Event-driven architecture use cases are crucial because they highlight real-world applications of this technological strategy. Understanding specific use cases reveals how this architecture is crucial for services that require real-time operations, high responsiveness, and asynchronous communication. From financial sector transactions to IoT devices, EDA improves speed, decouples dependencies, and enables scalability. Thus, reviewing different use cases significantly enhances understanding of EDA's benefits and its role in tackling contemporary tech challenges.
In general, use cases of EDA can be classified into four central categories:
The frontrunner industries for event-driven architectures are retail, travel, and pharma. This is due to the fact that they are highly distributed both in respect to supply chains and sales channels. Also, the real-time aspect here is highly important.
However, very successful use cases have also been seen in industries like telecommunications, high tech consumer goods, information technology, and food and beverage.
Let’s have a look at five selected event-driven use cases from these front-runner industries, and check out to which use case categories each of them belong.
Use Case 1: Event-Based HR Integration
- Topic
Event-driven HR integration scenario combining SAP Integration Suite, advanced event mesh and SAP Integration Suite.
- Use Case Categories
Decoupling, Real Time and Hyperautomation
- Situation & Goals
- Integrate SAP-based HR business processes with non-SAP SaaS applications.
- Stick to SAP SuccessFactors standard approaches in a loosely coupled way.
- Automated creation of new employee and enrichment of employee data across multiple HR systems including third-party HR systems.
- Benefits
- Re-use of SAP SuccessFactors Solutions Intelligent Services Events allows to stay very close to the standard.
- Straightforward integration with third-party applications extended by the features of SAP Integration Suite.
- Competitive advantage in today’s tight labor market to attract talent.
- Implementation
Employ modern integration styles combining event-driven and API-based Integration to enrich employee onboarding.
Use Case 2: Shock Absorber
- Topic
Event-driven SAP Integration Suite, advanced event mesh-based scenario buffering extreme peak loads.
- Use Case Categories
- Situation & Goals
- When releasing new products or during promotions (for example, Black Friday) the number of concurrent orders via both web shop and stores skyrocket.
- The extreme amount of concurrent orders cannot be handled using synchronous approaches.
- Using synchronous approaches would challenge back-end systems and might lead to significant problems (non-reactive web shop and back-ends, data loss) and/or higher costs (larger back-ends).
- Benefits
- SAP Integration Suite, advanced event mesh buffers extreme peak loads with ease.
- Web shop stays reactive.
- Back-ends are shielded from high load.
- Brokers can be started up for specific time frames.
- Implementation
Use Case 3: Across Vendor Event Mesh
- Topic
Collection and aggregation of events from different event sources and event brokers to feed into SAP S/4HANA.
- Use Case Categories
- Break Down Silos and Cross Vendor Boundaries, Real Time and Hyperautomation
- Situation & Goals
- Order management data of local markets is stored and analysed in separate, localized IT environments.
- Latency of more than 24 hours to add local market data to central, across-country SAP S/4HANA.
- Several aggregation steps lead to redundancy and higher costs.
- Benefits
- Order management data is added to central SAP S/4HANA environment in real time.
- SAP Integration Suite, advanced event mesh glues together several sub-meshes based on Kafka and Azure-based event brokers.
- Reduction in aggregation steps lead to major cost reduction.
- Perfect mix of desired localization while having full visibility on a global level.
- Implementation
Use Case 4: Master Data Distribution
- Topic
Integration of SAP Master Data Governance with several SAP and non-SAP systems.
- Use Case Categories
- Decoupling
Note
This use case has won an SAP innovation award. For more information click:
- Situation & Goals
- SAP Master Data Governance central hub for Master Data Management.
- Asynchronous, loosely coupled rather than transactional integration to decouple dependencies.
- Push approach to several applications with control over changes preferred.
- Benefits
- Advanced Event Mesh allows for combining push SAP MDG mechanism with Pull mechanism of target systems.
- Complete decoupling of MDG development from target system developments, with additional buffering if needed.
- Standard interface definitions, processing and monitoring for all targets.
- Implementation
Use Case 5: Transforming Distributor
- Topic
Distribute data from and to highly diverse back-ends including event transformation.
- Use Case Categories
- Situation & Goals
- Large number of different back-ends.
- SAP S/4HANA is leading system.
- Inbound and Outbound consolidation of data from and to SAP S/4HANA.
- Due to different back-ends and data formats, a transformation is required
- Benefits
- Data distributed in highly diverse environment in real time (SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, SAP ByDesign).
- Buffering of extreme peak loads.
- Implementation
- Inbound:
Outbound:
