SAP’s newly launched event management system is designed to allow end users to efficiently monitor their supply chain and make allowances for problems as they arise. The system enables companies to keep a close eye on the various pieces of their extended supply chain network by tracking diverse business processes. This allows users to react immediately when due dates are missed or interruptions are reported. Built on the same client/server technology as SAP R/3, SAP Event Management can be integrated with SAP R/3 as well as legacy systems. It is delivered with a number of standard visibility scenarios that serve as templates for developing and configuring customer-specific tracking scenarios and enable companies to accelerate the implementation of SAP Event Management. Previously released with limited availability as SCEM (Supply Chain Event Manager), SAP Event Management is now available for the first time as part of the SAP Supply Chain Management 4.0 solution, which also includes SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (SAP APO) technology and the SAP Inventory Collaboration Hub (SAP ICH). SAP Event Management allows companies of all sizes to accurately monitor complex logistics processes that contain multiple due dates and may involve external partners such as suppliers, logistics service providers, and customers. The Web capabilities of this new event management system provide an easy way for external partners to retrieve information and enter actual data regarding the business processes in which they play an active role. I will explain how SAP Event Management can be used to follow various supply chain processes as well as to analyze the performance of these processes by building an analytical database. Because SAP Event Management is a new product, I will offer real-life examples of how you can put it to use.

Monitor with Event Handlers

Each occurrence of a business process being monitored is represented in SAP Event Management as an event handler, which can correspond to an inbound shipment, an outbound delivery, a purchase order line item, a maintenance order, and so on. The event handler is identified using various tracking IDs. An event handler corresponding to a shipment, for instance, can be identified by the SAP R/3 shipment number and by the bill of lading number. The type of event handler depends on the specific process being monitored and is determined by the document that triggers its creation. The configuration of the event handler type dictates the milestones or expected events for the event handler being created. Consider the following example. For an inbound shipment, you have one expected event for the start and another for the end of every stage or leg in the shipment. The expected shipment date and time is copied from the corresponding planning date in the shipment leg in the R/3 document. Figure 1 shows the expected events for an event handler corresponding to an outbound shipment. The configuration of the event handler type also determines the status profile of the event handler. For example, in the outbound shipment visibility scenario, the same event handler can have a delivery status On Time and a transportation status In Transit. When the shipping company reports a delay, the delivery status is set to Delayed whereas the transportation status remains In Transit. The status of an event handler can be used for monitoring purposes as well as for filtering event handlers in selection screens. To keep track of the business processes, SAP Event Management users can access the event handler list, which provides an overview of outstanding event handlers, their expected events, and detailed information regarding planned due dates, actual dates, status, and more. In the background, the expected event monitor continuously identifies events that are overdue. It identifies as “late” any unreported expected event with a due date earlier than the current date. Once an event is overdue, the event monitor can trigger a number of activities, including sending out reminders to the appropriate partners via email and changing the status of the event handler as well as signaling an alert in the alert framework or in the SAP APO Alert Monitor. In many cases, the dates and times of expected events are entered or calculated in the ERP system and copied into the corresponding event handler in the event management system. SAP Event Management also allows for additional events to be tracked that have no equivalent in the ERP system but nevertheless require monitoring because of the potential impact they could have on other activities downstream. The supplementary dates and times can be calculated relative to the expected dates and times of other events using simple offsets or customer-specific function modules. For instance, you may wish to monitor a purchase order line item in greater detail than by simply tracking the acknowledgement and advance shipment notification from the supplier. In the configuration of the event handler type, you can define additional expected events such as the ordering of raw materials by the vendor, the release of the production order, or the completion of the production order. When the system creates the event handler, it adds these additional expected events, which are actually performed by your supplier, and calculates the expected dates according to the rules set up in theconfiguration of the event handler type. On the Web, the supplier can then enter the actual dates and times, allowing you to be aware of delays much earlier in the process and to react accordingly.

Actual Events and Follow-Up Activities

Actual data arrives in SAP Event Management via event messages, which are created in reference to individual event handlers and events. Event messages are created in a number of ways. Actual data can be entered in the SAP R/3 system manually or via EDI, and the event message can be extracted when the SAP R/3 document is saved. Alternatively, event messages can be entered directly into SAP Event Management manually or in batch. Event messages can also be created via remote function calls (RFCs) from other systems. Finally, event messages can be created via the Web, as you will see in the next section. Events referenced in the event messages can be expected or unexpected. An unexpected event does not have a planned date and is identified as unexpected if it does not appear in the event handler’s list of expected events. The configuration of the event handler type not only determines its expected events, but also what follow-up activities will be executed when an event is reported. Follow-up activities can be configured for both expected and unexpected events and include updating the SAP R/3 document corresponding to the event handler, changing the status of the event handler, or triggering an alert. For instance, when a message with a proof of delivery is received in the event management system, the end date of the shipment in SAP R/3, as well as the transportation status of the corresponding event handler, can be updated.

Web Communications and Supply Chain Analytics

SAP Event Management’s Web Communication Layer (WCL) lets you interact with external partners via the Internet. Whether you simply allow a customer to track the status of an overseas shipment or you enable your supplier to acknowledge purchase orders, WCL can be configured to meet your external communication needs. In addition, you can predefine what each external partner is allowed to see and do when accessing SAP Event Management via the Internet for each business process. You can filter the list of expected events business partners can see and limit the kind of information entered via the Web. When your business partners log onto the system via the Web (Figure 2), they can get an overview of the status of the event handlers they are interested in (Figure 3) and retrieve a work list of event handlers that require feedback (Figure 4). Dates, times, and time zones can be defaulted and drop-down lists created for other data fields to help lighten your partners’ data entry load. Figure 5 shows an example of an event being reported via the Web using the WCL.     SAP Event Management captures planned and actual durations of a company’s logistics processes and tracks adherence to due dates by your company’s different partners. Once implemented, the system can be employed for measuring supply chain performance. Information can be extracted from SAP Event Management and loaded into SAP’s Business Intelligence (SAP BI) in predefined InfoCubes. SAP BI contains standard business content, allowing you to analyze the performance of the different processes in your supply chain as well as your partners’ contributions. The extraction of data from SAP Event Management into SAP BI can be done on a periodic basis, but it can also be triggered automatically when the final step in the process being monitored is reported by the configuring of the appropriate follow-up activity. This approach eliminates the need for batch extraction processes and ensures up-to-date supply chain performance data in your SAP BI.