SAP R/3

Business Blueprint

Chapter 2
”The Business Blueprint”

Why blueprints?
Idea:
­ To help guiding business people
through the maze of business
processes, using computer-based
graphic modelling methods and
thereby bringing processes and
information technology closer
together.…

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 Business Blueprints
­ Blueprints should illustrate complex
processes in a way that business users can
understand.
­ The goal of a business blueprint is
streamline complex business processes.
­ Reuse: do not “reinvent the wheel”
­ The Reference Model provides a business
blueprint that links BE with IT.

Pros and Cons of

business blueprints
" Six sound argument can be made for using a
blueprint in BE efforts:

­ Processes are not easy to model.

­ A blueprint made by leading business professionals inherits
all their experience, knowledge, creativity and depth.
­ Few businesses can afford a zero-based approach.
­ Optimisation of business processes is critical to reaction time.
­ Businesses reduce the risk of not finding a software product
that fits the process model.
­ Blueprints serve as a common starting point and language for
teams engaged in process design.

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 Pros and Cons of
business blueprints - II
" Factors that have improved the conditions for better
process modelling:

­ The increase in productivity of software

development projects.
­ The general trend toward quality, total quality
management, BPR, and lean managements
movements.
­ A shift in management philosophy from managing
all parts of particular business transactions to
actually optimising the transaction itself.

General design of the

R/3 Blueprint

­ SAP has created a blueprint, built on

the experiences of both successful and
unsuccessful BE projects, which
should guide companies from the
beginning phases of engineering to
final implementation.

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 General design of the
R/3 Blueprint - II
­ The basis of SAP’s model is the R/3
system.

­ The Blueprint is the definitive

description of R/3, providing a
comprehensive view of the main
processes and business solutions
available in the R/3 system.

General design of the

R/3 Blueprint -III
­ The Blueprint shows function, process,
information flow, and organization views.

­ It portrays business situation and supports

navigation through all processes.

The Business Blueprint

≈
R/3 Reference Model

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 General design of the
R/3 Blueprint - IV
­ The Business Blueprint
- serve as the basis for BE and it is
designed to illustrate and describe the
existing business process in R/3
- help speed up implementations of R/3
projects, support business-process
engineering
- facilitate communication among costumers,
consultants and SAP.

Focus of the R/3

Blueprint
" Two main goals of the Blueprint to achieve
greater accessibility for business users:

­ Model orientation: need a balance between

content and comprehensibility

­ Customer orientation: the representation

should be simple, clear and unambiguous

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 Focus of the R/3
Blueprint - II
" To facilitate both customer and model orientation,
the SAP Blueprint concentrates on four key
elements:

­ Events (WHEN should something be done?)

­ Tasks or Functions (WHAT should be done?)
­ Organization (WHO should do WHAT?)
­ Communication (WHAT information is required to
do the right task?)

­ The model defines who must do what, when, and

how.

Event-Driven Process
Chain Methodology
­ Using easy-to-understand symbols and
icons, models portray business processes
as Event-Driven Process Chains (EPC’s).
­ The object is to clarify exactly what
processes are important for supporting
business activities and how they are linked.
­ Hence, with R/3 Reference Model,
companies can map their business needs
into a logical business-process framework.

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 Event-Driven Process
Chain Methodology - II
­ The EPC method portrays business
information systems for the benefit of
users, management, and consultants.
­ At the same time it should incorporate
other important features, such as
organizational structures, functions,
and data- and information-flow.

EPC notation

Event

Function

Organization Unit

Information, material or
resource object (data)

Process Path Connection

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 EPC notation - II
XOR
Logical Operators

Control Flow

Information, Material Flow

Organisational Unit Assignment

Example EPC

Event 1
Data 1

Org
Data 2 Function
Unit

XOR

Event 2 Event 3 Event 4

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 Describing Complex
Business Processes
­ To keep the overall model manageable
in scope while creating a complete
understandable picture of a company,
SAP has created overlapping views of
business process.
­ These include process, component,
organizational, data and interaction
views.

Describing Complex
Business Processes - II
­ Navigation between different process
models is possible by way of start and
finish events.

­ Figure 2-2

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 EPC Methodology and
Viewpoints in the R/3
Reference Model
" The process model can be supplemented in the
Reference Model by other models of R/3:

­ Component model (What is done? What happens?)

­ Organizational model (Who does what and/or who is
responsible)
­ Data model (What is needed to do something?)
­ Interaction model (What information must be exchanged
between different organizations or application components?)
­

The combination of these four distinct viewpoints

constitutes the overall model of business processes.

The Component Model

­ Shows what the main business processes are, but it does not
describe the order of those processes and who carries them
out.
­ It represents application functions and how they relate to each
another.
(figure 2-7)

­ Levels
- Level 0, describes the application as whole
- Level 1, contains the functional areas covered by the application
- Level 2, contains the main tasks of a given functional area
- Level 3, contains the individual tasks performed within the scope of
a main function

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 The Organizational
Model
­ Illustrates functional processes and
shows the relationships among the
organization units.
­ The purpose is to allow R/3 users to
adjust and optimise the structure of
organisation units.

(figure 2-8)

The Data Model

­ Illustrates business information objects
and the information input needed to
perform a given set of tasks.
­ The data model analyses how
information objects (data) interact with
preceding and following functions
within the business-process model.
(figure 2-9)

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 The Interaction Model
­ Illustrates how information flows between
general applications. Interaction models
reveal information floes from senders to
receivers and vice versa.
­ The interaction viewpoint describes these
interactions at the applications and
functional area levels without examining in
great detail why or when they occur.
(figure 2-10)

The Overall Reference

Model
­ The parts of the R/3 Reference Model
shows how the various viewpoints or
models interact.
(figure 2-11)

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