Optimizing Processes: The Role of SAP BPI in Modern Enterprises

09/02/2024
What is BPM?

As per the Association of Business process management professionals (ABPMP), Business Process Management (BPM) is a disciplined approach to identify, design, execute, document, measure, monitor, and control both automated and non-automated business processes to achieve consistent, targeted results aligned with an organization’s strategic goals.

BPM tools or BPMS (Business process management software) were developed over years with capabilities such as process modeling, user behavior/process mining, workflows, and RPAs. BPM tools are mostly developed by multiple software vendors.

However, most of the enterprise software vendors lack the capability of combining BPM tools with their ERP software. This will be a challenge in digital transformation since most of the companies have complex business processes with scattered systems and no way of getting insights and recommendations for the decision-making process.

SAP Business Process Intelligence (BPI)

SAP Business process intelligence (SAP BPI) is the BPM solution provided by SAP, which is a key component of Rise with SAP S/4 Hana Cloud Business Transformation as a Service offering. SAP BPI is a combined solution with SAP S/4 Hana with capabilities of process analysis and improvement in a single package. BPI facilitates the analysis of business performance through benchmarking against industry best practices and provides tailored recommendations for improvements.

SAP Signavio

SAP BPI is made possible by SAP Signavio, a cloud-based business process management tool that was created by SAP following the acquisition of the industry-leading business process management solution provider “Signavio” in 2021. The goal of SAP Signavio was to enhance SAP BPI capabilities, as these were essential to the Rise with SAP offering that was revealed in the same year.

SAP Signavio allows the customer to understand, improve and transform business processes with RISE with SAP S/4 Hana business transformation as a service offering. It also provides a single source of truth for continual process transformation and improvement even after transformation to SAP S/4 Hana.

Signavio enables `business to rethink their existing business processes, priorities standardizations harmonization based on best practices and reference models, leveraging S/4 Hana innovations.

SAP Signavio has multiple solutions which answer the following questions the customers face when transforming to SAP S/4 Hana cloud.

  • How to ensure that the transformation adds value to the business?
  • How to expedite the transformation?
  • How to ensure that the change is manageable?

Figure 02 : SAP Signavio Overview

How does SAP BPI work with the SAP Activate approach of the end-to-end transformation to SAP S/4 Hana to generate the value during the transition and beyond?

To Answer this, let’s discuss the SAP Signavio tools with reference to the SAP Activate methodology in RISE with SAP offering for customers to aid transformation into SAP S/4 Hana cloud.

Discover phase

Discover the current status of the business processes and identify the areas of improvements. SAP signavio process insights assist to get tailored recommendations based on real time insights on how business processes are performing. SAP Signavio business process intelligence mines the As Is processes that can be analyzed to improve.

Prepare phase

Process improvement initiatives are prepared with SAP Signavio process collaboration hub to create the transformation journey with defined scope, timelines and milestones with collaboration and brainstorming with relevant stakeholders.

Design phase

Modeling the future state of the business processes and simulating their impact with SAP Signavio process manager and SAP Signavio journey modeler. Businesses actively design their processes with innovative recommendations based on industry best practices, using collaborative process modeling, documentation, reporting, and simulations

Realize and deploy phases

Implement the business process improvements with SAP Signavio capability of directly integrating with SAP Solution manager. SAP Signavio business process intelligence can trigger automated actions using process insights. Automated action types includes, Notifications, Workflow and RPA bots (AP Intelligent Robotic process automation (iRPA)).

With SAP Signavio Process automation and SAP Signavio process governance, automation can be done with no code/low code and visually with drag and drop and AI capabilities.

Run phase

Monitor and measure process post S/4 Hana implementation and continuous improvement of the business processes using SAP Signavio process insights and SAP Signavio process intelligence.

KPIs and process deviations are examined to determine if the improvement potential has been achieved.

SAP signavio process collaboration hub and SAP signavio process explorer gives single source of truth for end users on SAP signavio solutions, process models, best practices and innovations.

In summary, SAP BPI with Signavio actively contribute to the digital transformation of businesses into intelligent enterprises with RICE with SAP S/4 Hana by providing single source of process truth with real time insights into areas of improvement and data driven decisions making for optimizations.

Through innovation and strategic alignment, Intellect Consulting empowers organizations to achieve operational excellence and resilience in a dynamic business environment. With a focus on assisting clients across diverse industries, we strive to unlock the power of SAP BPI, enabling businesses to thrive in today’s dynamic market landscape.