SAP Digital Vehicle Hub Data Model

SAP has recently launched the new product SAP Digital Vehicle Hub .

This blog post is part of a blog series. The initial blog post comprises a general introduction to SAP Digital Vehicle Hub and an overview about the other topics of this blog series

In this blog post we will focus on the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub Data Model.

This month the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub was launched to provide a central vehicle repository along the automotive value chain to manage all types of vehicle related data in order to meet the business challenges of e.g. distributed system landscapes. As vehicles become increasingly integrated into complex and extended supply chains where automation is the key success factor – an intelligent vehicle management system is indispensable for the future.

This blog post aims at giving a high-level understanding of how the data model of the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub is designed. An example will be used to show how a model is created in the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub System.

SAP’s Digital Vehicle Hub is powered by the SAP Asset Intelligent Network – a cloud-based business network enabling collaborative asset management between business partners. With SAP Digital Vehicle Hub, the customer benefits from a broad and manufacturer-independent platform that enables the customer to make vehicle data and information transparent. The following figure shows how the vehicle data model of the Digital Vehicle Hub is designed. An example of the Rinspeed MetroSnap will be used to show how a model is created with the reference to a pre-delivered template.

Data model of the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub

Classes and subclasses are provided by SAP Asset Intelligence Network and the Digital Vehicle Hub which particularly provides automotive related content. The classification structure as well as assigned attributes and attribute groups are pre-delivered content and based on a classification industry standard. This implies that the customer does not have to maintain attributes or attribute groups. Attributes and attribute groups are used for the classification of vehicles with object specific values and will be inherited to dependent objects. Classes and Subclasses can be used, but not edited. Pre-delivered with SAP Digital Vehicle Hub are the following objects:

• Class: DVH_VEHICLE
• Subclass: DVH_MODEL_SPECIFICATION, DVH_VEHICLE_SPECIFICATION

As described above, a model template inherits the structure from a parent class or subclass. A model is an abstract representation from the OEM defining all maintenance and specification information related to a new or existing vehicle. Models are created based on a model template and allows to add values on the model level according to the definitions used in the underlying template. A physical equipment in turn is an instance of a model and is based on an equipment template, it has a serial number or vehicle identification number (VIN). The equipment object in SAP AIN represents a vehicle object in SAP Digital Vehicle Hub. The equipment template provides vehicle-specific attributes or attributes groups. The following equipment template is pre-delivered with SAP Digital Vehicle Hub :

• DVH_ET_VEHICLE_SPECIFICATION

The following example shows how a model (Metro Snap 2020) is created in the Digital Vehicle Hub . The model is created and assigned to a pre-defined model template (DVH_MT_MODEL_SPECIFICATION), which is based on the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub class and subclass. Best practice is to use standard content (model and equipment template) to create a vehicle in SAP Digital Vehicle Hub . Nevertheless, it is possible to extend the data model with further attributes or attribute groups, which can be added to a model or equipment template.

Creation of a new model in the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub

In the following, you can see the created model (Rinspeed – Metro-Snap 2020) with its dependencies from SAP Digital Vehicle Hub class and subclass. The attribute values can be defined by the user after creating the model.

SAP Digital Vehicle Hub class and subclass of the created model

The following image displays a vehicle which is based on the above-mentioned model.

Vehicle object based on created model

The different sections on the vehicle page display the transactional data for this vehicle. The transactional data for vehicle objects are stored in addition to the vehicle master data, e.g. information regarding registration and insurance, maintenance and service, usage and mileage, or sales related data.

Vehicle Object with sections

In the next blog post, the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub API is covered, which is used to create or update vehicle objects.

More Information

SAP Digital Vehicle Hub Product homepage: SAP Digital Vehicle Hub (DVH).

SAP Digital Vehicle Hub Help Portal: https://help.sap.com/viewer/product/SAP_DIGITAL_VEHICLE_HUB

Community homepage (IAM): https://community.sap.com/topics/intelligent-asset-management