Cloud ALM is essentially a free tool from SAP. The only question is, what are the prerequisites for provisioning Cloud ALM and what are the conditions for using Cloud ALM free of charge?
SAP Cloud ALM is SAP’s new cloud-based ALM tool and will replace the on-premise solution, SAP Solution Manager, in the foreseeable future. With older on-premise solutions, the issue of usage rights was manageable and trivial. The tool was hosted in-house or by an external service provider, and if in doubt, license measurement determined what had to be paid for using the tool. With Cloud ALM, this is now different. Cloud ALM can be used free of charge under certain conditions. However, there are some prerequisites that must be met for companies to:
a) set up their Cloud ALM tenant and
b) the use of the tenant remains free of charge.
These two points have repeatedly led to discussions in the community in recent months. You can find out the current status of the usage prerequisites and usage rights in the following text.
What exactly is SAP Cloud ALM?
SAP Cloud ALM is a cloud-based solution that helps companies efficiently manage and optimize their SAP applications. It offers comprehensive functions for monitoring and managing hybrid landscapes, including SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Customer Experience, and SAP Ariba. Furthermore, functionalities for project management, process management, test management, and change management are provided.
What is required to apply for a Cloud ALM tenant?
To apply for a Cloud ALM tenant, companies require an “SAP Cloud Service Subscription” with “Enterprise Support (Cloud Editions)”, “SAP Enterprise Support”, or “Product Support for Large Enterprises” (see also here). This means that many subscriptions and contracts that have supposedly already been concluded with SAP enable your company to apply for a Cloud ALM tenant and use it free of charge within the scope of the usage rights.
Overview: License Types, Usage Rights, and Limitations of SAP Cloud ALM at a Glance
What usage rights are available for using the provisioned Cloud ALM tenant?
Provided certain contracts and licenses with SAP are in place, the use of Cloud ALM is generally free of charge. However, the free use also has certain restrictions, for example, regarding consumed storage or traffic. Thus, only customer-specific ALM processes may be mapped in Cloud ALM. For mapping customer-specific processes, 8 GB of SAP HANA storage and a monthly volume of 8 GB for outgoing API data transfer are available. Should the respective limits be reached, costs would be incurred by the customers. However, the details regarding the amount of costs and billing details would have to be clarified with the respective SAP contact person.
According to their own statements, it is, however, in SAP’s great interest that Cloud ALM remains free of charge for the vast majority of customers. Therefore, SAP is also working to reduce both storage consumption and data transfer volume.
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