Google AI-powered automated order/shipment routing...

ajith_urimajalu · ‎2023 Sep 19

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers a wide range of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Products which can help businesses to automate tasks, improve decision-making, and personalize experiences. One such GCP offering is BigQuery Machine Learning (ML) models that support a variety of use cases such as Running Predictions and Demand Forecasting . In this blog post, we will explore how customers can natively consume predictions of BigQuery ML models from their SAP landscape by using ABAP SDK for Google Cloud, a new addition to Google Cloud SDK.

Problem Statement

A new online retailer uses SAP to enter and process customer orders. The retailer wants to optimize and streamline the order fulfillment process. Specifically, the retailer wants to select the most cost efficient “Order Routing” option among:

Fulfillment from own warehouse

Forward to a 3PL partner

Direct shipping from OEM Manufacturer / Vendor

The decision depends on a variety of factors such as:

Whether the item is in stock in own warehouse

What is the Delivery date of the order

Shipping distance and cost associated with each option

Customer category — Enterprise, Small Business etc.

Imagine an order handling specialist sifting through multiple datasets and running complex queries to decide the optimal order routing. This would be a cumbersome process, often leading to errors, increased operational costs, and unhappy customers.

In the below sections, we will explore how the retailer can solve this problem by using BigQuery ML and ABAP SDK for Google Cloud.

Business Impact

By implementing the below solution using ABAP SDK for Google Cloud, the retailer can achieve the following efficiencies.

The manual review process will be reduced thanks to the BigQuery ML model, which will do the heavy lifting of predicting order routing.

A model that is continuously trained will provide more accurate and cost-effective predictions, which will lead to lower operating costs.

By taking the delivery date into account, the model will ensure that orders are delivered on time, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

Setting up BigQuery ML

If you are new to BigQuery, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with:

BigQuery Product Features and Capabilities

Various methods to load data to BigQuery

Once the dataset is created and is ready, data can be loaded to BigQuery. Then, with just 2 SQL commands, the retailer can create and train a ML model, and run “Order Routing Predictions” on their dataset. As new data gets loaded to BigQuery, the model is continuously trained to provide better predictions.

Solution Overview

After setting up a BigQuery ML model in GCP, the retailer’s ABAP Developers can use ABAP SDK for Google Cloud to:

Load data to BigQuery using Pub/Sub, and

Read predictions using the BigQuery ML Model,

All from within the SAP landscape and using the programming language they are familiar with — SAP ABAP.

Detailed Steps

In the sections below, we will dive deep into various steps in GCP and SAP.

Setting Up ABAP SDK for Google Cloud and Cloud Resources

Let’s take a look at some key configurations that should be completed on GCP and SAP.

As the first step, the retailer’s administrators will install and configure ABAP SDK on the SAP Landscape.

Then, their Cloud Administrator / Developer will create below resources on GCP.

Big Query

Create Tables to hold data from SAP

Create and Run a BigQuery ML Model to predict routing.

CREATE OR REPLACE MODEL `bqml.zorder_routing`

OPTIONS (model_type='linear_reg',

         input_label_cols=['delivery']) AS

SELECT * FROM `ORDER_ROUTING_DEMO.zrouting_sap_data`

WHERE delivery IS NOT NULL

SELECT * FROM

ML.PREDICT (

 MODEL`bqml.zorder_routing`,

    (SELECT *      FROM`ORDER_ROUTING_DEMO.zrouting_sap_data`

    WHERE delivery IS NOT NULL))

Note: Above are sample commands. Refer to the documentation for detailed instructions on how to implement BigQuery ML models based on your needs.

Pub/Sub

Create an Avro schema for order data from SAP.

Create a topic using the above schema

Create a subscription for the topic, writing to BigQuery table

ABAP Development

Now that the configuration steps are complete, it’s time for an ABAP Developer to implement the solution in SAP by using ABAP SDK for Google Cloud.

First, SAP Outbound delivery data is published to a Pub/Sub topic by using ABAP SDK Pub/Sub API Client Stub class /GOOG/CL_PUBSUB_V1 within the implementation of SAP Outbound Delivery BADI LE_SHP_DELIVERY_PROC. The data published to Pub/Sub is replicated to BigQuery in real time, thanks to the subscription that was set up in GCP.

    DATA:

      ls_input_sap     TYPE /goog/cl_pubsub_v1=>ty_023.



    LOOP AT it_xlips REFERENCE INTO DATA(ls_lips).



      DATA(lv_json_obj_sap) =

       /ui2/cl_json=>serialize(

          data     = VALUE t_payload_sap(

                       delivery = ls_lips->vbeln

*                      ......... other attributes

                       item = ls_lips->posnr )



         pretty_name = /ui2/cl_json=>pretty_mode-low_case  ).





      APPEND VALUE #(

        data = cl_http_utility=>encode_base64( lv_json_obj_sap ) )

      TO ls_input_sap-messages.

    ENDLOOP.



    TRY.



        DATA: lo_client TYPE REF TO /goog/cl_pubsub_v1.



        CREATE OBJECT lo_client

          EXPORTING

            iv_key_name = 'DEMO_PUBSUB'.



        CALL METHOD lo_client->publish_topics

          EXPORTING

            iv_p_projects_id = CONV #( lo_client->gv_project_id )

            iv_p_topics_id   = 'DEMO_ORDER_DATA_SAP'

            is_input         = ls_input_sap

          IMPORTING

            ev_ret_code      = DATA(lv_ret_code)

            ev_err_text      = DATA(lv_err_text).



      CATCH /goog/cx_sdk INTO DATA(lo_exception).

        "Appropriate Error Handling

    ENDTRY.

Sample Demo Flow

Below flow shows how data from SAP application lands in the BigQuery table.

The BigQuery ML model then predicts the routing with a certain level of accuracy, which is read directly from SAP by using ABAP SDK.

Below UI5 application provides a better visualization of the routing predictions from BigQuery ML Model.

Predictions for multiple documents presented on a UI5 Application

This UI5 application can be used for “human in the loop” scenarios such as Ad Hoc validation of ML results or when the prediction accuracy percent is lower than a certain threshold. The user can override the routing based on their judgment and upon saving, routing value will be sent back to BigQuery via Pub/Sub. This process will continuously train the BigQuery ML model to provide more accurate predictions for future datasets.

These BigQuery ML Models can also be managed directly in Google Vertex AI Platform and what’s more, the inferences of Vertex AI models can be read from SAP by using the Vertex AI API Client Stub class /GOOG/CL_VERTEXAI_V1.

Conclusion and Next Steps

As demonstrated in this use case, ABAP SDK for Google Cloud provides capabilities to use real-time inferences and continuously tune models, right from the SAP landscape.

Ready to start using ABAP SDK for Google Cloud?

Bookmark What’s new with the ABAP SDK for Google Cloud for the latest announcements and follow installation and configuration instructions.

Check out these blog posts to get started with ABAP SDK for Google Cloud

In this Blog, ameya_google explains how you can evaluate ABAP SDK for Google Cloud using ABAP Platform Trial 1909 on Google Cloud Platform.

Read this blog post from deveshsin on how a business process such as Sales Order entry in SAP can be automated using ABAP SDK for Google Cloud.

Also check out kritisugandha blog post about ABAP SDK Code Wizard , one of the many Engineering excellence delivered as part of ABAP SDK.

Happy Coding!