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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

SAP® Business Data Interchange

with SEAL Systems DPF

March 2011

The foundation of successful business data integration and interoperation is necessary for efficient

information access and flow between SAP® modules. Further down the workflow, additional data may

be requested which is no longer available in the specific business module. This white paper will discuss

the flow of this information and how to obtain linked documents from one SAP module through

another.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

Introduction

Many companies utilizing SAP have invested considerable resources in building an interconnected

framework of modules, object links, and document management to optimize enterprise business

operations. Modules such as Procurement (PUR), Sales (SDD), Plant Maintenance (PM), Production

Planning and Execution (PP), and Materials Management (MM) are heavily utilized for day to day

business and are highly dependent upon each other. Furthermore, in these modules, SAP provides the

ability to link file attachments containing business unit supporting documentation, either directly or

through a proxy services such as the SAP document management system. These file attachments range

in type from standard graphics files, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Office to complex CAD drawings and

assemblies.

With proper data management in the business unit and supporting documentation through file

attachments, each of these modules individually serve to fulfill business requirements for disparate

departments all through a singular SAP framework. Generally, these modules can run as solitary units

and facilitate their operational processes individually.

However, as companies innovate and the line between business units blur, managers are called upon to

provide smoother information exchange and link enterprise workflows together to create more efficient

use of outlying data.

Ultimately, they will begin to ask this question:

“How does a company extract relevant business

data linked between modules?"

For example, there is a need to deliver an assembly manual based on a product being custom

manufactured for a customer. All of the disparate document types are available as part of a document

assembly within SAP, but this has to be collected via manual search and export. While this can be the

solution in small scale situations, most manufacturing companies would prefer to include document

enhancements and security such as a title page, table of contents, company logo, and even legal

clarifications.

Performing a collect and distribute manually will be prone to human error and omission. Even with an

external automated solution, retaining a duplicate database of files for collection and delivery can create

data integrity gaps caused by transfer delays or system errors.

For a company that has spent a large amount of time and resources planning, implementing and

managing their data in SAP, a cobbled together solution through a manual pick-and-choose process is

not a viable option for preserving data quality.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

State of the “Art”

You invest so much time filling and storing information into SAP, normally this information is effectively

useable through the different transactions. Any collaboration between modules is not generally possible.

When you have tons of files and need to deliver them to another system or destination, how do you do

that?

SAP provides a wealth of modules that allow many facets of an enterprise to store, manage, consume,

link and reuse data. Some examples of these modules are Procurement (PUR), Sales (SDD), Plant

Maintenance, Production Planning and Execution (PP), Materials Management (MM) and many more.

While the operational functionality of these various business processes is vastly different, the

foundation is generally the same;

A record is opened where specific business data is entered or linked from structured lists and

objects.

During the course of the records life cycle, workflow changes are activated that transfer the

record into various usability states.

The record can be retrieved and transferred to interested parties in digital or paper form.

Finally, after a period of time or specific event, the record is stored in an archive or obsolete for

future historical reviews.

In most cases, record creation and life cycle milestones will depend upon direct human interaction

by a professional who understands the specific business need and is trained to translate that into a

module’s design structure. Workflow changes while in some situations can and should be automated

will also be in large part, handled by a person. Even distribution of record information will be done

manually—although out of the box solutions to handle business form creation and attachment

collection do exist.

But what happens when you have many Bills of Material that need to be sent out to suppliers and

include support drawings and documents? Or if a sales person needs to submit a parts catalog, normally

linked production information to sales records, to their customer?

Another scenario could include digital images of equipment scheduled for a maintenance task with

supporting documentation that must be merged together, then added to an external web site for daily

work. Even the simple idea of providing your suppliers with Purchase Order collaborative

documentation without giving them access to your Purchase Order system?

The first and most important step is to maintain your data properly in the SAP system. This involves

effective use of DMS, MM and any object functions provided by your modules. GOS objects, while quick

and easy, are not a proper storage mechanism. The most important pieces to keep in mind are the

effective use of your documents’ life-cycle, including the management of revisions, status and overall

data integrity.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

Once the data is in the system properly, you can begin to link logical objects together. This means that

by virtue of having laid out a good foundation, you now have the capability to extend these object links

and cross bridges to various modules to create useful information bases for different sections of your

business units.

For example, a Production Order might link to a Sales Order via a simple field, but now through the use

of Materials Management objects, you have created a simple link to the whole set of attachments found

in the Sales Order. This opens the door to functionality such as automatically pulling an assembly

manual or parts catalog for your customer without having to find the documents on your servers or

reattach to the individual orders.

Another example could include photos of damaged equipment being entered into Risk Management,

where a Maintenance Notification is created and linked that then has direct access to the pictures of the

equipment to be repaired.

Proper data retention and management is key to success in bringing enhanced SAP functionality to life in

the whole enterprise.

In addition to laying the foundation of data interoperability, SAP integrated software for identification,

collection and distribution of your information is necessary.

Case Studies

The following studies were collected directly from customer solutions, where SEAL Systems provided

software and support consulting to meet requirements goals in processing documentation from various

SAP business units and delivering seamless output to different destinations.

While every challenge and requirement may be specific to your own business model and scenario

workflow, the core foundation of document identification, collection, and distribution are universal.

With a standard base of SEAL Systems software, and the addition of company specific working units for

addressing customized needs, a solution can be integrated for addressing these needs through an

automated method.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

Multivac (Product Operation Documentation)

Multivac Sepp Haggenmüller GmbH & Co, KG specializes in custom high performance and large scale

packaging machinery. Machines produces by Multivac are in use round-the-clock at companies globally.

Their products are supported by hundreds of pages of documentation for installation, operation, and

maintenance. Most of these documents are stored in SAP, where large material structures and data

archives are kept. When a customer orders a machine from the company, along with the actual

equipment delivery and service; the Multivac sales department is tasked with providing the supporting

documentation to their customer for operation of the equipment. In the past this was done by hand,

where countless hours were spent running searches on materials and objects in SAP, printing, collating

and packaging the final documentation for delivery.

“First-class packaging machinery."

With the SEAL Systems DPF solution, they were able to identify the specific components and data

structures necessary to compile their product documentation. Then with a single SAP screen, the

Multivac staff member fills in the criteria for the desired output and click print. The DPF receives the job

request, executes the required search and collect functions, then produces a final output with table of

contents, company specific logos and customer data, completes a single PDF with proper margins for full

book binders, and delivers it to either the customer directly or on a professional book printing and

binding machine.

What could take hours or days has been compressed to the span of 5 minutes.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

Waters (Material Documents Delivered via Email)

Waters Corporation is a global leader in providing industry caliber technology to the fields of life-

sciences and biomedical studies and practices. With their ground breaking machinery and solutions for

science and medical measurement and instrumentation, they are closely involved with many different

focus industries involved in food safety, forensic toxicology, pharmaceutical discovery, and even

genetics. Their instruments and testing facilities are powered by SAP software, and most drawings and

documentation for use of these machines are structured in SAP through the use of the materials module

and supported through object links in the DMS. During the course of a month, a group of people are

responsible for collecting, printing, collating and producing packets of documentation for their highly

complex and customizable instruments.

“Break-through technologies and solutions."

The DPF is again the perfect solution for building a workflow or starting a pre-built workflow, to collect

these documents based on a material number or bill of material, utilize the SAP document structure

assembly to help identify the correct document records, create a hierarchical table of contents

(mirroring the document structure), and to deliver an email of the final result to the SAP user who

initiated the output. This allows for ease-of access to individual packages of documentation, and the

freedom to distribute this information to customers, technicians, or other parties working with specific

instruments.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

Qatar Petroleum (Request for Quote and Purchase Orders via CD)

Qatar Petroleum Group is responsible for providing energy and sustainability solutions to Qatar, as well

as global operations including distribution and research in crude oil, natural gas, fuel additives,

petrochemicals, liquefied natural gas, fertilizers, steel, aluminum and other services. The process for

ordering components and resources for their various industries involved many documents and pages of

legal and technical documentation. Generally, these were kept within the purchase order module in

SAP. The procurement group was involved in daily tasks of producing large amounts of output and

manually shipping this digitally or via paper to their vendors and suppliers world-wide.

“Global responsibility, quality and

sustainability."

SEAL Systems first introduced their DPF technology to the company with a small test group. The

collection of documents based on materials, request for quotes, and existing quotes was an instant

success. Varying levels of documentation are quickly organized, converted to the universal PDF format,

then stamped with specific company information, inserted with a full table of contents and PDF based

links for swift click through a purchasing record, and then created on a CD-robot complete with disc

cover and package shipping labels. The mail room simply picks up the printed disc and labels, inserts

into the envelope and the process is complete.

This collection of documentation could take days to complete, with the SEAL Systems DPF, this is now

complete within an hour and ready for the mail room without further delays.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

DPF (Digital Process Factory)

The Digital Process Factory (DPF) from SEAL Systems for SAP is a workflow structured framework that

enables collection, manipulation and delivery of various document sources to any physical or digital

destination. The cases presented before were built around a standard footprint of the DPF, with

extensions into the specific SAP modules for data query and delivery.

A job to be processed begins within the native SAP module or through a batch execution transaction.

The documents that have linked relationships between the business modules are identified, material

structures are resolved resulting in additional document selection and order or document data are

collected. Then based on configuration or user preference, the job can be further modified in an SAP

GUI to include or exclude documents from the package.

The packet of SAP information and documents are collected and processed on an external server,

leaving the workstation and user free to continue on other jobs. On the server, files are retrieved from

SAP as necessary, file format conversion can take place, stamps and watermarks are applied, table of

contents and page numbers are added, and the final sequenced document as a single PDF is sent to a

destination such as an email address or printer.

“When your business is time critical,

why do it manually?"

Further extensions into the DPF are performed through the use of enhanced workflow and user

interface tools. This enables the business to dynamically decide on changes to the workflow process or

add additional features and enhancements through custom pieces.

A web-based monitoring tool wraps the software, enabling administrators and users to view their jobs in

process, in a queue or even to research errors that may crop up during operation.

The processing power and automation of the DPF is the basis for several different collection methods

developed by SEAL Systems for SAP. These include transactional programs, which enable the user to

enter in criteria for document search and collect functions with server-side post processing and delivery.

Further standard integration provides seamless invisible execution, where printing operations are

carried out as normal followed by automated background tasks querying related modules for their

relevant business data and document links. SEAL Systems has developed an extensive line of module

support ranging from plant maintenance tasks, procurement operations, production planning and

execution, sales and distribution and more.

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© 2011 SEAL Systems, Inc.

Conclusion

Throughout this document we have identified the state of data management in various SAP modules,

current or possible future requirements on provisioning intersecting data and documentation from

existing information bases, and some real world case studies of these possibilities.

The features necessary for proper data interchange is already available, but the necessary tools to

collect specific pieces of this information, from various interlinked modules, and deliver them in a

seamless document with company indentifying information, indexes and metadata is the key missing

component.

As you can see and hopefully agree to there are many different requirements that a company may have

to use a comprehensive and integrated SAP software add-on to fulfill the need for automated collection

and distribution of already linked documents built on a foundation of good business processes

management.

David Salamanek

Managing Director Americas

SEAL Systems, Inc.

info@sealsystems.com

www.sealsystems.com

Global software, global success.