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INTERACTIVE OUTPUT MANAGEMENT –

SOLUTION OVERVIEW

This document provides an overview of the functionality and benefits of using the Interactive Output Management solution to

manage reporting output in the SAP® Business Suite

Joint Consulting, Inc.

©2011 Joint Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.jcsap.com

Joint Consulting, Inc. – Interactive Output Management – Solution Overview Page 1

Table of Contents

Contents I. The Joint Consulting Difference ..................................................................................................................................... 2

II. Introduction to Interactive Output Management (iOM) ................................................................................................ 3

III. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Key Capabilities and Benefits.......................................................................... 3

IV. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Key Concepts ................................................................................................. 5

V. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Solution Components ..................................................................................... 9

VI. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Example ........................................................................................................11

VII. Learn more about the JCI Suite of Applications .........................................................................................................18


I. The Joint Consulting Difference

Joint Consulting is comprised of top-level business and technical experts who design all of Joint products with the following guiding principles:

User Experience – At Joint Consulting we know that a product needs to be powerful yet easy to learn and use. An ERP system is often implemented to provide enterprise level benefits but often fails to deliver those benefits at the lower levels of the organization that transact the day to day business scenarios. Many times transaction processing can be more work intensive after the ERP is implemented. At Joint Consulting, the user experience is always a key factor that is considered throughout the design and development process.

Standardization through Flexibility – A major benefit of an ERP system is that it seeks to drive the standardization of processes across an organization. This goal is not always realized because it fails to consider that different businesses do not all function the same way, nor do business units within a business. All too often, the end result is that multiple “point solutions” get developed and business process work-arounds proliferate. The result is a solution that is complex, inefficient, and costly to maintain. One of the goals at Joint Consulting is to provide solutions that are flexible enough to be used as a global solution. When used in this manner, Joint Consulting products provide one complete solution around which processes can be standardized.

Innovation – At Joint Consulting we believe in the power and value added proposition of the SAP solution. We never look to replace or undermine the functionality that SAP provides. We endeavor to design solutions that take what is already great about SAP and build on top of it. In doing so we strive to imagine and produce solutions that help business realize the full potential of their SAP investment while unlocking trapped costs through the standardization of process, development and training.

Deliver a Complete Solution – At Joint Consulting we acknowledge that a technical piece of functionality is not a solution. A solution must address the business process, training, security / authorizations, documentation and reporting. These aspects are always considered. Sample template programs are often included. When you implement a Joint Consulting solution, you are implementing a solution and not just a starting point.

Reusability – When a company buys a solution it is a strategic asset that should be able to be leveraged into the future. At Joint Consulting we take a modular approach to building our solutions. They reside in SAP and therefore can be leveraged by other SAP programs and processes. We do this so customers can standardize their development in certain key areas so that a new solution does not have to be developed every time there is a new requirement. This reduces future development time


as well as reducing the complexity of the solution. All of the Joint Consulting suite of products shares common components that allow these products to seamlessly integrate with each other.

Automation – Joint Consulting believes in unlocking trapped costs within business processes. To this end many of the solutions provided enable systematic automation of processes whereas business users only need to manage the exceptions. Automation, when possible, frees-up human capital to focus on more value-added tasks and leaves the repetitive actions to the system.

II. Introduction to Interactive Output Management (iOM)

Interactive Output Management (iOM) is an application that is installed and accessed directly in the SAP Business Suite. iOM gives a business many new capabilities in the management and presentation of reporting data. iOM can be added to any program in SAP that produces a list output. iOM allows the user to define what the output will look like and how it will be used. This is achieved through the use of visualization variants. Once the data is captured, the same data can be visualized in multiple ways. For example once a program runs and the output is captured it can be visualized as an Excel document or as an email. Programs that are iOM-enabled can run in the background and retain all of their functionality including the use of an ALV grid and interactivity as they were run online. Through tight integration with other Joint Consulting Applications as well as standard SAP, iOM provides an ideal solution to overcome many of list processing challenges in SAP. iOM is a complete turn-key solution which provides everything you need to get up and running. Things like reporting, management functions, demo programs and authorization objects are all provided as part of the solution.

III. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Key Capabilities and Benefits


The following are the key capabilities and benefits using Interactive Output Management:

Store, Organize and Search for Report Output – Interactive Output Management stores output for all iOM enabled reports. The output is organized, search and retrieved in the iOM Console which provides an intuitive and powerful solution for the presentation and management of list data. In addition to storing the output, iOM stores attributes of the report such as selection criteria that was used to run the report.

Data Reuse and Visualization – Data that is stored in iOM can be reused and “Visualized” in many ways. A report can run once to produce a data set and that same data set can be Visualized as multiple outputs for different purposes. As an example, a report that was run can be Visualized as; an interactive list, ALV Grid, Excel, Email or layout set. This is achieved through the use of iOM Visualization Variants. A Visualization Variant is a saved definition of attributes that control how you want to display an output. Many Visualization Variants can be created for the same program giving you the capability to present the data in multiple formats and output methods. Any program that is iOM-enabled has the ability to produce any of these outputs with no additional development. This makes iOM an ideal standardized solution for adding email capability or Excel integration.

Background Processing Capabilities – Many times reporting programs are developed to produce visually appealing outputs using ALV Grids or provide interactivity such as drill down capabilities. These functionalities however are only available if the program is run online in the foreground. If the same program is run in the background these capabilities are lost and replaced by a simple text spool which diminishes the functionality and usability of the output. The challenge is that many programs will time out if run in the foreground because their run time exceeds the system time out period.

An iOM-enabled program can run in the background and retain all of its online capabilities as well as all of the additional capabilities provided by iOM. This means that long running programs can be run in the background at convenient times. The user can then open the iOM Console, retrieve their reporting data and enjoy all of the functionality the program was designed to offer as if it were run online. There is no other product on the market that allows this essential capability.

Excel Integration – iOM was designed with a high degree of Excel integration. Not only does iOM have the capability to export and view data in Excel, it allows for control over the formatting. Excel formatting options such as: order, data type, length, sign, justification, totals, subtotals, bold, italics, underline, headers and sub headers can be exported along with the data. This provides consistency in reporting look at feel without having to manually format them. In addition formulas can be defined in the visualization variant and exported to Excel allowing the Excel worksheet to be interactive for “what if” analysis.


Email Integration – iOM has the ability to email any iOM enabled report output. The data can be embedded in an email or sent as a text or CSV attachment. iOM can send Excel attachments with the addition of the JCI Bring it Forward (BIF) solution. In addition iOM can embed a link in the email that will launch the iOM Console and bring the user into the report in SAP.

SAP Integration – iOM can be installed in any SAP system (ECC, CRM, APO etc.) In addition to its own interactive format, iOM can present data in standard SAP ALV Grids as well as SAP layout sets. In addition iOM information such as the output number that uniquely identifies an iOM output can be embedded in a standard SAP spool.

JCI Integration – iOM has been designed to work in conjunction with other Joint Consulting Inc. applications. For example when used with programs that have Sales Order Mass Manager (SOMM) functionality, the iOM output contains links to the SOMM change logs. As another example iOM integrates with the innovative Bring it Foreground Solution (BIF) solution which allows functionality that typically only exists on the user’s desktops in the foreground such as creating Excel documents to be created and controlled by SAP background processes. Excel files created by BIF can be attached and emailed by iOM.

User Experience and Training – The iOM Console is intuitive, powerful and easy to learn. Once implemented this can be the one place a user would go to retrieve and manage their reporting outputs.

Standardization and Simplification of Development – iOM is a modular solution that can be leveraged to significantly decrease development. Once this solution becomes the standard for report list output within an organization, the advanced iOM capabilities such as Excel and Email integration can easily be added to existing and newly developed programs simply by iOM-enabling them with provided functions.

Ease of Implementation – iOM is a complete solution that provides the iOM Console and supporting components, authorization objects and management programs that make it a turn-key solution.

IV. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Key Concepts


iOM Concept – The concept of iOM is to be able to store output data and present it in multiple formats while regaining all of its original online functionality. Once iOM enabled a report output can be visualized in the following formats:

• Interactive

• ALV Grid

• Excel

• Email

• Layout Set

Example Flows:

Standard SAP example; Program run Online

Standard SAP example; Program run in Background

Example of iOM enabled Program (Run Online or in Background)

Program Runs OnlineData is Output to Screen with all functionality (ex. ALV, drill down,

etc.)

Output is saved as a text spool with No functionality (ex. ALV,

drill down, formatting, etc.)Program Runs Background

Text Spool is retrieved with transaction SM37 (Simple

Job Selection)


Visualization Variants – A Visualization Variant is a set of saved parameters that allows the user to assert a high level of control over the output data, format and output method.

• Visualization variants are used in online and the background processing.

• Many visualization variants can be created for a single program. For example we can have a visualization variant that displays data in an ALV grid as well as a separate visualization variant to automatically email the same report data to a group of users when a report is run overnight in the background.

• Visualization Variant is a parameter on the selection screen of an iOM enabled report. The visualization variant can also be manually selected in the iOM Console. This allows complete control to visualize the same output data in as many ways as necessary.

Program Runs OnlineData is Output to Screen with all functionality (ex. ALV, drill down,

etc.)

Program Runs Background Output is sent to iOM iOM

Visualize Interactive

Visualize ALV Grid

Visualize Excel

Visualize Email

Visualize Layout


Example Screeshots of Visualization Variant:


V. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Solution Components

iOM Console – The iOM Console is the core of the solution. This highly intuitive console provides the user interface for:

• iOM set up

• Viewing and Management of report outputs

• Searching and Reporting of stored outputs

• Visualization Variant management

The iOM Console displays reporting output information in a hierarchical manner that is easy for the user to customize so that they can display the reports that they are responsible for.

Example Screeshots of iOM Console:


Functions – The iOM solution includes functions that can be easily embedded into new and existing programs via a simple process. These functions provide the functionality to iOM enable any program that produces list data. iOM enabled demo programs are included to demonstrate the functionality and process.

Reporting– Reporting is provided that allows the search and retrieval of any stored output from an iOM enabled report.

Management– Functionality to manage both the outputs and the visualization variants is provided.

Authorization Objects– iOM is a turn-key solution that includes authorization objects to control and limit iOM functionality based on security.


VI. Interactive Output Management (iOM) Example

The purpose of this section is to provide a simple real world business process example to demonstrate the power and use of Interactive Output Management.

Business Process Example - A business has a requirement to re-ATP their open sales orders on a daily basis. The business does not want to use standard SAP Rescheduling as they do not want their orders to be re-prioritized. They simply want to re-ATP each item so that the sales order demand can be re-aligned with the available stock which changes as new supply is received.

This activity occurs overnight when system utilization is low. A report of these open orders needs to be emailed to the Customer Service Manager. In addition a printed version of the report is required by management as well as an Excel version for planning analysts.

Components of Solution:

1. An iOM enabled program has been created to select the open orders that need to be re-ATPed. Since re-ATP is not a standard SAP function the JCI Sales Order Mass Manager (SOMM) is used to perform the re-ATP.

Note – Sales Order Mass Manager is a Joint Consulting Inc. product. It is being used here as it is part of the solution of this real world example as well as demonstrates the tight integration between the JCI Suite of products.

Note – Sales Order Mass Manager is a Joint Consulting Inc. product. It is being used here as it is part of the solution of this real world example as well as demonstrates the tight integration between the JCI Suite of products.

Tip – To find out more about Sales Order Mass Manager (SOMM) please visit www.jcsap.com

2. Interactive Output Management Solution

• Three Visualization Variants are used to present the data with the 3 methods specified by the business (Email, Printed Layout Set, Excel)

http://www.jcsap.com/


Overview of Process Flow

1. Mass Re-ATP (iOM-enabled Program) – This program is run in the background and is iOM-enabled. On the selection screen of this report, the iOM options are selected to send this output to iOM and choose a Visualization Variant that automatically emails the output to the correct recipients.

Example Screeshot of re-ATP selection screen with iOM option selected:

1. Mass Re-ATP (iOM-enabled Program) runs

in Background to retrieve open orders for re-ATP

2. Output is sent to iOM iOM

Visualize Interactive

Visualize ALV Grid

Visualize Excel

Visualize Email

Visualize Layout

2. Sales Order Mass Manager

is called to re-ATP list of orders

3. Sales Order Mass ManagerAfter updates carried out,

Change Log information sent to iOM


2. Output is sent to iOM and Sales Order Mass Manager – The output of the report is sent to Interactive Output Management as well as the Sales Order Mass Manager. The Sales Order Mass Manager will carry out the re-ATPs. The data that was sent to iOM was processed as an Email because this was the Visualization Variant that was specified on the report. The iOM messages as well as the iOM output number are available in the standard SAP (SM37) job log.

Example Screeshot of standard SAP job log with iOM information:

Note – The output ID “0000000047” is a direct link to the iOM output. The output can be retrieved using this number in iOM.


3. Sales Order Mass Manager – After updates are carried out, the change log information is sent to iOM to establish a link in the iOM console between the output data and the changes that were conducted using the data.

Example Screeshot of iOM Console (note under the node of the program (/JCI/MASS_REATP_V2), the output is available):

Note – In addition to viewing an output in this hierarchical format, outputs can be searched for via iOM reporting.


From here the output can be visualized any way it is needed:

• ALV Grid

Note – This is an interactive report. When the sales order number is clicked the sales order is opened up in display mode. In standard SAP, this functionality along with ALV functionality would be lost because this report was run in the background. However since this is an iOM enabled report all functionality is preserved.

Note – In addition to all of the program functionality that was preserved, much more functionality is automatically available. Using the buttons in the Application Tool Bar, you can easily switch to other output methods such as Excel.

Note – System Integration Point – Since this program used the Sales Order Mass Manager (SOMM) to update sales order documents, links were established between iOM and Sales Order


Mass Manager. Clicking the “Show Change Log” button will launch the Sales Order Mass Manager and take you into the change log that was created to perform these updates.

Example Screeshot of Sales Order Mass Manager Change Log (Navigated to by clicking the “Show Change Log” button)

• Excel


• Interactive

• Print using Layout Set


• Email

Note – Depending on the business requirements, variants can be set up to produce any of these outputs automatically or on demand.

VII. Learn more about the JCI Suite of Applications

To find out more about the solutions discussed in this Solution Overview or any of the JCI Suite, please visit Joint Consulting Inc. at www.jcsap.com

http://www.jcsap.com/

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