SAP's Process observer provides functionality to manage Processes across multiple applications allowing for the management of an end-to-end business process lifecycle.
(Application area: CA-EPT-POC)
These phases can be described as:
Process design - Which "built-in processes" do we need to leverage?
Process implementation - Solution Manager IMG (Cross-Application Components -> Processes and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Process Observer) and/or blueprinting functionality of SAP’s solution manager to enable "built-in processes"
Run / monitor - The Process Monitor and Process Definition Viewer can be used to view a process
Analysis - Analyzing results provides for the opportunity to optimize a business process. Focus in on preventing process disruptions or maximizing the ability to leverage opportunities to improve the process.
Most processes in the SAP Business Suite are implemented as “built-in processes” based on implemented business logic. No explicit process definition or process engine is required in order to execute which is in contrast to how workflows, implemented through SAP Business Workflow, are executed.
Process Observer is concerned with built-in processes. Unlike workflows, the execution order of activities can be different from process instance to process instance.
Previously a major disadvantage of built-in processes was the absence of logging capability. This implied that process execution status was not visible to anyone. The process monitor has been provided to enable process visibility for SAP’s built-in processes. The process monitor allows the logging of built-in processes – this had previously only been possible for workflows.
Processes are made up of activities and parameters (E.g. the system(s) the process is running in, predecessor and subsequent activities, key performance indicators).
Difference from Workflow
Process orchestration based on business workflow depends on all possible combinations in the process definition being defined in advance. This is a complex and somewhat inflexible approach to managing your process.
Process Monitoring Setup
The following activities are needed in order to set up Process Monitoring.
Activating Settings - Customizing activity Activate Process Observer - Background job SAP_POC_PROCESS_EVENT_QUEUES for processing business events from the event queue and for updating the process instances in the process log
Creating Process Definitions - Transaction: POC_MODEL
Configuring End-to-End Federation - Local federation — process in local system, Remote federation - process occurs across several systems - Transaction: POC_MODEL
Configuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - 3 types of KPIs can be defined for a process: Count: number of times an activity is executed, Duration: amount of time that elapses between activity executions, Classification: Calculates a classification code, based on a user-defined rule, for the process instance.
Enhancing the Setup of Process Definitions - You can create custom tasks for process monitoring.
Process Thresholds
Certain thresholds can be defined to alert process actors of an issue. (E.g. processing time for a process may not exceed 10 minutes). Thresholds are assigned KPIs (count, duration and classification KPIs). If a threshold is reached a BOR event (POCPROCESS-> Threshold_Reached ) is triggered (i.e. you can tie a workflow, alert, email as a recipient of this BOR event - proactive exception management in motion...)
Note: A threshold value can be different for process instances of a process definition.
Analytics
The following queries for process monitoring are available (Note: data returned by these queries can be used to create customized dashboards):
0POC_MP01_Q0005: Generic Query
0POC_MP01_Q0001: KPI with Process Details
0POC_MP01_Q0003: KPIs by Month
0POC_MP01_Q0002: KPIs by Quarter
0POC_MP01_Q0004: KPIs by Week
Operations
Key reports and transactions:
Transaction: POC_WRITE_API_TEST (Note: All process definition Ids are prefixed with the word POC_SIM)
Background job: Technical Name: POC_JOB_SCHEDULER_<CLIENT>
Background job: SAP_POC_PROCESS_EVENT_QUEUES is scheduled automatically as soon as Process Observer is activated. Default schedule is very 1 minute.
Transaction: POC_UPDATE_REG (Report: POC_UPDATE_MASTER_REG) Update the master registry tables with data from the local system. This report is automatically executed from the view cluster when you create a new process definition
Report: POC_CROSS_CHECK_MASTER_REG - check if the registry in the local system is consistent with the master registry
Report: POC_MODEL_CHECK - check for inconsistencies in process definitions
Report: POC_CHECK_SETUP - check whether or not the system has been configured for process logging. The system does this by raising Business Object Repository (BOR) events.
Report: POC_SIMULATION - simulate processes for monitoring and analytics
Report: POC_DISPLAY_BA - generate a task-centric view of the process log (E.g. Tasks and whether or not they are assigned to process definitions, Tasks executed on a specific instance of a business object, Process instances assigned to a task, Tasks executed by a specific user)
Report: POC_DISPLAY_BA_ORPHANS - generate a list of logged tasks that do not have a process binding
Report: SAPLPOC_DELETION_LOG - delete, using a generated list, unwanted runtime entries stored in the process log (Note: You cannot delete entries that are in an incomplete state)
Report: POC_MASS_DELETE - efficiently delete huge sets of unwanted runtime entries stored in the process log
Authorizations
All roles used in Process Monitoring and Analytics use the authorization object POC_AUTH. Attribute detail:
PROCDEFID : Process Definition ID
POC_SCOPE : Process Scope for User (My Process or All Processes)
E2E_SCOPE : Process Scope (End-to-End or Local)
POC_USER : User Information for Authorization (X — User information can be seen, “ “ (blank) — No user information visible)
POC_ACTVT : Authorization Activity (01 — Monitoring display, 02 — Analytics display, 03 — Delete)
Ping me if you are interested in implementing Process Observer.