Key Terms, Used in This Lesson:
- Integration Patterns - Understanding the general approaches for integrating systems, including the three categories mentioned: ERP, Event Mesh, and IoT.
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)- An ERP system, or Enterprise Resource Planning system, is a type of software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, and supply chain operations.
- SAP Event Mesh - SAP Event Mesh allows applications to communicate through asynchronous events.
- oData (Open Data Protocol) - The protocol used for integration, specifically how SAP APM periodically requests the latest data from the ERP system.
- Time Series Services - Services related to the management of time series data, which are crucial for asset health processes.
- Condition Based Maintenance – A a proactive maintenance strategy that monitors the condition of an asset in real time – often through the use of time series data.
- Business Process Integration - How SAP APM integrates with business processes in ERP systems, such as asset master data management, asset health visualization, and maintenance notifications.
- Digital Thread - The concept of linking equipment strategy, planning, and execution into a cohesive process.
- Asset Master Data - Data related to equipment or functional location that is replicated for management in SAP APM.
- Maintenance Objects - Objects like Rules, Task Lists, and Maintenance Plans that are linked for optimal asset maintenance.
- Risk and Criticality Assessment - The process of assessing critical assets and updating risk scores back in the connected SAP system.
- Failure Data - Understanding different types of failure data such as Maintainable Items, Failure Modes, Failure Mechanisms, Causes, and Failure Effects.
Business Scenario
In this lesson, Jessica will learn to assess the different ways SAP Asset Performance Management can be combined with other systems, recognizing the strengths and bounds of each method.
This understanding will help her optimize asset management practices at CRT Manufacturing.
Lesson Overview
SAP Asset Performance Management supports integrations to a variety of other SAP solutions out of the box. In general, there are three categories of integration:
- SAP Asset Performance Management to ERP
- SAP Asset Performance Management to Event Mesh
- SAP Asset Performance Management to IoT
Integration with S/4HANA Cloud
SAP supports integration to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP S/4HANA 2021 FPS01 and higher, SAP S/4HANA 2020, and SAP ECC EHP7 SP14 and higher.
The scope of integration is slightly different between the different systems and the specifics can be found before.
Integration with SAP S/4HANA and SAP ERP
In each of these scenarios, SAP provides out of the box integration content to connect these systems together for data and business process integration. This is all in service of closing the loop between equipment strategy, planning and execution by linking the entire process with a single digital thread.
SAP Asset Performance Management to Event Mesh
While the integration to SAP ERP is more batch driven, for certain data objects, such as Measurement Documents, a near real time integration is required. SAP Event Mesh provides this capability to ensure that whenever a new Measurement Document is entered in SAP S/4HANA, the new or changed value is immediately detected and sent to SAP Asset Performance Management.
This near time capability is critical for Conditioned Based Monitoring scenarios where as soon as a value is entered into SAP S/4HANA, a rule in SAP Asset Performance Management needs to be executed to take appropriate action.
SAP Asset Performance Management to SAP IoT
The final key integration is between SAP Asset Performance Management and SAP IoT. Processes in SAP Asset Performance Management, particularly the Asset Health processes, require time series data to help assess asset health and asset risk. SAP Asset Performance Management provides access to a dedicated SAP IoT landscape in order to interface with external data providers through the use of Time Series services. Time series data ingested into the data store is aggregated and managed across the hot, warm, and cold stores of SAP Internet of Things (IoT) as its ages.
Summary
| Business Process | SAP S/4HANA Cloud | SAP S/4HANA 2021 FPS01 and higher | SAP S/4HANA 2020 and SAP ERP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replicate filtered Equipment or Functional Location and relevant configuration data to manage asset master data. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Visualize and analyze asset health on the indicator chart by replicating Measuring Points and Measuring Documents as Indicators. | Yes | Yes | No |
| Define ‘scheduled’ Rules to monitor asset health and automatically post Maintenance Notification in the connected SAP S/4HANA if the rules condition or threshold is breached. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Perform Risk and Criticality Assessment for critical Asset(s) and the derived Risk score can be updated back in the connected SAP S/4HANA as an ABC indicator. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Replicate Failure Data (referred to as Catalog Codes in the SAP S/4HANA system):
| Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Implement recommendations by linking maintenance objects such as Rules, Task List and Maintenance Plan to drive optimal asset maintenance. | Yes | Yes | No |
Additional Resources
You find additional resources here: Integration Overview:
Personal Reflection
Reflect on a time when you had to integrate different systems or processes. How do the principles of SAP Asset Performance Management's integration with ERP, Event Mesh, and IoT systems relate to your experience?
Expert Response
Integrating systems can be tough, often because you need to make sure data is accurate, up-to-date, and in a format that all systems can use. In my past experience, this was a big hurdle, especially when quick decisions needed to be made.
With SAP Asset Performance Management's integration, it's all about making sure data flows smoothly between systems like ERP (such as S/4HANA) and IoT devices. This means when new data comes in, SAP APM can quickly use it to check on equipment health or schedule maintenance without any delay.
For example, if you've ever needed to quickly respond to new information, SAP Asset Performance Management's use of Event Mesh is similar because it allows immediate action when something changes, like a new measurement in the system.
Also, when integrating with IoT, managing all the data—making sure it's stored correctly and easy to analyze—can remind you of the need to keep on top of lots of information to make good decisions about maintaining equipment.
Understanding these patterns could change how you think about connecting different systems. It shows that it's not just about moving data around; it's about using that data to make better decisions and keep everything running smoothly.
Conclusion
- 1. Integration Categories
- SAP APM to ERP: Links SAP APM with various ERP systems using oData for data synchronization
- SAP APM to Event Mesh: Enables near real-time data flow for Measurement Documents, essential for Condition Based Monitoring.
- SAP APM to IoT: Facilitates asset health and risk assessment through time series data from SAP IoT.
- 2. Systems Supported
- S/4HANA Cloud
- S/4HANA 2021 FPS01 and higher
- S/4HANA 2020
- SAP ECC EHP7 SP14 and higher
- Integration Details:
- ERP integration is batch driven, with periodic data requests by SAP APM.
- Event Mesh integration reacts to data changes instantly, triggering necessary actions in SAP APM
- IoT integration utilizes SAP IoT's time series services to process and manage data across its lifecycle.
- Outcomes:
By connecting these systems, SAP APM ensures a unified digital thread that aligns equipment strategy with its execution, enhancing the overall asset performance management process.