The end of maintenance for SAP Solution Manager (SolMan) is coming closer: SAP will discontinue support for the central ALM platform in 2027. This is a turning point, especially for SAP teams that rely on ChaRM. Now they are faced with a decision: cloud migration, renewal or a third-party successor?
TL;DR – Key facts in brief
Until now, companies have often used SAP Solution Manager (SolMan) to manage large system landscapes and implement their application lifecycle management strategy (ALM strategy). Modules such as Change Request Management (ChaRM), ITSM, Test Management or Monitoring made it an all-purpose tool for SAP Basis.
So SolMan served us well, but as it aged, its weaknesses became more apparent. These include lengthy implementation, high maintenance, limited usability, and limited integration options.
Maintenance for SAP Solution Manager will end soon, in 2027. You could, in a best-case scenario, extend maintenance to 2030, but only if you pay an additional Extended Maintenance fee. SAP Cloud ALM is considered the successor. Although the solution has been available for some time, it does not offer an adequate replacement for SolMan, as the range of functions is hardly congruent with its predecessor – ChaRM in particular is not included.
For companies with complex on-premises landscapes, SolMan may continue to work in the short term – especially if no migration is planned. But the reality remains: high maintenance costs, a halt to innovation and a growing know-how bottleneck. When SolMan (still) makes sense:
In the long term, however, continuing to use it is expensive, maintenance-intensive – and technologically a discontinued model. The question is not if, but when you will replace SolMan.
With the transition to the cloud, modern ALM platforms are becoming increasingly relevant.
Both solutions have their strengths. However, in many cases, additional tools are needed to adequately replace critical ALM processes such as change and transport management. This is where modern SAP Cloud ALM alternatives are needed.
Not every company will find a suitable answer to its ALM requirements in SAP’s own solutions. Especially when flexibility, speed and integration capability are required, it is worth looking at specialized third-party solutions.
REALTECH SmartChange is an established solution that is perfect for replacing SolMan and ChaRM. The software can be implemented quickly, integrated seamlessly and ensures the secure migration of your existing data.
SmartITSM is also available as a suitable replacement for the Solution Manager ITSM module if required. This makes it easy to switch from SolMan to modern, lean and SAP-compatible solutions.
SmartChange is the powerful alternative to SAP Solution Manager for companies that want to make their SAP change and transport management future-proof, efficient and auditable. The solution automates the deployment of SAP transport requests in SAP ERP and S/4HANA systems – fully integrated into your existing IT landscape, on-premise, hybrid or in the cloud. SmartChange is ready for use in just a few days – without any complex project or additional work for your SAP Basis team.
With the end of SAP Solution Manager maintenance in 2027, a key question arises for many companies: What happens to the existing change documents from SAP ChaRM? These often contain information that has been built up over many years. REALTECH offers a tool-supported migration approach that backs up your existing ChaRM documents – without any loss of data. Your benefits at a glance:
The end of SAP Solution Manager maintenance is a strategic decision with far-reaching consequences for your SAP processes, compliance and future viability.
Now is the perfect time to switch to SmartChange. SmartChange offers you a tried-and-tested, quickly implementable solution for SAP change management – including tool-supported ChaRM migration, ITSM integration, and future-proofing for hybrid SAP landscapes.
Safeguard your processes and redesign your SAP change management.
SAP Solution Manager, also called SAP SolMan or just SolMan, is an intelligent platform for application lifecycle management software (ALM). ALM, in turn, consists of tools and processes that help manage the lifecycle of a software product – from development to product design to product retirement.
SAP Cloud ALM is a comprehensive application lifecycle management suite for customers using cloud solutions. To this end, it offers comprehensive implementation and operational functions and covers relevant areas such as process, test, deployment and task management. In the operating area, it supports companies in business process monitoring, health monitoring and user and performance monitoring.
SAP Cloud ALM is often seen as the official successor, but it has some weaknesses. Important functions are missing, especially for companies that continue to operate on-premises landscapes. Areas such as IT Service Management or Change Request Management (ChaRM), which are heavily used in SAP Solution Manager, are currently not fully mapped in Cloud ALM. These limitations make it difficult to view the new SAP ALM solution as the sole alternative to SAP Solution Manager.
No. SAP Cloud ALM is the preferred successor solution, but does not replace all functions – such as ChaRM or Retrofit. The switch is optional, but an alternative (e.g. third-party tool) is necessary if you do not want to work with SolMan after 2027.
In addition to SAP Cloud ALM and Focused Run, third-party providers such as SmartChange from REALTECH offer modern solutions for change, transport and ITSM processes – including integration in Jira or ServiceNow.
Depending on the scope and project structure, a productive changeover is often possible within a few weeks. The extraction of existing ChaRM documents can be tool-based.
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