Configuring Solution Manager: Alternative Role to SAP_ALL

Question

This is a general question regarding configuring Solution Manager and note 834534.  I am configuring Solution Manager 7.0 at a client site.  The main components that I am configuring are on the Monitoring and Operations side; for example, System Monitoring,  Service Desk, Issue Management, and Change Management for Maintenance Optimizer.  CHaRM will follow later on.  Additionally, the client would like to use the project side of Solution Manager.
When I took training for Solution Manager from SAP, the SAP instructor advised the class to have SAP_ALL when configuring Solution Manager  The problem I am having is that the client will not issue me SAP_ALL in the Solution Manager instance, regardless of the recommendation in note 834534.  I can understand the client's reluctance to issue SAP_ALL, even though Solution Manager is not a financial system in of itself, however, I have found that I am constantly having to ask for authorizations as I step through the wizards and the Scenario-specific settings.  When I run into issues which require further investigation by running transactions to check certain settings that are not specifically tiedd to a wizard or scenario-specific setting transaction, I run into further delays as I ask for additional authorizations to troubleshoot issues.
We have implemented the roles and assigned them to my ID in Solution Manager as outlined by the SAP Solution Manager Security Guide to the fullest extent possible; and I have been issued "Basis Roles" that the client issues to their Basis team.  Regardless of these actions, I still run into authorization issues.
My question is, apart from the SAP Solution Manager Security Guides recommendations (which does not mention SAP_ALL), is there a role being developed, or has been developed that can be assigned to the Solution Manager configurator in lieu of SAP_ALL (as per note 834534)?  I would think that this issue has been raised before, particularly since many companies have implemented SOX controls and are skittish about issuing SAP_ALL.
Your feedback is most appreciated.

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply, Nesimi.
While I appreciate that you do not use SAP_ALL, is that the case when you are configuring a brand new, clean system?  Are you using the Configuration Wizards with out SAP_ALL? I ask this because when I ran the first configuration wizard, one of the steps is to create a "configuration user", which creates a user with SAP_ALL. However, I cannot use that wizard generated user ID because it has the role SAP_ALL.
In general, I am operating on 3 sources of information that says I need SAP_ALL to configure the system (not necessarily to operate it):
1.  An SAP Instructor for the Solution Manager Operations and Monitoring Class
2.  The IMG Activity "Create Configuration User" documenation in SPRO
3.  Note 834534
I will review the english version of the link http://help.sap.com/saphelp_smehp1/helpdata/de/40/8ac473d40943ddb23def12bdb33437/frameset.htm that you have thoughtfully provided. 
With respect to note 123640, I am not sure if that solves my problem or answers the fundemental question that I have in that given the 3 sources I quoted above.  It seems to me that SAP's approach in indicating clearly that they prefer that the configuration user should have SAP_ALL is flawed given today's corporate governence policies.  Clearly this recommendation is only for the initial configuration, and SAP_ALL can be taken away and replaced by the roles and recommendations in the SolMan security guide; to maintain Solution Manager.  But when it comes down to the question "what do you need to configure Solution Manager, because we won't give you SAP_ALL", I am hard pressed to give an answer despite literally spending hundreds of hours researching "documenation" which does not give clear cut answers.  I think SAP needs to address this issue instead of taking the easy way out and saying you need "SAP_ALL" as illustrated in the 3 sources of readily available information cited above.