SAP PRESS :: SAP Process Orchestration - Creating Your First SAP BPM Process

10.9 Exercise: Creating an SAP Business Process Management Process

This section contains an exercise to help you apply the knowledge of SAP Business Process Management (SAP BPM) you’ve gained in this chapter.

10.9.1 Exercise Description

Reader’s Paradise uses SAP PO to send orders to its main supplier, Book Fountain. As is customary in such a process, Book Fountain needs to send an order acknowledgment back to Reader’s Paradise. You’ve been asked to build an interface to receive the order acknowledgement (on the Reader’s Paradise side) and send it to your company’s backend application. Building such an interface in SAP PO is a piece of cake.

However, you’ve been informed that the supplier uses a legacy system and can only send a separate acknowledgement for each of the items included in the original order. For example, if the original order that you sent to Book Fountain included 500 items, then you would receive 500 acknowledgements back (as separate messages).

Needless to say, this situation will create a high load and decrease performance on the Reader’s Paradise backend application. The specialist on the application side has asked you (as the integration specialist) to collect all of these acknowledgement messages and consolidate them into one single acknowledgement message. This consolidated acknowledgement message then needs to be sent as a collection of acknowledgement messages to the backend application.

Note

In this practical exercise, SAP BPM is purely used to support a technical and system-centric process that doesn’t involve a human task.

10.9.2 Exercise Solution Approach

Based on the exercise description, you need to implement a process that supports a collection pattern . To resolve this challenge, you need to perform the following high-level steps:

Create a DC that will hold the SAP BPM process.
Model the SAP BPM process.
Configure the process steps where relevant.
Build the process and deploy it to the SAP PO server.
Perform the required SOA configuration on the deployed SAP BPM process.

While building the collect pattern, we’ll make the following extra assumptions:

Each process instance will be able to collect up to 10 acknowledgement messages.
Each process instance should only run for a maximum of five minutes.

10.9.3 Exercise Step-by-Step Solution

We’ll now explore each of the high-level steps listed in the previous section in more detail.

Prerequisite SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio Setup

The first action as part of this process is to make sure that SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio is configured and set up. This is a two-step configuration that covers the SAP NetWeaver AS Java and the ES Repository, as we explain in the next sections.

SAP NetWeaver AS Java

This configuration helps to point your SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio development client to the SAP PO server where the modeled and developed SAP BPM process will need to be deployed. Follow these steps to configure SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio:

After launching SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, choose Window • Preferences.

From the pop-up screen, select SAP AS Java on the left side, and then click Add on the right side.

In the new window that appears, provide the Instance Host Name and Instance Number of the SAP PO server (see Figure 10.74).

Figure 10.74 Configuration of SAP NetWeaver AS Java in SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio
Click on OK. Your newly added SAP PO server will be added in the SAP AS Java list. Be aware that you can add multiple SAP PO servers in this list. You can also set the server that you’re currently using as the default system.

After finishing these steps, you’re ready to configure a connection to the ES Repository.

Enterprise Service Repository Connection

This is an optional setting and is only necessary when the SAP BPM process to be developed requires objects from the ES Repository to be imported in SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio. Follow these steps to set up the connection to the ES Repository:

From the top menu of SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, choose the Window • Preferences.

Navigate to the Web Services section (on the left side of the screen), and expand the node (see Figure 10.75).

Figure 10.75 Connection Settings for the ES Repository
Choose Enterprise Service Browser.
Add your server details as shown in the figure.

Create a Service Interface in the Enterprise Services Repository

The SAP BPM process that you’re about to build requires you to use an order acknowledgement message WSDL. Therefore, make sure that the service interface of this message structure is available in the ES Repository of your SAP PO system. Create all relevant structures (data types and message types) in the ES Repository under the SC of your choice.

Note

If you’ve done the previous exercises, then you can use the SWC_BOOKFOUNTAIN SC.

For simplicity’s sake, you’ll use two very minimalistic message structures. The structure to be created for the SAP BPM inbound message should contain the fields presented in Table 10.16. Note that this structure can only hold one item because Book Fountain is only able to send one item per acknowledgment message.

Field Name	Type	Occurrence
`AcknowledgementId`	`String`	`1`
`OrderNumber`	`String`	`1`
`LineItem`	`LineItemType`	`1`
`ItemID`	`String`	`1`
`ItemName`	`String`	`0...1`

Table 10.16 Minimalistic Order Acknowledgement Message Structure for a Single Item

The data type that goes with the structure presented should be named DT_OrderAck, and the message type should be MT_OrderAck. You need to create and name an inbound service interface: SIIA_OrderAcknowledgement.

You also need another structure to hold the aggregated order acknowledgements. This collection of acknowledgements will then be sent from SAP BPM to the backend application. The structure to hold this collection is presented in Table 10.17.

Field name	Type	Occurrence
`OrderNumber`	`String`	`1`
`LineItem`	`LineItemType`	`1…n`
`ItemID`	`String`	`1`
`ItemName`	`String`	`0...1`

Table 10.17 Aggregated Order Acknowledgment Message Structure

The data type that goes with the structure presented should be named DT_OrderConfirmation, and the message type should be MT_OrderConfirmation. An outbound service interface also needs to be created and named SIOA_OrderConfirmation. Note that the data type DT_OrderConfirmation contains multiple items, as opposed to DT_OrderAck, which only contains one item.

We’re not going to spend time here explaining how to create a new service interface in the ES Repository; if you need a refresher, refer to Chapter 4, Section 4.1 through Section 4.3. Furthermore, you’ll also need to create the interface either as an ICO or iFlow.

Create a Development Component

Note

For simplicity’s sake, we’re developing this exercise via the local development configuration, so there is no development infrastructure (SAP NetWeaver development infrastructure).

To create a new DC for the process, follow these steps:

Launch SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, and switch to the Development Infrastructure perspective.
Extend the localDevelopment development configuration and the MyComponent SC.
Right-click on the MyComponent SC, and choose the New option from the context menu.
From the resulting submenu, select the Development Component option (see Figure 10.76).

Figure 10.76 Create a New DC in Your Software Component
On the next screen, specify the type of DC to be created as Process Composer (see Figure 10.77).

Figure 10.77 Selecting the Process Composer DC Type
After selecting the desired DC type, click on the Next button to proceed with the wizard.
Provide the details of the DC to be created. This includes the name and a vendor. We suggest the Name “dc_collectack” and the Vendor “readersparadise.com” (see Figure 10.78).

Figure 10.78 Last Step in the Creation of a New DC
Click on the Finish button to complete the DC.
You’ll see a pop-up screen asking if SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio should switch to the Process Development perspective. Click Yes.

You’re redirected to the Process Development perspective. This perspective contains all of the views that allow you to model your BPMN object and develop your process.

Creating and Modeling Your Business Process Model Notation

Now that all of the required DCs for your development have been created, it’s time to start the SAP BPM development activities. The first step is to create a process from which you’ll draw your BPMN model. To create an SAP BPM process, follow these steps:

On the left side of the perspective, right-click on the Process category and select New Process.

In the pop-up screen, specify a few attributes as listed in Table 10.18.

Attribute Name	Description
Process Name	OrderAckCollection
Documentation	Process implementing the collect pattern for order acknowledgements
Orientation	Left to Right
New Pool	Checkbox should be selected
Pool Name	OrderAckCollectionPool
Lanes	BookFountain, BPM, SAPECC

Table 10.18 Attributes Required to Create an SAP BPM Process

After filling in all the attribute details, click on the Finish button.

An empty process is created, from which you can now model the desired BPMN. By default, the empty process only contains a start event, an end event, and a connection line between them. This default process is shown in Figure 10.79. Follow these steps to model the process:

Delete the connection line between the start and end events.
Model the BPMN of the acknowledgement order collection by placing the different flow objects into the diagram.

Figure 10.79 Empty Generated Process

The final product of the modeling looks like Figure 10.80.

Figure 10.80 BPMN of the Process of Collecting Acknowledgements

The BPMN model just created is described via the steps presented in Table 10.19. The Step # column in the table references the numbers shown in Figure 10.80.

Step #	Step Type	Description
1	Start Event	This step will start the process by receiving an order acknowledgement message from Book Fountain. As soon as a new order acknowledgement message is received in the SAP BPM engine, a check is performed to verify that there are no other running process instances with the same order number (used as the correlation ID). If such a correlation doesn’t exist, then a new process instance is started. If a correlation ID does exist, then the message will join an existing process instance. After a process has started, the process moves to step 2.
2	Event-Based Choice	This step branches to the left or right depending on which event first occurs. In this case, you have an intermediary message on one side (step 3) and an intermediate timer on the other (step 6).
3	Intermediary Message	After a new instance of the SAP BPM process (with a particular correlation ID) has been created, all new intermediary order acknowledgement messages arriving will be processed by this step. Then, the process controls move to step 4. Furthermore, the received order acknowledgement needs to be appended to the process context.
4	Mapping Activity	This mapping increases the counter upon the arrival of a new intermediary message event. After that, the process controls move to step 5.
5	Exclusive Choice	This gateway evaluates whether the process needs to look back to step 2 and collect more acknowledgements. This is true if you’ve collected fewer than 10 acknowledgements so far. If you’ve already obtained the 10 required order acknowledgements, then the process flow will proceed to step 7.
6	Intermediate Timer	This step is meant to interrupt the process after it has been running for more than 10 minutes, after which the process flow moves to step 7.
7	Automated Activity	Calls the service to send the collected set of acknowledgements to the backend application that will store the collected acknowledgments.
8	End	This step ends the process.

Table 10.19 Configuring the Flow Object Properties

Now that the BPMN has been modeled, it’s time to configure every one of the flow objects that are represented in it. Configuring these objects gives more context and meaning to the model.

One of the first steps to be performed is to import the required WSDLs and create the necessary data objects to hold process context data. These configurations are necessary to turn the process model into a runnable process.

The next section will show and describe the configuration setting of each step in order.

Import the Necessary Service Interfaces or WSDL

One of the first things to do is to import an existing structure from the ES Repository. In this case, you’ll import two service interfaces: one to hold an individual order acknowledgement and one to hold the collection of acknowledgements.

To import the service interfaces from the ES Repository, follow these steps:

Expand your project from SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio’s Project Explorer view until you reach the Service Interface folder node.
Using the context menu on the Service Interface folder node, select the option Import WSDL.
A wizard opens in which you need to select the Enterprise Service Repository radio button as the source for the WSDL (Figure 10.81).
Click on Next to proceed with the wizard.

Figure 10.81 Importing the WSDL from the ES Repository
Navigate to the appropriate SC and namespace where the order acknowledgement service interface can be found, and select it. In this case, the service interface to be imported is called SIIA_OrderAcknowledgement (see Figure 10.82).

Figure 10.82 Choosing the Appropriate Service Interface from the ES Repository
Click on Next, and specify a name for your service group; it’s important to provide a meaningful name.
Click on the Finish button.

As a result, the imported WSDL and all its related XSDs are now available in your project under the Data Types and Services Interfaces folders.

Repeat the preceding steps to import the outbound service interface, SIOA_OrderConfirmations. Now, it’s time to create the new data objects and link them to the imported data objects.

Create Data Objects

To support the process, you need to create and add three data objects, according to Table 10.20.

Name	Data Types
`DO_OrderAck`	`DT_OrderAck` `urn:readersparadise.com:scm:procurement:supplier`
`DO_OrderConfirmationCollection`	`DT_OrderConfirmation` `urn:readersparadise.com:scm:procurement:supplier`
`DO_CorrelationID`	`String` `http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema`
`DO_Counter`	`int` `http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema`

Table 10.20 Data Objects to be Created and Their Corresponding Data Types

Start by creating the first data object (DO_OrderAck), as described in Table 10.20. This data object needs to hold the content of a message arriving and starting the process. Follow these steps:

Drag and drop an artifact of type data object onto the SAP BPM diagram.
Select the newly added data object from the diagram, and the Properties view will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
On the general tab, rename the data object to “DO_OrderAck”.
Click on the Data Type tab. Use the dropdown field to select the Browse option (see Figure 10.83).

Figure 10.83 Assigning a Data Type for the Data Object
You’ll see a pop-up allowing you to select the desired data type. In this case, select the data type DT_OrderAck because that is the underlying data type behind the imported service interface SIIA_OrderAcknowledgement.

Repeat all of the preceding steps to create the three additional data objects listed in Table 10.20—namely, DO_OrderConfirmationCollection, DO_CorrelationID, and DO_Counter.

DO_OrderConfirmationCollection will be used to collect and aggregate all received acknowledgments, DO_CorrelationID is intended to keep a reference to the OrderNumber field and to be used as a correlation ID to match all other incoming acknowledgement messages, and DO_Counter will be used to keep count of the number of message acknowledgements received.

In the next sections, we’ll explore each of the steps included in the BPMN model that was presented in Figure 10.80.

Step 1: Start Event

To configure the start event, follow these steps:

Select the Start event from the BPMN diagram.
The Properties view is then displayed in the bottom of the screen. From the Properties view, choose the Event Trigger tab.
Make sure that the trigger type Message is selected.
Open the dropdown menu of the Trigger field, and select the New option (see Figure 10.84).

Figure 10.84 Creating a New Message Trigger for the Start Event
A new wizard starts in which you must specify the name of the message trigger (use OrderAcknowledgementMsg). Leave all other fields in this screen set to the proposed default values. Click on the Next button to proceed with the wizard.
On the next screen, use the Service field dropdown to select the service interface that you previously imported from the ES Repository. In this case, the service interface is called SIIA_OrderAcknowledgement, but this could be different, depending on how you named your service interface (see Figure 10.85).
Click on the Finish button to complete the creation of the message trigger.

Figure 10.85 Details of the Message Trigger to be Used for the Start Event

Next, you need to configure the output mapping of the start event. In the output napping, you also want to transform the initial (acknowledgement) message that started the process to the DO_OrderAck data object and to initialize all other process context.

Follow these steps:

From the Properties view, select the Output Mapping tab.
Figure 10.86 shows all of the process context data objects (on the right side) mapped using the output of the start event (on the left side). The details of the mapping to be applied are described in Table 10.21.

Figure 10.86 Mapping the Process Context Data

Target Field	Mapping Rule
`DO_Counter`	Initialize the field with the constant 1.
`DO_CorrelationID`	Needs to be mapped from the `OrderNumber` field of the acknowledgment message. Therefore, use the expression `MT_OrderAck/OrderNumber`.
`DO_OrderAck`	Needs to be mapped from the source message type `MT_OrderAck`.
`DO_OrderConfirmationCollection`	Needs to be initialized from the source message type `MT_OrderAck`.

Table 10.21 Mapping Rules between the Output of the Start Event and the Process Context

You’re now done with the start event and can proceed to configure other flow objects.

Step 2: Event-Based Choice

This step doesn’t require any configuration. SAP BPM knows whether to branch to the left or right side of the process based on which event first occurs. The two possible events include an intermediary message (step 3) or an intermediary message timer (step 6).

Step 3: Intermediary Message

This step needs to be configured to intercept all order acknowledgement messages that match a particular correlation ID. Given that you’ve already created a trigger for the acknowledgment message, that trigger can be reused here.

To configure this step, follow these steps:

Select the intermediary message from the BPMN diagram.
From the Properties view that opens in the bottom of the screen, choose the Event Trigger tab.
Make sure that the trigger type Message is selected. Select the OrderAcknowledgementMsg option from the Trigger dropdown field. This is the same message trigger used for the start event.
From the Properties view, select the Output Mapping tab. On this tab, you need to append the newly received order acknowledgement to the existing aggregated data object (DO_OrderConfirmationCollection; see Figure 10.87).

Note in Figure 10.87 that only the LineItem part of the acknowledgment message is appended to the target structure. This is because you’re not interested in the rest of the message structure. In addition, the assignment of type Append needs to be used to ensure that the new item is appended instead of overwriting the existing target structure.

Figure 10.87 Append Newly Received Acknowledgment to Existing One

Furthermore, you need to configure the correlation of the intermediary message. In the correlation, you need to specify the condition under which the received order acknowledgement needs to be assigned to a running process instance. To configure the correlation, choose the Correlation Condition tab from the Properties view. You then need to use the following expression:

string-equal(MT_OrderAck/OrderNumber,DO_CorrelationID)

This expression will compare the order number on the incoming acknowledgement to the existing correlation ID of the process instance. If the expression returns a Boolean true, then it’s considered a match.

Note that the preceding expression might look slightly different than yours, depending on the name of your data type.

Step 4: Mapping Activity

In this step (the mapping step), the counter data object needs to be increased. This will ensure that DO_Counter is always in line with the number of acknowledgement messages collected by the process instance.

To configure the mapping activity, start by selecting the mapping activity from the BPMN diagram. Then, select the Mapping tab under the Properties view. From this tab, you’ll need to use the DO_Counter + 1 expression to increment the DO_Counter data object. The end result is shown in Figure 10.88.

Figure 10.88 Increasing the DO_Counter

After the counter has been incremented, the process control moves to the exclusive choice.

Step 5: Exclusive Choice

From this gateway, the process will decide to take one of the following actions:

Return to the event-based choice (step 2) and wait for more acknowledgements to arrive. This route needs to be followed if the total number of collected acknowledgements is fewer than 10 or whatever other number you choose to set.
If 10 order acknowledgements have already been collected by the process, then the process will move to the automated activity to call the backend application (step 7).

To configure the exclusive choice gateway, you’ll need to start by selecting it from the BPMN diagram. Then, select the Condition Evaluation tab under the Properties view. Use the expression DO_Counter < 10 for the connection to loop back.

Furthermore, you need to select the Default Gate checkbox for the Call Backend connection (see Figure 10.89).

Figure 10.89 Configuration of the Exclusive Choice

Step 6: Intermediate Timer

This step can be configured to behave as a timeout. After the time (number of minutes/hours/days/months/years) configured in this step elapses, an event is triggered that pushes the event-based choice to take this route instead of going to the intermediary message event. In this case, use 5 minutes.

As soon as 5 minutes have elapsed, the process will be forced to call the backend application (step 7) with whatever acknowledgment messages have been collected so far (see Figure 10.90).

Figure 10.90 Time Offset on the Intermediate Timer

The next step to be configured is the automated activity.

Step 7: Automated Activity

The automated activity step needs to call the service interface that will move data to the backend application. You’ll be using the SIOA_OrderConfirmation service interface, which currently holds the aggregated acknowledgements. To configure the automated activity, follow these steps:

Select the automated activity from the BPMN diagram.
From the Properties view displayed in the bottom of the screen, choose the Interface tab.
From the Service Interface dropdown field, select the SIOA_OrderConfirmation option (see Figure 10.91).

Figure 10.91 Configuration of the Interface Tab of the Automated Activity

Now, you need to map the content of the DO_OrderConfirmationCollection data object to the input structure of the automated activity. Follow these steps:

From the Properties view, select the Input Mapping tab.
Map all the fields of DO_OrderConfirmationCollection (on the left) to the structure of the automated activity (on the right), as shown in Figure 10.92.

Figure 10.92 Mapping the Automatic Activity

You’re now ready to proceed with the configuration of the last object of the BPMN diagram: the end event.

Step 8: End Event

This is the last step in the flow. There are no manual special configuration steps to be performed. As soon as a new message trigger is assigned to the start event, the end event is also automatically assigned with the same message trigger event. Figure 10.93 shows what this configuration looks like.

Figure 10.93 Configuration of an End Event

Your configuration is now ready. The next step is to build and deploy the process.

Build and Deploy the SAP Business Process Management Process

After successfully modeling and configuring your process, it’s now time to compile the process and make it available in the SAP NetWeaver server by deploying it. To compile it, follow these steps:

In SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, right-click on the DC to be compiled (in this case, dc_collectact).
In the menu that appears, choose Development Component • Build, as shown in Figure 10.94. This action will trigger the compilation of the DC.
You might see a pop-up requesting confirmation of the DCs to be built. This step is particularly useful if you want to compile and/or build more than one DC. Click on the OK button (see Figure 10.95).

Figure 10.94 Building and Deploying the DC

Figure 10.95 Selecting the DCs to be Built

The compilation of the DC might take a couple of seconds, depending on its size and the speed of your local machine. The compilation might result in a fail status if errors were found in the SAP BPM DC. In such a case, the details of the errors will be visible in the Problems view, and you need to fix them before proceeding.

If the build task was successful, then the DC can now be deployed to the server by following these steps:

In SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, right-click on the DC to be compiled (in this case, dc_collectact).
In the menu that appears, choose Development Component • Deploy (refer to Figure 10.94). This action will then trigger the deployment of the DC to the server.

Note

You can see what is going on during the deployment process by looking at the logs via the Deploy view Console tab, as shown in Figure 10.96.

Figure 10.96 Deployment Logs in the Deploy View Console

Now that the DC has been deployed, it’s time to perform SOA configurations for the automated activity step.

Post-Deployment Configuration

In the SAP BPM process that was created, a SOA configuration needs to be performed on the service reference of the automated activity that needs to be used to call the backend application with the collected set of acknowledgements.

The service reference can then be configured to point to the desired service endpoint by following these steps:

Go to SAP NetWeaver Administrator via http://<host>:<port>/nwa, and log in.

Navigate to the SOA tab, then choose Application and Scenario Communication • Application Communication . You’re then presented with a list of DCs.

Select the DC that contains your SAP BPM process.

Upon selection, the bottom screen is populated with two tabs: Consumed Service Groups and Provided Services. Because you’re interested in configuring the services that the process calls and consumes, select the Consumer Service Groups tab.

Click on the Edit button.

Select the <create…> option from the Provider System dropdown (see Figure 10.97).

Figure 10.97 Configuration of the Application Communication
A new wizard launches. On the first screen, give the service provider a name (e.g., “OrderConfirmationService”). In addition, select the Other radio button for the System Type field (see Figure 10.98). Click on the Next button to proceed with the wizard.

Figure 10.98 Provider System Creation
On the next screen, provide the endpoint of the service to be called. If this service is provided from AEX, then you can obtain its WSDL URL via the Display WSDL feature of the Integration Directory. Depending on the requirement of the web service, you might also have to provide authentication settings, as shown in Figure 10.99.

Figure 10.99 Web Services Connectivity Details for Creating an SOA Provider System
After the provider has been created, you’re redirected to the main page (refer to Figure 10.97). Click on the Save button to ensure that your settings are stored. You can also check the Processing State column to evaluate whether the settings applied in the provider system were correct. Traffic light colors (green, yellow, and red) visually indicate the processing state status (see Figure 10.100).

Figure 10.100 Saved Consumed Service Groups Processing State

Now that you’ve configured the consumed service group, it’s time to start testing your process.

Testing

With the process successfully deployed and configured, it’s now time to trigger it by following these steps:

Navigate to Configuration Management • Processes and Tasks • Process Repository. You’ll see a list of all deployed DCs.

Select the active version, and click on the Start Process button (see Figure 10.101). This will launch the Web Services Navigator. In some circumstances, the Start Process button might be grayed out, in which case, you’ll need to click on the Web Services Navigator link to test the process.

Figure 10.101 Manually Starting the SAP BPM Process
After the Web Services Navigator launches, fill in the input data that the process requires before invoking the process.

You could have also decided to start the process externally. In that case, you would access the WSDL of the SAP BPM process and use a web service client to trigger it.

To access and download the WSDL of the web service, follow these steps:

Log in to SAP NetWeaver Administrator, navigate to the SOA tab, and then choose the Application and Scenario Communication subtab.
Click on the Single Service Administration link. Use the Find search field to search based on your service interface name.
Once found, select the WSDLs tab, and click on the ZIP Download button to download the WSDL to your local machine.
After you know the WDSL link or have the file, you can use a SOAP client tool of your choice to start the process. One commonly used tool is SoapUI.

After invoking the process, it’s now time to monitor what is happening with the running process.

Monitoring

To monitor the running SAP BPM processes, access the process management tool as follows:

Navigate to the Operations tab.

Select the Processes and Tasks option.

Click on the Manage Processes link.

A new page will load with a list of failed processes. Change the value of the View dropdown to All Running Processes. Now, you should be able to see the process that you just triggered (Figure 10.102).

As Figure 10.102 shows, you can use the Context Data tab to view the content of different context data. See Chapter 15 for more details about the different options when monitoring an SAP BPM process.

Congratulations! You’ve just completed the modeling, configuration, running, and monitoring of your first SAP BPM process from scratch.

Figure 10.102 Monitoring All Running Processes in SAP PO