SAP EM Knowledge Bites 14 - SAP EM integration with SAP Business Workflow

In my previous blog I spoke about the benefits as they pertained to the Order to Cash process. Now it’s time to dive in to a little detail on how to configure certain functionality. 1st up is the integration with SAP Business Workflow…

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 13 - Benefits of SAP EM as it relates to an Order to Cash process

In the 1st blog of this series we described what SAP EM is and in the 6th one we described, in 2 parts, what the challenges and benefits are that are associated with SAP EM. We now want to take that a little deeper and relate it directly to the order to cash process.

What is covered in an order to cash process? For simplicity sake we will address a simple scenario where an order is taken and fulfilled out of a warehouse. Similar discussions and benefits can be described for orders being fulfilled via drop-ship or via a manufacturing process.

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 12 - Troubleshooting tips

In our last blog we described the various Web Services that you can use to interact with SAP Event Management. Now let’s look in to SAP EM troubleshooting and providing some tips. Please feel free to add your own comments to keep a running list of tips and tricks…

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 11 - What Web Services are available?

In our previous blog we hit on the hot topic of parameters and which ones should we use where.

Now let’s get in to a little nerd stuff  Web Services… This blog is intended to give you the quick links to go find the necessary detail to describe each of the available services. The documentation can be rather hard to find…. until now…

SAP EM web services can be found on the SAP Community Network or on the SAP help portal.

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 10 - Deciding on what parameters to use

In our last blog we spoke about the sizing considerations to take in to account for an SAP EM server. Now let’s go in to one of the most asked question in SAP Event Management – “Which type of the 4 available parameters should we use? Firstly, what are the 4 parameters that we are talking about?

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 9 - The sizing of an SAP EM server

In our last blog we walked through what was made available in each of the major SAP EM releases. Now let’s take a look at what to consider when sizing an SAP EM server.

Sizing a server to handle the processing for SAP EM is important.  Potentially a large amount of data can be processed by the SAP EM system in a very short period of time.  Sizing is impacted by both business and technology components.  The number of users and number of processes covered will have an impact on the size of machine required. The SAP Standard Application Benchmarks and Scalability Tests located at http://www.sap.com/benchmark can be used to determine sizing detail.

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 8 - The history of SAP EM

In our last blog we highlighted the issues that SAP EM resolves and what benefits it provides. Now lets talk about how we got to SAP EM release 9.2…

SAP EM began it’s journey way back in 2000 but the 1st official release was made in 2004 and that’s where we will pick up the story…

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 7 - The benefits of SAP EM (benefits)

In our previous blog we listed out the issues that face the Supply Chain. In this blog we’ll go through how SAP EM can be leveraged to address these issues.

How does SAP EM address the challenges mentioned in part 1 of the blog series?

Visibility: SAP EM provides maximum visibility across the supply chain network.  This visibility allows for the detection of deviations in the demand and supply of goods and services.

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 6 - The benefits of SAP EM (issues)

In our previous blog we described the differences between events and messages and now it’s time to take our new-found EM knowledge and relate it back to the advantages that SAP EM can provide.

The benefits of SAP EM are dependent on the specific challenges an organization faces. This blog describes common challenges that we face today and the 2nd part of the blog will show how SAP EM can be leveraged to address this issues.

SAP EM knowledge Bites 5 - Events vs. Messages

In our last blog we discussed the different types of events that SAP EM deals with. Now it’s time to delve a little deeper and look in to event messages as they relate to events. SAP EM makes the distinction between events and event messages. The difference is subtle yet very significant and compelling.

An event is the recording of “something that occurs in a certain place during a particular interval of time”.   An example of an event would be a post goods issue (PGI) occurring in Warehouse A at 3:00 PM (See No. 4 in Figure 1).  A plan for the event is stored in SAP EM, and the event is measured against this plan.  ‘The Plan’ states: ‘the PGI event should happen at Warehouse A between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM’ (See No. 1 in Figure 1).  In this example, the event is considered a regular event.

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 4 - Describing SAP EM Events

In our previous blog we discussed the differences between SAP EM and Document Flow. Now it’s time to start to dive in to the details of SAP Event Management and whereas could we start, other than to describe an event?

Events can be divided into two different types (actual vs. planned), which can then be grouped into four categories. Actual Event vs. Planned Event

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 3 - SAP EM as compared to Document Flow

In our previous blog we described where SAP EM fitted in to the SAP solution stack. In this blog we discuss the differences between document flow and SAP EM. We often get asked what the difference is or we hear the following “SAP EM is just glorified document flow”…

SAP EM is often utilized in conjunction with SAP Document Flow.  Document flow shows the transactions related to the business document, as they are being created by the SAP system.  A typical document flow for an order-to-cash scenario will progress as follows: Sales Order -> Delivery -> PGI -> Billing Document -> Accounting Document.  Although SAP EM can easily provide the same view to the applicable business process using document flow, it allows for a few subtler, yet powerful differences.

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 2 - SAP EM as part of the Extended Supply Chain

In our first blog, We spelled out what SAP Event Management covers, what it is and what it is not. (Read here) It’s now time to look at SAP EM and see where it fits in to the bigger picture.

Where does SAP EM fit in to SAP’s overall solution landscape

Over the years SAP has moved the SAP EM solution across many vertical and horizontal solutions.  Originally written as a component of the Railcar Management System, SAP EM was called Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM).  SCEM was adapted to a generic solution and became an add-on component that other solutions could use.  Also known as SAP’s Track and Trace solution, it was a part of the “Supply Chain Integrity” stack.