Objectives
This lesson provides an overview of the various automation technologies and tools provided by SAP. It explains how these technologies can help to optimize business processes, automate manual tasks, and increase efficiency.
This lesson contains the following topics:
SAP Build Process Automation is a no code solution, enabling citizen developers to optimize business processes. It offers tools for the management of workflows and robotic process automation (RPA). The platform supports the creation of workflows, the management of the logic of decision tables and the monitoring of processes using dashboards.
SAP Build Process Automation is a no code solution (designed for use by citizen developers) which is used to align, improve, and innovate business processes with workflow management and robotic process automation functions.
The capabilities of SAP Build Process Automation are broad and deep. Business developers can design business rules and workflows; LoB experts can design forms, approvals, and automations and business users can execute tasks in the SAP Task Center just to name a few features.
The solution offers the following main functions:
Additionally, SAP Build Process Automation provides preconfigured content and functions, like bots, process steps, business rules, and workflow components.
As has been the case occasionally in other instances, SAP Build Process Automation replaces other preexisting SAP BTP Services. With SAP Build Process Automation, SAP has combined the former SAP Workflow Management, SAP Robotics Process Automation, and SAP Business Rules services under one umbrella.
Within the SAP Build family of solutions, there are several different products. In the area of process design and execution, the relevant low/no-code tool is SAP Build Process Automation. The "Integrate and extend SAP and non-SAP solutions with SAP Build Process Automation" is the primary reference architecture featuring SAP Build Process Automation. This reference architecture outlines several possibilities among them the automation of complete business processes (workflow) as well as the automation of specific tasks (RPA) known as the Build an Automated Process path.
The SAP Build family of solutions is home to a whole range of low/no-code tools. You are already familiarized ourselves with tools under the "Build an Application" scenario (that is, SAP Build Apps). The next topic to talk about is the Build an Automated Process path. As you can see in the following figure, the two relevant tasks are "Build A Process" and "Task Automation".
SAP Build Process Automation is an SAP BTP service that allows you to build, execute, automate, and monitor your business processes through a single interface with low-code/no-code capabilities.
From the lobby in SAP Build, you can select Build an Automated Process.
Afterwards you can select whether to design a business process or task automation.
SAP Build Process Automation is a low-code platform that enables users to automate business processes and tasks to increase efficiency and reduce manual labor. The platform offers various tools and functions to create and manage automation projects.
The difference between "SAP Build an Automated Process - Business Processes" and "SAP Build an Automated Process - Task Automation" lies in the way automation is applied and which aspects of business processes it focuses on:
This approach focuses on the automation of end-to-end business processes. This involves the integration of various tasks and activities that are interrelated in a business process. The aim is to optimize the entire process by reducing manual steps, accelerating decision-making and shortening process throughput times. This can include the automation of workflows, the integration of systems and applications and the implementation of business rules.
In contrast, task automation focuses on the automation of specific, recurring tasks within a business process. This can include automating data entry, reading information from documents or performing routine tasks that are normally carried out by a human. The aim here is to save time and reduce errors by automating individual tasks without necessarily looking at the entire business process.
To summarize, the main difference lies in the scope of automation:
The SAP Build Catalog contains over 500 ready-made solutions for various SAP applications that can be accessed through the Business Accelerator Hub and SAP Build on the SAP BTP. Users can select processes and implement them quickly using templates.
SAP Build offers ready-made business processes, task automations, and application templates for SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Build Apps.
In the content catalog, you can learn more about industry and sector-specific content that has been specially developed to improve SAP applications such as SAP ECC, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business byDesign, SAP Ariba, SAP SuccessFactors, and others. The catalog has more than 500 entries. The catalog can be accessed through:
If you navigate deeper into a tile, you find detailed documentation. The following is an example with Sales Order Management (MI04).
Create a Sales Order approval process that can be triggered with an API call:
The catalog is called up in the SAP Build in the lobby under Store. You can filter in detail using various categories.
When you now navigate to the same business process, you see the following:
The special feature here is the possibility to create this business process directly through a template. This business process then only needs to be configured.
The business process created on the template is shown here.
Business processes are created in SAP Build Process Automation via a graphical interface that includes elements such as forms, authorizations and automation. Processes can be started using various trigger types and monitored using a monitoring feature.
The business process is created via a graphical interface.
The elements are assembled and configured according to the objective until the finished process is created. The following elements are available:
You can create interactive forms in SAP Build Process Automation with which you can enter and pass on information during an ongoing process. Forms can then be used as start triggers for a process and inserted as additional steps in the same process.
Approvals are an important part of business processes, whether they are performed manually or approved automatically based on process conditions. With SAP Build Process Automation, you can manage approvals by creating an approval form and adding it to a business process.
For example, you can add and configure parallel branches to your business process.
Automations consist of a sequence of steps that you create in SAP Build Process Automation.
You can embed external skills and capabilities into your SAP Build Process Automation projects using actions. Action projects can either be created in the lobby, allowing you to upload an Open API specification file, or imported from the store into your library.
The process editor allows you to add email notifications to your business process so that you can send pre-configured emails to recipients during the execution of a process.
You can add subprocesses to your main process in the process editor, allowing you to modularize your business process and reuse subprocesses.
You can add and configure conditions to a business process so that you can forward a running process to the process context based on the application of IF or DEFAULT rules.
A script task is an automatic activity. When a process arrives at the script task, the corresponding script is run. A script task helps you to create an executable code in JavaScript within the process editor. It leverages pro-code capabilities for fusion development of enterprise automation scenarios and enables the execution of complex data transformations and additional operations on the process context.
The business process is started via a trigger. The following types are available:
Monitoring collects events originating from the provided workflows and automation jobs and displays them to the user. These events represent the state of the agents, the status of the executed jobs and the business activity of the monitoring events.
The following artifacts can be monitored:
Process your tasks via the My Inbox application. You can use My Inbox on your desktop or mobile device. Depending on your role, you can access My Inbox as follows:
RPA enables the automation of manual tasks by software robots, which increases productivity, minimizes errors, and reduces costs.
With no-code and low-code functions or the integrated task editor, you can automate repetitive manual tasks such as copy and paste operations, data extraction, data entry, and data creation. RPA is a business process automation technology in which virtual software robots, also known as digital robots or bots, take over manual, time-consuming work or tasks.
Automate tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone routine tasks such as consolidation and manipulation of data from multiple data sources.
RPA can be used with any application in your technology stack. It handles nonmodeled, "naturally grown" processes using UI-based automation. This is particularly important when it comes to integrating legacy systems for which no APIs exist and direct access to the data is not possible. RPA can therefore play a central role in the digital transformation of a company.
RPA serves as a replacement for manual processes and minimizes input errors, speeds up work processes, and reduces costs. It relieves employees of mundane, repetitive tasks and enables them to use their human skills more effectively. By transferring less valuable work to RPA bots, the company becomes more efficient and can achieve the following goals:
All of these results contribute to the success of the organization, helping to improve performance and reduce costs. Other benefits include:
The following figure shows the creation of an automatic task. Drag and drop features are also used here. This corresponds to robotic process automation.
The reference architecture of SAP Build Process Automation supports the integration and extension of SAP- and non-SAP-solutions in Cloud- and Hybrid-landscapes.
The reference architecture describes how you can use SAP Build Process Automation, to use SAP and non-SAP Solutions in cloud and hybrid landscapes to integrate and to extend.
The SAP Build Process Automation-Architecture diagram displays five important processes in the creation of system-integrating process automation:
End users can access SAP Build Process Automation over the Web and mobile native apps:
For the identity management and authentication, SAP Build Process Automation uses SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication as identity provider. SAP Cloud Identity Services acts as central facade for the Identity and access management. In this aspect, SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication offers a secure authentication or a federation with identity provider from a third-party supplier. The SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Directory stores the SAP-identities. SAP Cloud Identity Services can be used as a proxy for a customer own identity supplier.
SAP Build Process Automation as a solution consists of several components that enable different functions that cannot be decoupled from the product. When SAP Build Process Automation is activated in a subaccount of SAP BTP, these components are not visible in the list of subscriptions and service instances: they are all an integral part of the solution itself (SAP Build Process Automation subscription). This includes services such as decisions, process visibility, processes, and automation.
SAP Build Process Automation can be integrated with other SAP BTP services and with applications outside SAP BTP via the SAP Connectivity Service. The integration is based on APIs provided through various channels, such as Live API with Graph, SAP Cloud Application Programming Model, ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model OData destinations, SAP systems, API Business Hub Enterprise or through API specifications with SAP Business Accelerator Hub, uploading API specifications, and creating API actions from scratch.
Processes in SAP Build Process Automation can be triggered via events, APIs, schedules, and forms. Forms can be provided on the basis of SAP Build Process Automation Forms, UI5 applications, or SAP Build Apps.
Moving business content from one environment to another, for example, from development to testing, can be done by manual export/import or through further integration with SAP Cloud Transport Management.
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