Business Process Analytics

Business Process Analytics in SAP Solution Manager is a problem-oriented tool that allows customers to identify weaknesses in their existing SAP Business Suite processes and provides fast root cause analysis capabilities in order to make processes more efficient end effective (see also the blog Systematic errors vs real exceptions or improving efficiency vs effectiveness) without changing the process design itself (no re-engineering). A more detailed description, about the functions that come with Business Process Analytics, is given in the blog Business Process Analytics: Types of functions and their respective features & purposes. Using Business Process Analytics for cleaning-up your system before implementing SAP HANA might be also an important consideration. More information can be found in Before you get started with SAP HANA...you should also consider cleaning-up your backend system first. No matter if your backend is running on SAP HANA as a database or on any other database, you can also use Business Process Analytics powered by SAP HANA for an ad-hoc, real time analysis. Since November 28th 2013 the "SAP Business Process Analytics" app is available for download in Apple's App Store, so that Business Process Analytics goes mobile. This app requires iOS 6.0 or higher. Supporting Business Process Improvement activities for SAP solutions is the main purpose of Business Process Analytics as a tool.

On top of the Business Process Analytics you can also build Business Process Operations dashboards to inform your management (via desktop or also on mobile devices).

If you activated Business Process Analytics, then it is also possible with the Usage Analysis to track whether your end users are actively using the tool or not.

A recording of SAP TechEd session ITM104 "Business Process Improvement for SAP solutions" can be watched here (41 minutes) at http://events.sap.com/teched/en/session/26544.

Upcoming Events on Business Process Analytics / Business Process Improvement: 

• ITM104 "Business Process Improvement for SAP Solutions" on SAP TechEd in Las Vegas (September 19-23, 2016)
• ITM104 "Business Process Improvement for SAP Solutions" on SAP TechEd in Bangalore (October 5-7, 2016)
• ITM104 "Business Process Improvement for SAP Solutions" on SAP TechEd in Barcelona (November 8-10, 2016)

News:

The latest features are available with SAP Solution Manager 7.1 support package 14. This comprises the new Dependency Diagrams/KPI trees (accessible via desktop or via mobile device) and the Usage Analysis.Now that SAP Solution Manager 7.2 support package 03 is out there is also a new application available for senior management reporting (on desktop or mobile device) - the Progress Management Board. The latest key figure content was shipped with ST-A/PI 01S support package 1.

Customer Stories:

• Customer testimonials on Business Process Analytics

New key figure content

A general description about the five existing key figure types (throughput, backlog, exception, lead time, automation rate) is given in the blog

Business Process Analytics: Types of key figures and their respective use cases. If you want to browse through the list of available key figures you can do this with the help of the KPI catalog in the cloud at

https://go.support.sap.com/kpicatalog

which was launched in June 2015 (SMP login required). The following list of blogs provides a chronological overview about what came new when:

• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01M support package 1, e.g. new CRM Marketing content
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01N,  e.g. new lead time key figures
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01P, e.g. further lead time key figures
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01Q,, e.g. new FSCM content & new key figure types
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01Q support package 1, e.g. new exception key figures for CO-PC
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01Q support package 2, e.g. new Travel & Expense Management and SAP for Banking content
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01R, e.g. new delta throughput for OTC and new business workflow key figures
• New key figures with ST-A/PI 01R support package 1, e.g. new 3rd party (drop ship) and MRP list related content
• New key figures with ST-API 01S, e.g. Inventory Optimization, commitment items & configuration checks and with the same ST-A/PI updated content
• New key figures wit<span style="color: #2989c5;">h ST-A/PI 01S support package 1, e.g. </span><span style="background-origin: initial; background-size: initial; background-attachment: initial; color: #2989c5; font-style: inherit; font-size: 10pt; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; background-repeat: initial; background-position: initial; background-image: initial; background-clip: initial;">new & enhanced content for FI, ERP operations & HCM</span>

If you require some customer or industry specific key figure content that is not (yet) available, you can also create your own key figures via an Customer Exit.

Application specific blogs

• Best Practice: Business Process Monitoring for Manufacturing
• Best Practice: Business Process Monitoring for Procure to Pay
• Best Practice: Business Process Monitoring for Order to Cash
• Best Practice: Business Process Monitoring for CRM Sales
• New key figures: Analyzing/Monitoring exceptions during delivery due processing
• New key figure: Analyzing/Monitoring exceptions during billing due processing
• Enhanced key figures: Analyzing/monitoring SD invoices not transferred to FI
• New key figures: Analyzing/monitoring exceptions in CRM Sales or Service documents, Business Activities or Tasks
• New keyfigures: Analyzing/monitoring exceptions from APO planning runs
• New key figures: Analyzing/monitoring exceptions during Period End Closing
• New key figures: Analyzing/monitoring exceptions in Controlling (CO-PC)
• Enhanced key figures: Bridging the organizational gap between SD and FI-AR
• Discrete manufacturing: Mapping BP Analytics key figures to system status

Technical documents

• Business Process Improvement - Solution Manager - SCN Wiki

Frequently Asked Questions

• http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/SM/FAQ+Business+Process+Analytics or closely related you might also want to visit the following
• http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/SM/FAQ+Business+Process+Monitoring
• How play Process Observer and Business Process Analytics together?