The Explorer (Diagram Repository)

The Explorer acts as a diagram repository of an SAP Signavio Workspace. You can also access features for process analysis here. See below an overview of the modules integrated with SAP Signavio Process Manager's Explore feature.

The Editor and the Explorer are two separate parts of the SAP Signavio Process Manager. The Editor focuses on the creation of diagrams and the Explorer allows management in a folder structure.

Basically, the Explorer serves two different purposes:

1. Managing content (folders and diagrams):
   • Create and manage your folder structure (including the access rights management for individual folders).
   • Save, copy, delete, and move diagrams (all types of diagrams).
   • Share and publish diagrams to the Collaboration Hub.
   • Manage and restore revisions of diagrams.
   • Import and export diagrams.
2. Using the following Process Analysis features:
   • Dictionary (central business object repository).
   • Reporting (create standard reports on processes).
   • Simulation (simulate different instances of a process).
   • Diagram comparison(compare different versions or different diagrams).

Note

The features Dictionary, Reporting, and Simulation are covered in dedicated lessons in this course.

The following video gives you a detailed insight into the Explorer, and explains: 

• The structure of the Explorer.
• The integrated search.
• The menu bar and functionalities.
• The Help section.

For further details check out the product documentation: Explorer overview | SAP Help Portal

It contains additional information and explains every feature of the menu bar.

Common questions from customers are: "What is the 'correct' folder structure to organize process models, or how to treat sensitive processes?" Here, we share some best practices with you. User access rights are granted at the folder level (but they can also be diagram-specific), so it's important to have a suitable structure from the beginning.

The answer depends on the structure of your company. Departmental processes can be organized in department-specific folders, such as HR or manufacturing, with extra subfolders for further classifications.

In the following example, all company-related processes are stored in department folders, which are subordinate to the "ACME AG" parent folder. This way, it's easier to grant reading rights to processes for the parent folder, instead of granting access rights for each subfolder.

You must manage sensitive processes separately, if you must exclude them from the regular user access. The following example shows one possibility of such a structure.

Just imagine there are 13 different variants of our process. Find the relevant process by using the advanced search to filter the publishing state.