The SAP Solution Manager platform, commonly referred to as SAP SolMan by IT community members is hailed by its creators as the universal solution to pretty much everything. From centralized application management and administration through to implementation, support, operation and monitoring of your SAP enterprise solutions – the SolMan promises to deliver all of the above.
However, a closer look at discussion boards and user forums reveals a more multifaceted picture. Many users complain about the system’s complexity and poor usability. Here are some sample reviews:
Users seem to be in accord that while SolMan functionality can be beneficial, the time and training required to implement it sometimes outweigh its benefits.
Furthermore, when organizations make the required efforts to work with SolMan, they still find success hard to measure in terms of ROI, so much so that some fail to meet project KPIs.
Recently, one of the largest German-based B2B office supply online retailers has made the time and resource investments in SolMan for their SAP application delivery project. The project, an EHP upgrade, was delayed and brought the enterprise to a halt when they realized quality assurance and risk mitigation were not met prior to go-live.
So, what happened next? Well, like Eissmann Group Automotive — who found that “SAP standard tools are not providing that kind of holistic view Panaya Test Dynamix does.” — the company decided to forgo SolMan. Instead, they turned to Panaya in search of a solution to deliver both impact analysis and test management on a single platform to support all their functional test cycles. They also understood the importance of ease of use right off the bat.
Read how this company, knowing they “couldn’t risk a blind flight without instruments and needed to avoid a long halt in development” chose Panaya Test Dynamix for both transparency and foresight into their project as early as during the planning phase, resulting in 6-8 weeks project time saving. Notably, Panaya Test Center excelled on usability, where SolMan was lacking. The company’s IT leader was quoted as saying that Panaya Test Dynamix “is very user friendly and easy to adopt,” Read the full story here.