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Create Guided Procedures for Different Application Areas

The Guided Procedure Authoring tool allows to maintain guided procedures for different purposes. The Guided Procedures can be launched context sensitively from different SAP Solution Manager applications.

The guided procedures are grouped into "Application Areas" in the Guided Procedure Browser. Depending on the "Application Area", different search attributes are provided for the guided procedures, and the guided procedures are partially instantiated differently.

The following is applicable for SAP Solution Manager 7.2 and higher. The application areas for the application operations capabilities of SAP Solution Manager are listed below. Before you create a new guided procedure, select the application area for your purpose. Please refer to the related "How to" to define the search attributes.

Application Area Description

Technical   Administration

This area contains all guided procedures that describe day-to-day or ad hoc operational tasks to administrate your managed systems. The execution of the guided procedures can either be scheduled in advance, using IT task planning, and will appear in the task inbox of the assigned processors at the scheduled time, or they can be executed ad hoc from the guided procedure browser for the selected managed object.  

System Monitoring

This area contains all guided procedures to analyze and resolve system monitoring alerts. The execution of these guided procedures is usually triggered from the alert inbox in the context of a system monitoring alert.  

PI or Message Flow Monitoring

This area contains all guided procedures to analyze and resolve PI and message flow monitoring alerts. The execution of these guided procedures is usually triggered from the alert inbox in the context of a PI or message flow monitoring alert.  

Job Monitoring

This area contains all guided procedures to analyze and resolve job monitoring alerts. The execution of these guided procedures is usually triggered from the alert inbox in the context of a job monitoring alert.  

BI Monitoring

This area contains all guided procedures to analyze and resolve BI monitoring alerts. The execution of these guided procedures is usually triggered from alert the inbox in the context of a BI monitoring alert.  

Interface &   Connection Monitoring

This area contains all guided procedures to analyze and resolve Interface & Connection monitoring alerts. The execution of these guided procedures is usually triggered from the alert inbox in the context of an Interface & Connection Monitoring alert.  

End User Experience Monitoring

This area contains all guided procedures to analyze and resolve end user experience monitoring alerts. The execution of these guided procedures is usually triggered from the alert inbox in the context of an End user Monitoring alert.  

Guided Procedures for Technical Administration

Purpose: Perform day-to-day operational activities, centrally, in a guided and reproducible way.

The execution of guided procedures is usually triggered by IT Task Management. It is also possible to execute the guided procedures ad-hoc, from the guided procedure browser. The guided procedures, or the guided procedure steps, may be relevant for different system types (e.g. CRM, J2EE, ABAP,...) or for hosts and databases. Search attributes can define whether a guided procedure is relevant, for example, for SAP J2EE Engine systems, or for all ABAP systems, for CRM systems, and so on.


How to Create Guided Procedures for Day-to-Day Operational Activities

Prerequisites

Before you create a guided procedure for technical administration, you need to select the application area "Technical Administration", in the guided procedure browser or in transaction GPA_ADMIN.


How to Define Search Attributes for Guided Procedures for Technical Administration

Search attributes can be maintained on guided procedure or step level, usually on guided procedure level. The first opportunity to maintain search attributes on guided procedure level is when you create a new guided procedure, and the "Create guided procedure wizard" opens. You can leave them empty initially, and adapt or maintain them later in the Guided Procedure Maintenance UI.

Press the "Properties" button highlighted in the screenshot, to define search attributes for the complete guided procedure.


The search attributes for all technical administration area guided procedures, are the following:


They are explained in detail below.

Use Case

The use case attribute specifies, for example, whether the guided procedure supports the use cases "ITSM Service request management" or "day to day operational tasks".

The possible values are shown below:


Set the attribute as explained below:

  • If you use the guided procedure for "ITSM Service request fulfillment", choose "Service Request".
  • If the guided procedure describes "day to day operational" tasks, and will be executed ad-hoc from the guided procedure browser, or scheduled in advance using IT Task Management, choose "Regular Administrative Tasks".

Managed Object Type

The managed object type describes the type of the object (e.g. Technical System, Database, and Host) to be handled in the guided procedure, or in the selected step of the guided procedure. 

  • Set the managed object type attribute of the guided procedure, or step to the type of the object to be handled, usually the Technical System.

Software Component

The software component attribute binds a guided procedure to the software component of a managed object. It ensures that only those guided procedures are shown in guided procedure browser that fit one of the software components of the selected managed objects. For example, the guided procedure "System Check for ABAP System" has the software component "SAP Basis", and is therefore only relevant to ABAP systems. The software component consists of a description and a unique identifier.

  • Set the software component attribute of the guided procedure, or step to the software component of the managed object. The following table shows some of the most relevant software components:

DescriptionSoftware Component NameIdentifier

For all  ABAP systems

SAP BASIS

01200245450100000406

For SAP Java Systems

SAP J2EE Engine (until version 7.02)

J2EE   ENGINE SERVERCORE ( > version 7.02)

01200615320100001309

01200615320100002834

For  SAP Business Warehouse systems

SAP BW

01200245450100000413

For PI systems

 XI ADAPTER FRAMEWORK

 01200615320100002811

For Systems based on SAP HANA

 SAP   HANA database

 01200615320100008556

For SAP Landscape Transformation Server on the NetWeaver Platform

DMIS

 01200615320100003342

 For CRM Systems

 SAP BBPCRM

 01200245450100000465

For SAP Solution Manager Systems (ABAP Stack)

SAP Solution Manager

01200615320100001273

Software Component Version

The software component version attribute makes a guided procedure relevant for only certain versions of a managed object. It ensures that only those guided procedures are shown in guided procedure browser that fit the version or release of the selected managed objects. For example you could define one guided procedure that is relevant for PI systems below version 7.30 and another one that is relevant for OI systems >= version 7.30. The software component version consists of a description and a unique identifier.

  • If you need to restrict the validity of the guided procedure to certain software component versions, choose their attributes.
  • If no restriction is required, enter value "ALL" (the default value). 
Examples

Regular Administrative Tasks for an ABAP system

You create a guided procedure that describes regular administrative tasks for ABAP systems.

You could define the search attributes as follows:

Use Case : Regular Administrative Tasks

Category: <leave empty>

Managed Object Type: Technical System

Software Component: SAP BASIS

Software Component Version: ALL

Guided Procedures for System Monitoring

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and alert resolution for system monitoring alerts, in a standardized and controlled way, powered by Guided Procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in alert inbox in SAP Solution Manager, and needs to analyze and resolve a system monitoring alert, quickly. Guided procedures for alert resolution can provide instructions to analyze and process the alert, and administrative alert handling instructions. As of SAP Solution Manager 7.2 , it is possible to assign guided procedures to specific alerts via guided procedure attributes. From alert inbox, the IT operator can select the alert group he needs to process, and then press the  button "Execute Guided Procedures".

The "Execute guided procedure" popup proposes the guided procedures that fit to the selected alert, automatically. If no appropriate guided procedures are proposed, or if they didn't help, the IT operator can use the "Search guided procedure" tray to search for other guided procedures that might help to analyze and resolve the alert.  


If one or more guided procedures have been executed for the selected alert group, the  last processor, the  last change time stamp, and an overall processing status, are shown in the "Execute guided procedure" pop-up. The overall processing status is computed as follows: 

  • No activity executed - grey icon
  • Not all activities executed - yellow icon
  • At least one activity performed with errors - red icon
  • All activities performed successfully - green icon.


Click on the guided procedure name. The guided procedure opens, and can be executed.


How to Create Guided Procedures to Analyze and Resolve System Monitoring Alerts

Prerequisites

Select SAP Solution Manager Configuration –> Configuration –> All Scenarios –> Application Operations –> System Monitoring (transaction solman_setup).  Select Step "Template Maintenance". Select the template that contains the alert for which you would like to create an alert handling/alert resolution guided procedure. Select the alert.

Note the following data:

  • Managed object type
  • Category.
  • Technical Name

You will need to set these attributes in the guided procedure you create later.
 


Before you create a guided procedure to analyze and resolve a system monitoring alert, select the application area "System Monitoring", in the guided procedure browser or in transaction GPA_ADMIN.


Select "Create" to create a new guided procedure, and enter the name, description and documentation package.


How to Define Search Attributes for Guided Procedures for System Monitoring

Guided procedures to handle and resolve system monitoring alerts have the following search attributes.


Define the search attributes as follows:

  • The context type describes whether the guided procedure be executed for technical systems, databases or hosts. Select the context type according to the managed object type of the alert.
  • The context name describes for which monitored objects the guided procedure be executed. If you enter one or more technical system names (e.g. PRD~ABAP or EPP~JAVA), the alert inbox will propose this guided procedure for execution only if the alert has been raised for the system in the attribute. If you enter "ALL", the alert inbox will propose this guided procedure for execution for all systems for which the alert has been raised
  • The category describes the problem category (availability, performance, exception, configuration) for which the guided procedure be executed. Select the category according to the category of the alert.
  • The alert name describes for which alert the guided procedure be executed. Enter the alert name from the alert attributes.

After you have maintained the attributes, define the contents of the guided procedure, as explained in the guided procedure authoring, and transport the guided procedure, if required.

Result: Alert inbox proposes your new guided procedure for execution, if the corresponding alert was raised.

Guided Procedures for PI or Message Flow Monitoring

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and alert resolution for PI or message flow monitoring alerts, in a standardized and controlled way, powered by guided procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in alert inbox in SAP Solution Manager and needs to analyze and resolve a PI or message flow monitoring alert, quickly. Guided procedures for alert resolution can indicate how to analyze and process alerts, and administrative alert handling instructions. You can assign guided procedures to alerts via guided procedure attributes. From alert inbox, the IT operator can select the alert group to process, and then choose "Execute Guided Procedures".


The "Execute guided procedure" pop-up automatically proposes the guided procedures that fit the selected alert. If no guided procedures are proposed, or if they didn't help, the IT operator can use the "Search guided procedure" tray to search for other guided procedures that might help to analyze and resolve the alert.
 


After clicking on the guided procedure name, the guided procedure opens and can be executed.
 


If one or more guided procedures have been executed for the selected alert group, the last processor, the  last change time stamp, and an overall processing status are shown in the "Execute guided procedure" pop-up . The overall processing status is computed as follows:

  • No activity executed - grey icon
  • Not all activities executed - yellow icon
  • At least one activity performed with errors - red icon
  • All activities performed successfully - green icon.
     


How to create Guided Procedures to analyze and resolve PI Monitoring Alerts

Prerequisites

Select SAP Solution Manager Configuration -> Configuration – All Scenarios -> Application Operations -> Integration Monitoring -> Process Integration -> Template Management.

Select the right template and the alert

Note the following data:

  • Component Name (if the guided procedure is relevant only for specific PI components and not for all PI components of the same type)
  • Technical Name of the alert

You will need to set these attributes in the guided procedure you create later.

 


Before you create a guided procedure to analyze and resolve PI or message flow monitoring alerts, select the application area "PI monitoring" in the guided procedure catalog.


Select "Create" to create a new guided procedure and enter name, description and documentation package.
 


How to define Search Attributes for Guided Procedures for PI Monitoring Alerts

Guided Procedures to handle and resolve PI monitoring alerts have the following search attributes.


Define the search attributes as follows:

  • Set the context type for PI monitoring alerts to "Technical Component".
  • The context name describes for which monitored objects the guided procedure be executed. If you enter one or more component names copied from technical monitoring setup (e.g. Central Adapter Engine: <SID> or Adapter Engine: <SID> ), the alert inbox will propose this guided procedure for execution only if the alert has been raised for the component in the attribute. If you enter "ALL", the alert inbox will propose this guided procedure for execution for all technical components for which the alert has been raised. The alert name describes for which alert the guided procedure be executed. Enter the technical alert name copied from the technical monitoring setup.
  • You can leave Runtime type and status code empty.
  • After you have maintained the attributes, define the contents of the guided procedure, as explained in the guided procedure authoring page, and transport the guided procedure, if required.

Result: Alert inbox proposes your new guided procedure for execution if the corresponding alert was raised.

 

Guided Procedures for Interface & Connection Monitoring

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and alert resolution for Interface & Connection Monitoring alerts in a standardized and controlled way, powered by Guided Procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in alert inbox in SAP Solution Manager and needs to analyze and resolve an Interface & Connection Monitoring alert, quickly. Guided procedures for alert resolution can contain customer specific instructions to analyze and resolve common interface errors as well as handling instructions for specific interfaces. You can assign guided procedures to specific Interface monitoring alerts via guided procedure attributes. From alert inbox, the IT operator can select the interface monitoring alert group to process and choose "Execute Guided Procedures".

The "Execute guided procedure" pop-up automatically proposes the guided procedures that fit the selected alert. If no such guided procedures exist, or if they didn't help, the IT operator can use the "Search guided procedure" tray to search for other guided procedures to analyze and resolve the alert.  

After a click on the guided procedure name, the corresponding guided procedure opens and can be executed.

How to Map Guided Procedures to Specific Interface and Connection Monitoring Alerts

First you need to find the right search attributes.

The easiest way to find the right search attributes is as follows:

  1. Open alert inbox
  2. Select the right Interface Monitoring alert
  3. Select any alert group
  4. Select execute Guided procedure (Don't worry it will not execute any guided procedure because no suitable guided procedure exists)
  5. Select Show search attributes.
  6. Make a note of Category, Interface channel type, Interface Channel Name
     


Now you can create a new guided procedure under application area “Interface and Connection Monitoring” and define the search attributes as follows:

  • The category describes the problem category (availability, performance, exception) for which the guided procedure is executed. Select the category according to whether the guided procedure should analyze availability, performance or exception problems. Maintain the category you noted from the alert.
  • The Interface Channel type describes for which type of interface (File, RFC, Pi,...) the guided procedure is executed. Enter the type from the alert.
  • The Interface Channel Name describes for which Interface Channel the guided procedure is executed. Enter the name from the alert. Alternatively, you can use wild cards if the Guided Procedure is applicable for multiple interface channels. (prerequisite: SAP Note 2827242).


After you have maintained the attributes, define the contents of the guided procedure, as explained in the guided procedure authoring, and transport the guided procedure, if required.

Result: Alert inbox proposes your new guided procedure for execution, if the corresponding alert was raised.

Guided Procedures for Job Monitoring

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and alert resolution for Job Monitoring alerts in a standardized and controlled way, powered by Guided Procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in alert inbox in SAP Solution Manager and needs to analyze and resolve a Job Monitoring alert, quickly. Guided procedures for alert resolution can contain customer specific instructions to analyze and resolve common job errors as well as handling instructions for specific jobs. You can assign guided procedures to specific job monitoring alerts via guided procedure attributes. From alert inbox, the IT operator can select the relevant job monitoring alert and choose "Execute Guided Procedures".

The "Execute guided procedure" popup automatically proposes the guided procedures that fit the selected alert. If no such guided procedures exist, or if they didn't help, the IT operator can use the "Search guided procedure" tray to search for other guided procedures to analyze and resolve the alert.  

After a click on the guided procedure name, the corresponding guided procedure opens and can be executed.
 


How to Map Guided Procedures to Specific Job Monitoring Alerts

First you need to find the right search attributes.

The easiest way to find the right search attributes is as follows: Look up Job type and Monitoring Object Name in the Job Monitoring setup (Select SAP Solution Manager Configuration -> Configuration – All Scenarios -> Application Operations -> Job Monitoring -> Configure Jobs).


Now you can create a new guided procedure under application area “Job Monitoring” and define the search attributes as follows:

Define the search attributes as follows:

  • The job type can be ABAP job, BOBJ job, Data Services job, or BW process chain header/element. Select the job type according to the job type for which you want to process an alert.
  • The monitored object describes for which job or process chain the guided procedure is executed. Enter the name from the job monitoring setup.

After you have maintained the attributes, define the contents of the guided procedure, as explained in the guided procedure authoring page, and transport the guided procedure, if required.

Result: Alert inbox proposes your new guided procedure for execution, if the corresponding job alert was raised.

Guided Procedures for BI Monitoring

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and alert resolution for BI Monitoring alerts in a standardized and controlled way, powered by Guided Procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in alert inbox in SAP Solution Manager and needs to analyze and resolve a Bi Monitoring alert, quickly. Guided procedures for alert resolution can contain customer specific instructions to analyze and resolve common BI errors. You can assign guided procedures to specific BI monitoring alerts via guided procedure attributes. From alert inbox, the IT operator can select the relevant BI monitoring alert and choose "Execute Guided Procedures".

The "Execute guided procedure" pop-up automatically proposes the guided procedures that fit the selected alert. If no such guided procedures exist, or if they didn't help, the IT operator can use the "Search guided procedure" tray to search for other guided procedures to analyze and resolve the alert.  

After a click on the guided procedure name, the corresponding guided procedure opens and can be executed.


How to Map Guided Procedures to Specific BI Monitoring Alerts

First you need to find the right search attributes.

The easiest way to find the right search attributes is as follows:

  1. Open alert inbox
  2. Select the right BI Monitoring alert
  3. Select any alert group
  4. Select “Execute Guided Procedure” (Don't worry it will not execute any guided procedure because no suitable guided procedure exists)
  5. Select Show search attributes.
  6. Make a note of Monitored Object and Alert Name

Now you can create a new guided procedure under application area “BI  Monitoring” and define the search attributes as follows:

Define the search attributes as follows:

  • The monitored object describes for which monitored objects (BO jobs or data services, BW process chains, templates or queries), the guided procedure is executed. You can enter "ALL" if it is relevant for all objects of the same type. If the guided procedure is relevant for a specific monitored object, enter the object name you copied from alert inbox.
  • Via the alert name, you can specify for which alert the guided procedure shall be proposed: Use the F4 help to select  the alert.

After you have maintained the attributes, define the contents of the guided procedure, as explained in guided procedure authoring, and transport the guided procedure, if required.

Result: Alert inbox proposes your new guided procedure for execution, if the corresponding alert was raised.

Guided Procedures for User Experience Monitoring

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and alert resolution for User Experience Monitoring alerts in a standardized and controlled way, powered by Guided Procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in alert inbox in SAP Solution Manager and needs to analyze and resolve User Experience Monitoring alert, quickly. Guided procedures for alert resolution can contain customer specific instructions to analyze and resolve common alerts. You can assign guided procedures to specific User Experience Monitoring alerts via guided procedure attributes. From alert inbox, the IT operator can select the relevant alert and choose "Execute Guided Procedures".

The "Execute guided procedure" popup automatically proposes the guided procedures that fit the selected alert. If no such guided procedures exist, or if they didn't help, the IT operator can use the "Search guided procedure" tray to search for other guided procedures to analyze and resolve the alert.  

After a click on the guided procedure name, the corresponding guided procedure opens and can be executed.


How to Map Guided Procedures to Specific User Experience Monitoring Alerts

First you need to find the right search attributes.

The easiest way to find the right search attributes is as follows:

  1. Open alert inbox
  2. Select the right User Experience Monitoring alert
  3. Select any alert group
  4. Select “Execute Guided Procedure” (Don't worry it will not execute any guided procedure because no suitable guided procedure exists)
  5. Select Show search attributes.
  6. Make a note of category, script type and script name
     

Now you can create a new guided procedure under application area “User Experience Monitoring” and define the search attributes as follows:

  • The Category specifies whether the guided procedure is executed for availability or performance alerts. Select "Availability" or "Performance".
  • The script type makes the guided procedure relevant for certain script types. Enter "http", "RFC" or "SAPGUI", depending on the script type in the guided procedure. The script name restricts the guided procedure to all, or dedicated, scripts.
  • Select one or more script names if the guided procedure is only relevant to them.
    Enter "ALL" if the guided procedure is relevant for all scripts of the same type.

After you have maintained the attributes, define the contents of the guided procedure, as explained in the guided procedure authoring, and transport the guided procedure, if required.

Result: Alert inbox proposes your new guided procedure for execution, if the corresponding alert was raised.

Guided Procedures for Exception Management

Purpose

Perform Root Cause Analysis and Exception resolution for Exceptions reported in Exception Management in a standardized and controlled way, powered by Guided Procedures.


Description

The IT operator is working in Exception Management in SAP Solution Manager, and needs to analyze and resolve exceptional cases, quickly. Guided procedures for Exception Management can indicate how to analyze and process exceptions. You can assign guided procedures to Exceptions via guided procedure attributes. From Exception management cockpit, the IT operator can select the alert group to process, and then choose "Execute Guided Procedures“. After a click on the guided procedure name, the corresponding guided procedure opens and can be executed.


How to Create Guided Procedures to Analyze and Resolve Exceptions

Prerequisites

Exception Management application was setup and exception are reported in Exception Management Cockpit.

  • When selecting a category you can see the exceptions reported in the details table.
  • When selecting a single entry, you can launch the Guided Procedures application.
How to Define Search Attributes for Guided Procedures for “Exception Management” 

The application area is Exception Management.

The following Search Attributes are currently supported:

  • Category: it corresponds to the category reported by the exception. This category is usually given by the exception collector or in some cases defined by the IT operator. It is preselected to the category of the selected exception.
  • Subcategory: depends on the exception content. It allows to define different subsets of exceptions that belongs to the same category
  • Messages: the exception message

Guided Procedures for Business Process Monitoring

Purpose

Resolve Business Process Monitoring (BPM) alerts in a standardized and controlled way by using guided procedures.


Description

The OCC team which is working in the alert inbox of the SAP Solution Manager, needs to analyze and (if possible) resolve a BPM alert. Customer-defined or pre-defined SAP guided procedures can describe how to analyze and process alerts and handle administrative alert instructions. As of SAP Solution Manager 7.2, you can assign guided procedures to BPM monitoring objects via guided procedure attributes. After an alert has been selected in the alert inbox, the attached guided procedure can be executed by the alert processor.


How to Create a Guided Procedure for Business Process Monitoring

  1. Open Guided Procedure catalog.
  2. In the GPA context fields set Type: ‘Guided Procedure' and Application Area: ‘Business Process Monitoring'.
  3. Select the ‘Create' button to enter the guided procedure creation process.
  4. Enter the necessary fields: guided procedure name, description, number of steps (default value = 4), package for documents (assign a valid ABAP package or $TMP for local guided procedures).
  5. You can also copy existing guided procedures or refer to these.
  6. In the next screen, you can enter the monitor ID to which the guided procedure should be assigned to.
  7. In the last screen (Review) check your settings and save the new guided procedure by selecting the ‘Finish' button.
  8. The Guided Procedure Maintenance screen will show up where you can define the steps of the guided procedure according to the guided procedure authoring page