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In the past ERPGenie has served up many tips, tricks and articles, in the generic ERP and SAP. We like to think that we pioneered the age of sharing information when it wasn't cool to do so!

As a company, ERPGenie LLC, focuses on SAP Supply Chain Management and specifically, we are experts in the traceability and automation space. If SAP EM, OER, GTT, GTS, GBT, TM, EDI, AIF and PI are no foreign to you then you will begin to see a bigger focus on these topics in our blogs going forward. IOT and Blockchain are also near and dear to our hearts as we see the great potential that these technologies are already bringing to the Supply Chain process. Exciting times call for exciting changes... Join us for this new Journey. Discover the new Supply Chain - The 4th Generation Supply Chain with us...

TUTORIAL: SAP EM - Understanding the difference between events and messages

ERPGENIE - SAP Event Management Overview

Kevin Wilson runs through a comprehensive overview of SAP Event Management (SAP EM)

ERPGENIE Tutorial - SAP EM 002 - Understanding Events

SAP Event Management (SAP EM) event messages described by @erpgenie (Kevin Wilson) - mandatory knowledge when designing SAP EM solutions.

ERPGENIE Tutorial 001 - SAP Event Management Data Model

SAP Event Management (SAP EM) data model described by @erpgenie (Kevin Wilson) - mandatory knowledge when conducting SAP EM production support and problem resolution activities. 

What is SAP Event Management?

SAP Event Management (EM) manages, tracks and monitors events (initial and ongoing), providing real-time visibility to the status of a pre-defined business process. The capability exists to alert all stakeholders of the content of these messages, thus providing the status of the process. SAP EM bridges the gap between “The Plan” and “The Execution of the Plan,” providing visibility to any discrepancies between the two.

The ability to monitor events, in real time and in their relationship to "The Plan", enables the " management of processes by exception" concept. Thus, an organization can manage only those processes that are not behaving according to "The Plan" and let the remaining “standard” processes proceed with no active involvement. The “perfect” process could be described as one where no intervention is needed to correct any bottlenecks because it meets the customer’s needs and company’s expectations.

SAP EM : Things to look out for when implementing SAP EM

I recently came across a SAP EM Implementation with one of my clients, where they had SAP EM implemented by one of the best consulting companies but turned out to be a complete disaster.

They have N number of issues as listed below:

1. One EH having Multiple Values for the same TRACKING ID CODE SET - which is causing incorrect events being posted on EH's
2. Tracking ID's without Start Date & End Date - due to which Events posted in the past get re-triggered for EH's created in Future with same Tracking ID, causing data inconsistencies
3. All Task Logging switched on, causing billion+ entries in EH_TASK, forcing the client to do Partitioning in the database to handle the table size.
4. BAPI COMMIT being used inside the RULE SET causing data inconsistencies and short dumps
5. Event Generation within the Rule Sets causing short dumps
6. No Queuing process followed and hence same the EH is called multiple times at the same moment causing data inconsistencies

Please feel free to comment on other issues that you have seen in your implementations.

TIP: Configuring the SAP EM Web UI

Daniel Haerder wrote a good blog introducing customizing of the SAP EM Web UI. Check it out here before continuing … Now let’s explore it in more detail.

Reference the following 2 links to give you more ideas around what is possible:

• http://help.sap.de/saphelp_nw73/helpdata/en/73/142b2a79fb4884a4b4e87fa88f4115/frameset.htm
• http://help.sap.de/saphelp_smehp1/helpdata/en/7b/fb57412df8091de10000000a155106/content.htm

SAP Track and Trace Solution — Part 2: Inbound Logistics

In the first part of this article series, I described what Track and Trace is and how it relates to outbound logistics; if you missed it, check it out here. In this article, I will discus how we can provide full visibility into the inbound logistics process by leveraging SAP’s Event Management module and EDI carrier status notifications. Organizations that place purchase orders (PO) for their suppliers or manufacturers have a very real need to make sure that the product arrives at the intended destination on the date that it was requested and promised. Scheduling receiving resources and ability to meet customer demand, all rely on the product getting to the warehouse when it was scheduled to be there.

TIP: SAP Event Management Naming Conventions

System	Functionality	Naming Convention	Example
ECC/EM	Table Name	ZEMT_*Meaningful Name*	ZEMT_DATE_EXT
ECC/EM	Structure Name	ZEMS_*Meaningful Name*	ZEMS_DATE_EXT
ECC/EM	Custom Programs / RFC / Module Pool	ZEM_*Program Type*	ZEMRP_EVENT_LIST
ECC/EM	Business Process Type	ZEM_*	ZEM_ESC_PURORD
ECC	Application Object Type	ZEM_AOT_*BUISNESS PROCESS*	ZEM_AOT_PO_LINE
ECC	Event Type	ZEM_ET_*BUSINESS PROCESS*	ZEM_ET_PO_LINE_CREATE

History of SAP Event Management

Now lets talk about how we got to SAP Event Management (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 4.x

After a few pilot implementations, SAP EM was released as a solution for Supply Chain Event Management.  This release occurred in 2004 and was part of the SAP SCM 4.0 solution.  The software came bundled with the following visibility processes: 1) procurement, 2) fulfillment, 3) production malfunction, and 4) transportation.  At the end of 2004, Release 4.1 was introduced.  This release contained the first RFID-enabled visibility operation, which was Outbound Delivery Process.

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.