Using Process Chains in SAP Business Information Warehouse Alexander Peter Product Management BI, SAP AG Thomas Rinneberg Development BI, SAP AG 2003 SAP AG, TechED EMEA, BW 255, Peter/Rinneberg 2 Learning Objectives At the end of this lecture, you will be able to: Understand Process Chains as an intuitive and easy way to administer your SAP BW Explain which process types are delivered by SAP Implement your own process types
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Using Process Chains in SAP Business Information Warehouse
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SAP NetWeaver™Turning Enterprise Services Architecture Vision Into Reality
The open integration and application platform for TCO reduction
Integrate people, information and processes…… in 1 hub …… across technologiesand organizations.Enterprise-scale Java and ABAP application platform.NET and WebSphere interoperability and extensibilityPre-configured with business contentAdapters to non-SAP
SAP NetWeaver™
Com
posi
te A
pplic
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n Fr
amew
ork
PEOPLE INTEGRATION
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INFORMATION INTEGRATION
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Knowledge Mgmt
PROCESS INTEGRATION
Integration Broker
BusinessProcess Mgmt
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DB and OS Abstraction
ABAP
Life Cycle M
gmt
…
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Basic principles (1)
Openness ⇒ abstract meaning of “process“: “Any activity with defined start and defined ending”
Security ⇒ founding on the batch job administration:
Processes get planned before they run and can be viewed with standard batch-monitorStarting of successors via batch-eventsDumps and Aborts are caught and thus can be treated as failures
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Basic principles (2)
⇒ Responsibility:Predecessor process is not responsible to start the correct successors and provide them with necessary information The successor processes are only responsible to run correctly and gather the necessary information
⇒ Programming model:
Communication between processes: Check the status info of the predecessor process
Loose coupling of the processes to guarantees extensibility (ability to implement your own process using ABAP OO)
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Structure of a process
Type – Kind of taskOne ABAP-OO-Class per process type
Variant – ConfigurationDefines characteristics of this process objectMaintenance of variant is specific for every process type
Instance – Messages and information for the successorsThe process object is instantiated at runtime
Runtime:Get the variant and predecessor listInstantiate process objectAsk predecessors for information Execution of the defined processReport ending with status and instance
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Structure of a process – Example of process type
Type – Attribute Change RunExecute the hierarchy and attribute change run Process types can be maintained via Settings – Process Types
Do not change standard process types (if allowed)
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Structure of a process – Example of variant
Variant – Configure the Hierarchy and Attribute Change runExecute the specific hierarchy and attribute change run for which hierarchy, which InfoObject or which data loading process
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Variant Maintenance: References to Predecessor
Example: Start chain, load master data, upon success, perform change run
Process Variants can have the objects to be worked on entered directly
ora reference to a preceding (loading) process, which
knows the objects
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Structure of a process – Example of instance
InstanceThe instance is defined by a unique handle (instance number, a GUID)Store Worklist with instance – this information canbe given to successorsStore logs and protocols with instanceThe instance has an execution statusEach instance is a batch job – a job count isattached to it
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Agenda
Building and Monitoring Process Chains
Process Chain Architecture
Selected Process Types
Behind the Scenes
Process Structure
Building your own Process Type
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Collector Processes
Collector processes are used to manage multiple predecessor processes that feed into the same subsequent process. The collector processes available for BW are:
AND : All of the direct predecessor processes must raise an event in order for subsequent processes to be executed
OR : A least one predecessor process must send an eventThe first predecessor process that sends an event triggers the subsequent processAny additional predecessor processes that send an event will again trigger subsequent process (Only if the chain is planned as “periodic”)
EXOR : Exclusive “OR”Similar to regular “OR”, but there is only ONE execution of the successor processes, even if several predecessor processes raise an event
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Application Process Types
Operating system commandAccess to OS commands like ‘dir’ (list contents of application server file system)Note: There is only an call “out” to OS, only Standard-Out is given back to BW
Remote process chainsSupports process chains in a data mart environment
Master data reorganizationReporting Agent Settings
Exception reportingPrint queries in backgroundPre-calculating web templatesPre-calculating characteristic variables of type pre-calculated value sets
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Reporting Agent Process Parameterization
Process Variant requires Reporting Agent Package as only parameter
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Agenda
Building and Monitoring Process Chains
Process Chain Architecture
Selected Process Types
Behind the Scenes
Process Structure
Building your own Process Type
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Openness: Implementing a Process
If you......Have a simple, stand alone program to run in a chain...Have a program, which is planned in batch by another program or user
...then you can use the process type “ABAP” to run your program in a chain.
However if you......Want to ask predecessor processes of your program...Write a log , which should be displayed in the process monitor...Have implemented an own monitor...Have a customizing screen, which is more difficult than the “parameters“ of a program
...then it is recommended to custom develop own process type
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Implementing a Custom Designed Process
Interfaces: IF_RSPC_*EXECUTE – Execution of the processGET_INFO – Give Information to successorsGET_LOG – Give back messagesMAINTAIN – Maintenance of variantsGET_VARIANT – F4 for variantsGET_DEFAULT_CHAIN – Give default-chain for a processCHECK – Check consistenyGET_STATUS – Give status of instanceCALL_MONITOR – own monitoring toolTRANSPORT – give back TLOGO-entryCONTEXT_MENU – Enhance context-menu
Make entry in view RSPROCESSTYPES
The interfaces are documented in the system
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Generic Services
There are several services for RSPC whichshall help you implementing a processtype:
Generic variant storage class: CL_RSPC_VARIANTGeneric dynpro service for variantmaintainance: Function moduleRSPC_VARIANT_MAINTAINGeneric instance storage class: CL_RSPC_INSTANCEWrapper class for application log forunambigous assignment of logs to instance CL_RSPC_APPL_LOGService function group: RSPC_SERVICES
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Variant Storage Class
CL_RSPC_VARIANTCan be used, if your static worklist (cf. object model) can be saved as table RSPC_T_RSCEDST, that is
FNAM, (SIGN), (OPTION), LOW, (HIGH)Does the transport connection for you
You object will be known to TP as ‚R3TR‘ ‚RSPV‘ ‚<TYPE><VARIANT>‘If you need...
After ImportRelated ObjectsAdditional Objects
...you can implement the interface IF_RSPV_TRANSPORTDoes object locking for youDoes deletion of variants for youProvides an F4-help which is able to select...
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Instance Storage Class / Application Log Class
CL_RSPC_INSTANCEFormat RS_T_RSCEDSTSaveGet_InfoF4, selecting by one field of instance content
CL_RSPC_APPL_LOGSaves mapping log handle vs. instanceObject = ‚BW_PROCESS‘, Subobject = <Type> Entry in slg0 requiredGenerates external numberProvides a display and retrieval method for the instance log
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Process Chains: Facts
Process chains are transportableButton for writing to a change request when maintaining a process chain in RSPCProcess chains available in the transport connection wizard (administrator workbench)
If a process “dumps”, it is treated in the same manner as a failed process
Graphical display of Process Chain Maintenance requires the 620 SAPGUI and SAP BW 3.0B Front-end GUI
Recent front-end patches for both types!
A special control background job runs to facilitate the execution of the of the other batch jobs of the process chain
Note your BTC process distribution, and make sure that an extra BTC process is available so the supporting control job can run immediately
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Automatic insertion of corresponding process types
If a process is inserted to the process chain that is linked by default to other processes, the corresponding process variants are inserted into the process chain automatically:
Example: drag and drop a data load process to your process chainand the Index drop and the Index create processes are automatically inserted
Turn this feature off: (user specific) menu Settings Default Chains
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Process Chains: Interaction with Batch Framework
When a chain gets activatedit will be copied into active versionthe processes will be planned in batch• as program RSPROCESS with type and variant given as
parameters• with job name BI_PROCESS_<TYPE>• waiting for event, except the trigger• The trigger is planned as specified in its variant, if “start
via meta-chain” it is not planned to batch
The jobs are identified by the frameworkas long as they did not yet run• via their job name and• via the event, on which they wait and• via the program variant, which is stored in the step list of
the jobat runtime via GET_JOB_RUNTIME_INFO. The job count is stored in the log. for the log-display via job name and job count
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Process Chains: CCMS integration
Monitoring via SAP Computing Center Management System (CCMS): Menu path: Tools CCMS Control / Monitoring Alert Monitor SAP BW Monitors BW Monitor
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Migration to Process Chains (I)
Process Chains are a SAP BW 3.x feature
Existing Event-Chains, InfoPackages and InfoPackage Groups continue to work, even after migration You do not have to migrate
New 3.0 projects should be modeled with process chains, as there will be no more support for problems with the “automatism-flags” like “automatic rollup”, “automatic ODS-activation”…
If an InfoPackage is started in the old fashion, these flags will work as in SAP BW 2.x
If an InfoPackage is started via a process chain, the flags are ignored, thus the respective task must be added to the process chain
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Migration to Process Chains (II)
InfoPackage GroupsFrom within the InfoPackage Group maintenance the button “Process Chain” generates a process chain alike the group.This migration can be executed manually with the function moduleRSPC_MIGRATE_INFOPACKAGE_GROUP
Event ChainsThe Event Collector (formerly also called Event Chain) is now the AND-Process of the process chainMigrating a manually created chain of events into a process chain is difficult and fuzzyThere exists a report RSPC_MIGRATE_EVENT_CHAIN which browses the system for reports planned waiting for an event and reports raising an event, however the generated process chain may differ from the existing event chain
Each generated chain must verified and adapted manually!
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Summary
Now you are able to:
Understand Process Chains as an intuitive and easy way to administer your SAP BW
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The SAP TechEd ’03 Basel Team
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