SAP Community - SAP Task Center

Maximize your RISE with SAP investment with SAP BTP

2022-05-28T07:59:08+02:00

Please note that this blog was published prior to the re-branding related to SAP Build portfolio, which was announced at SAP TechEd 2022. SAP Launchpad service and SAP Work Zone come together under the SAP Build Work Zone brand, with two editions: standard edition (formerly SAP Launchpad service) and advanced edition (formerly SAP Work Zone). You can learn more in this announcement blog post: SAP Build Capabilities Explained | SAP TechEd | SAP News Center

[UPDATE Nov-2023] Please refer to the official SAP website that describes SAP BTP services which are included with RISE. It has the latest updates on SAP BTP entitlements from the RISE Premium Plus launch.

Have you just started your RISE with SAP journey and looking to explore what you could achieve with SAP BTP? Then this blog series is perfect for you.

SAP BTP is the foundation for the RISE transformation. Here are the top 7 reasons to use SAP Business Technology Platform along with S/4HANA as part of your RISE with SAP transformation. You can find more information in this eBook.

RISE with SAP package provides access to SAP BTP via free Cloud Credits based on Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA). Its important to understand that these cloud credits may not be sufficient to address all the top 7 scenarios described above. These Cloud Credits are good to

Explore SAP BTP services, experiment, iterate, and validate business value with no up-front commitment

Curate a set of use cases that deliver quick, high ROI wins to the business

Build, test, and iterate with a small set of users in a production environment

Generally, SAP customers are well informed about the value of SAP BTP in their RISE transformation and are able to identify couple of scenarios where they can leverage SAP BTP as part of their S/4HANA implementation. They can subscribe to the right volume of CPEA Cloud Credits for SAP BTP and are able to plan the use of it along with S/4HANA. However, there are many engagements, where SAP BTP is not being discussed upfront and parked for review after the go live of the S/4HANA system. In my opinion, this is a missed opportunity.

The goal of this blog post is to provide information to those SAP customers and partners who didn’t have the awareness of SAP BTP initially but are now looking to make the best use of SAP BTP in their RISE transformation.

I have seen many customers and partners ask this question “What are RISE with SAP customers doing with their SAP BTP Cloud Credits”? Here is an example from mbensan (SAP Community Member)

The blog series is composed by colleagues from my team who engage with customers who have just embarked on a RISE transformation. We have selected some of the key scenarios for customers to consider. The best part is that it wouldn’t cost them ANYTHING to enable these BTP services and get started.

SAP Launchpad service now available for all RISE with SAP customers

SAP Mobile Start now available for all RISE with SAP customers

SAP Cloud Identity now available for all RISE with SAP customers

Cloud Integration Automation Services (CIAS) now available for all RISE with SAP customers

There are few services on SAP BTP which are free of charge and are included as part of the entitlements for all RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud & Private Edition. You would be able to find the bundled services in the Supplement Guide.

All RISE with SAP customers have access to Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning services on SAP BTP. These services are crucial when it comes to setting up Single Sign-on and user provisioning with SAP solutions.

All RISE with SAP customers have entitlements to use the SAP Launchpad service and SAP Mobile Start. For example, if the customer subscribes to RISE with SAP for 100 users, they get the same number of users with entitlements for the SAP Launchpad & SAP Mobile Start service on SAP BTP. SAP Task Center is also included with the Launchpad service which can be used to centrally action work items from multiple SAP solutions. SAP Task Center is also embedded within SAP Mobile Start for users to approve work items on the go. If you are using Microsoft Teams within your organization, you can now integrate the Launchpad service with Microsoft teams following this blog post to improve collaboration and a seamless access to SAP information while you are using Teams.

In order to automate the whole setup of central Fiori Launchpad on SAP BTP with content federation of S/4HANA apps, customers have access to Cloud Integration Automation Services (CIAS) which will provide a guided scenario to help IT teams/partners configure their BTP landscape. CIAS is provided free of cost for customers to leverage.

The above blog posts will dive deeper into these topics to help you understand why its becoming essential to start using these services when you are on a S/4HANA transformation.

As mentioned above, RISE with SAP provides customers with a SAP BTP account based on Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA) with cloud credits (based on the actual cost of the RISE subscription). You can find more details in this presentation.

The CPEA Cloud Credits which you have obtained can be good for small scenario and use cases which are applicable to small set of users. Each service on SAP BTP has a different metric and its best to use the SAP BTP estimator to see how much cloud credits you would consume if you begin using a particular service.

I would highly recommend to get started with the SAP Discovery center. You can explore the missions to see which use cases would be relevant for your organization as well as explore individual SAP BTP services and add them to the estimator to calculate the amount of credits you require.

Here are some of the Top Use Cases which we see among RISE with SAP customers implementing BTP with their limited cloud credits.

Creating custom Fiori Apps to meet new requirements

Often customers have the need to meet requirements which are not supported by the standard set of Fiori apps in S/4HANA. Typically, in the past, custom Fiori apps were created and deployed in the S/4HANA system to address such requirements. The challenge with this approach is that customers start with few apps which gradually grows to over 20-30 apps over a period of time and the number of custom objects in your S/4HANA starts to grow exponentially.

With SAP providing innovations in S/4HANA releases every year, it becomes a bigger exercise to upgrade the S/4HANA system

Keeping your custom apps on S/4HANA will mean that the changes to these apps are tied to the change management process associated with S/4HANA. In some organizations, they have a half-yearly production release to keep the core processes stable. We recommend to start deploying such custom apps on SAP BTP (as managed HTML5 apps). This is included with the launchpad service (free of cost) which all RISE with SAP customers have access to. The best part is that you now have access to various SAP BTP services which you could leverage when developing your apps - for example: ML services, Chatbots, Document Management service etc

More options in developing apps: Depending on the skill sets, you can choose to HTML5 based Fiori apps using Business Application Studio (leveraging the evergreen Fiori libraries) or use Low-code/No-code tools like SAP AppGyver to quickly build apps. Since you are developing app on SAP BTP, you have more options of using open-source libraries/frameworks like react/angular etc and future proof your applications.

These are some of the key reasons, why you shouldn’t be deploying custom Fiori apps on your S/4HANA system and instead leverage SAP BTP for this purpose.

Store S/4HANA attachments in Document Management service

When customers are moving from their legacy system to S/4HANA, they are often looking for ways to store documents/attachments which would have been either stored in the DMS of SAP Business Suite System or in a separate SAP/3^rd party Content Server. Storing these files in S/4HANA is not the best approach. SAP BTP Document Management service can be used as a content server to connect with S/4HANA system. For end users, they continue using the same screens in S/4HANA to upload attachments when dealing with business objects and transactions. These attachments would be stored in SAP BTP Document Management service and kept outside S/4HANA system. Document Management service comes with a minimum of 100 GB storage which can be covered with the CPEA credits.

I would like to point you to a blog post by my colleague Alex Dong where he describes how to start with SAP BTP Document Management service and how this service can serve as a content repository for your S/4HANA system.

Automating S/4HANA processes using SAP Process Automation service

Automation is a hot topic with business leads trying to always find ways to improve efficiencies. Unfortunately, there is a myth that you need to setup your S/4HANA system and make it stable before you start to think about automating process. RISE with SAP is a perfect opportunity to change the way people engage with processes. No matter how much we digitize our operations and use S/4HANA, we would still be dealing with vendors and suppliers who send excel sheets and invoices in the form of PDFs. We would need to accommodate such scenarios and be able to automate such requirements quickly. SAP Process Automation is a no-code automation tool for business/process experts to automate processes which either involve unstructured data or paper based processes. SAP Process Automation also includes standard best practise contents which can be readily enabled with S/4HANA system to automate common scenarios.

With the existing cloud credits, you can determine if any of the standard automation contents can be deployed to automate your S/4HANA processes.

Custom Code Migration app

RISE transformation is also a good opportunity to assess the custom code (ABAP) which has been created in SAP Business Suite system. The Custom Code Migration app which is on SAP BTP helps assess custom code impact and reinforce the Clean Core principle during SAP S/4HANA conversions and migration to the SAP BTP. It’s a good opportunity to remove unused code which would have been in your system for over a decade. The custom code migration app also helps analyze and adapt your code to run best on S/4HANA system.

You can find more info on the features of this app and how to get started in this blog post “RISE with SAP and custom code migration – What is included” by olga.dolinskaja

Free Tier Plan

CPEA based accounts also includes a Free Tier Plan to experiment, learn and try out services on SAP BTP. At the time of writing this blog post, there are around 30 services which have a Free Tier plan. You can use this link to explore these services in the SAP Discovery Center. This is a good option if you want to validate any business requirements and try out SAP BTP for the same. You might want to explore how you could jump start your integration project using SAP Integration Suite or persist data on SAP BTP for your extension app using SAP HANA Cloud. You can activate the free plan for these services and start exploring how you can achieve such scenarios which are well documented in the SAP Discovery Center. Once you have made up your mind to take your developments to production, you can upgrade your service to a standard/productive plan and start using the service.

Do check out the remaining blog posts in this series to know more about how you can get started with some of the key SAP BTP services

SAP Launchpad service now available for all RISE with SAP customers

SAP Mobile Start now available for all RISE with SAP customers

SAP Cloud Identity now available for all RISE with SAP customers

Cloud Integration Automation Services (CIAS) now available for all RISE with SAP customers

Note: SAP Launchpad service and SAP Mobile Start are not available for China and NS2 RISE with SAP customers. BTP CPEA Free voucher credits is only applicable to RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud & Private Edition customers. You would be able to find the bundled services in the Supplement Guide.

Troubleshooting for SAP Task Center Enablement

2022-06-14T21:45:53+02:00

Hello Everyone,

This blog post we'll discuss the overall troubleshooting methodology to follow when enabling SAP Task Center. If you've already read this far, you should be familiar with SAP Task Center and the enablement process. However if not, please review the below resources:

What is SAP Task Center

Getting Started with SAP Task Center

Step 1: Checking the Connectivity

If you are encountering issues with enabling SAP Task Center. The first step is to check for the connectivity for the LoB app you're trying to set up (Success Factors, S/4 Hana, Fieldglass, etc).

This can be done by testing out the Task Center API in Postman. Please review the below article to check out the steps.

Accessing SAP Task Center API with Postman

If you're not able to connect, or it says there's an issue with connecting with a specific application, then check out the enablement processes for Task Center for related application you're having issues with:

Enabling Destinations for SAP Task Center

You can also follow the various enablement missions on the SAP Discovery Center -

SAP Discovery Center - Enabling SAP Task Center

After going through those steps, you've found that you've connected and configured your applications successfully. However, when you log into SAP Task Center, you find that your approval tasks are not appearing. What steps should you take next?

Step 2: Checking the IAS/IPS Configuration

The tools that make SAP Task Center run are the Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning Services. These are critical because they control the user access to multiple applications, and can provision the approval tasks from the applications into SAP Task Center. If you're not familiar with these tools, please check out the below community page:

Cloud Identity Services Community

Depending on your IAS/IPS configuration, you'll be using a Global User ID to designate your users or a UUID (Universal User ID). The Global User ID is used for customers who already have an identity provisioning tool, and will use a pre-existing Global User ID in IAS to identify the user's who will receive their approval tasks. The UUID is for customers who are using IAS and IPS as bundled app to send out their approval tasks, and their users will be designated by a specific UUID in the IAS tool.

Ideally, if the IAS/IPS was done correctly the approval tasks would be mapped to the user's Global User ID/UUID, and appear in SAP Task Center. To check if this setup needs to be corrected, you can export the SAP Task Center data.

How to Export SAP Task Center Data

This can be done with an application such as Postman or another API testing tool. You can then review the exported information and check for the approval documents and see what UUID/Global User ID is assigned to them. If the you're seeing incorrect user information from the approval task in the UI of the source application, and what's appearing in the exported data, then you'll need to check your user data in IAS/IPS/3rd party provisioning tool.

Once that is resolved, if you wish to repopulate the tasks, simply change the name of the URL/Name of the Destination for configured source application. This is a way to make troubleshooting easier, but be mindful it will repopulate all of the tasks for all users.

Troubleshooting Resources if You're Using IAS as a Proxy

Some customers will be interested in just using IAS as a proxy for their already established corporate IdP. If you're in this scenario, please follow these resources:

Configure IAS as SAML proxy to Corporate IdP

If you are following this configuration method for IAS. Please keep in mind that you will need to propagate certain assertion attributes, like the Global User ID, through provisioning process once this is enabled.

Please remember, that even if you're using IAS as a proxy, the user persistency is required in IAS for Task Center enablement.

The reason being is that user profile data for a user in Task Center, is different than the logged in user - no SAML or token available at that point from the corporate IdP.

SAML assertion is issued for the logged in user and fields are reflected in the XSUAA token.

However, tasks have multiple relations to users, not just the logged in processor.

We need a central place where this data is stored and accessible by the admin. We also require that the same user has the same user identifier across the whole landscape, which is again provided by IAS whether it be the Global User ID, or the UUID.

If you need to troubleshoot and debug after checking the connectivity, and are using IAS as a proxy, please review these helpful links:

Configure the User Attributes Sent to the Application

Configure the Default Attributes Sent to the Application

Enrich Assertion Attributes Coming from Corporate IdP

Conclusion

As SAP Task Center is branched out and supported by various applications through the year, it will be helpful to keep a look at the release cadences of when it goes live for an application you're specifically interested in connecting. As more official documentation and Discovery Center missions are published, I will keep updating this blog to have the most relevant information to assist with troubleshooting.

SAP Task Center integration with SAP Alert Notification Service for SAP BTP

2022-10-26T09:58:25+02:00

Introduction

This blog post will guide you, how to integrate SAP Task Center with SAP Alert Notification service to monitor the connected "task providers". Please also read the documentation at help.sap.com of SAP Task Center for additional details.

To get an overview about SAP Alert Notification service please have a look into the official help.sap.com documentation for more insights.

Scenario

SAP Task Center allows you to establish a "central inbox" across SAP solutions (task providers) like S/4HANA Cloud, Ariba, SuccessFactors, ... . Please read the documentation at help.sap.com to get an overview about the supported solutions in detail.

By using SAP Alert Notification Service we are able to identify and get informed, in case a specific status during the execution of the jobs exists. Especially if an error by fetching tasks from an connected system (task provider) this information can help to investigate the issue as fast as possible by for example an Administrator.

SAP Alert Notification service is part of the DevOps portfolio from the SAP Business Technology Platform.

Architecture

From an architecture point of view we will introduce the SAP Alert Notification service into the existing SAP Task Center scenario what we've outlined also in the "SAP Discovery Center" mission for the initial setup:

In detail we will enable SAP Task Center (Event Source) to send notifications to the SAP Alert Notification service.

Prerequisite

To setting up this scenario you need to have successfully finished the configuration of:

SAP Task Center on SAP BTP (SAP Discovery Center Mission)

Integrated a task provider in our example SAP S/4HANA Cloud (SAP Discovery Center Mission)

Initial setup of SAP Alert Notification service (help.sap.com documentation)

SAP Task Center configuration

To enable SAP Task Center to send notifications we need to create a new destination in the subaccount by performing the following steps:

Switch in the subaccount in which the SAP Task Center instance is running and create a new destination. Ensure to create the new destination based on the existing SAP Alert Notification service instance and provide the following details:

[Important] Please ensure (see also the official help.sap.com documentation) that the destination defined exactly with the following value for the "Name":

Task_Center_notifications

As final result you will now get an overview about all details about the destination, afterwards please save the changes by choosing the save button:

Congratulations with the creation of the destination we can now use the SAP Alert Notification service to check the status of the connector background jobs. In the following section we will now configure a simple scenario to get notified from SAP Alert Notification service in case something is happening.

SAP Alert Notification service configuration

In the BTP subaccount navigate now to Instances and Subscriptions and choose the SAP Alert Notification service entry:

In the Alert Notification service cockpit choose Subscriptions and press the create button.

The wizard will now guide you to the required steps:

Create a subscription (for details please read also the official help.sap.com documentation).

Create or select an existing condition, in our case we create a new condition to fetch notifications from the INITIAL connector background job.

After the successful creation of the condition we can now select this condition:

In this step we will now create a new action to receive, in case our criteria met an Email (there are plenty other options like Slack or MS Teams integration available please read for details the official help.sap.com documentation).

In the configuration screen for the Email action we will define it like this:

Property	Value
Email Address	receiver Email
Use HTML	<deselected>
Subject Template	SAP Task Center alert !!!
Payload Template	<empty>

[Important] If the action is successfully created you will get an Email to confirm the subscription.

In addition to the evenType we can also trigger a notification based on the status of the SAP Task Center connectors. For example to get informed in case an ERROR is raised. To configure this in our example we need to create a new condition by using the severity as additional condition. In our example we will use now a condition for the severity INFO and a second condition for the "eventType" INITIAL:

We will now use this two conditions in our configuration:

The following table gives you an overview about the possible statuses (for additional details please find more details at the help.sap.com documentation):

Condition	Condition value	Job Status
severity	ERROR	ERROR
severity	WARNING	WARNING
severity	OK	OK

And the eventTypes which are supported:

Condition	Value
eventType	INITIAL
eventType	CONFIG
eventType	DELTA
eventType	META
eventType	PUSH

SAP Alert Notification service test

To validate our SAP Task Center integration with SAP Alert Notification service we will use an exiting destination and perform and repopulating (see also help.sap.com for more background) of the task cache. we will disable and enable the destination from one of our existing task providers.

Disable:

Enable again:

If you check the SAP Task Center Administration web application we can identify that during the enablement the "eventType" INITIAL with severity/status OK will raised:

SAP Alert Notification service will identify now that our defined condition is fullfilled and you should get an Email like this (with all details):

Or in case you've configured another receiver channel for example here Slack, you should got a similar message like this (severity: ERROR:

Summary

I hope this little blog demonstrate how easily you can use SAP Alert Notification service together with SAP Task Center and which steps are required to perform for setting up this scenario.

In case of any question pls drop a comment here on the blog or send me a direct message!

If you want to learn more about SAP Task Center, Join us at SAPTechEd Hands-On Lab (Nov 15-16) in the session: Enable, Configure, and Integrate a Central Inbox on SAP BTP [IN264] we will guide you trough the complete SAP BTP setup by using SAP Task Center, SAP Cloud Identity services and more.

In one of the next blogs, I will guide you how you can use SAP Process Automation to get this notifications also integrated directly in SAP Task Center. SAP Process Automation is supported now for the SAP Task Center integration, please check in parallel also at help.sap.com the current restrictions.

Additional ressources

SAP Task Center - SAP Help Documentation - Administration

SAP Task Center Community Page

SAP Task Center L3 presentation (recently updated)

SAP Task Center roadmap

Related SAP Discovery Missions

Establish a Central Inbox with SAP Task Center

Integrate Your SAP SuccessFactors Tasks Into SAP Task Center

Integrate Your SAP S/4HANA Cloud Tasks Into SAP Task Center

Integrate Your SAP S/4HANA Tasks Into SAP Task Center

SAP TechEd Use Cases: Establish a Central Inbox with SAP Task Center

2022-11-10T09:08:00.021000+01:00

>> Click the link to learn more about this use case in the SAP Discovery Center. <<

Use Cases @ SAP TechEd

At this year's SAP TechEd, 10 use cases help you address key challenges - and support you in building your agenda.

Sessions
This use case is part of the lecture and breakout sessions IN106 and IN110. Meet Product Manager Beneeta George's colleagues also at the workshop...

Workshop

... Enable, Configure, and Integrate a Central Inbox on SAP BTP [IN264], and learn from them the building blocks and how to implement this integration scenario.

And afterwards?
Want to find out more about how SAP BTP use cases can support you - also post-TechEd? Check out the new Community topic page “SAP BTP in Action”, providing additional hands-on learning content around the use cases, free tier, business content, and more.

SAP Task Center setup for S/4HANA On-Premise

2022-12-02T00:13:16+01:00

Introduction:

The SAP Task Center service enables integration with various SAP applications to provide a single entry point for end users to access all their assigned approval tasks. The tasks can be accessed by end users through the SAP Task Center Web application

This blog details integration of Task Center in BTP with S/4HANA on-premise.

Prerequisites:

SAP BTP Cloud Foundry environment

Task Center service in BTP

Launchpad service in BTP

Identity Authentication service (IAS)

Identity Provisioning service (IPS)

SAP Cloud Connector

SAP S/4HANA On-premise

The integration of SAP Task center with On-Premise S/4HANA involves the below listed activities

Task Center configuration with S/4HANA On-Premise system.

Update user UUID from IAS to S/4HANA user.

Integration of My inbox app with SAP BTP Launchpad service

Configure Launchpad site and Role Assignment

1. Task Center configuration with S/4HANA On-Premise system

1.1 Deployment of Task Center & Launchpad Service in BTP

SAP Task center is available on BTP Cloud Foundry environment only. Establish trust between Identity Provider and subaccount of Task center.

Run the Booster setup for Task center to complete the Automatic setup of Task Center, which creates the sample destinations for the SAP Solutions to be connected with sample values for the properties and subscription to the SAP Launchpad service application. Refer to the help document to run booster setup.

1.2 SAP Launchpad service configuration for Task Center

1.2.1. Navigate to Instance and Subscriptions in BTP, Select the Launchpad Service and click Go to Application to access the Site Manager

1.2.2. Update the content of Launchpad service from Site manager and add the apps to My Content.

1.2.3. Create new Group and Role in Site Manager for Task center and Task Center Administration.

1.2.4. Create a new site for Task center application and add the Task Center Role.

1.3 Cloud connector setup for Task Center and S/4HANA On-Premise

The cloud connector is used to connect Task Center with On-Premise S/4HANA. The cloud connector must be configured to use UUID of the user as subject pattern for Principal Propagation to S/4HANA.

Note: In case the cloud connector is currently configured with different subject pattern for Principal Propagation (for example, e-mail), use other cloud connector with user UUID as the subject pattern for Task center to communicate with S/4HANA.

1.3.1. Configure the BTP CF subaccount in Cloud Connector

1.3.2. Create http connection to backend S/4HANA with Principal Propagation using X.509 Certificate (strict usage). In the URL path section, allow access to /sap/opu/odata4/sap/ path and sub path.

1.3.3. Navigate to configuration menu in SAP Cloud Connector, Select On-Premise section to generate system certificate and CA certificate. It can be Self signed or CA signed certificate.

1.3.4. In the Principal Propagation section, Configure the “user_uuid” as the subject pattern and download the sample certificate.

1.4 Configuration in S/4HANA system

In S/4HANA System, execute the SPRO transaction, choose SAP Reference IMG -> SAP NetWeaver -> Application Server -> Business Management -> SAP Business Technology Platform Integration -> SAP Task Center Integration

Execute the below tasks under the SAP Task Center Integration sections.

Note: The configuration path may differ based on S/4HANA versions

1.4.1. Publish the OData V4 service group on the S/4HANA system for the below services (Tcode /IWFND/V4_ADMIN),

API_TASK_SPI_REPLICATION

API_TASK_SPI_DETAILS

1.4.2. Create a role for Task Pull Service and assign it to Service User in S/4HANA

1.4.3. Create role for Task Detail Service and assign the role to S/4HANA business users

1.4.4. Execute STRUST transaction and upload the Cloud Connector system certificate (in section 1.3.3) into SAP Server Standard PSE.

1.4.5. Execute CERTRULE transaction, upload the generated sample certificate from Cloud Connector (in section 1.3.4) and create rule with User UUID as the identifier.

1.4.6 Add the below listed parameter in default profile of S/4HANA system and restart the system.

icm/trusted_reverse_proxy_0 - SUBJECT=”CN=vmw6281.wdf.sap.corp, OU=PM, O=SAP, C=DE”, ISSUER=”CN=priv.root.ca, OU=PM, O=SAP, C=DE”

1.5 Destination creation at BTP Subaccount

1.5.1 Create destination in BTP to connect IAS

Configure the IAS destination in BTP to connect the identity directory of Identity Authentication and retrieve the required information about the end users. This is required for all SAP application integration with Task Center.

1.5.1.1. Create an Administrator user in IAS and generate the certificate for the administrator user in IAS.

1.5.1.2. Upload the generated certificate of IAS Administrator in the destination section of SAP BTP CF sub account.

1.5.1.3. Update the IAS url in Identity_Authentication_Connectivity_IDS destination in BTP subaccount and use the IAS user certificate for authentication.

1.5.2. Create a destination in BTP to connect S/4HANA

Clone the sample S/4HANA destination and update the virtual host, virtual port and location ID from the registered cloud connector. Use Basic Authentication with SAP Service user credentials created in section 1.4.3.

Update the below additional properties

tc.enabled – True (To enable the Task center for the destination)

tc.ui.group – Name of the application in Task center tile

tc.ui.lable – Sub name of task

2. Update user UUID in S/4HANA

For integration scenarios with SAP applications, such as SAP Task Center, you need a common identifier for the users in your system landscape. In this scenario, the common identifier is the Global User ID which acts as a correlation attribute. This UUID value uniquely identifies a user across the landscape and helps the SAP Task Center application to relate tasks assigned to respective users from different backend systems.

SAP Task center must be integrated with Identity Authentication service (IAS) and Identity Provisioning service (IPS) to generate and distribute Global User ID. In this case, the attribute is automatically generated by Identity Authentication at user creation. Its value is populated in the User UUID field for every newly created, imported or provisioned user. After that, Identity Provisioning distributes it to various SAP applications

Not only the Task approvers but all the users in S/4HANA must be available in IAS. The user UUID of the respective users in IAS must be updated back to S/4HANA. Otherwise “created by” user information field of the task will not be available in Task center application

In Identity provisioning System, use system type as “SAP Application Server ABAP” to provision the user UUID information to S/4HANA system.

2.1 Cloud connector setup for IPS and S/4HANA On-premise

Follow the below step to create RFC Destination in IPS subaccount to connect backend S/4HANA.

Note: This destination setup is required only when we use SAP Application Server ABAP type in IPS configuration. For rest of the connection types in IPS, the parameter values defined in the property tab is used for connection.

2.1.1. Configure the IPS subaccount in Cloud Connector.

2.1.2. Create Cloud To On-Premise connection to backend system using RFC Protocol.

2.1.3. Add the below BAPI as prefix in the resources section of backend connection.

PRGN_ROLE_GETLIST

BAPI_USER_GETLIST

BAPI_USER_GET_DETAIL

BAPI_USER_CREATE1

BAPI_USER_ACTGROUPS_ASSIGN

IDENTITY_MODIFY

BAPI_USER_DELETE

PRGN_ACTIVITY_GROUPS_LOAD_RFC

2.1.4. Switch to the subaccount of IPS, create a destination of type RFC to connect S/4HANA system. Use Basic authentication to connect the backend system.

Add the below additional properties:

Jco.client.ashost – Virtual host defined in Cloud connector destination

Jco.client.client – Client number of SAP system

Jco.client.sysnr – System number of SAP system

2.2. Create/Update users in IAS from S/4HANA

IAS acts as central repository of users for multiple applications (like S/4HANA, SuccessFactors, Concur, Ariba etc) registered to it. The login name and email ID is used as the unique attributes to connect IAS.

There are two scenarios to update the user UUID to S/4HANA system,

Scenario 1 -> Users in IAS are created from different applications (Eg SuccessFactors, CONCOR) using IPS Sync jobs and users in S/4HANA system is yet to be synchronized with IAS.

This scenario is further classified into two segments based on the Identical or non-identical user name and email address.

Scenario 1.1: Identical Login Name and Email address:

If the login name and email id of the user is identical for all the applications integrated to IAS, then the process is straight forward.

In this scenario the user already exists in IAS, so we create or update the user in S/4HANA and also update the UUID of the user form IAS to S/4HANA using IPS jobs. Please note that Login name of S/4HANA alone is supported and can be used as unique attribute between IAS and S/4HANA to sync IAS user details and UUID with user in S/4HANA.

Scenario 1.2: Different Login name and same Email address:

Assume that, the login name of S/4HANA User and SuccessFactors users(or user from other application) is different but has the same email address maintained in both the applications. IAS has existing user master record based on SuccessFactors.

In this scenario IAS User detail/UUID can’t be updated to S/4HANA system because the login name in IAS does not match with the login name of user in S/4HANA. So S/4HANA login name need to be updated against the respective IAS users in other user master fields like display name or custom attribute.

IPS sync jobs using Put operation completely replaces the existing user details in IAS with user details of S/4HANA which leads to inconsistencies in IAS user master. The other application which relay on IAS for user authentication will end up in access issues.

To avoid this issue, IPS jobs with patch operation must be used which make sure no information of existing IAS user gets changed and it just patch the login name in other field(like display name or custom attribute) to identify the user in S/4HANA

Scenario 2 -> Users are not available in IAS

Create the users in IAS manually or by using IPS provisioning from S/4HANA and push the respective UUID details of IAS user back to S/4HANA through another IPS provisioning job.

The above discussed scenarios are purely for better understanding of the ways and means in which users in IAS can updated using Identity Provisioning jobs.

2.3. Create/Update users in IAS for TASK Center Integration

For the task center integration in this blog, we used two IPS jobs. First IPS job to patch S/4HANA login name in display name field in IAS user master data and second IPS job is used to update the respective UUID field of IAS user to S/4HANA user.

2.3.1. IPS Transformation from S/4HANA to IAS:

In IPS, add a source system with ABAP application server type and select the RFC destination created in IPS subaccount.

Two user groups are created in IAS. One for S/4HANA users and other for Task center approvers based on role assignment in S/4HANA system though IPS jobs.

S/4HANA users Login name will be updated in display name field of users in IAS.

Email Id is used as unique attribute in target transformation to provision the details to users in IAS.

Note: Transformation logic is subject to change based on the business requirement.

2.3.1.1. S/4HANA Source Transformation:

Below transformation logic read the users in S/4HANA and assign the user to respective user group in IAS (i.e) S/4HANA users get assigned to S/4HANA_USER group and Task approvers will be assigned to TASKCTR group in IAS, based on their role assignment in S/4HANA system

2.3.1.2. S/4HANA source Parameters:

2.3.1.3. IAS Target Transformation:

If user exists in IAS, Below transformation logic perform patch operation to update SAP login name in display name field of IAS or create the new user if the user is not available in IAS.

Patch operation is supported for IAS system, check the IPS guide for more details on the supported system.

Set the parameter scim.support.patch.operation to true

Add the below transformation to perform Patch operation

           {

                "constant": true,

                "targetVariable": "is.scim.patched.entity",

                "scope": "patchEntity"

            },

            {

                "constant": "urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp",

                "targetPath": "$.schemas[0]",

                "scope": "patchEntity"

            },

Patch operation is performed based on correlation attribute, User name or email Id can be used. In this scenario user name in IAS is different from the one in S/4HANA system, so email ID is used.

            {

                "constant": "emails.value",

                "targetVariable": "entityCorrelationAttributeName"

            },

            {

                "sourcePath": "$.emails[0].value",

                "targetVariable": "entityCorrelationAttributeValue"

            },

Below logic perform Patch operation of Login name in Display name field of IAS. S/4HANA Login name will be updated in display name field in IAS with below transformation.

            {

                "condition": "$.userName EMPTY false",

                "constant": "add",

                "targetPath": "$.Operations[0].op",

                "scope": "patchEntity"

            },

            {

                "condition": "$.userName EMPTY false",

                "constant": "displayName",

                "targetPath": "$.Operations[0].path",

                "scope": "patchEntity"

            },

            {

                "sourcePath": "$.userName",

                "optional": true,

                "targetPath": "$.Operations[0].value",

                "scope": "patchEntity"

            },

To patch more than one field, add the corresponding logic to each field and change the Operations[1].op count accordingly.

2.3.1.4. IAS Target Parameters:

2.4. Update the SAP Global user ID(UUID) in S/4HANA

2.4.1. IPS Transformation from IAS to S/4HANA:

In IPS, Add a source system as IAS and read the users from S/4HANA user groups.

Add ABAP application server type as a Target system and select the RFC destination.

In the target system transformation logic, all the fields are ignored except the UUID field, so UUID will only be updated to S/4HANA users.

UUID assignment to S/4HANA users can be checked in USR_BY_GLOBALUID and USR_TO_GLOBALUID Table in S/4HANA and user change documents for the respective user.

2.4.1.1. IAS Source transformation:

Read the users from group and map the display name to user name to identify the user in S/4HANA, ABAP functional module will use this input and update the user UUID data to respective users.

2.4.1.2. IAS Source system parameters:

Set the below parameter to read the users from group,

Ias.user.filter – group.display eq “S/4HANA_User”

2.4.1.3. S/4HANA system Target transformation:

Ignore the remaining fields except the user UUID in the transformation used to update S/4HANA. IPS job uses the RFC destination and BAPI to update the user UUID field.

2.4.1.4. S/4HANA Target parameters:

3. Integration of My inbox app with SAP BTP launchpad service

More details about the task created in S/4HANA can be displayed by integrating My Inbox application in Task Center. And by doing so, Task center displays the additional details using the iframe URL embedded with the task details.

In the below screenshot the iframe URL embedded with task is highlighted in green.

Note

Refer to the blog for more details on integrating My Inbox on-premise application with BTP Launchpad.

4. Configure Launchpad site and Role Assignment

Launch Site Manager in Launchpad Service to add the My inbox role along with Task center site created in step 1.2.3 or add the role in another site and maintain the site details in S/4HANA as mentioned in step 4.1.

4.1. Configure the Launchpad Site details in S/4HANA

To integrate My Inbox application with Task center, update the My inbox site details of launchpad service in below mentioned path in S/4HANA system.

Launch SPRO Tcode -> choose SAP Reference IMG -> SAP NetWeaver -> Application Server -> Business Management -> SAP Business workflow -> Basic settings (Workflow system) -> Maintenance of URL Settings

4.2. Role mapping to users in IAS

Task Center Operator role and My inbox role to be assigned to respective IAS users to execute their activity in Task Center.

Roles in BTP has been mapped to user groups in IAS (Refer step 2.2). Through which Users in the respective IAS group will inherit the BTP roles.

Task Center Administration role is assigned to the Administrator to check the connectivity status of all application.

5. Troubleshooting steps:-

Can’t have more than one S/4HANA destination for same system to avoid duplicate tasks.

Check the note 2975987 for required Support Package detail information for S/4HANA version and implement the note 3160475, prerequisite notes if required.

Check the principal propagation setup for any approval related issues.

Update On-premise My Inbox version to latest patch level

Perform below checks if the task is not available for the user in Task Center

User Id should be active in S/4HANA system and Fiori front end system (for HUB based fiori setup) with valid password.

Provide necessary RFC access for HUB based Fiori setup to open the tasks.

Repopulate the cache in Task center, To clear the cache in Task Center, remove the parameter tc.enabled from BTP destination for S/4HANA. Wait till the system gets removed from Task Center Administration tile and again add the parameter to back destination.

Compare the user UUID between IAS and S/4HANA.

Use the postman API to export the task details from Task Center, check the respective task with assigned Processor ID.

https://api.one-inbox-service-sap.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com/task-center-service/v1/export

6. Conclusion

Hope this blog helps you to understand the concepts and steps involved in Integrating Task Center service in BTP with S/4HANA on-premise. Task center highly optimises the work of an end user or an approver, where the request from various system can be managed from single window and this feature helps to enhances the user experience and productivity to a greater extent.

Please feel free to post your questions in comment section or in SAP Community for SAP Task Center.

Please check the official documentation of SAP Task Center - https://help.sap.com/docs/task-center/sap-task-center/initial-setup and the missions in SAP Discovery Center - https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/missionCatalog/?search=sap-task-center

Collaborate with us - SAP Task Center Opens It‘s Documentation for Your Feedback with GitHub!

2023-02-01T23:01:42+01:00

Your feedback as an SAP customer or partner has always played a vital role in shaping our Product. Feedbacks are instrumental in ensuring that we tailor our SAP Help Portal content to best suit your needs. We firmly believe in the power of collaboration, and our Open Documentation Initiative contribution process bears testimony to it.

The SAP Open Documentation Initiative enables users to contribute directly to documentation in the SAP Help Portal. The GitHub collaboration process that we’ve put in place allows us to easily interact with you, our audience. A GitHub account is all you need to give us open and quick feedback, or even proposals for improving our content.

In the beginning, the initiative was adopted by very few products, but gradually more and more documentations were added, and now SAP Task Center has also joined the family of the products that are open for your feedback and suggestions.

To get started, take a look at this introduction video.

How do I contribute?

A GitHub account is all you need! There are two ways you contribute to the documentation in SAP Help Portal: Either by providing feedback or by editing the content.

Provide Feedback

You have a question or there’s something in the text that doesn’t seem quite right to you?

Open SAP Task Center page on SAP Help Portal, navigate to the topic that you want to contribute to and choose the Feedback option.

SAP Help Portal - Feedback

This opens an issue window in GitHub. Provide your feedback in the form of an issue and click on Submit new issue.

GitHub - Feedback

We’ll respond as soon as possible.

Edit the Text

Feel the need to rephrase the content?

Open SAP Task Center page on SAP Help Portal, navigate to the topic that you want to contribute to and choose the Edit option.

SAP Help Portal - Edit

This opens a Markdown version of the topic in the GitHub editor. Choose the pencil icon to edit the Markdown file.

GitHub - Edit File (1)

Make the necessary changes in the Edit file section.

GitHub - Edit File (2)

Propose changes by adding an optional description or comment to your suggestion

Propose Changes

Follow the standard GitHub workflow for creating a pull request.

We’ll respond as soon as possible.

What happens after I submit my contributions?

Your contributions are reviewed by the authors and may be accepted, modified, or rejected, depending on whether the changes are accurate and consistent with the documentation conventions in use. See What to Expect.

It may take some time before changes appear in the SAP Help Portal version of the topic. This is because your suggestions may need additional reviews. Also, some guides are only republished at scheduled intervals.

In the meantime, to keep track of your contributions, you can use the standard GitHub tracking functionality. See Finding information in a repository.

You can also stay informed by using GitHub notifications. See Setting up notifications.

More Information

Introducing the Open Documentation Initiative

SAP BTP Documentation Goes GitHub – New Collaboration Process

————————————————————————————————————————————–

Integrate SAP Task Center with Concur

2023-02-20T14:33:55+01:00

With Task Center, we intend to help improve user productivity with a central notification system for approval workflow management across Concur Request and Concur Expense with other SAP solutions in the Intelligent Enterprise Suite. Customers can benefit from reducing administrative burden, improving operational processes, and providing better insight within the approval processes, notifications, tasks, and action items. Today, we are thrilled to announce that Task Center can be now integrated with Concur.

To configure Task Center with SAP Concur, please follow the steps below:

1. Check the prerequisites

Before you can use the Task Center service in Concur, you have to meet the following prerequisites:

- Currently the task center integration only suppots the following SAP concur solutions:

Concur Expense, Professional/Premium Edition

Concur Request, Professional/Premium Edition

- SAP Task Center is available via the commercialization model: SAP Business Technology Platform CPEA, Pay as you go, free tier model and make sure you have the latest data privacy agreement.

- You have an SAP Concur admin user with Web Services Administrator role assigned.

- SAP Cloud Identity Services are needed for integrating task providers with SAP Task Center.

Recommended approach: Use SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning to generate and distribute Global User ID. If you just purchased Concur, you need to configure for both IAS and IPS tenants, details could be found here

If you already have an existing SAP Concur entity, and have generated the Company Request Token and Company UUID. Within BTP connection settings, you would need the app ID and company UUID and request token values again. If you require any additional information, please contact your SAP Concur implementation consultant or check out the integration guide with Concur solution.

Check out how to set up destination to connect SAP Task Center and SAP Concur here.

2. Check whether these services are entitled in your SAP BTP sub account

SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, formerly known as SAP Launchpad service (see this blog) or advanced edition

SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication

SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Provisioning

If not, you can subscribe to the required service under “Entitlements” from BTP cockpit and add the service plans respectively.

Add SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition and SAP Task Service to your sub account

At the end, you should be able to see both service plans showing up in your entitlements.

3. Configure Trust between BTP Sub account and SAP Identity Authentication service (IAS)

To use Task Center with SAP Concur, you need to establish trust between your SAP BTP sub-account and SAP Cloud IAS service. Under Security tab, you can find the trust configuration so that you can click on “Establish Trust” and select the Identity Authentication tenant that you want to connect with your subaccount.

*only tenants that belong to your customer ID are shown*

4. Run the automatic set up

Choose the “Boosters“ from the navigation bar to create a sub account. The booster will perform the certain steps to create service instances and destinations accordingly.

You will see that the booster creates role collections and directly assign them to your user account and the booster also validates the prerequisites and informs you if entitlements are missing:

5. Configure your SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition Site manager service

You can now go to your SAP Build Work Zone application and in the “Content Manager” menu, you will be able to find the apps related to Task Center. Select them and click on “Add to my Content” such as “Task Center” and “Task Center Administration”. Follow the steps in order to integrate the SAP Task Center applications into a new SAP Build Work Zone site.

When you finish it, you can see the tiles are added to your Fiori launchpad.

6. Generate an expense approval task in Concur

Now you can login to SAP Concur and navigate to the Expense tab to create a new expense report by clicking “Create New Report“. You can enter the travel expense details and then submit your expense report.

7. Approve the task in SAP Task Center

You will see the Concur expense report showing up in the task center application and if you click on it, you will see all the details from the expense report.

And the approver can decide if he/she wants to approve it or send it back.

Without SAP Task Center, an approver would need to log in to multiple applications to manage approval workflows. With SAP Task Center, the approver can view and approve multiple workflows from one place.

Ready to experience the benefits of our Task Center integration? Try it today and click on the following documentations to learn more.

Release notes

Integration Guide

What’s New in SAP Build Process Automation: March 2023 Release

2023-03-22T15:49:58+01:00

Dear community,

We are excited to highlight some of our most comprehensive product features released this year!

SAP Build Process Automation streamlines business processes and improves efficiency, incorporating workflow management, RPA, decision management, process visibility, and embedded AI capabilities. With benefits like improved productivity and team collaboration, SAP Build Process Automation leads to faster decision-making and higher business profitability. And the best part? You don't need coding expertise for it. Check out what is new with this month's release.

Release Highlights:

Process Forms & UI

Process Orchestration & Automation

Pre-Built Content
- New SAP Build Content Catalog Available

Process Forms & UI

Adding Timed Wait to a Process

From minutes to months, you can now add a timed wait step to a process to control how long the process should wait or pause before continuing. For example, suppose an employee needs to complete a mandatory training session before starting their job. In that case, HR administrators can add a timed wait to the onboarding process that waits until the training session is completed before moving on to the next task. Learn more in Add a Timed Wait to a Process.

Work on Tasks in SAP Task Center

Improve your process participants' experience with this enhanced integration to SAP Task Center. You can now receive and work on SAP Build Process Automation tasks and forms seamlessly alongside other SAP applications by embedding your My Inbox into SAP Task Center.

How to set up your subaccount for SAP Task Center:

Work with SAP Build Process Automation Tasks from a Local Subaccount

Work with SAP Build Process Automation Tasks from a Remote Subaccount

Customize Form Button

This highly anticipated feature update provides you with more control and customization options. You can now customize the outcome button when creating Approval/Submit forms to your liking. For forms, the default Submit button can now be changed to Next, Send, or Custom text. For approval forms, you can adapt the default Approve button to Accept or Custom text and the default Reject button to Decline or Custom text.

Filter Entries in Forms

Selecting an entry in a form field with many possible entries is now easier! In a form, you can filter the records loaded in the dropdown by simply typing into the field. A filter field appears If there are more than 12 values in the dropdown list. You no longer need to search for the entry manually. For instance, when managing customer material information, selecting a customer number is necessary, and this new feature simplifies the process.

Add Tables to Forms

We're excited to highlight this feature that will elevate form creation for business users: Tables. You can create tables within your forms and add field types like columns, including text, number, date, and checkbox fields. You may also choose whether it is read-only or editable. Thanks to this table support, you can further streamline the data collection for use cases like Purchase Orders or Requisitions with multiple line items.

Learn more from Manuel Namyslo's blog post.

Process Orchestration & Automation

Add API Triggers to Automation

Now, you can easily add an API trigger directly to your automation and export it with your project, eliminating the need for manual setup post-deployment. With just a few clicks, you can create and customize your API trigger by adding a name and description, editing its settings and attributes, and viewing its input schema - all in one place.

Enhanced Document Information Extraction Template Creation

Exciting news! We've made creating and managing Document Information Extraction Templates easier with enhanced usability and an improved wizard. You can create new templates from scratch or import them from external sources. Plus, you can easily add templates to your project from Automation and select the schema and template for extraction. Importing templates from DOX into your project is also easier and faster now.

Support Mode for Agent 3

Desktop Agent 3 now features a support mode that lets you easily install a specific version of the agent or record traces. To activate support mode, have the ProcessAutomationAdmin role and follow a few quick steps in SAP Build. Once activated, you can choose a duration of 1 hour to 5 days and enjoy the benefits of support mode. For more information, see Activate Support Mode.

New SAP Build Content Catalog Available

It is a pleasure to announce that the new public SAP Build Content Catalog is now available. We offer pre-built processes, automations, and application templates for SAP Build Process Automation, SAP Build Work Zone, and SAP Build Apps.

Explore the content catalog to learn more about line-of-business and industry-specific content that is designed specifically to enhance SAP applications such as SAP ECC, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business by Design, SAP Ariba, SAP SuccessFactors, and more.

This content is ready to use directly as well in the SAP Build Process Automation built-in store so that you can consume the variety of templates, SDKs, and live process packages directly in your Cloud Studio with one click.

Enjoyed the updates? Please do let us know!

This blog post only provides a high-level overview of the latest features and enhancements of SAP Build Process Automation. You can find more updates and features in your In-App What's New or Help Portal What's New Viewer.

If you have any questions, you can comment below or post a question to our SAP Build Process Automation forum. And check out our SAP Road Map Explorer for more upcoming features and focus areas.

Until the next release blog post, stay tuned!

SAP Build 流程自动化 3月最新产品功能更新

2023-03-27T05:44:09+02:00

本文为翻译文，原文链接为What’s New in SAP Build Process Automation: March 2023 Release，原文作者为jesse09。

我们很高兴介绍我们今年发布的一些最全面的产品功能！

SAP Build Process Automation简化业务流程，提高效率，包括工作流管理、RPA、决策管理、流程可视化和嵌入式AI功能。通过提高生产力、减少错误和增加团队协作，SAP Build Process Automation可带来更快的决策和增加的盈利能力。最棒的是，您不需要编码专业知识就可以使用它。请查看下面本月发布的新内容。

发布亮点：

流程表单和用户界面
- 向流程中添加计时等待
- 在SAP任务中心处理任务
- 自定义表单按钮
- 过滤表单条目
- 向表单添加表格

流程编排和自动化
- 向自动化添加API触发器
- 增强的文档提取模板创建
- 代理3的支持模式

预构建内容
- 新的SAP Build内容商店

流程表单和用户界面

向流程中添加计时等待

从几分钟到几个月，现在您可以向流程中添加计时等待步骤，以控制流程在继续之前应等待或暂停多长时间。例如，如果员工需要在开始工作之前完成必修培训课程，则人力资源管理员可以向入职流程添加计时等待，等待培训课程完成后再继续下一个任务。了解更多信息，请参见向流程中添加计时等待。

在SAP任务中心处理任务

通过这个增强的与SAP任务中心的集成，提高您的流程参与者的体验。现在，您可以将您的“My Inbox”嵌入到SAP任务中心中，与其他SAP应用程序一起无缝接收和处理SAP Build Process Automation的任务和表单。

如何为SAP任务中心设置您的子账户：

从本地子账户处理SAP Build Process Automation任务

从远程子账户处理SAP Build Process Automation任务

自定义表单按钮

这个备受期待的功能更新为您提供了更多的控制和自定义选项。现在，您可以根据自己的喜好自定义创建批准/提交表单时的结果按钮。对于表单，现在可以将默认的提交按钮更改为下一步、发送或自定义文本。对于批准表单，您可以将默认的批准按钮适应为接受或自定义文本，将默认的拒绝按钮适应为拒绝或自定义文本。

过滤表单中的条目

现在，在表单字段中选择具有许多可能条目的条目更加容易！在表单中，您可以通过简单地键入到字段中来过滤下拉列表中加载的记录。如果下拉列表中有超过12个值，将会出现一个筛选器字段。您不再需要手动搜索条目。例如，在管理客户物料信息时，选择客户编号是必需的，而这个新功能简化了这个过程。

在表单中添加表格

我们很高兴地推荐这个功能，它将提升业务用户的表单创建体验：表格。您可以在表单中创建表格，并添加列等字段类型，包括文本、数字、日期和复选框字段。您还可以选择它是只读的还是可编辑的。由于表格支持，您可以进一步简化多行项目的采购订单或申请等用例的数据收集。

从Manuel Namyslo的博客中了解更多。

流程编排和自动化

将 API 触发器添加到自动化

现在，您可以直接向自动化中添加 API 触发器，并将其与项目一起导出，从而消除了部署后手动设置的需要。只需几个点击，您就可以通过添加名称和描述、编辑其设置和属性以及查看其输入模式来创建和自定义 API 触发器，所有这些都在同一个地方完成。

增强的文档提取模板创建

好消息！我们通过改进易用性和改进向导，使创建和管理文档提取模板更加容易。您可以从头开始创建新模板或从外部来源导入模板。此外，您可以从自动化中轻松地将模板添加到项目中，并选择提取的模式和模板。现在，从 DOX 中导入模板到您的项目也更加容易和快速。

代理3的支持模式

桌面代理3现在具有支持模式，可以让您轻松安装代理的特定版本或记录跟踪。要激活支持模式，您需要拥有 ProcessAutomationAdmin 角色，并在 SAP Build 中执行几个快速步骤。一旦激活，您可以选择持续时间为1小时至5天，并享受支持模式的好处。有关更多信息，请参见激活支持模式。

新的SAP Build内容商店可用

我们很高兴地宣布，新的公共SAP Build内容商店现已推出。我们为SAP Build流程自动化、SAP Build工作区和SAP Build 应用程序提供预构建的流程、自动化和应用程序模板。

浏览内容目录，了解更多关于行业和特定行业的内容，这些内容专为增强SAP应用程序而设计，例如SAP ECC、SAP S/4HANA、SAP Business by Design、SAP Ariba、SAP SuccessFactors等。

此内容也可以直接在SAP构建流程自动化内置商店中使用，这样您就可以在云工作室中一键直接使用各种模板、SDK和实时流程包。

喜欢这些更新吗？请务必告诉我们！

本博客文章仅提供了SAP Build Process Automation最新功能和改进的概览。您可以在应用程序的“新功能”或帮助门户“新功能查看器”中找到更多更新和功能。

如果您有任何问题，请在下面发表评论或在我们的SAP Build Process Automation论坛上发表问题。此外，您可以查看我们的SAP Road Map Explorer，以获取更多即将推出的功能和关注领域。

Substitution Management – Delegation is now possible in SAP Task Center!

2023-05-10T13:22:39+02:00

At SAP, we aim to put customer at the center of everything we develop. With Substitution Management, we have done just that!

Use Substitution Management in SAP Task Center for the delegation of responsibilities. You can assign a substitute to manage your tasks in case of your absence or unavailability.

How can this feature prove beneficial?

Substitution Management ensures that the business can continue when an employee is unavailable for a period of time.

Prerequisites:To create a substitution for a specific task provider, this task provider must support substitutions.

Note: Currently, the substitution feature is enabled for SAP Fieldglass, It will be enabled for other Task Providers soon.

Let’s see how this can be realized:

When planning your absence, you can add substitution rules in the SAP Task Center Web app, so that, for the period that you define, your substitute can work on your tasks, displayed directly in their Web app.

Open the Substitution Management view from the user menu in the upper right corner of your SAP Task Center Web app:

Substitution Management - Screen1

To add a new substitution, choose Add Substitution and add the following information:

Scope: The substitution rule will be added in all active task providers, which support substitutions.

Substitution Period (mandatory): Choose a time period for the validiy of the substitution rule. It can start on the same day or in the future.

Substitute (mandatory): Type at least three symbols before starting the search and choose your substitute from the suggested entries.

Choose Add to save and enable the substitution. The Add button is enabled as soon as you’ve filled in the mandatory fields.

Add Substitution - Screen 1

Add Substitution - Screen 2

On the start date of the substitution, an On Behalf Of filter is available in the Web app of your substitute.

Please note that the tasks will be only visible to your substitute during the date range that has been set.

Inbox of the Substitute - Screen 1

Inbox of the Substitute - Screen 2

Delete a Substitution:

To delete a substitution, select the rule from the Substitutions list and choose Delete. If the deletion was successful, you get a message for the successful deletion and the rule disappears from the list of substitution rules.

Deletion

A substitution is automatically deleted after expiring.

“Run your business uninterrupted with Substitution Management.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Should you have any questions, you can comment below or post a question to our SAP Task Center forum. Check out our SAP Road Map Explorer to know more about upcoming features.

Until the next blog post, stay tuned!

Shape the User Experience of SAP Task Center

2023-06-01T19:03:38+02:00

A good product design and descriptive documentation are very often key to the success of a software product. It needs to be intuitive, obvious, easy to use and clear, without superfluous information.

Wait, but who defines what is intuitive and easy to use? Well, YOU DO!

We genuinely rely on our customer’s feedback to build the (close to) perfect user experience of SAP Task Center.

That’s why we would like to invite you to join the Shape the User Experience of SAP Task Center customer engagement initiative (CEI) by registering until Jun 15, 2023 at Influence Opportunity Homepage - Customer Influence (sap.com).

During the CEI you’ll have the opportunity to get some early insights into our SAP Task Center design plans, contribute to the user experience, and validate the official SAP Task Center documentation.

We’ll be happy to meet you there and get your feedback!

You SAP Task Center design team

What's New in SAP Build Process Automation: The Top 5 Product Updates of H1 2023

2023-07-03T10:32:38+02:00

Dear Community,

As we head into the year’s second half, let’s look back at the top 5 features introduced this year to enhance your business efficiency with drag-and-drop simplicity.

SAP Build Process Automation streamlines business processes and improves efficiency, incorporating workflow management, RPA, decision management, process visibility, and embedded AI capabilities. With improved productivity, reduced errors, and increased team collaboration, SAP Build Process Automation leads to faster decision-making and increased profitability.

Check out the video with Jesse and John and view the top 5 feature highlights and demos for yourself!

Videos are great, but do you prefer reading?

Creating Subprocesses

One of the key updates in SAP Build Process Automation is the introduction of subprocesses. Subprocesses allow you to segment complex processes, making them more manageable and easier to understand. Adding subprocesses to your primary process saves time and ensures consistency by reusing predefined sets of steps. This modular approach not only improves efficiency but also reduces the risk of errors, as changes made to subprocesses are automatically reflected across all processes where they are referenced.

Adding Email Lists as Forms Recipients

You can now include multiple e-mail addresses as recipients in your approval forms. This capability enables efficient communication and notification within your process automation. For example, you can quickly notify process initiators about order status changes or inform relevant stakeholders about critical updates. By leveraging this feature, you can streamline your communication process and ensure effective collaboration.

Configuring OAuth in Email Destinations

We've introduced the ability to configure OAuth in e-mail destinations. This enhancement allows you to set up a SIMPLE MAIL TRANSFER PROTOCOL (SMTP) mail server for reliable mail notifications. You can ensure secure communication and timely notifications by authenticating your mail administrator settings and configuring the mail destination in the SAP BTP Cockpit. This feature empowers you to notify specific contacts about status changes in your active project automations, fostering seamless collaboration and enabling prompt actions.

Setting Up Dynamic Due Dates in Forms

Another significant update is the introduction of dynamic due dates in forms. This feature allows you to set due dates for form responses based on the desired response time. By specifying the expected response days, you can streamline your approval processes and ensure timely actions. This capability improves process efficiency by automatically tracking and managing due dates, allowing you to meet critical deadlines easily.

Reusable Rules

Finally, SAP Build Process Automation introduces an enhanced feature for creating reusable rules. This update enables you to integrate reusable rules into other rules, providing specific functionality across multiple business rules. With this capability, you can quickly build validation rules and combine them into a primary rule that collects the output from these reusable rules. You can streamline rule development and improve rule consistency by using reusable rules as expressions in other rules. This feature simplifies building standard function rules that can be reused multiple times, saving time and effort in the long run.

SAP Build Process Automation regularly rolls out new features and enhancements to simplify and optimize your automation journey. We are excited about these advancements and look forward to supporting your organization in achieving operational excellence.

This blog post only provides a high-level overview of SAP Build Process Automation's latest features and enhancements. You can find more details on these features in your In-App What's New or Help Portal What's New Viewer. If you have any questions, you can comment below or post a question to our SAP Build Process Automation forum. And check out our SAP Road Map Explorer for more upcoming features and focus.

Thanks for reading! Enjoyed the updates or have questions? Press thumbs up and reach out to us in the comments.

Learn how to configure SAP Build Process Automation tasks for SAP Task Center

2023-08-22T20:56:21+02:00

With the recent releases of SAP Build Process Automation, You can now view your tasks in SAP Task Center.

What is SAP Task Center?

Unified Inbox for tasks across multiple applications (SAP S/4HANA, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Fieldglass, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Concur, SAP Ariba, SAP C4C, SAP Build Process Automation).

Integrated User Experience

Kernel service runs in the SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment

There are 3 ways for the Central Point of entry to access SAP Task Center Apps.

SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition

SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition (formerly known as SAP Launchpad service)

SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone

In this blog post, I would show how to configure SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Task Center using the same subaccount to view SAP Build Process Automation Tasks.

Specifications

1. SBPA and SAP Task Center reside in the same subaccount

2. Subscribe to SAP Task Center with SAP Build Workzone(standard edition)

3. Custom identity provider based on SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication as the identity provider. This is the identity provider that you're also using for managing access to the SAP Task Center application.

How to connect the SAP Task Center and SAP Build Process Automation?

SAP Build Process Automation integration with SAP Task Center is supporting recipients of forms user ID, e-mail, display name, login name, and global user ID. As SAP Task Center requires the use of the global user ID to identify users, SAP Build Process Automation automatically replaces the recipient's e-mail with the corresponding global user ID.

Here are the steps to be followed :

Subscribe to SAP Task Center in SAP BTP Cockpit using Booster

Configure the Destinations in SAP BTP Cockpit
- IDS Service Destination
- SAP Build Process Automation Destinations

Create a Task center and Task Center administration tile

Mark the center Task center tile as Set as default

Run the Business Process to view the tasks in the SAP Task Center.

1. Subscribe to the SAP Task Center using Booster

Once you have successfully set up an account for the SAP Task Center with SAP Build WorkZone, standard edition using Booster, Service instance, and the destinations to connect to other products are created automatically.

2. Configure the Destinations in SAP BTP Cockpit

With the automatic setup (Booster), Destinations are created automatically. They are chosen central point of entry for accessing apps with the SAP Task Center Web app.

To view SAP Build Process AUtomation tasks in SAP Task Center,we need to modify two destinations,Identity_Authentication_Connectivity_IDS and SAPBuildPA.

2.1 Configure IDS Destination: Identity_Authentication_Connectivity_IDS

This is a mandatory destination, that enables the functionalities related to user details within SAP Task Center.

Here, I will set up the connectivity using basic authentication and add the system as an administrator in an IAS tenant and provide the system credentials in Destination.

If you would like to set up the destination using ClientCertifcateAuthentication ,refer to the documentation.

Add the property wfs.subjectNameIdentifier with email as the value.

2.2 Configure SAP Build Process Automation Destination: SAPBuildPA

Two destinations SAPBuildPA and SAPBuildPA_rem are automatically created for SAP Build Process Automation Tasks.

SAPBuildPA: Use this destination for the connection with SAP Build Process Automation from a local subaccount.

SAPBuildPA_rem: Use this destination for the connection with SAP Build Process Automation from a remote subaccount.

Since we are connecting with SAP Task Center and SAP Build Process Automation with the same sub-account, SAP BuildPA needs to be modified to use this destination by SAP Task Center.

When using the cloned sample destinations, you must manually add the tc.enabled property. Without this property, the destination cannot be used by SAP Task Center.

3. Create Task center tiles in SAP Workzone, standard edition

After successfully creating Task center tiles , you will see the tiles as shown below

Navigate to Task Center Administration tile to check if the SAP Build Process Automation Destination is visible and all the JOBS are having status OK.

If the destination SAPBuildPA is not visible, you would have missed adding the property tc.enabled is true in the Destination properties. Refer to section 2.1

4. Mark the Task center tile as Set as default

Tasks can only be opened within the My Inbox of the default site. If you have created multiple sites, make sure to mark the site as a Default site which has an SAP task center to view the Tasks.

Please refer to the documentation for more details.

5. Run the Business Process to view the tasks in the SAP Task Center.

After executing the Business process which has any notification forms/Approval forms, tasks are received in SAP Build Process Automation Inbox, and with a cache of around a minute, the tasks are visible in the SAP Task Center as well.

To view the tasks in the SAP Task Center, navigate to the Task Center tile in SAP Build Workzone, standard edition.

Troubleshooting guide

If you miss adding tc.enabled = true for SAP Build Process Automation Destination, the tasks does not flow from SAP Build Process Automation to Task Center. You can even notice that the destination is not visible in the Task center administration tile. Check section 2.2

SAP_BuildPA is visible in the Task center administration tile but tasks are not received. All the 4 are results should be status ok and not in error. If they are in an error state check in detail and correct the errors accordingly Check section 4. Repopulate the Task Cache if required.

How to confirm if the SAP Task center has received the tasks from the SAP Build Process Automation destination but it is not visible in SAP Task Center. Navigate to Task Center Administration Tile - Select the Destination ->Delta -->Check the Received instances .DELTA is a delta pull job. It retrieves the latest task updates every 30 seconds. It saves a history of the last 30 connector status records.

Check if the Cloud IAS tenant,if the fall attribute is an Email ID .

Check if you have added the property wfs.subjectNameIdentifier with value email in the Identity_Authentication_Connectivity_IDS destination as have Email as the Subject Name Identifier in the Cloud IAS tenant. Refer to section 2.2

How to view the tasks on mobile?

The task center in the SAP Mobile Start mobile app allows users to view and process all their tasks from a mobile device. Refer to the documentation to view tasks on mobile using SAP Mobile Start.

Additional Information

The SAP Task Center supports translatable properties of tasks and task definitions in a few of languages.tc.languages property in the destination influence it. Refer to the documentation to learn more about it.

If the SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Task Center are in the same sub-account, OpenID Connect protocol and SAML are supported.

If the SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Task Center are in different subaccounts, only the SAML protocol is supported. Refer to the documentation for more information.

Get Onboarded to the One Workflow Inbox Suite Quality

2023-08-23T22:17:41+02:00

Many of us are tasked with approving various requests as part of our daily duties. Sales Managers for example are required to approve or deny leave requests, purchases for new hardware/software, sales quotes, contracts, campaigns etc. Many factors come into play that determine the frequency of approvals requiring managers attention and often multiple systems are leveraged to send the requests. The one workflow inbox suite quality offers a single solution via SAP Task Center for you to access all these approvals. SAP Task Center is free for use with supported SAP solutions however it does require SAP Build Work Zone as a prerequisite. This means depending on your agreement with SAP additional costs could be incurred.

In addition to a centralized place for approvals, SAP appreciates that often employees are on the go and therefore has seamlessly integrated SAP Task Center with the SAP Mobile Start App. This integration allows approvers to easily work on their approvals from anywhere with the benefit of mobile features such as notifications.

For customers looking to glean even more value from a centralized inbox for approvals, we recommend integrating SAP Task Center with SAP Build Process Automation. To truly become an intelligent sustainable enterprise, you need to automate and innovate wherever you can and no better place then with workflows. With SAP Build Process Automation, you can leverage the capabilities of SAP Workflow Management and SAP intelligent RPA in a no-code development environment to drive automation into your approval processes.

Call to Action:

Check if your SAP Solution is supported with SAP Task Center

Confirm you meet the prerequisites

Explore the SAP Mobile Start app demo

Search for SAP Task Center and SAP Build Process Automation missions in the SAP Discovery Center for step-by-step guidance on setting up your use case

Previous Next

Jump to learn more about other Suite Qualities:

Introduction

Seamless User Experience

Consistent Security and Identity Management

Aligned Domain Models and Integration Content

Embedded and Cross-Product Analytics

Coordinated Lifecycle Management

End-to-End Process Blueprints

SAP Build Process Automation - Learning Content August 2023

2023-08-29T20:49:22+02:00

Hello Community,

This blog post will highlight the enablement content for the few new release features and other learning content that were requested from the Community.

Work with SAP Build Process Automation Tasks from the SAP Task Center

Add Event-Based Triggers To Your Processes

SAP Build Store Sample on How to automate tasks in Google Mail, Google Sheets, and Google Slides with Service Account and OAuth Client ID authorization mechanisms.

Automate Calender activities using Microsoft 365 SDK

1. Work with SAP Build Process Automation Tasks from the SAP Task Center

You can now view SAP Build Process Automation tasks in the SAP Task Center, which is a unified inbox for tasks across multiple applications like SAP S/4HANA, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Fieldglass, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Concur, SAP Ariba, SAP C4C, SAP Build Process Automation

Refer to the blog post to configure SAP Build Process Automation tasks for the SAP Task Center

2. Add Event-Based Triggers To Your Processes

Event-driven architectures are one of the hottest trends these days. EDAs offer so many advantages over synchronous, more traditional approaches that lots of customers have started looking into how they can put these architectures to use.

Most customers look for the real-time benefits first – an event occurring in an SAP backend system and consumers across the customer landscape getting notified of this significant change in real-time.

With SAP Build Process Automation, you can now create event triggers.

Note:Currently, SAP Build Process Automation supports events that are being emitted from SAP S/4 HANA.

For more details, refer to the blog post How to add event-based triggers to your process by darshikajain

3. SAP Build Store Sample on How to automate tasks with Google Workspace with Service Account and OAuth Client ID authorization mechanisms.

How to use Google Workspace SAP Build sample content shows what activities you need to use in order to automate tasks in Google Mail, Google Sheets, and Google Slides with Service account and OAuth Client ID authorization mechanisms.

4. Automate Calender activities using Microsoft 365 SDK

In this tutorial, you will build an automation that will check the availabilities of a candidate and a list of interviewers. Depending on attendees’ availabilities, a meeting request for an interview is sent. You will then update the meeting request sent. Finally, you will search for the meeting request sent and delete it from the calendars.

Please find the learnings at a glance!

Feature	Tutorial/Blogposts/SAP Build Store Sample
SAP Build Process Automation and SAPTask Center Integration	https://blogs.sap.com/2023/08/22/learn-how-to-configure-sap-build-process-automation-tasks-for-sap-task-center/
Event-based triggers in SAP Build Process Automation	https://blogs.sap.com/2023/08/30/trigger-business-events-with-sap-build-process-automation/
How to automate tasks with Google Workspace with Service Account and OAuth Client ID authorization mechanisms.	https://store.build.cloud.sap/store/f9a77a7a-82d1-4cc7-8188-8e5ec74771bd
Automate Calender activities using Microsoft 365 SDK	https://developers.sap.com/tutorials/spa-use-office-calendar.html

How to resolve your queries in Tutorials?

If you are facing any technical issues while learning these tutorials, please use the Contribute suggestion to reach out to us and get your queries resolved.

Did you miss learning features released in the previous month?

Have a look at the SAP Build Process Automation - Learning Content 2023.

Reach out to us or comment on this blog post for any request for additional learning content.

For more information on SAP Build Process Automation, check out these sources:

Exchange knowledge:SAP Community|Q&A |Blogs

Try out the product for Free via the SAP BTP Free Tier: SAP Business Technology Platform | Free Tier & Trial Models

Explore:SAP Product Page|Product Demo

Learn more:  SAPHelp Portal| SAP Learning Journey | SAP Developer Tutorials

Situation Handling をSAP BTP上のIntelligent Situation Automationでカスタム拡張する

2023-11-17T09:46:11+01:00

はじめに

Intelligent Situation Automationは、SAP BTP上で提供されているサービスです。SAP S/4HANA Cloudの「 Situation Handling (状況処理) 」が業務上の状況を検知してユーザーに通知を行い、特定の作業を促すものであるのに対し、「 Intelligent Situation Automation 」は、Situation Handlingから受け取った状況に関する情報に基づいて、特定のタスクを自動実行します。

今回のブログでは、「入庫予定数量の不足検知と、代替サプライヤへの購買発注」という拡張シナリオにて、Intelligent Situation Automationの活用シナリオの例をご紹介します。また、この拡張を実装する上での注意点につきましてもまとめておりますので、ぜひ最後までご覧ください。

本活用シナリオの概要

今回のシナリオは以下の図の通りとなります。

シナリオ概要

従来の業務プロセスではマンパワーで発注の欠陥を発見して処理が必要であったところを、
SAP S/4HANA CloudのSituation HandlingとIntelligent Situation Automationの組み合わせを活用することにより、半自動的に欠陥をカバーするタスクを実行することが可能です。これにより、業務が抱える異常をいち早く検知し、リスク回避と業務効率化の両面から正常な業務の遂行をサポートします。

実装アーキテクチャ

今回の実装シナリオのアーキテクチャ

先にアーキテクチャ図を用いて全体を俯瞰してみましょう。基本は図中に注釈のある通りとなりますので、ここでは技術的な補足点をいくつか述べていきます。

Situation Handlingから渡ってくるコンテキスト
Situation Handlingで作成されたSituationに関する情報がEvent Mesh、Intelligent Situation Automationへと渡ってきます。その内容は、Intelligent Situation Automationの「状況の分析」アプリから「状況インスタンス」の詳細を開くことで、「データコンテキスト」タブから確認できます。

データコンテキストの確認

SAP Build Process AutomationのAPIに関する制約とCAPアプリによるデータ調整
SAP Build Process Automationに用意されているREST APIは、以下のような形での入力をサポートしています。

{

  "definitionId": "<ワークフローのID>",

  "context": {

    "<ワークフロー内で定義された入力パラメータ>"

  }

}

https://api.sap.com/api/SPA_Workflow_Runtime/path/post_v1_workflow_instances

一方、Intelligent Situation Automationから送信されるデータコンテキストは次のように一定です。

{

   "input": {

      "dataContext": "<Situationタイプごとに定義されている出力パラメータ>"

   }

}

従って、CAPアプリやSAP Integration Suite – Cloud Integration等のミドルウェアを挟んで、パラメータを整形・マッピングする必要があります。今回のCAPアプリケーションでは、内部で次のようにデータ整形を行なっています。

try {

			const payload = JSON.parse(req.body.input.dataContext);

			console.log("[INFO] Payload successfully parsed as follows: ", payload);



			const data = {

				definitionId: "<SAP Build Process AutomationでデプロイしたワークフローのID>",

				context: {

					"companycode": payload.I_PURCHASEORDERITEMAPI01.I_PURCHASEORDERAPI01.COMPANYCODE,

					"purchaseorder": payload.I_PURCHASEORDERITEMAPI01.PURCHASEORDER,

					"quantity": String(Number(payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.ORDEREDQUANTITY) - Number(payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.CONFIRMEDQUANTITY)),

					"material": payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.MATERIAL,

					"purchasinggroup": payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.PURCHASINGGROUP,

					"purchasingorganization": payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.PURCHASINGORGANIZATION,

					"plant": payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.PLANT,

					"supplier": payload.I_POSITNCONFQTYDEFICIT.SUPPLIER

				}

			}



			const SBPA = await cds.connect.to("SBPA");

			const response = await SBPA.send({

				method: 'POST',

				path: '/workflow/rest/v1/workflow-instances',

				data: data

			})

            res.send(`SBPA instance has been started: ${response.id}`);

		} catch (err) {

			console.log(`[Error] error has been caught while starting SBPA instance: ${err}`);

            res.status(500);

            res.send(`[Error] error has been caught while starting SBPA instance: ${err}`);

		}

個別のSituationの種類ごとの具体的なdataContextの内容についてはIntelligent Situation Automationの「状況自動化の管理」アプリからご確認ください。

カスタムCDSビューの活用
今回のシナリオでは、「購買伝票の情報」と「サプライヤの詳細情報」という2つのエンティティからデータを取得しています。しかしSAP Build Process Automation側から2回APIを呼び出すのは手間であるため、今回はカスタムCDSビューを利用しています。幸い、これらは互いに「サプライヤID」というキーによって結び付けられており、それを基準にしてそれぞれのエンティティに用意されたCDSビュー同士を結合することができます。この結果をODataとして公開することで、SAP Build Process Automation側から1回APIを呼び出すだけでデータを効率的に読み取ることが可能となりました。

実機デモ

今回のシナリオについて、デモ動画をご用意しました。ぜひご覧ください。

検証を通して見えてきたIntelligent Situation Automationの全体像

本デモシナリオの実装・検証を通して見えてきた、Intelligent Situation Automationの全体像について、自分なりに図式化して、動作機序を視覚的にまとめてみます。

Intelligent Situation Automationの全体像

Intelligent Situation Automationは大きく以下の2つのコンポーネントから成り立っているようです。

オートメーション
Situation Handlingからコンテキストデータを受け付け、条件判定を行うコンポーネント。コンテキストの値に応じてアクションの呼び出し、または外部REST APIの呼び出しが可能。なおこの際には、出力するデータを変更することはできない。どういったデータを出力するのかに関しては「状況自動化の管理」アプリから確認可能。

アクション
外部のOData APIが受けられるプロパティをmetadataから取得しコンテキストのデータをマッピングした上でリクエストを送信する。

これを踏まえ、以下に動作機序をまとめます。

Situation Handling からIntelligent Situation AutomationにXXXというコンテキストが渡される

Intelligent Situation Automationはオートメーションでコンテキストを受け、規定の条件判定を行ってアクションを決定する
- 判定結果に応じて「アクション」コンポーネントを呼び出すか、「CUSTOM_ACTION」を呼び出すかを選択できる
- 「アクション」が選択された場合、アクションはODataのmetadataに対してコンテキストのパラメータをマッピングしてエンドポイントにデータを送信する
- 「CUSTOM_ACTION」が選択された場合、外部のREST APIに規定のデータコンテキストを送信する（上記jsonをご参照ください）

【2023/11現在】 Intelligent Situation Automationによる拡張を実装する上での留意事項

ここに記載された内容は2023年11月時点での検証の結果明らかになったことであり、将来時点で状況が異なる可能性がある点には十分ご注意ください。

SAP S/4HANA Cloud の中に定義された「状況タイプ」のうち、現在 Intelligent Situation Automation で拡張できるのは以下SAP Helpに記載のある一部のシナリオのみ。
https://help.sap.com/docs/intelligent-situation-automation/using-intelligent-situation-automation/use-cases-for-intelligent-situation-automation?locale=en-US&version=1.0

Situation Handling内では、S/4HANA Cloudにおけるユーザーへの通知、もしくはIntelligent Situation AutomationへのSituationデータの送信のどちらかのみを設定できる。双方の同時有効化はできない。
https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/0e602d466b99490187fcbb30d1dc897c/f1a8c585e3ca4132b3ae595fde3ee58b.html?locale=ja-JP

Intelligent Situation Automation と同じリージョンにて、SAP Event Mesh
(2023/11時点ではAWS – EUのみ) のサブスクライブが完了している必要がある

「オートメーション」のみの実装では、REST APIに対して規定のパラメータを送ることのみ可能。従って、SAP Integration Suite等の外部ミドルウェアでパラメータの整形が必要。

「アクション」では OData API の呼び出しが可能であり、$metadata を活用してパラメータのマッピングが可能。ただし、呼び出し先のAPIは、OData V2にのみ対応している。

参考文献

SAP Help Portal（Intelligent Situation Automation）
https://help.sap.com/docs/intelligent-situation-automation?locale=en-US

Intelligent Situation Automationとは何か？
https://blogs.sap.com/2021/08/06/intelligent-situation-automation-the-next-big-step-in-digital-transformation/

Intelligent Situation Automationからコンテキストを受け取るカスタムCAPアプリケーションの作成
https://blogs.sap.com/2023/06/27/use-custom-action-in-intelligent-situation-automation-to-resolve-situation-type-quantity-deficit-in-supplier-delivery/

おわりに

本記事では、SAP S/4HANA Cloud – Situation Handling / SAP Intelligent Situation Automation / SAP Build Process Automation の3つの製品とカスタムCAPアプリによる拡張シナリオをご紹介しました。

Strong Identity : Integrating SAP Cloud Identity Services with SAP Concur

2024-01-16T07:32:16+01:00

Strong identity and enhanced security are essential in today’s advanced and interconnected world. SAP offers a comprehensive Identity Access Management (IAM) solution to its customers. IAM is a core part of SAP’s efforts to deliver integrated solutions for Intelligent Enterprise which includes the SAP Cloud Identity Services.  

Many SAP cloud solutions come preconfigured with Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning such as SAP SuccessFactors, SAP BTP – Business Technology Platform, SAP Build Work Zone, SAP IBP – Integrated Business Planning to name a few (more information on bundles). You can reap the benefits of the SAP Cloud Identity Services with your SAP Concur solution.   

Benefits of using SAP Cloud Identity Services: Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning       

SAP Cloud Identity Services currently consists of two main components: Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning. 

Identity Authentication:   

In cross-application business scenarios, users often face the hassle of logging in multiple times which is tedious and frustrating. Identity Authentication allows users to log in once and use single sign-on across SAP cloud business applications. This offers centralized security for authentication, protecting system-to-system communication and simplifying the user experience. Identity Authentication supports third-party corporate identity providers by acting as a proxy for delegated authentication.  

For ease of cross application communication, Identity Authentication creates and assigns a unique identifier (Global User ID) to each user, allowing every SAP solution to use the same identifier.  

Identity Provisioning:       

Identity Provisioning streamlines user management and identity lifecycle processes, eliminating the need for multiple systems by ensuring seamless integration across the Intelligent Enterprise landscape, making user information available in all systems. Customers can provision user profiles from source to target systems like the SAP Concur solutions, benefiting from simplified configuration and centralized user management. 

For more information, https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-identity/what-are-sap-cloud-identity-services/what-are-sap-cloud-identity-services

Please visit the SAP community page for a wealth of information on SAP Cloud Identity Services from the active SAP community,

https://community.sap.com/topics/cloud-identity-services

To learn more about licensing and usage with third party applications, please visit the Licensing and Usage.  

We currently support the following configurations for SAP Concur:   

Concur Expense, Concur Request, Concur Invoice, and/or Concur Travel & Expense (Concur Travel only is not supported)

Customers who use their own identity provider (third-party IdP)

Customers who do not have their own identity provider (third-party IdP)

Customers that have at least one existing tenant of SAP Cloud Identity Services

Customers who have at least one SAP cloud solution in addition to their SAP Concur solution.

Since Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning are existing tenant, the tenant will be reused.   

Steps to receive Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning tenant for SAP Concur 

Step 1: Check with your SAP Concur account team to determine if you are eligible for provisioning of a tenant with Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning services.  

Step 2: When eligible, create a support case to initiate the provisioning of an SAP Cloud Identity Services tenant with Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning services.   

NOTE: Customers must create a case to set up Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning tenant provisioning for your SAP Concur entity even if they already have existing Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning tenant from other SAP solutions.   

Step 3: When the above two steps are complete, you can now configure Identity Authentication as single sign-on (SSO) for SAP Concur and Identity Provisioning having SAP Concur as a target system from within the SAP Cloud Identity Services administration console.   

 For more details, please check out, System Integration Guide for SAP Cloud Identity Services - SAP Concur integration scenario 

Detailed Walkthrough 

Here are the Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning configuration settings with SAP Concur, please refer to the below published blogs,   

https://blogs.sap.com/2023/12/05/sap-identity-authentication-service-ias-and-sap-concur/   and

https://blogs.sap.com/2024/01/04/how-to-provision-user-identities-into-concur-using-identity-provisioning/ 

NOTE: Identity Provisioning will provision core identity information into the SAP Concur solutions. SAP Concur offers two APIs – Identity v4 and User Provisioning Service to support the provisioning core identity information to SAP Concur. Based on your long-term goals, it is recommended using User Provisioning Service API to allow for the adoption of expansion of features without the need to reintegrate. The Spend profile information for the user must be updated using these SAP Concur APIs, or the SAP Concur user import.

Identity Provisioning may have identity attributes that SAP Concur does not support. Please reference Concur API documentation for supported attributes prior to transformation file creation. 

User Experience using Identity Authentication as Single Sign On (SSO) for SAP Concur   

The user experience for customers logging into SAP Concur using Identity Authentication as SSO is seamless, quick and user friendly.   

 Prerequisites:  

You already have Identity Authentication and Identity Provisioning tenant provisioned.

Trust configuration is built between the SAP Concur solution and Identity Authentication

Identity Authentication is configured as the Source system in Identity Provisioning

The SAP Concur solution is configured as a Target system in Identity Provisioning

Users are created manually or via file import to Identity Authentication user management.

Users are provisioned from Identity Authentication/Source system into the SAP Concur solution successfully as active users.

Step 1: User to go to www.concursolutions.com     

Step 2: User to add their username/email address and Click Next.     

Step 3: Select the Sign in option for single sign on with Identity Authentication. Here, I selected “Sign in with IAS“ option (This field name is set up while configuring Identity Authentication for SAP Concur).  

Step 4: Since this is the first time logging in SAP Concur using Identity Authentication the user will get redirected to the Identity Authentication login page. Here the user needs to add IAS user credentials and click on “Continue”.   

Step 5: User is logged into Concur using IAS as single sign on.    

Step 6: Now the next time this user tries to login to an SAP Concur solution using Identity Authentication as single sign on, the user does not get the Identity Authentication page and does not need to put in the credentials. The user is directly signed into SAP Concur solution.   

Conclusion

The integration of SAP Cloud Identity Services with SAP Concur solutions offers a more streamlined and secure system landscape. By leveraging SAP Cloud Identity Services, you can benefit from a centralized security for authentication and access to all SAP business applications with a single click. Overall, this enhances the Identity Access Management solution capabilities for SAP Concur solutions.  

  

  

   

   

  

  

 

Introducing the New Feedback Option in SAP Task Center Web App

2024-01-31T10:35:04.487000+01:00

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our latest feature in the SAP Task Center Web app: the feedback option. It provides a convenient and user-friendly way to share your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions about the SAP Task Center Web app. We believe that listening to our users is crucial in delivering a product that meets their expectations and enhances their experience.

To access the feedback option, simply navigate to the "Feedback" icon in the SAP Task Center Web app. This will open a dedicated feedback form where you can submit your thoughts. We encourage you to provide as much detail as possible to help us better understand your perspective and requirements.

Our dedicated team of developers and product managers will carefully review all feedback received and take it into consideration for future updates and enhancements. We are committed to actively engaging with our users and ensuring that their voices are heard.

Additionally, we use this opportunity to provide you with another possibility to voice your opinion - this time on the SAP Task Center documentation. We understand that clear and comprehensive documentation is essential for a smooth user experience. Your feedback on the documentation will enable us to identify areas for improvement and ensure you can easily find your way to the information you need. So, we highly encourage you to take a few minutes to complete it and let us know how we can improve our documentation to better assist you. You can access the survey from this link: SAP documentation user experience survey. It’s completely anonymous, no personal data is collected and it will only take two minutes of your time.

Thank you for your continued support and for being a part of our journey to deliver exceptional user experience. We look forward to hearing from you!

Your SAP Task Center Design Team

To learn more about upcoming features, check out our SAP Road Map Explorer.

March 12-13 Workshop: SAP Mobile Experience Hands-On Workshop for Partners in Walldorf, Germany

2024-02-09T15:57:32.820000+01:00

In today's hybrid work environment, knowledge and frontline workers need access to critical tasks and data especially when they're away from their desks and out in the field. Companies are looking to enhance their operational resilience by enabling their workforce to stay informed and act promptly, all while on-the-go and in various work environments.

Like SAP, top businesses today recognize the value of tackling these challenges by enabling their employees to work anytime, anywhere using mobile technologies. Mobile Experience from SAP is our powerful suite of mobile applications, design system, cloud platform services and tools which keeps your business moving forward across any industry and line of business. Whether you’re at the shop counter, on a service assignment, in the warehouse, or somewhere in between, you can continue project activities on the go.

Learn directly from product experts in this interactive, hands-on workshop how to setup and configure the central entry point on mobile SAP Mobile Start, based on SAP Build Work Zone, create and embed content to it, like with SAP Task Center and SAP Build Apps, and how to build your own mobile application with SAP Build Code - all on the SAP Business Technology Platform.

With in-depth topic overviews and practical exercises, you will gain knowledge and valuable experience in end-to-end mobile application development. Expand your network and gather insights from your peers working in other companies.

Registration is now open: sap.to/61106pk5rO

SAP Mobile Start V1.11 - Release Update

2024-03-25T09:47:10.630000+01:00

With the latest release of SAP Mobile Start, you get some nice features for end users, and also for administrators. Further more, we support a new language: Turkish.

Before we go into the new app features, I want to mention a new content type that we support with SAP Mobile Start: SAP Analytics Cloud KPIs as monitoring tiles and widgets. Now, you can see your SAP Analytics Cloud business KPIs in SAP Mobile Start as well. The KPIs are shown on the respective tile or widget, and you can easily navigate to the details (analytical story) by tapping on them. Based on the configuration, analytical stories can be opened within the native SAP Analytics Cloud app or within the embedded web view of SAP Mobile Start.

SAP Mobile Start – SAP Analytics Cloud KPIs

Please check my latest blog Content is Key – SAP Mobile Start now supports SAP Analytics Cloud KPIs on Tiles & Widgets.

Now, let´s have a look at the new features. With the latest release, you can now search/ filter the list of your to-dos for faster access to the respective tasks or SAP S/4HANA situations.

Search and Filter for To-Dos

You also can share your to-dos with your colleagues now, for instance a SAP S/4HANA situation. Just tab on the action menu of a to-do and select share. Then you can chose from the standard device sharing options how to share it.

Sharing of To-Dos for easy collaboration

With the new release, system administrators can apply additional settings in the Mobile Settings Exchange menu of SAP Mobile Services:

Require to passcode-protect the watch before being able to use SAP Mobile Start on it
Disable the download or upload of files (like attachments) from the app, via the embedded web-view

SAP Mobile Services - New features

I hope you like this new feature within SAP Mobile Start, we will certainly continue to add more attractive content types.

For further information on the new topics, please check our SAP Mobile Start documentation.

SAP Mobile Experience offers intelligent native mobile solutions that help businesses build more efficient, resilient and sustainable end-to-end processes, improving people’s work life wherever they are.

Visit SAP Mobile Experience Community Page and click “follow” to get the latest development and innovation of our solutions. We look forward to hearing about your experience with setting up the solution in your landscape; please do share your thoughts and comments below. Enter here for additional questions regarding SAP Mobile Experience Applications.

Want to be notified? Check your profile settings to ensure you have your settings activated.