Exploring Production Process Designer

The Production Process Designer has a slightly more complex user interface. For this reason, the different areas should be introduced here, but don’t worry because we will also use every function later on.

1. The Production Process Design header (1) shows the design name and version. On the right side of the screen area, you will find the design-level functions, for example, saving the design or controlling its deployment. The available functions change depending on the design's state.

2. On the left side of the screen, you have different tabs available. Currently, the Editor tab is selected, which offers the controls (3) and the services (4) available to be used in production process designs. Other options are the Repository tab, which shows all processes included in the design, the History tab, which shows the changes to the design on a high level, and the Users tab, which allows you to configure the people working on the design.

3. The Controls section offers the basic elements offered to design production processes:
   • The Start element is needed in every production process and enables the beginning of the logic flow. It allows you to configure the input parameters of the process.
   • The End element is needed in every production process and enables the end of a successful execution of the production process. It allows you to configure the output parameters of the process.
   • The Condition branches the execution of the processes based on a condition becoming true. There are any number of conditions allowed.
   • The Parallel element allows unconditional branching of the process execution. All branches are executed in parallel.
   • The Wait element delays further process execution by a configured time. You should avoid using this element. If you come into a situation to use it, consider breaking up the process into two processes.
   • The Error Catch element allows you to handle errors thrown by services, for example, HTTP400, or subprocesses (in this case, it would be custom error codes, which we will explore later) and continues the process execution.
   • The Error End allows you to end the process execution with a custom error code. This error code is returned to the caller and may be handled by the caller.
   • The Script Task is a very powerful element that allows you to implement small customer-specific logic.
   • POD Message

     The POD Message allows you to send messages to dedicated POD types.

     Note: For this to work you need to configure the POD connection. The setting for the POD connection is offered on the start element of the production process.

     
4. In the Service and Processes section, you will find the services maintained in the service registry. Like you learned before, these could be SAP DM APIs, machine integration elements, calls to other SAP systems, or published production processes. There are even some more elements. Feel free to go on an exploration tour!

5. The production process header shows details on the production process like its name, the runtime, local variables, and the visibility.

6. Finally, the central element is the design canvas. On the canvas, you connect and arrange the elements to create your production process. Each element is automatically placed in a lane representing the runtime environment.

7. As soon as you select one element in the canvas, the element details appear on the right side of the screen. The details show the settings needed to configure the element. Dependent on the element, different settings are offered. For example, SAP DM-Services have inputs and outputs, the Error Catch allows you to configure error codes, and the condition will offer you inputs to define the different logical expressions.

With this, you know the basic elements of the design environment, and you are ready for your first demonstration. In the demonstration, we will show how to create a basic production process and collect some manufacturing data. Feel free to create the same process in your own SAP DM tenant to get some practical experience.