Monitor and cockpit is not a new concept in SAP . It exists from a long time for different lines of business but EWM monitor is all different -highly rich in functionality, and as far as I am concerned it is perfect.
Monitors and cockpits available in ECC provide quite an extensive functionality, but it is not possible to execute end to end business functions. EWM monitor is highly configurable and designed to perform end to end business transactions with alerts .
EWM monitor supports range of warehouse business functions from inbound, physical inventory, ware house stock overview , resource and labor management and outbound . Additionally, we can inspect application logs, message queue and overdue/inactive objects etc. EWM monitor is absolutely fit for purpose for high throughput warehouses.
Figure 1: EWM monitor -Initial screen
Due to its highly configurable features, which may appear as small tweaks individually , productivity is increased drastically. For example, we can configure custom tree structure based on business requirement of each warehouse, and business users doesn't have to remember complex navigation tree structure and can access the relevant functions faster.
Figure 2: Bespoke monitor tree navigation
Various data points shown in ALV reports can be further viewed in crystal report format. It helps business to do deep analysis on their warehouse business transactions and focus on areas of improvement .
Source: SAP SE Figure 3: Crystal report based on WM data
Quick Tip : How to Display an ALV Table as Crystal Reports
The feature which I like the most in EWM monitor is the alert functionality . Warehouse supervisors and managers can access vital information like overdue warehouse tasks and orders,exceptions ,inactive delivery documents etc. with few mouse clicks.
Figure 4: Overdue Warehouse Order by Activity Area - Bar Chart
This data combined with ALV and crystal reports can help business immensely in uncovering the problem areas and performing the due diligence.
Further, users can perform the appropriate transaction related to these items from EWM monitor and there is no need to work with multiple screen and transactions at the same time . Users can focus on their core warehouse management day to day task and no need to remember multiple transaction code and/or navigation.
Figure 5: Overdue Warehouse Order by Activity Area - ALV Report
Super users and application support consultants are also kept in mind while designing the EWM monitor. We can access message queues and application logs for various warehouse transactions.
Figure 6: EWM monitor -Message Queue logs
Further was can access the associatedtransaction data without any need to open multiple sessions and can execute appropriate follow up action for logs and queues.
Figure 7: Application logs
In case business requires to run certain transaction based on set data often then it can be maintained as a variant in tree structure. In this way regularly needed reports can be accessed directly from the navigation tree and there is no need to input the selection criteria every time. For instance, here in the figure below we have maintained a variant node for stock in storage bin 'GR-ZONE' to access the details about the stock in this bin.
Figure 7: Variant node - Stock detail in bin 'GR-ZONE'
Everything from day to day warehouse tasks monitoring to examining queue and application logs is available under EWM monitor.
I think it would be nice if SAP adopts similar design approach for other monitors and cockpits in SAP ECC.
I encourage you to share below your experiences and views on EWM monitor.
Disclaimer: The views mentioned are my own and may not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer.
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.
User | Count |
---|---|
2 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 | |
1 |