Project Description
With Focused Build, SAP have delivered a seamless tool-based Requirements-to-Deploy process within SAP Solution Manager. This includes the capture of business demands, requirements management, integrated risk management, and clear-cut collaboration features that allow you to orchestrate business and IT units as well as global development teams remotely. For more details on what Focused Build is and how it can help your business, click here
Focused Build Support Pack 3 is now available and ready for download! If your SAP Solution Manager system is on Support Pack 8 then this is the ‘go-to’ release. Below we take you through some of the most significant improvements in this new edition.
Project Management
- New Gantt Chart – When you open the ‘Project Management’ tile you will now be greeted with a Gantt chart. This Gantt chart is a fantastic addition as it now lets the users see a visual breakdown of all waves/Q-Gates etc within that project.
- Risks have now been integrated into the Focused Build project app – This allows project managers to gain immediate visibility of open risks that may have an impact on the project timeline and upcoming milestones whilst reviewing the project Gannt chart. In addition, new risks can quickly be created without having to navigate away from the same planning view – all the data you need to inform you of risks to the schedule is in the same place.
Work Packages/Items
- Create Defect Correction out of Work Package directly – you can now create a Defect without an associated Test Plan/Package. This is ideal to support the quick creation of a defect without having to have all the formalities of a Test Plan and Test Package in place first. Again this adds further flexibility to the functionality making it more ‘agile’ with every new release.
- Value and Effort Points fields in Work Packages – to allow efficient Wave backlog planning on Work Package level, SAP have introduced a field for Value and Effort Points. This allows a calculation of the Work Package Priority, e.g. the higher the value. This is a really neat feature, previously we have had no real way of prioritising requirements and subsequently work packages.
- Mass Change Application – Until SP02 it was required to select either Work Items of Type General change or Normal change. Now a combined display can be chosen. Allows evaluation of all Work Items to be developed within a specific Wave, Sprint or Release. Much better!
Test Suite
- My Test Executions – Dramatically improved performance and a new electronic signature feature. This new electronic signature allows you to sign off testing by attaching the users signature to the Test Results, all in all this will help reduce confusion over who has done what to a test case etc.
- Uploading Test Steps from Document – You can now directly upload into Solution Documentation, this means when a test case is created you can now attach that test case to a scenario/process step where further test details may be stored (or an automated script). This is an helpful new feature as previously there was no way of defining the test steps directly in solution documentation. This also helps with content validation and automated mapping between file content.
A Whole Host of Innovation
These are just some of the key enhancements that we know customers have been craving since adopting SAP Focused Build. Expand the sections below for a round-up of other interesting features per topic:
- New Test Case Groups – Favourite Test Cases, Recently Changed Test Cases. Bookmark of test cases. Find preferred and recently changed test cases easier and faster
- Change Log Tab – Change Log tab page displays the change history of the test step data. Changes on the test cases are logged and centrally accessible
- Automatic Test Case Executions – Automated test cases can be executed from My Test Executions
- Changed behaviour for Test Step Executions – New Save button saves all changes at once. Change previously set status even if status for other steps are already set. Improve performance and usability
- Multilingual Test Case – Test Case can be loaded in an alternative language
- Integration into Solution Documentation Search functionality – Integration into Solution Export / Import functionality, Integration into Test Report (Word Document)
- Additional Filters – you can now filter on, for example, overdue work packages or items!
- Automated population of Project Manager field – The Project Manager is retrieved via the linked project and assigned Project Manager role in the top node of the Build Project
- A new Test Management Tab in Work Package – This tab now displays Test Packages and Test Plans the Work Package is assigned to. This includes direct links to the related Test Packages and Test Plans
- New Business Role – this now allows the assignment of testers to a Work Package. The assignment can be helpful for testers to be find their Work Package via their My Work Packages tile
- My Requirements – New fields for who created and last changed the document
- Mass Change Integration interface – this interface now allows for a selection of work packages, work items and defect corrections to be sent across to the mass change application
- Release Dashboard – You now have the ability to hide tiles and information that is not relevant or needed
- Increased Flexibility – Defects with a priority which isn’t ‘high’ can be given further flexibility
- Release Cycle Check – If defects with a priority of 1 or 2 haven’t got the status ‘Handed over to release’ then you cannot change the cycle status to ‘Deploy’
- Conflict Display in dropDocs – This feature allows you to have visibility of all conflicts on a structure and element level in the drop area. This will be useful as you will now know that concurrent editing of the same elements in different branches is causing conflicts to occur!
- Auto Creation of Required Documents – A document will automatically be created based on the information provided in the document KPI definition
Of course, there are many other changes under the skin of Focused Build 03 than we can go into here, including minor, but welcome additions to Process Management, Requirements Management and standalone features. Some of note are the new Scrum and KANBAN integration boards, these are built with ‘agile’ in mind and will help the users manage their work items etc. More details on this to follow!
Don’t forget that to maintain access to SAP’s Support Infrastructure (required for continued operation of key functions such as the Maintenance Planner – amongst others) you will need to upgrade to at least SP07 and ideally SP08 before the end 2019, so now is the time to take action! Get in contact with us below to find out how we can make sure you get the most out of the latest enhancements in the fastest possible time.
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