellite systems are the same

o Activate Early Watch Alerts from the satellite systems

Documentation of process

o Define solution with the satellite systems in SOLUTION_MANAGER

o Define at least two critical business processes in the Solution Directory

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o For each critical business process, define the process and process steps with proper documentation e.g., technical spec, functional spec.

o If custom developments have been done to either business process, maintain the same in the respective business process structure in Solution Manager

o Assign team members to the respective business process structure

Remote Supportability

The remote supportability standard ensures that the customer’s SAP landscape can be remotely supported and SAP services can be remotely delivered. This is the foundation for efficient support of SAP-centric solutions.

The customer system will be validated for the Remote Supportability standard based on the following checks:

Ability to logon to customer Solution Manager through:

o R3 Support for accessing the monitoring dashboards in Solution Manager

o HTTP for accessing Solution Manager diagnostics

If WTS or Netviewer connection is present, then HTTP connection is optional.

Root Cause Analysis

The root cause analysis standard defines how to perform root cause analysis end-to-end across separate components and technologies. The major benefit of the root cause analysis standard is acceleration of problem resolution, which leads to increased availability of the IT solution and reduced cost of ownership.

E2E diagnostics can support root cause analysis for components implemented in ABAP, Java, C(++), or that run on the Microsoft .NET framework. E2E root cause analysis in SAP Solution Manager standardizes and systematically aggregates

Performance and resource metrics

Access to technical configuration

Exceptions such as logs and dumps (program terminations)

Traces (recording the activity of a single user or process)

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Tracking changes to software (code), configuration, or content

E2E Diagnostics tools focus in four major areas:

1. E2E exception analysis: provides unified access to exceptions reflecting in high severity log entries and dumps. Component specific log and dump viewers can be accessed directly from the E2E exception analysis.

2. E2E workload analysis: provides unified access to server side workload statistics.

3. E2E trace analysis: records performance and functional defects in a single activity of a single user or process, from browser to disk. The measurement is started at the user interface of the end user and the trace level for the roundtrip is selected. When the request hits the downstream servers, all components switch their traces on or change the log level according the selected trace level.

4. E2E change analysis: provides transparency on changes (code, business configuration, content) that were lately applied to production. This analysis is particularly instrumental if a few ad-hoc changes were applied to a production that results in disruptions after applying these changes.

The customer system will be validated for the Root Cause Analysis standard based on the following checks:

Using SOLMAN_SETUP in Solution Manager, perform Initial Configuration and Basic Configuration

Configure the satellite systems in the Managed System Configuration

Install SMD agents in satellite systems and point them to Solution Manager

In addition, the following checks will be made in the Root Cause Analysis work center from the customer’s Solution Manager to ensure the above three items were installed and/or configured properly:

Data available for both satellite systems under Workload Analysis and Change Analysis

Able to take a trace and display the trace information from Solution Manager

Following are available from ABAP stack satellite system: ABAP SysLog errors, dumps, update errors, and IDOC errors

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Following are available from Java stack satellite system: J2EE system errors, application errors, and dumps

Able to open Wiley Introscope through Webview and see data in Console, Investigator, and Trace views for satellite systems

In System Analysis, data available under Change Reporting, Expert Analysis, and Log Viewer

In Host Analysis, able to execute OS commands and browse the file systems of the satellite systems

In Database Analysis, able to connect to DBA Cockpit and see the data for the satellite systems

Change Management – Change Control

Change Control Management is one of three parts of the Change Management standard. The others are Change Request Management and Quality Gate Management. Change control addresses the deployment and analysis of changes to confirm the changes are executed without disrupting business. It enables customers to standardize and optimize the solution configuration, and to provide tracking and transparency of changes. The standard covers two major areas of change control: change deployment and change diagnostics.

The customer system will be validated for the Change Management – Change Control standard based on the following checks:

Define the satellite systems in Solution Manager and ensure Solution Manager Diagnostics (SMD) agents are running in respective satellite system pointing to Solution Manager

Availability of Change Analysis report for respective systems in RCA work center

Verify the correctness of data in the Change Analysis report with the satellite systems

Availability of Change Reporting data and its correctness with satellite system

Use Change Reporting functionality to compare capabilities between instance/systems

Set up the enhanced Change and Transport System (CTS+) tool

Extended Criteria

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The next sections describe what must be implemented to satisfy each of the standards in the Extended Criteria. Unless otherwise noted, mention of the customer’s Solution Manager system means the SAP Solution Manager system installed and operating in the customer’s production landscape.

System Administration

The topic System Administration describes how all SAP technology must be administered to run a customer solution efficiently. Administration tasks are mainly executed locally, but can be accessed and triggered from a central administration system. This allows a unified access to all SAP technologies. System Administration is owned and executed by SAP technical operations. Possible results are smoother business execution and optimized total cost of operations.

The typical tasks of system administration include starting and stopping systems, applying changes to technical configuration, performing imports, and/or applying patches and Support Packages based on the change control workflow, creating or changing users based on a compliance workflow, performing system copies and installing systems, running system diagnostics, managing jobs, and performing backups and recovery.

The customer system will be validated for the System Administration standard based on the following checks:

Configure the customer’s Solution Manager as the CEN system for CCMS infrastructure

Configure the following in customer’s Solution Manager:

o Central System Administration

o DBACOCKPIT

o SAP Print Assistant for landscape

System Monitoring

SAP Solution Manager enables processes to be handled automatically in many different areas, such as automated system monitoring and error notification (System Monitoring), the collection of technical data, and report summaries based on SAP EarlyWatch Alert (EWA), and Service Level Reporting (SLR). Current know-how, as well as task and workflow documentation is also integrated in many areas where administrative responsibilities and other tasks occur (Central System Administration, Solution Reporting, Business Process Monitoring). Automation and the efficient transfer of knowledge give experts the time they need to concentrate on their core competencies. This, in turn, allows small teams to monitor and manage complex system landscapes, while making the services they offer

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visible to the end user. SAP Solution Manager therefore makes it possible to keep IT know-how inside companies or outsource it and monitor the services provided.

A key process in solution operations is the basic process of incident and alert management:

Incident Management Solution Monitoring and Alerting

End User creates a ticket Alert is triggered by the system and has to be processed by the SAP technical operations or the business process operations team

Ticket is processed by first level support, usually located with key users locally; end user handling issues are either resolved or ticket description is completed and forwarded to second level

If the issue cannot be resolved by one of both teams, an incident is forwarded to the application management team (for end-to-end root cause analysis) or to an expert team in custom development, business process operations, SAP technical operations, or IT infrastructure

End-to-End Root Cause Analysis

End-to-End Root Cause Analysis is performed to isolate the problematic component. If necessary a specialist for troubleshooting the problematic component is involved

Incident or Problem Resolution

Depending on the nature of the resolution, the business process champion, key user, end user, custom development, business process operations, SAP technical operations, or IT infrastructure will resolve the issue

For each incident and problem, an action plan is documented with the ticket and implementation of the action plan has to be tracked. For implementing the action plan, system administration might be required e.g., to implement a patch or to change a configuration.

Solution Monitoring targets for two teams in customer IT:

Business Process Monitoring in the Business Process Operations team

System Monitoring in the SAP Technical Operations team

The Solution Monitoring process on both business process and technical (system) level follows the same procedure:

Alerts gets thrown by the SAP Solution Monitoring tools in SAP Solution Manager

Business Process Operations or SAP Technical Operations are resolving the alert. Per alert, a description exists how to handle the alert. If the resolution is not obvious, the alert gets the status of a problem and end-to-end root cause analysis has to be performed.

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The customer system will be validated for the System Monitoring standard based on the following checks:

Register each satellite system in CEN system and configure CCMS agent in each satellite system

Maintain KPIs for the relevant alerts

Compile instructions how to handle the exceeding of thresholds

Define and assign author action

Assign roles and work centers and set up the Central Alert inbox

Set up data collection in BI (if applicable)

Change Management – Quality Gates

To ensure the stability of a highly integrated solution landscapes, very clear quality assurance procedures need to be defined. To achieve more consistent quality, the SAP Solution Manager provides the function of Quality Gate Management throughout the whole application lifecycle. A central Quality Management Organization is responsible for defining and integrating into the customer’s application management methodology the quality gates that check the quality of an implemented solution or of the major changes introduced by means of upgrades or enhancement packages.

All operational units across all organizations are integrated into one quality process, which requires the following:

All changes are 100% transparent

A central transport mechanism and change control system is in place to manage changes across the technology framework and application components

A central test plan for core business processes is defined

A central quality manager validates test execution and test completeness

Every development workbench is integrated into the central transport

The customer system will be validated for the Change Management – Quality Gates standard based on the following checks:

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Define quality gates with proper timelines and systems (include all systems in landscape)

Define and assign QA Manager and QA Advisory Board (not to same person)

Maintain roles and authorizations

Make project assignment mandatory for transport requests

Integrate CTS+ for non-ABAP stack satellite systems

In addition, there will be checks for no errors or warnings from transaction STMS and no creation, release, and import of transport requests outside of Solution Manager.

Change Management – Change Request

The customer system will be validated for the Change Management – Change Request standard based on the following checks:

Activate change request management for the project

Make project assignment mandatory for transport requests

Maintain roles and authorizations for Change Manager, Developer, Tester, and Basis Team

Activate Normal correction and Urgent correction and have a release strategy for each

Integrate CTS+ for non-ABAP stack satellite systems

In addition, there will be checks for no errors or warnings from transaction STMS and no creation, release, and import of transport requests outside of Solution Manager.

Test Management

The test management standard addresses the methodology for testing SAP-centric solutions including:

Test Strategy

Test Project Preparation

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Test Scope Identification

Test Planning and Test System Preparation

Test Execution

Final Activities and Deployment of Changes in Production Systems

For functional, scenario, and integration tests, 2 major test tool options are available as described in the test management standard. For technical system tests, the standard describes the Integration Validation and Performance Test approach.

The customer system will be validated for the Test Management standard based on the following checks:

Prerequisite: Solution Documentation standard in place

Maintain test documentation under Test Case tab in SOLAR02

Create test plan

Create test package with users assigned to it

Define error handling procedures and the support organization for handling them

Set up KPI monitoring for report

Business Process & Interface Monitoring

The business process and interface monitoring standard supports the monitoring of the mission critical business processes, enabling customers to identify problems long before typical IT alerts would be triggered. Business process monitoring includes monitoring activities, alert and problem detection, notification of experts, error handling procedures, and well defined interface towards end-to-end root cause analysis (a separate standard).

The customer system will be validated for the Business Process & Interface Monitoring standard based on the following checks:

Prerequisite: Solution Documentation standard for at least two critical business processes in place

Following activities for the two defined critical business process scenarios:

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o Define monitoring objects, filter criteria, alerts, and thresholds

o Define the monitoring activity including tools, procedures, and frequencies

o Define error handling procedures

o Define communication and escalation procedures

o Assign monitoring responsibilities

o Define reporting objects, reporting activities, and reporting frequencies

o If more than one system is involved in the business process, define monitoring of the interface

Data Volume Management

The data volume management standard defines how to manage data growth data by deleting data, archiving data, and by avoiding data creation.

Data volume scoping is the starting point of data volume management. A detailed look at the customer’s systems identifies the major pain points and gives an outlook on the most beneficial measures to take (e.g. deletion or data archiving) when implementing a data volume management strategy. The focus of a data volume management strategy is on the implementation of the methodologies of avoidance, summarization, deletion, and data-archiving, depending on the type of data and by considering the business and external requirements (legal compliance, ILM) on this data. Data volume reporting lists the archiving activities already performed and identifies additional reduction potential which may be caused, for example, by change in the business processes. Scheduling this service on a regular basis will show the growth of the database – broken down on business object level - and point out how the growth could be minimized. Reaching a “steady state”, that is, the balance between additional new data and archived data is the goal of the Data Volume Management Standard and is required to run SAP within given service level agreements through future periods of time.

The Data Volume Management Standard requires a high degree of cooperation between business process champions from the business department and business process operations team members from the IT department.

The customer system will be validated for the Data Volume Management standard based on the following checks:

Prerequisite: Solution Documentation and Business Process & Interface Monitoring standards are in place

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Define Data Volume Management cockpit

Set up monitoring and analysis of data volume size and growth

Plan for optimization of data volume management strategy

Define error handling procedures

Define communication and escalation procedures

Plan for periodic check on job scheduling, database reorganization, and monitoring task

Job Scheduling Management

The Job Scheduling Management standard explains how to manage the planning, scheduling, and monitoring of jobs. The job scheduling management process starts with the request for a new job or to change the schedule of an existing job or job chain. This request needs to be planned, scheduled, and integrated into the monitoring procedures and alert mechanisms and checked that it was successfully fulfilled. The standard also recommends setting up a dedicated team for job scheduling management as part of the business process operations or support organization. This team is responsible for the central management of the job schedule concept.

Job scheduling management is owned by business process operations, which executes the required tasks mainly in cooperation with the business process champion and SAP technical operations. The main benefits of job scheduling management are the automation and acceleration of business processes and the prevention of business process interruptions.

The customer system will be validated for the Job Scheduling Management standard based on the following checks:

Prerequisite: Root Cause Analysis standard in place

Maintain job documentation – technical parameters, scheduling information, business information, error handling, scheduling restrictions

Configure central job scheduling tool – SAP Central Process Scheduling (CPS) by Redwood

Implement workflow for job request – request creation request approval scheduling of job

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Set up monitoring of background jobs through Computing Center Management System (CCMS), Business Process Monitoring, SAP CPS, and/or external scheduling tools

Data Integrity and Transactional Consistency

SAP provides standards for check routines and consistency reports/procedures that allow synchronizing the transactional data end-to-end across the different business applications. Depending on customer specific parameters and requirements (like data volume, system resources, 24x7 operations, etc.), SAP’s given standards need additional implementation focus to ensure end-to-end transactional consistency and correctness. IT operations has to ensure the on-going daily check procedures as well as recovery mechanisms to rebuild after a failure situation potentially caused by hardware errors, user error, data manipulation, etc.

The customer system will be validated for the Data Integrity and Transactional Consistency standard based on the following checks:

Prerequisite: Root Cause Analysis, System Monitoring, and Business Process and Interface Monitoring standards are in place

Create data consistency monitoring cockpit in Solution Manager

Identify inconsistency check report for monitoring

Define error handling procedures

Define thresholds for alert triggering

Schedule consistency report

Define monitoring activities

Custom Code Management

The key to Custom Code Management is awareness and constant optimization of the quantity and quality of custom solutions, their impact on business processes, and their technical severity. The focus is on achieving optimal operability, maintainability, and supportability of custom developments. Solution documentation functionality provided through SAP Solution Manager provides the central point of information that can be used for changes or support activities. The Custom Development Management Cockpit provides possibilities for identification of obsolete customer objects and especially for a change impact analysis that helps to optimize efforts in case of technical upgrades or business functionality innovation with enhancement packages.

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The customer system will be validated for the Custom Code Management standard based on the following checks:

Custom Development Management Cockpit (CDMC) configured in SAP Solution Manager

Documentation of custom codes in SAP Solution Manager business process structure

Definition of quality standards to be followed during custom code creation and quality checking tools usage (Code inspector, Jlin)

Strategy and tool for custom code clearing analysis

Custom code usage analysis report in Solution Manager using Solution Documentation Assistance (SoDocA) or CDMC

Standards not considered for Certification in Run SAP Operations

The following standards are currently “off the table” in regards to criteria for certification:

The partner may be required to exhibit its knowledge about any of these standards in the future as a means for recertification.

GOVERNANCE

A communication and knowledge-owner structure within the partner organization is essential for quality operations via Run SAP. The partner’s integration to SAP at the management level will occur via the partner’s program lead with the assigned partner manager from SAP. Together, they will establish a regular meeting to facilitate topics and issues and strengthen the relationship between the parties.

A governance structure and regular meeting schedule must be established to satisfy the criteria.

Incident Management

Upgrade

Security

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A regular meeting schedule must be agreed between the Run SAP Program Lead from the partner and the SAP Partner Manager.

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CERTIFICATION PROCESS

DISCOVERY WORKSHOP

A Run SAP Discovery workshop is the first step in the process to become certified in Run SAP operations. During the workshop the partner will learn more details regarding the E2E standards and the certification program itself. The partner is asked to share information regarding their delivery organizational structure, competencies, and customers. The result is a plan for how the partner and SAP will work together and the partner to reach certification. This plan may include services provided from SAP Active Global Support (AGS) to help up-skill and enable the partner on the E2E standards and implementation delivery.

PARTNER ENABLEMENT AGREEMENT

The partner may choose to enter into an engagement with SAP AGS to help facilitate the Enablement work stream (see below). In this way, the partner can receive services from AGS to skill partner resources, whether through traditional classroom training via empowering workshops and/or hands-on implementations via enablement services. These options will be presented and discussed during the Run SAP Workshop. If a contractual agreement (“Partner Enablement Agreement”) is reached, a Partner Technical Advisor (PTA) will be assigned from AGS and he will assist in project planning and scheduling services from AGS. In addition, the PTA will be the technical go-to person from SAP for the project.

At a minimum, the Partner Enablement Agreement must include validation services from AGS. The validation services are provided remotely from AGS to ensure that the standards have been implemented accordingly and with feedback to the partner. The partner is required to purchase service days and the pricing and details are included in the contract.

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WORK STREAMS

The partner and the assigned partner manager from SAP Active Global Support work together in three workstreams to achieve the partner certification:

1. Enablement

2. Adoption

3. Business Development

An initial meeting will be scheduled by the partner manager to review and plan how the criteria will be satisfied. If a Partner Enablement Agreement has been signed, a formal kickoff meeting will be scheduled. The partner manager will introduce the PTA in the kickoff meeting and detailed planning for AGS delivered services and customer base selection will take place. Project structure, reporting, and service delivery are facilitated through the PTA. Otherwise, if the Partner Enablement Agreement scope contains no empowering workshops or enablement services, the partner manager will schedule touch points throughout the certification process to make sure the partner is on track for each of the work streams. At a certain point the partner will provide the completed checklist to the partner manager and the audits will be planned.

AUDIT & CUSTOMER VALIDATIONS

A checklist will be provided to the partner to document how it has satisfied the criteria in the five categories:

Adoption of Run SAP Methodology

Go to market

People certification and training

Implementation of E2E Solution Operations Standards to Customers

Governance

Please refer back to the appropriate section in this program guide for each category’s details.

The partner manager will use the completed checklist as a guideline for questions and feedback during the audit. Typically, an audit web session will be scheduled, one for each of the three work streams. For the Adoption work stream, for example, the partner is expected to show how it has enhanced its existing operations processes and procedures

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for the E2E standards. The partner would show this from the actual system, pulling up real documents and describing how they are used from a day-to-day basis, emphasizing the areas modified for Run SAP. PowerPoint slides may be used to guide the web session but will not be enough for demo purposes. In case of incomplete information or outstanding questions, the partner manager may request that the partner provide missing information and/or updates to partner documents within a certain timeframe.

A key component of the certification in Run SAP operations is the requirement that the partner “proves” his knowledge of Run SAP and the E2E standards by implementing them at a customer base. SAP AGS will validate these customer systems as the audit check for this criterion. The validation services are provided remotely and a PTA will be assigned to schedule and coordinate delivery. The services provide a knowledge transfer component so that the partner can understand what topics may need to be addressed and what changes may be required to the customer system. A final validation report with a green light must be attached to the checklist for final submission.

CERTIFICATE & LOGO

After passing the audit, the Support Partner agreement will be executed and the certificate, logo, and branding/usage guidelines will be sent to the partner. SAP will ask that the partner complete a reference slide and the partner name and logo will be added to the relevant SAP partner websites.

Certification in Run SAP operations is granted for two years. If the partner becomes initially certified in the first half of a calendar year, the certification period lasts until June 30, year + 2. If the partner is initially certified in the second half of a calendar year, the certification period lasts until December 31, year + 2. Subsequent certification periods (“recertification”) are two years, ending on either June 30 or December 31. Please refer to the next section “Recertification” for additional details on this process.

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RECERTIFICATION

CRITERIA

The partner certification term is 2 years. If the partner becomes initially certified in the first half of a calendar year, the certification period lasts until June 30, year + 2. If the partner is initially certified in the second half of a calendar year, the certification period lasts until December 31, year + 2. Subsequent certification periods (“recertification”) are two years, ending on either June 30 or December 31.

Recertification criteria will be published by January 31 of each calendar year, valid for those partners whose certification term ends June 30 or December 31 that year. Similar to when the partner became initially certified, the criteria are along the 5 areas:

Adoption of Run SAP Methodology

A summary of IT-related operation materials that have been created or enhanced for Run SAP since last Operations certification. In particular, show how the newest E2E standards – Custom Code Management and Security Management – have been adopted into your IT operations.

Go to market

A summary of marketing materials that have been created or enhanced for Run SAP since last Operations certification.

People certification and training

Maintain the minimum number of certified resources as indicated in the SAP Support Partner Program Guide for the initial certification. The numbers required are based on a percentage of your SAP Delivery organization. Refer to “People Certification &

Training” section above.

Implementation of E2E Solution Operations Standards to Customers

o Customer Validations Partner is to continue to demonstrate its expertise and knowledge by choosing customer systems for SAP to validate. The standards to be validated will be agreed between the partner and SAP. The validations will check that the standards have been implemented according to the SAP solution operations standards. Previously validated standards will not count.

The standards are validated from SAP via remote services provided from SAP AGS. The delivery of validation services requires the purchase of

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service days from SAP AGS. A partner wanting to become recertified must use service days from an existing agreement with SAP or enter into a new agreement and purchase service days. Service delivery, pricing, and other details are described in the agreement. A validation report with a green light indicates a successful validation and must be attached to the checklist for recertification.

o Customer Quotes/Successes

As proof of partner’s successful Run SAP operations practice, the partner will be required to provide four customer external quotes or success stories (submitted by partner and approved by SAP) for recertification. The quotes may be anonymous but each must be publishable on the SAP Service Marketplace. Quotes published in a prior year or for another Run SAP certification (i.e., Run SAP implementation certification) are not valid.

Governance

Same roles and ownerships must continue to be in place as from the initial certification. Refer to “Governance” section above for details.

PROCESS

The process to be recertified is similar to the process from initial certification. The partner will fulfill the recertification requirements and document them in the recertification checklist. An audit will be scheduled where the partner can demonstrate how it has met the criteria. Once passed, a new certificate with logo and branding/usage guidelines will be sent to the partner.

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