Introduction to SAP Netweaver BPM: Part 1
In this series of 4 blogs I will be walking through the basics of SAP Netweaver BPM. Part 1 will focus on the basics of SAP Netweaver BPM while part 2, 3 and 4 will be focused on small hands on exercise. So let's get started with the part one:
SAP Netweaver BPM is a buzzword these days in SAP world and why not: In the time when the companies are struggling with the financial turmoil worldwide, pressures to reduce cost and increase efficiency are increasing day by day. SAP Netweaver BPM is a silver lining in dark clouds: SAP Netweaver BPM allows companies to design their process, deploy it, Identify the bottlenecks and finally optimize the process by removing these bottlenecks and hence increasing transparency, efficiency and maintainability.
As per Wikipedia - Business Process Management (BPM) is a field of management focused on aligning organizations with the wants and needs of clients. It is a holistic management approach that promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility and integration with technology. Business process management attempts to continuously improve processes.
Traditionally, Business Process Management (BPM) has been perceived as divided into two distinct "functions", BPM as a management discipline and BPM as a technology: BPM Technologies enable companies to Design their Process, Deploy It, Identify the bottlenecks and take actions to remove these bottlenecks to drive efficiency. BPM Process is most suited for processes with frequent changes which can be easily incorporated using the Process Composer Design time tool.
What SAP Netweaver BPM Suite Offers:
- Process Design/Deployment
- Tight integration with SAP BRM (Business Rules Management)
- Automatic Mail Notifications
- Centralized Universal Work List (UWL)
- Dynamic User Interface
- Task Delegation
- Human Interaction (Human Activities)
- Service Consumption (Automated Activities)
- Process Monitoring
- KPI (Limited Functionality)
Many people are confused as to the distinction between workflow and BPM. Workflow is a commonly used term that describes the automation of typically human-based business operations, tasks and transactions, and covers a whole spectrum of use cases from specific exception handling to high-volume transaction processing.
While workflow solutions do a great job of automating manual processes, they only deliver one part of the overall BPM equation. BPM solutions are much more comprehensive in nature and offer much more value. A true BPM solution must provide automation, integration and optimization of business processes throughout the enterprise. To ensure success, BPM solutions must be flexible enough to address a wide continuum of business processes from simple document review and approval to complex continuous improvement initiatives. Moreover, they must support the process, the business content that surrounds that process, and they must link the various systems and applications that drive the business.
Benefits of SAP Netweaver BPM:
- Transparency
- Process Refinement
- Centralization of Data
- Accountability
Currently SAP Netweaver BPM supports Web Dynpro and Adobe Interactive forms as the user interface technology but this may be enhanced in future versions. There are several new features lined up in SAP Netweaver BPM that would be released later this year as part of SAP Netweaver 7.2. One feature that I personally feel would be a good add-on for SAP Netweaver BPM would be the possibility to generate custom KPI reports.
In the coming blogs I will be posting the tutorial for creating a small scenario using BPM and part 4 of this series will focus on initiating a process externally using a Web Dynpro form.
