Best Practice: How to use the Dictionary in SAP Signavio Process Manager

Introduction

The Dictionary included in SAP Signavio Process Manager is your very own business library. Here, you can explain company terms and link them to your processes. This also provides an overview and an option to connect business processes to Dictionary entries, creating a standardized corporate language in addition to BPMN 2.0. As with the processes, you can also manage additional information in the Dictionary by setting attributes.

The following categories including some examples are already pre-defined in your workspace. You can extend or adjust them to your needs:

Dictionary in SAP Signavio Process Manager

Benefits of using the Dictionary

• It brings standardization of common used business terms inside your organization
• It helps employees quickly adapt to changes within the company
• Entries are easily editable within the processes

Best Practices

1. Start by considering at least the following categories: Departments, Roles, IT Systems, and Documents.
2. Use the data type Dictionary Link in the attributes field as frequently as possible to enable better access to entries in the Dictionary.
3. For entries within the Dictionary, store the links to the relevant file in your document management system and ensure that the current version of the entry is always used in your processes.

Recommendation: Dictionary Sandbox

Step 1: Define responsibilities for the Dictionary in advance so that terms are used consistently and duplications are avoided.

Step 2: With many modelers, at least 2 people should be designated as Dictionary Managers. A separate user group is helpful for the later assignment of rights:

Model representation of different user groups

Learn more: How to create a new user group.

Step 3: Create Sandbox categories in the Dictionary, so that only selected modelers are authorized to add new terms. However, all other modelers can suggest new terms at any time, which would then be stored inside the Sandbox categories:

Model representation of access rights

Learn more: How to manage the Dictionary.

Step 4: Grant all modelers write access to the Sandbox categories only. Check the documentation to learn how to manage access rights. Now, new terms can only be created by modelers in corresponding categories. Those responsible for the Dictionary, on the other hand, have write permissions for the entire dictionary. They can check terms, transfer them to other categories, or delete incorrect edits.

Note: All users have the right to read Dictionary items at any time!

Documentation

You can find more information on how to properly work with the Dictionary in the SAP Signavio Documentation.