What is SAP CAR?

The Customer Activity Repository is a foundation that collects data that was previously
spread over multiple applications in diverse formats.
The Customer Activity Repository is a repository that captures information on consumer
activities across all interaction channels enriched by master and transactional data.
Retailers can use SAP Customer Activity Repository to gradually transform their system
landscapes from traditional database technology to the revolutionary, in-memory
database technology(HANA).
HANA calculation views can take data from both ERP and CAR at same time. Therefore
most up to date data will available in HANA Views. This data can be used then in any
application to produce useful information.
SAP CAR can be integrated with SAP ERP (IS Retail, FMS, S/4 HANA), Hybris, ARIBA etc. It
can also integrate with third party ERP solution as well. CAR comes as part of CARAB (CAR
application bundle) which also includes application like Assortment Planning, PMR etc.
CAR can only run on HANA.
 Difference between SAP CAR and POSDM:

Features POSDM CAR

1. Real time data replication No YES
2. BI content Mandatory No need
3.System Performance Low High
4.Historical Data Less Huge
5.Order Channel and Multichannel No Yes
6. Real Time inventory Data No Yes
7. Inventory visibility Report using Lumira No Yes
8.on-shelf availability algorithms No Yes
9.DDF and UDF functionality No Yes
9. Integration with SAP Fiori,Hybris , Lumira,CRM No Yes
10. Mobile Apps can be crated using No Yes
Integration with Other Applications

SAP Customer Activity Repository is designed to function both receiving and consuming applications.

A receiving application is one that receives data sent from the repository using outbound tasks.
SAP Customer Activity Repository integrates with the following receiving applications:
•SAP Business Warehouse (BW)
•SAP ERP for Retail
•SAP Demand Management Foundation (DMF)
•SAP Forecasting and Replenishment (F&R)
•SAP Workforce Management (WFM)

A consuming application is one that makes use of, or consumes, data stored in the repository
using SAP HANA .
SAP Customer Activity Repository integrates with the following consuming applications:
•SAP Promotion Management for Retail (PMR)
•SAP Customer Engagement Intelligence, in particular, the Audience Discovery and Targeting work set
POSDM Detail Diagram
Detail Design of SAP CAR
• In the above Design all master data, Sales order, Inventory data are
coming from SAP ERP into SAP CAR . POS data also coming into SAP
CAR system. CAR provide data for consuming retail applications
(promotion management, assortment planning, merchandise
planning). CAR serve as a data provider for central analytical or
transactional applications (like SAP Business Warehouse or SAP Hybris
Marketing). SAP CAR data will be also use for SAP Fiori as per
customer requirement.
• The following SAP Fiori apps are available in SAP CAR
Gross Margin
Number of Transactions
Average Items per Transaction
Average Transaction Value
We can also make Fiori apps as per customer requirement.
Features of SAP CAR:

SAP Customer Activity Repository includes the following features:

• POS Data Transfer and Audit (POS Data Management)
• Multichannel Sales Transaction
• Inventory Visibility Analytics
• On-Shelf Availability
• Predictive capabilities, leveraging the Demand Data Foundation (DDF)
and Unified Demand Forecast (UDF)
 POS Data Transfer & Audit
The Customer Activity Repository incorporates an extended version of the software component for POS
Data Management. Nonetheless SAP POS Data Management remains an independently sellable solution.

Solution Scope Migration strategy for POS DM on BW/HANA

• Functional scope contained in CAR is essentially identical • SAP will provide a migration strategy for POS DM
to POS Data Management 1.0 deployed on BW/HANA customers
• POS Data Transfer & Audit within CAR does not require • Reports to migrate POS DM 1.0 TLOG and non-
BW/BI Content anymore TLOG data (e.g. customizing tables) will be
• Extended TLOGF by additional fields requested from 3rd provided
party POS systems
• Migration from “traditional” POS DM to CAR will
• Storage Optimization of Transaction Logs to help manage be supported as well
the growing size of POS transaction database and its impact
on the performance of analytical scenarios
• Support for Season Determination by Inclusion of retail
fashion season information that integrates with SAP Fashion
Management
(such as the season year, season, fashion collection, or
fashion theme)
 Key Features
• POS Data Transfer & Audit provides a comprehensive POS tool set for data capturing,
sales auditing and distribution of POS data.
• It's scalable up to the largest, fastest growing retailers.
• It allows a flexible and central validation and verification of store sales data as well as
financial and logistical data generated in the store and provides store insight related to
store processes and employee behavior
• Basic data validation, ability to implement own check rules
• Efficient error handling and intuitive user interface
• Flexible set-up and control of processing steps
• Tracking of data changes and access to encrypted data
 Multichannel Sales Transactions
The Customer Activity Repository captures sales transactions across multiple channels by introducing a new multichannel data model and provides a
harmonized view of the customer across all channels. This enables retailers to get a 360° view of the customer and offers SAP CEI(customer engagement
initiative) and SAP 360° Customer access to cross channel transactional data.
Solution Scope

• Sales Order related data are replicated from ERP into

CAR via SLT (SAP Landscape Transformation)
• Customer Identification with CRM loyalty card number (=
default; custom implementations possible via BAdIs)
• New concept “Order Channel” defines the channel where
the sale took place
SAP ERP Customer Activity Repository
• Availability of POS, sales order, and return transactions at
one place enables 360° view of the customer
Multichannel VDM
• CAR offers SAP CEI access to Cross Channel
Transactional Data
• CAR offers SAP 360° customer (Interaction Center)
access to Cross Channel Transactional Data Sales Multi Channel Sales Transactions
Transactions
• SAP Smart Business for SAP Customer Activity
Repository apps can now be changed according to
business needs using UI controller hooks.
Key Features:

 The Customer Activity Repository captures sales transactions across multiple channels by introducing a
new multichannel data model and provides a harmonized view of the customer across all channels.
 This enables retailers to get a 360° view of the customer and offers SAP CEI(customer engagement
initiative) and SAP 360° Customer access to cross channel transactional data.
 Inventory Visibility
The Customer Activity Repository offers real time visibility into current stock situation in the stores by
taking ERP stock in unrestricted use and unprocessed sales into account.

Solution Scope
• Inventory information is replicated from ERP into CAR via SAP ERP Customer Activity Repository
SLT (SAP Landscape Transformation)
Inventory VDM
• This inventory information in CAR is combined with
unprocessed sales transactions from POS DM to derive
current stock in stores
Calculation: Unrestricted Use – unprocessed sales
• Intra company code stock in transit is displayed to inform
the user about deliveries on their way to the store Unrestricted Display: Intra company code stock in transit
Use
• Additionally inventory valuation at both, cost and retail Intra company Calculation: Valuation actual stock at cost
sales are calculated stock in transit

Calculation: Valuation actual stock at retail

• Virtual Data Model for inventory data Valuation at cost
and retail

• Include support for Structured Articles (i.e. Sales Sets)

• Include unprocessed goods movements in TLOGUS table
and make them available in the real time inventory view
(i.e. spoilage)
Key Features:

 All the inventory data from ERP, replicated into HANA views and unprocessed sales which
were posted into sap car from POS system also stored in HANA views. So we can easily find
out real time inventory detail from HANA views.
 We can create inventory visibility report using SAP Lumira and HANA views
 On shelf availability algorithms
The on-shelf availability algorithms can be used to detect and visualize out-of shelf/out of stoke
situations in the stores when they happen in real time and take immediate actions to prevent further lost
sales.
Solution Scope

• The algorithm sits on Hana, while it

accessing the new TLOGF, leveraging in-
memory computing power to execute millions
of queries
• POS transactions are analyzed in real time to
detect products that may have on-shelf
availability issues (out-of shelf or out of stock)
• Provides transparency of on-shelf availability
situations for regular and promotional
products
• Current stock at cost/retail is calculated
Key Features of OSA:

 View weekly statistics for products with on-shelf availability issues by department
 Drill down to daily and hourly views
 Drill down to view details of how store associates using the SAP On-Shelf Availability Store
Associate mobile app resolved each of the on-shelf availability issues
 Gain insight on how vendors, poor store processes, and employee performance may be affecting
product on-shelf availability in the store
 Sort and filter on-shelf availability alerts to prioritize critical items
 Flag products for follow-on activities, such as entering damaged quantities and reporting products as
out-of-stock
 The OSA algorithm considers the sales of a product at a specific store. This algorithm extracts the
sales transactions from transactional information stored by POS Data Transfer and Audit. Then, the
algorithm analyses the length of each sales interval between two subsequent sales of that product.
Typically, long intervals indicate potential on-shelf availability issues.
 Demand Data Foundation
The Demand Data Foundation (DDF) is the platform and data model defined to support SAP Retail applications. DDF provides
flexibility to integration with SAP Suite or any other master data system. SAP Hana is utilized to manage, aggregate, and filter data
in a faster way than previously possible.

Solution Scope

• DDF consists of a standard data model to support planning applications

with integration points Legend:
CAR Delivery

HbA ECC Delivery

(reused in CAR)

UDF Delivery
(reused in CAR)

• A flexible time series framework allows for fast access to pricing, and Query Views
MultiChannelSalesQuery MultiChannelSalesVsForecastQuery

BillingDocumentItemQuery POSSalesQuery

forecasting data over time

Semantic Reuse Views
MultiChannelSales MCPOSForecast

• DDF provide the technical mechanisms for easy data access through
Attributes/ Attributes/
Measures Measures

BillingDocumentItem POSSales

Attributes Attributes Attributes Attributes Attributes Attributes Attributes Attributes

RetailPromotion

HANA Views
Plant Material OrderChannel RetailPromotion MaterialGroup Date FiscalDate POSLogItem
Type

Private Views

TLOGF_ITEM_COM

• Forecasting with the Unified Demand Forecast is called through DDF. T001W

Plant
MAKT MARA

Material
/DSMFD/
ORDERC
/DSMFD/
ORDERCT

Order Channel
WAKH WAKT

Retail
Promotion
TWAA TWAAT

Retail
PromotionType
T023 T023T _SYS_BLM_TIME
_DIMENSION

Material Group Time Dimension

_SYS_BLM_FISC
AL_CALENDAR

Fiscal Calendar
/POSDW/
TLOGF

Transaction Log
Flat Table

Results are then aggregated and returned through DDF.

 Unified Demand Forecast
Unified Demand Forecast (UDF) is the new generation of forecasting for SAP Retail applications. UDF
combines the strengths of the forecast capabilities from SAP Promotion Management for Retail and SAP
Forecasting and Replenishment while leveraging the speed of SAP HANA.

Solution Scope
• UDF models causal based factors to understand true customer
demand and then use this understanding to forecast future unit sales
• Bayesian and hierarchical priors aggregate data to fill the gaps of the
understanding in demand history
• Forecasts are generated at product, location, channel, day with a
flexible multichannel data model
• UDF supports what-if scenarios or long-term forecasts
• Through HANA views, the decomposed unit sales can be used for
advanced analytics.
• Forecast Demand for Lifecycle Products
Provide Demand Forecasts to External System
Key features:
DDF is a cross-industry reusable data layer in SAP Customer Activity Repository. It includes, for
example, the data model, data import infrastructure, reuse frameworks (such as the exception
handling or process controller), as well as reuse tools and user interfaces for data maintenance. DDF
also stores master data and it supports UDF.
UDF provides the demand modeling and demand forecasting services. It includes an application
function library (UDF AFL) and runs in the SAP HANA database.
Both DDF and UDF are components in SAP Customer Activity Repository and provide their functions
and data through the respective consuming application.

DDF supports the mass maintenance of data and stores master data. It handles the creation, import,
and export of data to and from external master data systems (such as SAP ERP). It also manages the
exceptions for the consuming application.
DDF can receive data from and send data to an SAP ERP system or a legacy system. Note that DDF
can receive data from more than one system.