Agile Project Delivery with Focused Build for SAP Solution Manager

Join this free open online course to learn how Focused Build for SAP Solution Manager can guide project members through the entire lifecycle of an implementation project such as SAP S/4HANA on-premise or private cloud. After completing this course, you’ll have a good understanding of how the basic features of Focused Build can be used from the different perspectives of the implementation project members.

This course was retired in October 2023.

Please note: this course will start with an updated version on September 28, 2021. Click here to access the new course.

Self-paced since October 24, 2019
Language: English
Subtitles (auto-generated): Deutsch, English, Français, Español

Course information

Retired

This course was retired in October 2023.

Course Summary

This course will give you an introduction to the basic processes and functionalities of Focused Build for SAP Solution Manager, an add-on solution that supports SAP implementation projects such as those around SAP S/4HANA. The course will enable project teams to use the basic functionalities of Focused Build through the whole project lifecycle.

SAP Solution Manager is designed to support the entire lifecycle of SAP solutions and is available to every customer with an SAP maintenance contract. SAP Solution Manager offers several tools to support individual project tasks, such as business process documentation, test management, and software deployment. As of version 7.2, it also offers the Focused Build solution, which enables a preconfigured requirement-to-deploy process within SAP Solution Manager. It includes business demand and requirements management, integrated risk management, and collaboration features that help business and IT work more closely together to manage global development teams. Focused Build follows an agile implementation concept and is very aligned with the SAP Activate methodology.

Using a tool with guided project procedures decreases the risk of deployment failures, enables a real-time status view of all project activities, and helps you keep a centralized source of truth for business processes and documentation.

In the first week of this course, we’ll give you an introduction to Focused Build and guide you through all the tasks of a project manager.

In Week 2, we’ll talk about the Explore phase and you’ll learn about solution documentation and how to use this in a fit-to-standard workshop.

Week 3 will focus on the core of Focused Build, including requirements, work packages, and work items.

In Week 4, you’ll learn about the functionalities that Focused Build provides for test management and how to execute tests.

Week 5 is all about release management. In this week, you’ll learn how to manage your releases and how to deploy your software on different system landscapes.

Week 6, which is the last week of this course, will focus on the enablement of Focused Build coaches and consultants, and you’ll learn how to set up Focused Build.

Course Characteristics

Course Content

Week 1: Project Preparation and Management
Week 2: Explore Phase (Process Expert/Analyst)
Week 3: Realization (Architect/Developer)
Week 4: Test Management
Week 5: Release Management
Week 6: Focused Build Enablement
Week 7: Final Exam

Target Audience

  • Project members who will use Focused Build as an implementation tool
  • Consultants
  • Project managers
  • Agile methodologists and tool coaches

Course Requirements

  • Basic understanding of the activities in an SAP implementation project
  • Some basics about agile project management
  • No coding skills are required!

Development Systems

If your primary interest in taking this course is getting an overview about Focused Build for SAP Solution Manager, you don’t need access to an SAP system. However, we realize that many of you will be interested in gaining some hands-on experience with Focused Build based on the instructions in the course. Therefore, we’ll provide you with scripts for all the demos presented in this course and we’ll grant you access to a public, free-of-charge, SAP Solution Manager system.

Course contents

  • Course content no longer available

  • Week 1:

    Project Preparation and Management
  • Week 2:

    Explore Phase (Process Expert/Analyst)
  • Week 3:

    Realization (Architect/Developer)
  • Week 4:

    Test Management
  • Week 5:

    Release Management
  • Week 6:

    Focused Build Enablement
  • I Like, I Wish:

    We Love Your Feedback … And Want More
  • Final Exam:

    Good Luck!

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The course is free. Just register for an account on openSAP and take the course!
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Learners

Current
Today
21,948
Course End
Oct 24, 2019
11,645
Course Start
Sep 04, 2019
6,995

Rating

This course was rated with 4.53 stars in average from 1190 votes.

Certificate Requirements

  • Gain a Record of Achievement by earning at least 50% of the maximum number of points from all graded assignments.
  • Gain a Confirmation of Participation by completing at least 50% of the course material.

Find out more in the certificate guidelines.

This course is offered by

David Birkenbach

David Birkenbach is the go-to-market lead for SAP’s application lifecycle management (ALM) products in the EMEA & MEE regions. His main focus is on driving the adoption of SAP tools such as SAP Solution Manager, SAP Cloud ALM, and in particular Focused Build.

David has worked in product management for SAP in Walldorf, Germany for 14 years and was product owner for ITSM topics before taking on the responsibility to roll out ALM into the project build market. He is well known as a speaker at events and as a trainer of the Focused Build coaches.

David's SAP Community Profile

Joerg Marenk

Joerg Marenk works as an expert support engineer for SAP Solution Manager and the Focused Build add-on. As product owner and product manager he is responsible for the continuous improvement of these application lifecycle management (ALM) products.

Joerg started at SAP Support in 2006 before joining the SAP Solution Manager Consulting Team in 2010, delivering implementation projects and services around the world for change control management and IT service management. Since 2016 he has taken part in different SAP S/4HANA implementation programs, working as a Focused Build tool coach.

Stefan Koerner

Stefan Koerner works as an ALM expert for SAP Solution Manager and the Focused Build add-on. Together with his team, he implements application lifecycle management (ALM) processes and tools, especially SAP Solution Manager and Focused Build.

Stefan started in SAP AMS in 2005 before joining the SAP Solution Manager Consulting Team in 2008, where he delivers implementation projects and services for IT service management, process management and testing. Since 2016 he has taken part in different SAP S/4HANA implementation programs working as a Focused Build tool coach.