What is Central Monitoring in SAP Cloud ALM?
Central Monitoring is a core capability within SAP Cloud ALM for Operations that enables customers to monitor the health, performance, and availability of their SAP systems and services from a single, centralized platform.
SAP Cloud ALM is provided at no additional license cost for customers with SAP Enterprise Support (cloud editions). Refer to Usage Rights. SAP Cloud ALM can be used across the entire Project lifecycle.”
For S/HANA Cloud Public Edition customers, Central Monitoring provides:
- Automated data collection from S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition systems through pre-configured communication scenarios and push-enabled data collection mechanisms
- Real-time health metrics covering system availability, performance, resource utilization, integration flows, business processes, and security events
- Integration with multiple monitoring use cases including Health Monitoring, Integration & Exception Monitoring, Business Process Monitoring, Job & Automation Monitoring, and Real User Monitoring
- Cloud-native architecture built on SAP Business Technology Platform, eliminating the need for on-premise monitoring infrastructure
The integration between S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and SAP Cloud ALM is established through automated setup processes that leverage SAP BTP formations and communication arrangements, significantly reducing configuration complexity compared to traditional monitoring solutions.
An automated standard setup is available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud public edition systems.
This significantly reduces the time and effort required to connect S/HANA Cloud Public Edition systems to SAP Cloud ALM and activate the monitoring use cases for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition in SAP Cloud ALM.
- The first step is to check that the prerequisites have been met
- The second step is to perform a simple procedure.
Prerequisites
The fully automated setup for SAP S/HANA Cloud Public Edition can be applied if your implementation meets all of the following prerequisites:
- The system information is automatically imported from the SAP backend (SLIS) to the Landscape Management app of SAP Cloud ALM.
- In the Landscape Management, the service has the status New.
- The customer number for SAP S/HANA Cloud Public Edition matches the customer number for the SAP Cloud ALM tenant.
- SAP Cloud ALM is not located in SAP Data Center eu10-004.
Note: If the system is already active the prerequisites cannot be met, so this cannot be performed retroactively, and then it would already be configured.
Once the prerequisites have been confirmed, then follow the steps in the procedure described next:
Procedure
To activate monitoring in SAP Cloud ALM, follow these 5 steps:
- In the Landscape Management app in SAP Cloud ALM, open SAP S/HANA Cloud Public Edition, and choose Central Monitoring.
- In the dialog that opens, confirm consent and start the activation process.
- These steps occur automatically:
- Result: Supported use cases become active in the Landscape Management service in SAP Cloud ALM.
5. Adjust the monitoring setup within the monitoring apps in SAP Cloud ALM as needed. For more details about configuration, see SAP Cloud ALM for Operations.
Central Monitoring can also be deactivated if required by sliding the selector button to off
Deactivation:
Deactivate the connection in the Landscape Management app by toggling off central monitoring.
Key Benefits
Operational Benefits
- Proactive Problem Detection and Resolution
- Central Monitoring continuously collects and analyzes system metrics to detect anomalies before they impact business operations
- Automated alerting notifies IT teams immediately when thresholds are breached or exceptional situations occur, enabling faster response times
- Embedded analytics support root cause analysis by correlating events across multiple system components and providing drill-down capabilities into specific issues
- Provides unified monitoring for SAP S/HANA Cloud Public Edition systems alongside other SAP cloud services and on-premise components in hybrid scenarios
- Enables correlation of business processes, integrations, and technical metrics across the entire solution landscape
- Delivers a single pane of glass for monitoring, reducing the need to switch between multiple monitoring tools
- Eliminates the need to deploy, configure, and maintain on-premise monitoring infrastructure
- Automated setup processes significantly reduce time-to-value compared to traditional monitoring solutions
- Pre-configured monitoring content and KPIs are available out-of-the-box, minimizing customization requirements
Technical Benefits
- Comprehensive Health Monitoring
- Tracks critical system health indicators including availability, response times, memory and CPU utilization, database performance, disk space usage, and security events
- Provides historical data retention for trend analysis and capacity planning
- Supports threshold-based alerting with configurable notification channels
- Enables end-to-end monitoring of data exchange between SAP S/HANA Cloud Public Edition and other systems by correlating single messages to complete message flows
- Provides unified monitoring for both peer-to-peer interfaces and orchestrated integration scenarios
- Supports efficient problem resolution through integrated search-and-track functionality for individual messages
- Monitors the health of end-to-end business processes in real-time using predefined KPIs
- Enables drill-down into business documents for detailed analysis and reporting
- Supports creation of custom process structures and KPIs to reflect organizational requirements
Business Benefits
- Ensured Business Continuity
- Minimizes system downtime through proactive detection and rapid resolution of issues
- Reduces business disruption by identifying and addressing problems before they impact end users
- Provides transparency into business process execution quality and performance
- Delivers actionable insights through embedded analytics and intelligence functionality
- Supports data-driven decision-making for both IT operations and process governance
- Enables identification of optimization opportunities and performance bottlenecks
- Included with SAP Enterprise Support for cloud editions at no additional license cost
- Eliminates hardware investments and operational costs associated with on-premise monitoring solutions
- Reduces administrative effort through automation and standardized processes
Monitoring Capabilities Enabled
System Health Monitoring
- Availability tracking: Continuous monitoring of system uptime and service availability
- Performance metrics: Real-time collection of response times, throughput, and transaction performance
- Resource utilization: Monitoring of CPU, memory, disk space, and database performance
- Security monitoring: Tracking of security events, certificate expiration, and compliance status
Performance Monitoring
- Real User Monitoring (RUM): Measures actual end-user experience by tracking all user interactions and server requests
- Synthetic User Monitoring (SUM): Proactively tests application availability and performance through automated script execution
- Response time analysis: Provides drill-down from global request types to individual execution details
Integration Monitoring
- Message flow correlation: Tracks messages from sender to all intended receivers across distributed systems
- Exception detection: Identifies and reports integration-related exceptions and errors
- Search and track functionality: Enables searching for specific messages based on technical and business attributes
Job and Automation Monitoring
- Job execution tracking: Monitors background job processing status and performance
- Queue monitoring: Tracks queue backlogs and processing delays
- Automation workflow monitoring: Oversees automated operational tasks and workflows
Benefits without/with Central Monitoring
|
Aspect |
Without Central Monitoring |
With Central Monitoring |
Benefit |
|
Monitoring Infrastructure |
Requires deployment and maintenance of on-premise monitoring tools |
Cloud-native SaaS solution with no infrastructure requirements |
Reduced IT overhead and faster time-to-value |
|
Problem Detection |
Reactive approach based on user reports or scheduled checks |
Proactive, real-time detection with automated alerting |
Faster issue identification and resolution |
|
End-to-End Visibility |
Fragmented views across multiple tools and systems |
Unified monitoring across hybrid landscape from single platform |
Improved operational efficiency and decision-making |
|
Setup Complexity |
Manual configuration of monitoring scenarios and data collection |
Automated setup with pre-configured content and KPIs |
Significantly reduced implementation effort |
|
Cost Structure |
License fees, hardware costs, and operational expenses |
Included with SAP Enterprise Support at no additional cost |
Lower total cost of ownership |
|
Analytics Capabilities |
Limited or requires separate analytics tools |
Embedded analytics with root cause analysis and trend identification |
Enhanced troubleshooting and optimization |
|
Integration Monitoring |
Point-to-point monitoring without message correlation |
End-to-end message flow tracking across systems |
Faster resolution of integration issues |
|
Business Process Visibility |
Technical monitoring only, limited business context |
Business process monitoring with KPI tracking and document drill-down |
Better alignment between IT and business stakeholders |
Conclusion:
Enabling Central Monitoring in SAP Cloud ALM delivers significant operational, technical, and business benefits for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition customers.
By providing comprehensive, cloud-native monitoring capabilities at no additional license cost, SAP Cloud ALM enables organizations to ensure business continuity, improve operational efficiency, and reduce total cost of ownership
The automated setup process and pre-configured monitoring content minimize implementation effort, while embedded analytics and intelligent alerting accelerate problem detection and resolution
For SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition customers seeking to modernize their monitoring approach and gain end-to-end visibility across hybrid landscapes, Central Monitoring in SAP Cloud ALM represents a strategic investment that delivers measurable value from day one.
Classic Setup
In the event that you do not meet the prerequisites for Central Monitoring, the SAP S/HANA Cloud Public Edition system can still be added using the Classic Setup.


