SAP Cloud ALM vs CHARM in managing one landscape with maintenance & evolution projects

[Maurizio_Manera]

Hi,
for a landscape S4 Hana Rise I would like to start with SAP Cloud ALM for Change & Deployment Scenario.

With Solution Manager CHARM there is the CSOL functionality that ensures that when an object is changed in a managed system, it is locked in the SAP Solution Manager system. Depending on the conflict scenario, this prevents multiple edits of the same object in different transport requests or projects at the same time. This applies to all managed systems and clients for which the cross-system lock is active.
This allow maintenance line and evolution line to be under control.

I've read that CSOL functionality for SAP CALM will be available but only for detect whether development objects have been touched in different system landscapes; this is not my case because I have only one S4 Hana Landscape.

So if I decide to use CALM how can I manage conflict between evolution line and maintenance line if CSOL it's not released for this purpose?

Which are the best practices to follow for managing evolution and maintenance line with features to replicate similar functionality?

Regards
Maurizio

[DoloresCorrea · Accepted solution]

Hello Maurizio, 

Sorry for not answering in the blog.

As you can read in SAP Road Map Explorer https://roadmaps.sap.com/board?PRODUCT=73554900100800002513&range=CURRENT-LAST#Q2%202025

CSOL is planned for Q4 2025, and after CSOL Retrofit will arrive also planned for Q4 2025:

"Cross-system object lock foundation for retrofit

Overview

• Object locks across systems to detect whether development objects have been touched in different system landscapes
• The locking mechanism should build the foundation for an automatic retrofit option

Benefits

Enable consistent deployment orchestration across supported transport tools. "

"Support for the automatic retrofit

Overview

• Support the automatic retrofit process based on a cross-system object lock mechanism
• Define the source and retrofit system to use SAP Cloud ALM for automating the retrofit process
• Allow only transport objects without any conflicts to be retrofitted automatically
• Do not provide support for a semi-automatic retrofit

Benefits

Accelerate implementation projects and reduce manual integration and configuration efforts by leveraging the suite quality “coordinated lifecycle management” for harmonized software provisioning, setup, and operations, as well as monitoring solutions, for your intelligent, sustainable enterprise"

Best regards,

Dolores

[Maurizio_Manera · Accepted solution]

Hi Dolores,

I know that there will be a new functionality for CSOL but it seems will work only with two separate Development system.
With CHARM it is possible to raise a warning or error with CSOL also if you use only one development system as reported in the help online.

https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_Solution_Manager/8b923a2175be4939816f0981b73856c7/5e0500dc-b19f-4f5a-9... 

"Regardless of whether you use a separate development system or share the same system for your projects, you must avoid different teams working on the same object concurrently if the changes are to be imported in the same production system. It can lead to inconsistencies. The object must stay locked until it has been imported in the production system."

Will this function be available in CALM with CSOL ?

Which are the best practices to replicate the same function?

Regards
Maurizio

[paula_augedahl · Accepted solution]

Hi, Maurizio_Manera, Since this is not yet developed, we cannot know the answer to your question at this point. The best thing you can do is share your input about your needs here in the Influence Campaign: - SAP Cloud ALM for Implementation https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/campaign/3501

[paula_augedahl · Accepted solution]

Dear Maurizio_Manera , since an answer was provided to your question, and there has been no other activity on the topic, we have accepted the answer as a solution on your behalf. You can unaccept it anytime if the answer provided was not helpful enough or if you have further questions. Thank you for bringing this question to SAP Community! Best regards, Paula

[eduardohartmann · Accepted solution]

Hi Maurizio,

I didn' t understand properly what is your point about this scenario  - my understanding is that we already have it (the lock inside one system) covered with the standard solution.

From the section you mentioned :
"Regardless of whether you use a separate development system or share the same system for your projects, you must avoid different teams working on the same object concurrently if the changes are to be imported in the same production system. It can lead to inconsistencies. The object must stay locked until it has been imported in the production system."
I understand that it only emphasizes that there should not be two different teams (i.e. two "projects") changing the same object - it seems to me that you are considering that CSOL would not cover this in ALM.

My understanding is that this is assured inside each system alone by the structure of Transport Request (TR) itself:  When you create a TR, you will have one or more Tasks below it. Once you change an object, this will be set as blocked in the level of the Task, until you release it. At this moment the block will be moved to the upper-level (TR), so you have under that TR (or their Tasks) the block control for the object.
If someone tries to change that object and assign it to another TR, the standard system (not sure if the name is correct, but I would call it Transport System) will prevent that you assign that object to another TR, thus assuring what you are aiming for - prevent 2 different changes touching the same object.

You can have 2 users changing the same object, provided their Tasks are under the same TR (= same project), once they release their Taks, the block control moves up to the TR.
There are ways to bypass this block control, this can be handled by authorizations, etc.. , this is another discussion.

So, as far as I could understand your requirement, the standard system provides the solution inside one system. If this is not what you need, kindly enlighten.

What CSOL provides is a separate (external) control to manage different systems and hold a "copy" of the objects blocked in each managed system - if there is already one (system) blocking an object and you try to change it in another one, it will provide ways to prevent that (= cross-system lock is active). For me, it only makes sense to use this in a multi-system scenario, as in case of only one system, the check (my guess) would be performed before the check from CSOL.

Does it make sense?

P.S.: I am looking for alternatives to ChaRM, once it is (supposed to) end in 2027. If you know a replacement from SAP, I'd appreciate if you can share the knowledge 🙂

Kind regards,

Eduardo Hartmann