SAP Cloud ALM is an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) offering of SAP for customers that use only (or at least predominantly) cloud solutions from SAP and do not want to deploy an own ALM platform on premise for managing them. 

• SAP Cloud ALM manages the application lifecycle for the Intelligent Suite 
• SAP Cloud ALM is for Cloud-centric customers 
• SAP Cloud ALM manages cloud and hybrid (combination of on-premise and cloud) solutions 

SAP Cloud ALM manages the application lifecycle in the public cloud 

• SAP Cloud ALM is an application running on SAP Business Technology Platform and is optimized for SAP HANA 
• SAP Cloud ALM is an ALM solution optimized for cost efficiency

An interactive table supported solutions is available in the SAP Help Portal. Even though SAP Cloud ALM starts with the focus on SaaS offerings of SAP, it will also cover on-premise applications in the future. This is the foundation for proper ALM of hybrid solutions. 

First of all, SAP Cloud ALM leverages the general benefits of Cloud solutions: 

• You do not need to invest in hardware. And delays for ordering the hardware diminishes as well 
• You do not need to care for basic setup, complex configuration, and basis operations 
• There is no need to build up technical knowledge 
• You do not need to plan and execute regular technical upgrade projects 

But the value of holistic IT management is even bigger in cloud-centric landscapes: 

• Application lifecycle management ensures business continuity. Proactive detection of upcoming problems, root-cause analysis to identify the source of disruptions, and accelerated problem resolution enables you to minimize downtime of their end-to-end business processes. 
• SAP Cloud ALM accelerates implementation and change projects. This results in faster time-to-market. 
• The central platform ensures efficient execution of the IT jobs remaining at the customer. And it ensures transparency of hybrid environments integrating multiple cloud services.

No. SAP Cloud ALM is part of SAP Enterprise Support, cloud editions. Customers are entitled to use SAP Cloud ALM if they subscribe to an SAP Cloud Service that includes SAP Enterprise Support, cloud editions. SAP pays even for the hyperscaler on which we run SAP Cloud ALM, as part of fair use rights.

SAP Cloud ALM is generally available. Customers with SAP Enterprise Support, Cloud Editions can request access to SAP Cloud ALM. You need to go to the SAP ONE Support Launchpad and select the tile "SAP Cloud ALM Access Management"

SAP Solution Manager is the established ALM platform of SAP. It is provided to customers as part of their support engagement. Customers use it throughout all phases of the application life cycle (requirements, design, build & test, deploy, operate, and optimize). And it allows customers to gain the holistic view of their IT solution. 

SAP Solution Manager is installed on premise, but it can manage cloud applications as well. SAP Solution Manager is an one-size-fits all ALM solution. It is very successful in the market, because it supports customers with an on-premise focus very well. 

But what about cloud-only, cloud-first, and cloud centric customers? Is on-premise ALM the best solution for them? Not really. Therefore, SAP provides another ALM offering “SAP Cloud ALM” for exactly these customers to help them run their business better. The cloud solution for application lifecycle management is a separate solution. It has a different functional scope. And different contracts between SAP and the customer apply. However, some of the available services might be used by both products. 

From the technical point of view, Focused Build is an add-on for SAP Solution Manager, whereas SAP Cloud ALM is an independent cloud service on SAP Business Technology Platform. It does not rely on any other application. 

From the functional point of view, both SAP Cloud ALM and Focused Build care about the implementation of SAP business applications. However, the implementation approach differs significantly. SAP Cloud ALM focuses on the fit-to-standard approach. Focused Build for SAP Solution Manager is pre-configured to run projects based on fit-gap analyzes. 

SAP Cloud ALM adds value by providing end-to-end monitoring, not limited to a single product. You do not need to look at each individual component to gain transparency of multi-component solutions.

As SAP Cloud ALM is a new product, SAP supports greenfield implementations with roll-out documents, learning material and services. Transferring data from SAP Solution Manager 7.2 to SAP Cloud ALM is currently not supported. 

For the future, SAP plans to support the transition from SAP Solution Manager 7.2 to SAP Cloud ALM if requested by customers. SAP will collaborate with customers to support the transition with tools, content, best practices and methodologies.

For more questions, please take a look at our extensive Question & Answers list.