SAP Build Process Automation
SAP Build Process Automation is here—so get the most out of it with this comprehensive guide! First, create a business process project step by step using low-code and no-code tools. Then add capabilities to your workflows by configuring action, automation, and decision artifacts. Enhance your processes with prebuilt content and extensions, and learn to manage the complete lifecycle of a business process project. Finally, secure and maintain processes by setting up monitoring, governance, authorizations, and more!
- Automate SAP business processes, both on-premise and in the cloud
- Create processes, actions, automations, and decisions by following step-by-step instructions
- Extend, monitor, secure, and govern workflows
You'll learn about:
- Process Automation Basics:
Begin with an introduction to SAP Build Process Automation and see how it fits into the SAP BTP landscape. Learn about SAP Build Process Automation’s architecture, including its applications, artifacts, and lifecycle phases.
- Business Process Projects:
Follow click-by-click instructions to create a business process project and configure it for your business needs using the low-code process designer. Connect to external systems with action artifacts, automate your workflows with automation artifacts, and streamline decision-making with decision artifacts.
- Monitoring, Governance, and Security:
Use technical and business monitoring to keep an eye on your processes and artifacts. Set up governance activities, including version management, collaboration, and user access. Boost the security of SAP Build Process Automation with authorization roles and audit logs.
Key Highlights:
- Architecture
- Artifacts
- Business process project
- Process designer
- Events
- Business project lifecycle management
- Monitoring
- Governance
- Authentication and authorizations
- Extensions
- SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP)
View Full Table of Contents
- Preface
- Objective of This Book
- Target Audience
- Structure of the Book
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction to Enterprise Automation
- 1.1 What Is Enterprise Automation?
- 1.2 Why Enterprise Automation Is Needed and How It Has Evolved
- 1.3 How SAP Accelerates Enterprise Automation
- 1.3.1 SAP Integration Suite
- 1.3.2 SAP Signavio
- 1.3.3 SAP Build Process Automation
- 1.3.4 Use Case Examples
- 1.4 Summary
- 2 SAP Business Technology Platform
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 Architecture
- 2.2.1 Application Development
- 2.2.2 Automation
- 2.2.3 Integration
- 2.2.4 Data and Analytics
- 2.2.5 Artificial Intelligence
- 2.3 SAP Build
- 2.3.1 Overview
- 2.3.2 Apps and Extensions
- 2.3.3 Digital Workspaces
- 2.4 Summary
- 3 Overview of SAP Build Process Automation
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Architecture
- 3.3 Applications
- 3.3.1 Lobby
- 3.3.2 Store
- 3.3.3 Monitoring
- 3.3.4 Control Tower
- 3.3.5 Connectors
- 3.3.6 Inbox
- 3.4 Artifact Definitions
- 3.4.1 Business Process Projects
- 3.4.2 Data Types
- 3.4.3 Processes
- 3.4.4 Decisions
- 3.4.5 Forms
- 3.4.6 Automations
- 3.4.7 Actions
- 3.5 Lifecycle Phases
- 3.6 Summary
- 4 Creating a Business Process Project
- 4.1 What Is a Business Process Project?
- 4.2 Create a Project
- 4.2.1 Create a Project with a Process Artifact
- 4.2.2 Create a Project with a Decision Artifact
- 4.2.3 Create a Project with an Automation Artifact
- 4.2.4 Create a Project with a Process Visibility Artifact
- 4.3 Components of the Business Process Project Overview Page
- 4.3.1 Header
- 4.3.2 Settings
- 4.3.3 Artifacts
- 4.3.4 Triggers
- 4.3.5 Dependencies
- 4.3.6 Design Console and Test Console
- 4.4 Summary
- 5 The Process and Its Artifacts
- 5.1 Benefits of Low-Code Designer Tools
- 5.2 Process Editor
- 5.3 Processes and Artifacts
- 5.3.1 Processes
- 5.3.2 Triggers
- 5.3.3 Artifacts and Activities
- 5.3.4 Configurations
- 5.4 Events
- 5.4.1 Enabling Event-Driven Architecture
- 5.4.2 Types of Events
- 5.5 Branches
- 5.5.1 Conditional Branch
- 5.5.2 Parallel Branch
- 5.6 Mappings
- 5.7 Forms
- 5.7.1 Need for Forms
- 5.7.2 Form Builder
- 5.7.3 Types of Forms
- 5.7.4 Form Configuration in Processes
- 5.8 Variant Templates
- 5.9 Other Activities
- 5.9.1 Mail
- 5.9.2 Subprocesses
- 5.9.3 Script Tasks
- 5.10 Summary
- 6 Action Artifacts
- 6.1 What Is an Action, and How Does It Differ from an Application Programming Interface?
- 6.2 Connectivity Options
- 6.2.1 Live Application Programming Interface
- 6.2.2 Application Programming Interface Specification
- 6.3 Create, Configure, and Test Action Projects
- 6.3.1 Terminology
- 6.3.2 Create and Configure an Action Project
- 6.3.3 Test Action Project
- 6.4 Release and Publish Actions
- 6.5 Connecting to External Systems using Actions
- 6.6 Summary
- 7 Automation Artifacts
- 7.1 Automation Editor
- 7.1.1 Overview
- 7.1.2 Using the Automation Editor
- 7.1.3 Testing and Debugging from the Automation Editor
- 7.2 Screens: Piloting Applications
- 7.2.1 Using the Application Editor to Capture and Declare Applications
- 7.2.2 Web-Based Applications
- 7.2.3 Full Client Applications
- 7.3 Activities: Making Use of Software Development Kits
- 7.3.1 Adding a Software Development Kit
- 7.3.2 Simple Operations
- 7.3.3 Custom Script
- 7.3.4 Web Service Calls
- 7.3.5 Piloting Microsoft Office Products
- 7.3.6 Microsoft Excel Activities
- 7.3.7 Microsoft Outlook Activities
- 7.3.8 Leveraging Cloud-Based Microsoft Office-Like Applications
- 7.3.9 Microsoft 365
- 7.3.10 Google Applications
- 7.3.11 Document Processing with Artificial Intelligence: Document Information Extraction and PDF
- 7.4 Controls: Complex Automation Flows and Error Handling
- 7.4.1 Conditions
- 7.4.2 Screen Switch
- 7.4.3 Loops
- 7.4.4 Error Handling
- 7.4.5 Alerts
- 7.5 Data: Creating and Managing Data Types
- 7.6 Automations, Actions, and Processes: Using Existing Artifacts
- 7.7 Desktop Agent
- 7.7.1 Desktop Agent User Interface
- 7.7.2 Modes of Desktop Agent
- 7.7.3 Trace Collector
- 7.8 Environments
- 7.8.1 Overview
- 7.8.2 Environment Variables
- 7.8.3 Deployment Isolation with Environments
- 7.9 Summary
- 8 Decision Artifacts
- 8.1 Selecting the Correct Decision Solution for SAP Scenarios
- 8.1.1 SAP Business Rules Management
- 8.1.2 Business Rule Framework Plus in ABAP
- 8.1.3 SAP HANA Rules Framework
- 8.1.4 Business Rules and Decisions in the Cloud
- 8.1.5 Transition to SAP Build Process Automation
- 8.2 Types of Decision Deployment
- 8.2.1 Cloud
- 8.2.2 SAP HANA
- 8.2.3 ABAP
- 8.3 Decision Models
- 8.3.1 Decision
- 8.3.2 Vocabulary
- 8.3.3 Rules
- 8.3.4 Rule Expression Language
- 8.3.5 Decision Diagram
- 8.4 Working with Decisions
- 8.4.1 Creating Decision Artifacts
- 8.4.2 Creating Inputs and Outputs
- 8.4.3 Creating Rule Artifacts
- 8.4.4 Best Practices for Modeling Decision Tables and Text Rules
- 8.4.5 Best Practices for Consuming Decisions from a Process
- 8.5 Summary
- 9 Business Project Lifecycle Management
- 9.1 Lifecycle Phases of a Business Process Project
- 9.1.1 Create and Configure
- 9.1.2 Release and Deploy
- 9.1.3 Execute and Process Tasks
- 9.2 Technical Monitoring
- 9.2.1 Monitoring Processes and Workflows
- 9.2.2 Monitoring Automations
- 9.2.3 Monitoring Events
- 9.2.4 Monitoring Visibility Scenarios
- 9.3 Business Monitoring
- 9.4 Summary
- 10 Executing Processes, Automations, and Decisions
- 10.1 Understanding Runtime Environments
- 10.1.1 Overview of Environments
- 10.1.2 Deployment Behavior in Public and Shared Environments
- 10.1.3 Project Lifecycle with Environments
- 10.1.4 Configurations within an Environment
- 10.2 SAP Build Process Automation Application Programming Interfaces
- 10.2.1 Prerequisites to Access the Application Programming Interfaces
- 10.2.2 Understanding SAP Build Process Automation Application Programming Interfaces
- 10.2.3 Using SAP Build Process Automation Application Programming Interfaces
- 10.3 Running a Process, an Automation, and a Decision
- 10.3.1 Starting a Process and Automation as a Developer or Administrator
- 10.3.2 Event-Based Triggers
- 10.3.3 Application Programming Interface Triggers
- 10.3.4 Scheduled Triggers
- 10.3.5 Form Triggers
- 10.3.6 Execute from Another Artifact
- 10.4 Summary
- 11 Monitoring
- 11.1 Benefits of Monitoring
- 11.2 Types of Monitoring
- 11.2.1 Business or Functional Monitoring
- 11.2.2 Technical Monitoring
- 11.3 Business Monitoring
- 11.3.1 Overview of Business Monitoring in SAP Build Process Automation
- 11.3.2 Creating and Configuring the Visibility Scenario
- 11.3.3 Lifecycle of the Visibility Scenario
- 11.3.4 Tracking and Optimizing Processes
- 11.4 Technical Monitoring
- 11.4.1 Processes and Workflows
- 11.4.2 Automation
- 11.4.3 Visibility Scenario and Events
- 11.5 Summary
- 12 Governance
- 12.1 Establishing Governance in Business Processes
- 12.2 Business Process Access Management
- 12.3 Environments
- 12.3.1 Why Do Organizations Need Environments?
- 12.3.2 Types of Environments
- 12.3.3 What Do Environments Contain?
- 12.3.4 Creating and Using Environments
- 12.3.5 Allowed Destinations Mapped to an Environment
- 12.4 Transport Management
- 12.4.1 Transporting Business Projects
- 12.4.2 Stages of SAP Transport Management
- 12.5 Approval Flow for Controlling the Project Lifecycle
- 12.6 Maintaining Business Projects
- 12.7 Summary
- 13 Authentication, Authorization, and Audit Logging
- 13.1 Approach to Authentication and Authorization
- 13.2 Securely Connect to Cloud and On-Premise Systems
- 13.3 Audit Logs
- 13.4 Summary
- 14 Working with Store Content
- 14.1 What Is a Store?
- 14.1.1 SAP Business Accelerator Hub
- 14.1.2 Embedded Store
- 14.1.3 SAP Store
- 14.2 Types of Content
- 14.2.1 Format Type
- 14.2.2 Project Type
- 14.2.3 Catalog
- 14.2.4 Free or Paid
- 14.3 Discovering and Working with Content
- 14.3.1 How to Find the Right Content
- 14.3.2 How to Import and Use Content
- 14.3.3 Extending Content
- 14.4 Creating and Publishing Content to the Store
- 14.5 Summary
- 15 Extending Standard Processes
- 15.1 Standard SAP Processes and the Need for Process Extensions
- 15.1.1 Standard Business Processes
- 15.1.2 The Need for Process Extensions
- 15.1.3 Risks of Extensions
- 15.1.4 Benefits of Extensions
- 15.2 Different SAP Process Extension Possibilities
- 15.2.1 On-Stack Extensions
- 15.2.2 Side-by-Side Extensions
- 15.2.3 Invoice Approval Process Example
- 15.3 Using Process Variants
- 15.3.1 Process Variant Template
- 15.3.2 Capital Expenditure Approval Process Example
- 15.4 SAP S/4HANA Extensibility and Creating a Process Extension for SAP S/4HANA Cloud
- 15.5 Example Extension Scenarios
- 15.5.1 Support Employee Relocation with a Comprehensive Human Resources Experience
- 15.5.2 Build Specialized Workspaces and Processes for Bid Management
- 15.5.3 Create Dashboards for Company and Idea Management
- 15.6 Summary
- 16 Scaling Process Automation
- 16.1 SAP Task Center
- 16.1.1 Benefits of Using SAP Task Center
- 16.1.2 SAP Task Center Architecture
- 16.1.3 Installing SAP Task Center
- 16.1.4 Accessing Tasks
- 16.1.5 Using the SAP Task Center Application Programming Interface
- 16.2 Enabling Fusion Development for Professional and Citizen Developers
- 16.2.1 Professional Developers
- 16.2.2 Citizen Developers, Key Users, and Business Process Experts
- 16.2.3 Challenges of Traditional Approaches
- 16.2.4 Drive Interoperability and Accelerate Business Transformation
- 16.2.5 Examples for Fusion Development
- 16.2.6 Benefits of a Fusion Development Approach
- 16.3 Summary
- 17 Conclusion
- 1 The Authors
- Index
