The nuts and bolts of a well-thought-out SAP Signavio : Process Manager & Process Collaboration Hub

[pardhreddyc]

In this blog, I would like to outline a few key aspects of SAP Signavio - Process Manager and Process Collaboration Hub, which are vital elements of SAP Signavio Business Transformation Suite.

In every organization it is obvious that every department involves in planning, executing and monitoring relevant operations to achieve organization`s objectives, and In the end , it all boils down to a process management.

Process Management is a discipline and an organization can have a disciplined process management if it has well-thought-out processes. Certain organizations have complex processes and invest a lot on resources to bring perfection to the process management. It is obvious that organizations cannot bring perfection without an aid of Business Process Management tool.

SAP Signavio is a cloud-based process management platform that helps organizations in bringing a well disciplined approach to structure, model, and analyze business processes. It also helps in analyzing existing processes to see what went well and what didn`t , and provides insights to the areas that need Improvement , and assists in implementing new processes at scale.

SAP Signavio Process Manager supports business process management with:

• A central Modeling Component


• A central object repository for re-using the same business terms across all the processes


• A folder structure to store and find processes


• A reporting functionality, which aggregates all information on selected processes


• A version control of processes if changes need to be reversed


• A diagram comparison (As-Is Vs To-Be)


• Collaboration /Commenting feature to provide feedback and collaborate on processes


• A functionality to capture  additional information on processes and tasks, risks and controls

SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub supports business process management with:

• Process Transparency: It bundles all important Information in one single place and makes navigation easy


• Process Knowledge Management: All employees can quickly access processes, documents, IT-Systems, responsibilities and process structures. Avoids isolated solutions and  manages information centrally.


• Smooth Collaboration: Users can provide comments/feedback on processes.

Before we get into details, let us take a look at SAP Signavio Business Transformation Suite

Disclaimer:

In this blog, I will be talking about two business use cases with respect to Plant Maintenance Processes, one is importing BPMN diagram  and the other one is creating a process flow diagram using "QuickModel" for a Calcination Business Value Chain. I will refrain from covering workflow tasks, which are part of Process Governance and analyses from the Process Intelligence.

• My First use case: Importing SAP Best Practice Scope ID , i.e. BH1- Corrective Maintenance  process flow diagram.


• My second use case: Building the "Plant Engineering - Overhead Project Initiation Process" flow diagram using QuickModel as part of Calcination Business Value Chain Model.

 

SIGNAVIO Process Collaboration HUB:

The collaboration Hub is the starting page and central entry point to the process landscape of an organization. It mainly consists of three parts, I.e. Menu , Entry Diagram and Create, Search & Help.

Using Menu options in collaboration hub, one can access Process diagrams, Journey Models, Favorites , News Feed and Recently Visited process flows , access Work Flow Tasks from the SAP Signavio Governance and analyses from the SAP Signavio Process Intelligence.

From my business use case point of view, i.e., Calcination Business Value Chain Model, Signavio Process Collaboration Hub looks as,

Central Entry Point to Calcination Business Value Chain

My entry diagram in Process collaboration Hub for "Calcination Business Value Chain" and through which, I access calcination value chain Level-2 & Level-3 processes as part of this walkthrough.

My entry Diagram in Process Collaboration Hub

News feed feature provides all updates with respect to all the processes and Value chains,

News Feed in Process Collaboration Hub

Process flow diagram can also be created using an option "Create" on Collaboration Hub screen, as shown below,

The Dictionary is the crucial component to achieve a consistent  and well structured business objects management  in process flow diagrams. It is the  central object management repository in SAP Signavio. It represents an object that is relevant  for one or more of business processes and one can re-use specific modeling elements.

For Instance, to represent my business use case in calcination business value chain, I have created a few elements in "Dictionary", such as

 

SIGNAVIO Process Manager:

One has to understand a few of these terminologies to work in SAP Signavio Process Manager.

• Explorer : It allows user to navigate through diagrams and files  in respective workspace. User can even create a process diagram and publish in SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub.


• QuickModel : It gives user the possibility to create a simple BPMN Diagrams in seconds by use of spreadsheet-like interface.


• Editor: Using "Editor" all supported process flow diagrams can be created and edited. i.e.Modeling, where SAP Signavio Process Manager supports multiple modeling notations, viz: BPMN(Business Process Management and Notation) Models, Value Chains, Customer Journey Maps, DMN for decision diagrams, ArchiMate for enterprise architecture diagrams.


• Revision Comparison Tool : It helps user to keep track of changes

We have two options to have a process flow diagram in SAP Signavio, i.e., one can either import BPMN process diagram or can create using QuickModel.

Before import or create a process flow diagram, one has to set up "Folder Structure" which allows users to organize and structure organization`s workspace. in context of my business use case , I have created a folder structure as shown below.

Folder Structure

Sub-Folder Structure

I would like to begin with import option and for Instance, I have chosen SAP S/4 Asset Management scope ID BH1-Corrective Maintenance process flow diagram to import, which is in BPMN2 file format.

Preview of uploaded scope Id "BH1-Corrective Maintenance" process flow diagram,

the option "Feed" provides transparency on all activities related to the process modeler. It mainly tracks changes and helpful for an audit log.

Using an option "Edit"  I have linked the BH1-Corrective Maintenance process flow diagram to the calcination value chain.

Linking BH1-Corrective Maintenance Process to the Calcination Value Chain

I have maintained the required attributes and linked to the value chain and now publishing it to the SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub.

Once, the process flow diagram is published to Process Collaboration Hub, we can view the details in collaboration hub under "News Feed"

News Feed gets updated

Option "Edit-QuickModel" can be used to edit the process flow activities. I am going to demonstrate this feature while creating the process flow diagram using QuickModel for my business use case, i.e. overhead project initiation process.

Now I will directly jump into setting up the business use case using QuickModel. A "QuickModel" is an easy and fast way to design BPMN diagram. Using QuickModel, I have created a visual model, assigned process attributes and specified activities which are required  to be done by the designated roles.

Define all the relevant activities with respect to targeted process, I.e., What, Why, How , IT Systems that are considered, RACI and Cost Specifics etc.,



while updating activities , system shows all the dictionary elements in respective fields.

IT Systems (Dictionary)

Roles (Dictionary)

Risks (Dictionary)

Controls (Dictionary)

once all activities are updated, save and take a look at preview of the process flow diagram.

Preview of the process flow diagram

Feed of the Process Flow Diagram

  and now I am publishing it to the collaboration hub.



while publishing to the collaboration hub, by default system projects the folder hierarchy.



To simulate the process flow, using an option "Simulate BPMN diagram",

To compare revisions/diagrams, use option "Compare revisions/diagrams" and In context of my business use case, I have compared two diagrams side-by-side to view the changes that are coming as part of "To-Be" process with latest revision.

Mini Note: This is a value accelerator and helps organizations to design there process in the context of S/4 HANA Transformation. Using this function organizations can compare As-Is process with To-Be processes, I.e. SAP Best Practices, and can collaborate with target S/4 HANA Process Template.

I am using option "Edit" to maintain the attributes and to link the process flow diagram to calcination business value chain.

Maintain Attributes and Link the process flow to the value chain

RACI can be updated if not done while creating process flow diagram in QuickModel

Once the attributes are maintained and linkage has been done, I did click on save option. During this step, system reviews the content and provides a detailed review log as shown below.

Automatic review mechanism,

The option "review" is cherry on the cake and it provides detailed log about Errors, Warnings and Hints if any in the process flow diagram.



Now using Collaboration Hub , I will be walking through L1,L2,L3 levels (i.e. collapses processes) that were configured as part of Calcination Business Value Chain Model.

Entry Diagram for Calcination Business Value Chain (i.e. Level-1)

I have mapped scope Id BH1-Corrective Maintenance as Level-2 in Plant Engineering Value Chain.

Scope Id BH1-Corrective Maintenance in Calcination Value Chain (I.e. Level-2)

Now, let me walk you through  "Investment" value chain , which has L1,L2,L3 hierarchy.



Attributes with respect to Level-2 Value Chain,



and Project process initiation flow diagram as Level-3,



RACI specifics with respect to Level-3 activities.

Activities with respect to Level-3.



Dictionary Items, Roles and IT Systems used in Level-3 process flow diagram.

Linkage details and process trigger specifics.



Now, let me collaborate with team members within my organization.



By selecting each task, team member can provide his views.

Task wise Comments

Team member can view the attributes and recommend changes if required

Reporting:

Now, I would also like to showcase "Reporting" feature in Signavio Process Manager.

For instance, I will be generating a few reports Viz: Process documentation for Calcination Business Value Chain ,Process Cost Analysis , RACI Matrix and Risk and Controls report. Let me first walk through the process documentation for Calcination Business Value Chain,

a pdf file gets downloaded,

Now let me walk through the "Process Cost Analysis" report for "Plant Engineering Overhead Project Initiation Process",

Now let me walk through the "RACI" matrix used in "Plant Engineering Overhead Project Initiation Process".

Let me walk through the Risk and Controls mapped in "Plant Engineering Overhead Project Initiation Process" flow diagram.

the folder "Downloads" gets updated on the desktop,

 

let me walk you through the specifics of "iksreport-report" , the risk and controls.

This brings an end to the high-level overview of key features of SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub and Process Manager.

I hope this blog provides some useful insights about a well-thought-out SAP Signavio.

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Sincerely,

Pardhasaradhi Reddy.C