WHITEPAPER How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs How an advanced Output Management System offering document design and distribution capabilities improves IT efficiency by a factor of 10 Background Whether you are new to SAP or already creating business documents using ABAP, Sapscript, Smartform, Adobe Form Builder or Idocs, an advanced external output management system (OMS) leverages what you already have while reducing ongoing document project costs, timeframes and complexity. ERP systems focus on supporting all necessary high level business functions, these functions can remain stable over time. However, specific end users communication technologies such as SMS, QRCode and machine to machine communication such as XML or SOAP are constantly changing and will be for the foreseeable future. Smaller, nimble, dedicated systems, such as an OMS, working hand in hand with the ERP can more easily adapt to these new technologies. In this whitepaper we offer an overview of the options available for generating business documents from SAP and how using an OMS can improve IT efficiency of document oriented projects by a factor of 10. Whatever option you are currently using, integrating a cutting edge OMS will make your IT system more flexible, reducing project cost and providing highly professional communications with your vendors and customers. As an example, we will explain in detail how to create and deliver production orders, using the latest technologies, as requested by manufacturing line. June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 1/11 How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Overview of various ways to create business documents in SAP system All SAP modules produce business documents which may be created individually through an interactive print/send menu or processed as a batch by a background job. Whatever the method, the following graphic illustrates the options available. SAP ABAP print program reads and processes data, it launches formatting program ABAP Interactive or Background Job Formatting program handles the SapScript (RDI/OTF) Or layout of the output and delivers either ABAP Interactive or Background Job Application Layer (ALE) SmartForm (XSF/Smart) graphical spool such as OTF or Smart or PDF, or data only spool such as RDI, XSF Tables/fields iDOC ABAP print program reads and processes data, it launches interchange program Interchange document (iDoc) creation. Standard data structure for electronic data interchange between SAP Or Adobe Form Builder (PDF,XFP) application and external program or XFP. Business Document is created in an Output Device as a spool Output Device BC-XOM protocol, SAPGOF, PDF, PCL, Postscript, RDI, XSF, iDoc. Folder Graphical Business Document (OTF, Smart, PDF) is sent to printer with print driver instructions PCL, Postscript Print C:\usr\sap\SapID\... Folder Business Document is created in a Folder as a file C:\usr\sap\SapID\... External OMS creates or improves business documents and distribute them SAP How does an OMS integrate with SAP In addition to the standard way to generate an output and send it to a printer, SAP provides specifications for the communication protocol BC-XOM. An External OMS that is BC-XOM compatible is able to interchange documents and instructions, including feedback, with an SAP system. Based on this protocol, an External OMS process is secure and reliable. It includes acknowledgement, call back, data protection, and DMS feedback. SAP output devices configured with Access Method “E” indicate the windows system hosting the OMS they want to communicate with. This external OMS communicates with SAP through a standard and secure protocol BC-XOM. It’s a very easy set-up since no change or add-on needs to be installed and maintained on the SAP system. June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 2/11 How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs OMS processes output documents which are data or graphics only files along with their properties. Multi-level verification & processing options may be set for each business document: In addition to improving automatic delivery and distribution of business documents, this seamless integration helps IT department operations by: - Monitoring printing processes. Handling error notifications and enabling the re-synchronization of the printing process when necessary. - Providing real-time printing status. Messages are sent directly to the SAP user session interface assuring the document delivery to the recipients. - Load balancing & scheduling. Helping to prevent printing & distribution delays, and distributing large batch printing among several printers. - Using digital signature for high-level authentication during business document exchange. - Processing encrypted or encapsulated xml data over SSL, HTTPS or SOAP protocols. - Backing-up printers for fail-safe critical business processes such as package labels. - Adding OCR or Barcodes on documents to enable indexing by DMS link. Based on a project’s technical specifications, what is the easiest way to integrate with an OMS You are interested in reducing the timeframe and effort needed to build business documents, and when considering an External Output Management solution based on SAP BC-XOM protocol, you may wonder where to plug this external system into SAP’s existing output process. Below are questions, whose answers determine how to best connect your system with an OMS: June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 3/11 Enterprise Reporting How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Solutions What is the best strategy to use if planning a new project from scratch Beyond creation or customization of application functions and users interfaces, a significant part of projects requirements are to adapt to existing business documents standards and formats. Multiple challenges are faced when setting up SAP built-in forms. They go from programming for small issues like alignment or pagination, or including a Barcode, to using a digital certificate signature on the document for distribution using internet technologies and web services. 10 mn to create this Purchase Order from scratch Business Document creation may involve a single process, one print program generating one document such as a Purchase Order, or may involve multiple processes and multiple print programs delivering several documents such as a Production Order. Whatever the complexity, delegating forms design and distribution to intuitive, drag and drop OMS template builders requires less effort. May -2010 - Copyright - Michel Gaertner, Technologies Department June 2012 Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Software Team Leader at Symtrax Software Privateat Limited Symtrax Corporation - Page 5 of 7 Page 4/11 www.symtrax.com www.symtrax.com How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs For all of the above situations limiting forms related ABAP development saves time. It is better to take advantage of the many predefined reports provided standard with SAP system, and to handle as much designing, printing and distributing as possible through an OMS. How does it fit in an SaaS or a Cloud installation? SAP provides SAP business ByDesign for Cloud services, and gives access to PDF or XML output through a standard solution named Print Queue Web Services. All business documents produced in the cloud are accessed either by a SAP Business print manager or by an External OMS by connecting to this web service. The Print Queues Web Services allow external output management systems to handle business documents to be printed or distributed and used by Office or Web Technologies. The main benefits for an Enterprise are: • Ability to use and maintain existing Enterprise printing architecture. • Flexibility offered by outsourcing printing processes over the web. • High availability is enabled using printer load balancing and automatic backup. Centralized printer management . • Leverage existing enterprise infrastructure such as Exchange, SharePoint, Intranet, etc… • Monitoring business document production and distribution using Web-based management technologies such as iPads, Smartphones etc … A Practical Example: Quickly enhancing production order documents to match new manufacturing line specifications Within this example project specifications require a redesign of production orders documents. Manufacturing line users explain the following: • Existing SAP standard forms are insufficient due to a new QRCode bar code requirement. • Existing report parts such as time ticket, job ticket, pick list, goods receipt slip, and object list need to be reorganized & revamped according to Q&A recommendations. • Some headers need to be updated for various native languages, and additional notes are required because of new safety regulations. Some sensitive parts should stand out by using highlighted text or larger fonts. The manufacturing line is looking to improve its efficiency by employing latest technologies. • Shop managers are using portable tablets or mobile devices to monitor new orders. High priority orders need to be given precedence in the form of high priority SMS’s. New production orders should be compatible with Tablets. The IT manager faces common concerns such as existing ABAP resources being assigned to other projects and a short project deadline required by the manufacturing line. The IT manager would like to make minimum changes in SAP. The production order module consists of 10+ ABAP programs interlinked, therefore any changes in a single program need to be extensively tested & re-programmed as required. Management, after considering all the above, decides that handling manufacturing’s requirements using an Output Management Solution will be more efficient than using ABAP to redevelop the existing reports. Below demonstrates how quick and easy the implementation occurs, requiring 3 distinct steps. Using this approach requires the knowledge of an SAP Analyst or Consultant, but not the expertise or time of an ABAP Developer. June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 5/11 Enterprise Reporting How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Solutions Step1: Convert existing SAP production order output into RDI format Using RDI/XSF output instead of regular spools gives more flexibility and adds the power of tagged data. This is accomplished by changing the parameters in the sapcript to generate the RDI spool files in place of OTF spool files. Transaction SE38, to copy original print program & simply change or insert RDI parameter (Changes in an original print program is not recommended by SAP) ABA Program Transaction SE71, to activate the RDI parameter (The same authority as ABAP developers to edit or copy a print program, is required by SAP IT Analyst to activate the RDI parameter. SAP_ALL & SAP_NEW roles are assigned to the ABAP developers to generate the RDI files.) SAPSCRIPT – RDI FLAG ACTIVE May -2010 - Copyright - Michel Gaertner, Technologies Department June 2012 Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Software Team Leader at Symtrax Software Privateat Limited Symtrax Corporation - Page 5 of 7 www.symtrax.com Page 6/11 www.symtrax.com How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Transaction SPAD, to create an UCPLAIN or PLAIN output device ( SAP recommends to use UCPLAIN or PLAIN output devices for RDI printing) RDI FILE GENERATED Transaction SPAD, to setup a BC-XOM monitoring to pass RDI Data to an External Output Management ( SAP created the BC-XOM protocol for this purpose) Step2: Build advanced format templates applicable to SAP production order documents SAP IT Analyst uses an interactive and advanced graphical OMS interface to build 12 templates applicable to 12 documents generated simultaneously as parts of production order. ( PRT overview, Object list, Operation control ticket, Job ticket, Kanban ticket, Pick list, Goods issue slip, Inspection chart list, Time ticket, Confirmation slip, Document links, Document Distribution). June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 7/11 Enterprise Reporting How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Solutions SAP IT Analyst matches each data element of the RDI file with parts of final document. He can easily handle all manufacturing line specifications such as : • Formatting each document to be professional looking and easy to understand • Designing multiple dynamic tables and aligning objects • Integrating QRCodes based on contextual variables • Inserting text notes based on selective variables • Emphasizing some parts of text using windows fonts • Inserting comments reflecting new regulations • Adding some local Unicode language text using parameters • Merging & printing the multiple documents into a single large production order file • Sending selective parts of the production order to manager’s iPad • Sending SMS alerts to prioritize orders when applicable May -2010 - Copyright - Michel Gaertner, Technologies Department June 2012 Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Software Team Leader at Symtrax Software Privateat Limited Symtrax Corporation - Page 5 of 7 www.symtrax.com Page 8/11 www.symtrax.com How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Step3: set up process automation The production order cycle consists of major phases such as creation, processing & collective release of the production order once all the tasks are achieved. The OMS automation component associates business documents templates with production orders coming from immediate or scheduled jobs. It is able to identify the various documents based on meta-data such as job number for merging and printing several documents. The OMS identifies & captures the production order RDI files by reading metadata of the RDI files such as print program name, document name and user responsible for the print job. While handling multiple production orders at the same time, the OMS automation component can easily identify the priority flags & assist the floor manager to schedule the goods production in timely manner using mobile messaging. June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 9/11 Enterprise Reporting How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs Solutions Summary of Example Results: This example demonstrates how an enhanced and intuitive Output Management System is capable of reducing business document processing & dispatching implementation cost and timeframe by a factor of 10. This example demonstrates that high quality results can be obtained without the need for high end ABAP developers,. A typical well designed OMS can be used by almost anyone in the technical staff. Below are timetables with estimates comparing some of the individual tasks encountered in the above project when done using an OMS versus ABAP programming: Conclusion Business Documents need to match ever changing Users and Business needs. They reflect to the outside world how professional and timely the Company is by improving communication and efficiency. IT departments save time and resources by providing ABAPers and other technical staff with a reliable productivity solution that easily handles business document creation and changes. The BC-XOM protocol was created by SAP to secure and control communication with external systems that constantly adapt to ever changing distribution media and formats. The solution described above of employing an OMS fits firmly in line with this strategy. Whatever SAP project you may face, improving business document creation and distribution will help ensure timely, less costly solutions. May -2010 - Copyright - Michel Gaertner, Technologies Department June 2012 Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Software Team Leader at Symtrax Software Privateat Limited Symtrax Corporation - Page 5 of 7 www.symtrax.com Page 10/11 www.symtrax.com How to significantly reduce SAP Business Document oriented project costs About the Author Shashank Palai is a Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited and provides support to Asia Pacific and Australian Countries customers. He has been involved in multiple service & consulting projects related to Output Management since 2007. He has a degree in Computer Information Systems and has acquired significant experience as a SAP NetWeaver technology Consultant for internal projects. His direct interaction with Customers in various industries have grown his expertise in many areas, such as document printing & distribution and device printing infrastructure, involving forms development for Finance , Insurance and Industrial groups. 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In particular, it should not be relied upon as the sole source of reference in relation to the subject matter. No liability can be accepted by Symtrax Corporation, its directors or employees for any loss occasioned to any person or entity acting or failing to act as a result of anything contained in or omitted from the content of this material, or our conclusions as stated. The findings are Symtrax’s current opinions; they are subject to change without notice. Symtrax has no obligation to update or amend the research or to let anyone know if our opinions change materially. © Symtrax. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited. This report is a licensed product and is not to be reproduced without prior permission June 2012 - Copyright © - Shashank Palai, Technical Team Leader at Symtrax Software Private Limited www.symtrax.com Page 11/11