9.4    Summary

The introduction of SAP BPM as part of SAP PO has delivered long-awaited BPM features and tools to SAP customers and the developers’ community around the world. The functionality provided by SAP BPM makes it possible to support vertical and horizontal business processes that span inside and outside the organization boundaries.

We kicked off this chapter with an overview of the key drivers and business benefits for BPM in the enterprise. We also looked back in time and discussed other workflow-based technologies. You also saw the differences between SAP BPM and other traditional workflow technologies, such as SAP Business Workflow or SAP PI’s ccBPM.

After that, we also talked about the limitations and disadvantages imposed by non-BPM platforms to integration solutions that require orchestration functionality. We introduced BPMN 2.0 as a universal process modeling standard for business and IT people. You also received a detailed introduction to the different BPMN 2.0 flow elements as currently supported by SAP BPM. We described how and when to apply such elements in a BPD.

You now have a good baseline to start modeling and developing real-life SAP BPM integration scenarios in the next chapters of this book. In Chapter 10, we’ll show you how to develop, configure, deploy, and test your first SAP BPM process flow. Let’s go with the flow!