During customer visits as well as during big customer events such as SAP TechEd there are questions around Business Process Monitoring (BPMon) that come up again and again. So this SDN Blog should provide a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) around Business Process Monitoring within SAP Solution Manager.
This blog is only a reduced version of the following Wiki http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/SM/FAQ+Business+Process+Monitoring .So please visit this wiki page for the latest comprehensive FAQ.
Q: Which prerequisites have to be met in order to setup Business Process Monitoring?
A: Technical prerequisites are described in SAP notes 784752 - "BPMon in SAP Solution Manager - Prerequisites" and 521820 - "Availability of Business Process Monitoring".
Q: Is there a list of available key figures that come out-of-the-box?
A: Yes, there are more than 400 out-of-the-box key figures shipped with Business Process Monitoring. Please look at the presentation "Business Process & Interface Monitoring - Part 2" under https://service.sap.com/bpm > Media Library > Customer Information.
Q: Can I configure my own (customer-specific) key figures?
A: Yes, Business Process Monitoring offers a complete New Business Process Monitoring functionalities in SAP Solution Manager - Customer Exit in order to develop customer-specific key figures. Please have a look at the document "Setup Guide - Customer Exit" under https://service.sap.com/bpm > Media Library > Technical Information.
Q: Who is the target group for Business Process Monitoring?
A: In general the target groups are 2nd or 3rd level Application Support on IT side, IT Basis Support team and on business department side the business process or functional owners. For more details refer to previous SDN Blog Functional Scope of Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager
Q: What are typical use cases that Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager can be used for?
A: Typical use cases are 1) Automating labor intensive monitoring tasks, 2) Internal benchmarking and gaining business process transparency, 3) Support and safeguard GoLives, 4) Monitor SOX compliance. More information can be found in the previous SDN blog Typical Use Cases for Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager
Q: What is the typical effort to implement Business Process Monitoring?
A: The technical implementation of Business Process Monitoring is very simple and quick, as so many key figures are provided out-of-the-box. A simple pilot is always implemented within a day during the SAP CQC service for Business Process Monitoring. As explained in the blog Business Process Monitoring - Template configuration available for downloadit is even possible to implement a Business Process Monitoring pilot within half a day. A comprehensive monitoring pilot including the configuration of auto-reaction methods takes usually up to a week. But if you want to make a big global or regional roll-out of Business Process Monitoring which covers many different countries and organizational units then this might easily take 6-12 or even 18 months. Hence the challenge is the organizational change management and the collection of monitoring requirements, but not the technical implementation.
Q: Can I create other trouble tickets than SAP Service Desk messages?
A: Yes and no. There is no direct integration between Business Process Monitoring and non-SAP ticket tools. But you can connect SAP Service Desk and other ticketing tools via a bi-directional web service interface. For further information see http://help.sap.com/saphelp_smehp1/helpdata/en/b3/64c33af662c514e10000000a114084/frameset.htm
Q: Are there template processes available that can be used for Business Process Monitoring?
A: Yes, there are process templates available that contain Business Process Monitoring configuration. These templates can be downloaded from the SAP Service Marketplace under https://service.sap.com/bpm > Media Library > Technical Information and then uploaded into your SAP Solution Manager via transaction SOLUTION_TRANSFER. Also refer to the previous SDN Blog Business Process Monitoring - Template configuration available for download.
Remark: The template processes in the Business Process Repository contain no monitoring configuration.
Q: Which SAP BW is used for Business Process Monitoring trend reporting?
A: You can decide which SAP BW should be used. Either you use the SAP BW 7.0 as part of SAP Solution Manager or you use an existing SAP BW solution in your system landscape. The large majority of customers chose option 1 in order to not mix business and IT reporting.
Q: What is the difference between Business Process Monitoring and SAP NetWeaver BPM?
A: Business Process Monitoring tries to ensure the stable and smooth operation of a company’s core business processes with a focus on traditional transaction-based processes (see also the previous SDN Blog Typical Use Cases for Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager). The target groups are 2nd or 3rd level Application Support on IT side, IT Basis Support team and on business department side the business process or functional owners as described in further details in the previous SDN Blog Functional Scope of Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager.
SAP NetWeaver BPM is focusing on the development of rule-based composite business processes as “own practices” (usually SOA-based and often workflow related). These composite processes target at enhancing existing application core business processes and should provide the fast competitive and innovative edge versus competitors. For this SAP NetWeaver provides a combination of a process modeling and execution environment with a complex rules engine (SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management), where you can flexibly model your business process first, assign simple or complex business rules in order to automate business decisions and finally generate executable process logic. The monitoring part for these processes is mainly targeting business end-users and business managers. For more information on SAP NetWeaver BPM refer to http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-bpm.
Please also read the SDN Blog Why SAP offers different tools for Business Process Monitoring & Business Process Optimization.
The following blogs provide further details about Business Process Monitoring functionalities within the SAP Solution Manager.
