Documenting business process step variants in SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP06

Overview

With SAP Solution Manager 7.1SP06, a new methodology to improve business process documentation has been introduced: it is now possible to document “executable variants” in the Business Blueprint. An executable variant documents a technical object which is being used alternatively to the technical object which is assigned to a business process step.

Executable variants can be created for executable elements (like transactions, programs, Java WebDynpros) which are assigned to process steps in the Business Blueprint on the “Transactions” tab. You can also create executable variants for test cases on the “test cases” tab.

In this screenshot you can see two executable variants assigned to the business process step “Create Standard Sales Order”:

Benefits of assigning executable variants

For the purpose of documenting your solution, it is now easier to document executed variants of a process step.

For the purpose of testing, you can create TBOMs for each executable variant separately. This allows to perform sophisticated testing, and is especially important to see the impact of changes on your process variants with the Business Process Change Analyzer tool (BPCA).

How to work with executable variants

To display variants, select an object (e.g. a transaction or a program) in the Transactions tab, and choose the button “Executable Variants”. The system lists all variants in a dialog box. Unassigned variants are at the top of the list, followed by assigned variants in alphabetical order.

Create opens another dialog box, in which you can specify a new variant ID and name. When you confirm your entries, the new variant is in the first row of the list. A new variant is automatically assigned to the selected executable entity, and is displayed in the Transactions tab directly below the executable entity. You can remove this assignment of new variants, by deselecting the Assigned flag. You cannot change other existing variant assignments.

You can change the sequence of the variants in the Transactions tab directly below the executable entity. You can remove this assignment of new variants, by resetting the Assigned flag. You cannot change other existing variant assignments.

Technical Prerequisites

To create and use executable variants, your SAP Solution Manager system must be at least on support package level SP06 (or higher), and you need to activate the BAdI implementation TRANVAR. To active it, choose the following activity in SAP Solution Manager Customizing:

SAP Solution Manager –> Capabilities (Optional) –>Implementation/Upgrade –>Blueprint and Configuration –> Tab Extension –> Add Object Types in Other Tabs.