SAP EM FAQ

What is supply chain event management (SCEM) and what is SAP Event Management (SAP EM)?

As defined by AMR Research, SCEM “is an application that supports control processes for managing events within and between companies.” It allows you to monitor your supply chain processes, providing visibility within the process and alerting appropriate parties to potential critical situations.

SCEM is a key capability within mySAP Supply Chain Management (mySAP SCM) Visibility. The back-bone of SAP's SCEM solution is SAP Event Management (SAP EM). The SAP EM application provides or improves visibility within your logistics processes for both planning and execution. Due to the flexibility of the solution, you can map, control, and check all required business processes. A role-based approach makes it possible to view the same business process from various points of view. You can use SAP EM to process messages about the events in business processes and thereby notify in various ways those involved in the supply chain network about business events that have occurred. By actively notifying the responsible persons and making them aware of critical situations or exceptions, you can optimize reaction times and improve quality and customer satisfaction.

Can I track other objects other than tangible product using SAP EM?

Yes, SAP EM is a generic tool that fits well in the mySAP SCM space but it can be equally easily used in any of your other service, project, HR, ... related processes. E.g. You can track the delivery of services to a customer based on pre-defined SLAs

What is a visibility process and how does it add value?

A visibility process represents a self-contained part of a business scenario.
A visibility process is a building block that you can reuse to make up a complete scenario. It consists of the following to enable each visibility process to work:

• Application Integration configuration (E.g. ECC, 4.6C configuration and code)
• SAP EM configuration
• SAP NetWeaver BI integration
• SAP WCL or WebGUI configuration to enable a web view of statuses
• Documentation
  • Visibility process scenario description
  • Visibility process scenario configuration guide

Can you plug in a visibility process and run it in production as is?

No, they are for jumpstarting your implementation only. Values are hardcoded and the scenarios are rigid in nature. You need to mold the process to fit your business needs by performing some configuration and coding where required

Do I need SAP R/3 or ECC to use SAP EM?

No, SAP EM is a stand-alone application. It can interface with other systems all of which could be non-SAP systems.
Note: If you have SAP ECC 6.0 then you could use the SAP EM add-on to have the SAP EM functionality on the SAP ECC server as an additional module.

How does SAP EM proactively notify users of exceptions?

1. Alert framework - Which in turn supports the following:
   
   • EMail
   • SMS
   • Fax
2. Workflow - Delivered to the SAP Business Workplace
   • Workflow inbox can also be retrieved via the Portal's Universal Work List (UWL)

What are the main factors affecting the cost of an SAP EM implementation?

• Project scope
• Number of 3rd party and SAP systems connected to SAP EM
• Volume (events and objects)
• Ability to reuse visibility code and configuration
• Rule set complexity
• Quality of implementation partner (It's only as good as the people who put it in - Make sure you get smart people)

What skills are needed in an SAP EM implementation team?

• Application analysts in the area of the processes in scope
• SAP EM configuration specialist with ABAP knowledge
• Strong SAP ABAP programmer with SAP EM knowledge (This can be the same person as the above if the project scope is small and the SAP EM specialist is a strong ABAPer)
• Strong Basis specialist if interfacing with 3rd party systems
• If you are going to use the WCL and modify it's look and feel then you need a Java programmer