Lesson 1 of 5
What Cloud ALM is
7 min
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Every SAP program needs one place where the plan, the scope, the requirements, the tests, the defects and the release decisions live together. For most SAP customers that place is now SAP Cloud ALM, SAP's application lifecycle management solution delivered as a cloud service. SAP describes it as a cloud-native, central entry point for managing an SAP landscape, from the first implementation project through day-to-day operations.
If you have worked with SAP Solution Manager, think of Cloud ALM as its successor for most customers, rebuilt as software as a service. If you have not, think of it as the system of record for "how we deliver and run SAP": who is doing what, which business processes are in scope, what has been tested, and whether the running system is healthy.
The building blocks
SAP organizes Cloud ALM into three main areas, each with its own set of apps on the Cloud ALM launchpad:
- Implementation: a content-driven way to run projects. Projects and tasks, process scope, requirements, user stories, features, quality gates, test preparation, test plans, test execution, defects, deployments and analytics.
- Operations: monitoring of the running landscape. Health, integration and exceptions, jobs, business processes, user experience and alert handling.
- Service: collaboration with SAP on service delivery, so that the services SAP performs for you and their results are visible in the same tool.
Underneath all three sit shared foundations: user and role administration, Landscape Management (the list of systems and cloud services Cloud ALM knows about), and public APIs that let other tools read and write Cloud ALM data.
What "cloud-native" changes for you
Cloud ALM runs on SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP operates it. You do not install it, patch it, or size a database for it. SAP ships new features continuously, so the screens you see this quarter may have new options next quarter. That is good news for capability and a small burden for training: keep a short "what changed" note in your team's onboarding pack and check SAP's Cloud ALM release information before each test cycle.
It also changes how you get it. There is no separate license. Customers with SAP Enterprise Support (or Product Support for Large Enterprises, or Enterprise Support, cloud editions within a cloud subscription) can request a tenant at no extra charge, and RISE with SAP customers are covered too. The entitlement is one tenant per customer number. Standard Support customers are not covered unless they also hold a qualifying cloud subscription.
- Do you have SAP Enterprise Support, Product Support for Large Enterprises or Enterprise Support, cloud editions?Yes → entitled to one tenant at no extra charge · No → next question
- Are you a RISE with SAP customer or do you hold another qualifying cloud subscription?Yes → entitled · No → Standard Support alone is not covered
- Has someone on your customer number already requested a tenant?Yes → find and use that tenant · No → request one (lesson 5)
What Cloud ALM is not
- Not a copy of Solution Manager. SAP publishes a terminology mapping between the two products and states plainly that it does not imply feature parity.
- Not a test automation engine. Cloud ALM manages manual tests and orchestrates automated ones, but automated tests are built and executed in a connected automation tool.
- Not a transport system. It orchestrates transports through the SAP transport tools; it does not replace them.
| Cloud ALM is | Cloud ALM is not | What does that job instead |
|---|---|---|
| The system of record for scope, requirements, tests, defects and releases | A like-for-like copy of Solution Manager | SAP's terminology mapping shows equivalents, not feature parity |
| The place where manual tests run and automated tests are orchestrated | A test automation engine | A connected automation tool builds and executes automated tests |
| The orchestrator of deployments for features | A transport system | The SAP transport tools for your edition move the changes |
For Contoso Motor Co., moving from SAP ECC 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition under RISE, this means the new program's scope, requirements, test cases and defects will live in Cloud ALM, while the old ECC estate keeps whatever tools it already uses until it is switched off.
What would you do?
Grace, Contoso's PMO lead, asks you in the kickoff: "Do we need to buy a Cloud ALM license and build servers for it?" Contoso has RISE with SAP. What is the best answer?
- SAP Cloud ALM is SAP's cloud-native ALM solution, operated by SAP on SAP BTP.
- Its three main areas are Implementation, Operations and Service, on a shared foundation of users, roles, Landscape Management and APIs.
- Entitled customers, including RISE customers, get one tenant per customer number with no separate license.
- It is not a like-for-like Solution Manager, an automation engine or a transport system.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Who operates and updates SAP Cloud ALM?
2. Which three main areas does SAP organize Cloud ALM into?
3. How many Cloud ALM tenants does the standard entitlement include?
4. Which statement about Cloud ALM is accurate?