Simplifying Plant Maintenance Business Processes at Marin ... Simplifying Plant Maintenance Business...

A collaboration of:

Simplifying Plant Maintenance Business Processes at Marin Municipal Water District

Brian RichardsMarin Municipal Water District

Aparna DesaiSynactive, Inc.

MMWD Intro and Background

How MMWD Got Started with GuiXT

Plant Maintenance Business Process Improvements

Linking to Other MMWD Enterprise Systems

Key Points to Take Home

What I’ll Cover

Marin Municipal Water District

Slide 3

• Potable & Recycled Water Service• Oldest Municipal Water

District in California (established in 1912)

• 185,000 population• 147 Square miles• 62,000 Customer

accounts


• Facilities• 913 miles of pipe• 4 Water Treatment Plants• 127 Storage Tanks• 95 Pump Stations• Watershed- 21,250 acres

with 7 Reservoirs• Staffing

• 240 Employees


Presenter

Presentation Notes

We are possibly the smallest water utility to be running SAP.

6

History of SAP At MMWD

• Original Implementation of 4.6C with GoLive date of December 2001

• Began using GuiXT in June 2002• Technical Upgrade to ECC 6.0, Enhancement Pack 4, with

GoLive date of July 23, 2010. This is where we are today.

SAP Two Industry Solutions

• Public Sector (IS-PS)• Funds Management• Financial / Control• Human Resources• Payroll / CATS• Material Management• Plant Maintenance• Project Systems

• Utilities (IS-U)• Customer Services (CIC)• Billing / Invoicing• Device Management• FI/CA Contract Accounts• Work Management

MMWD Technical Staffing• IT Manager• 1 Basis / Database Administrator• 1 SAP / Network Security• 1 ABAP Programmer• 2 PC & Network Support Generalists • 2 GIS Staff• 3 Business Analysts in Business Units

o SAP support is primary focuso Positions filled in late 2003

Presenter

Presentation Notes

You can see that we have a very small IT staff with a mix of general IT and SAP-specific responsibilities. The three business analysts (including myself) are part of the business units and not a part of the IT organization. This positions us to better address the needs of the business units. Our IT organization does not perform application development, preferring to Buy a solution rather than Build one, mainly due to the limited resources for development and on-going support.

MMWDEnterprise

Applications

SAPECC 6-Ehp4

GuiXT

MMWD IT ArchitectureIT Strategic Goal: Provide information to the user when they need it and where they need it

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This is our IT enterprise architecture. These are the primary information systems available District-wide. There are a few smaller systems in place for specialized needs such as our Water Quality Laboratory Information System (LIM).

History of MMWD Work Orders and GuiXT• Background

o Limited IT resources and SAP is not their only responsibility.o Desire to remain a “vanilla” implementation with minimal customization.o Usual Resource Constraints ($ / Time / Training)o O & M Staff with generally low level of computer skills

• The Usual New System Problemso Unfamiliar Way to do Familiar Thingso SAP Terminology and Business Processeso Competing Priorities (get the leak fixed!)o Training / Insufficient Experience with SAP

• Enter GuiXT

Reasons for GuiXT Development

• Improve ease-of-use over standard SAP. • No changes required to underlying SAP code. • Acquire familiarity with GuiXT tools and develop our internal

support capability.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The benefits of ease-of-use are harder to quantify. This goes beyond counting clicks and keystrokes. No change to underlying code means it is easier for patch testing and future upgrading. Use Synactive consultants & support as appropriate. We have used GuiXT in lots of places to lessen the pain points of using SAP.

Plant Maintenance Business Processes Improved Using GuiXT

• Work Orders, Notifications• Equipment Lookup and Display • Customer Service Searches• Transaction Navigation• Equipment & Functional Location Creation• Measurement Document Creation

Presenter

Presentation Notes

I’ll cover a number of the improvements we made for the Work Order business processes. Our Engineering Records organization uses GuiXT scripts to aid in SAP equipment lookup. The Customer Interaction Center CIC0 screen has been enhanced to add easier to use searches. We have utilized some simplified menu screens for users focused on specific business processes. In our Corrosion Control group, they use GuiXT scripts to create Functional Locations, Equipment and Measurement Documents.

• Facilities & Watershed Divisiono System Maintenanceo Facilities Maintenanceo Auto Shopo Watershed Management

• Environmental & Engineering Services Divisiono Subdivision and New Services Dept.o Water Systems Operations

Operations (aka Dispatch) Mechanical & Electrical Shop

• Finance Divisiono Meter Operations

MMWD Work Order Users

Slide 13

These Work Orders are primarily set up to settle to Cost Centers.

Initial Problems with Standard Work Order Process

• Why was this process originally modified?o Lack of understanding how Work Orders affect FIo Incomplete / Inconsistent financial information in the Work Ordero User Issues with SAP terminology

• Issues with failed Work Orders occurred in Accountingo Created problems in Accounting when we tried to transfer costs or run

settlements at the end of the month.

• Solution – Use GuiXT to develop Scripts for IW31 and IW32

Presenter

Presentation Notes

In the transition from the old work order system to SAP, our users had problems understanding the SAP terminology used in work orders. When our users saw the SAP term “Plant”, they thought of our Water Treatment Plants. Most of the average work order creators were not familiar with the relationship between work orders and the links to the Accounting side of SAP in the FI/CO modules. This led to problems in getting the Settlement Rules and Fund Assignments correctly entered. When errors occurred there would be ripple effects in the Accounting Department when they tried to run cost transfers and settlements. The original MMWD work order scripts were developed by Jon Mandell, to whom we are very thankful.

Steps to create Work Order in native SAP

Slide 15

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At this initial work order creation screen, the Order Type and Planning Plant must be completed. Due to the variety of people creating Work Orders, the Order Type field could not reliably be defaulted in.


Slide 16

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The Red Rectangles represent Required fields in our configuration. The Blue Rectangle represents optional data entry fields. Use of the Reference Object field is strongly encouraged but not required for initial creation.


Slide 17

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The Settlement Rule details need to be completed. We could not rely on the default values being populated from the Reference Objects because the FL or EQ “owners” were not necessarily the same organization performing the maintenance.


Slide 18

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Presentation Notes

The Fund Management Assignment needs to be done for budgeting purposes including issuing Materials or creating Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders. This step was overlooked on occasion leading to problems with Goods Issues and Purchase Requisitions.


Slide 19

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Presentation Notes

This shows all the normally populated fields. This would be the end of the IW31 transaction except for the Save step. Show the additional steps involved with a Charge Tag Work Order for reimbursable work.


Slide 20

At this point the work order is complete and ready to be saved.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Now you are ready to Save the work order. Releasing the work order now is optional but will be demonstrated in the following slides.


Slide 21

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Now that the work order is created, we need to Save, exit IW31, go to IW32.


Slide 22

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Now that the work order is created, we need to exit IW31, go to IW32 in order to Release the order and print the shop papers. (The Release step could have been done in IW31, but it doesn’t change the effort.)


Slide 23

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Presentation Notes

Manual steps to release the Work Order, then print the shop papers.

Initial Scripting Effort

• Recorded the complete set of steps to properly create a work order, including all financial settings.

• Modify the recorded script to handle different parameters such as Order Type, Work Centers, standardized Operations, etc.

• Develop a Pushbutton Screen to allow any user to create a work order using the script to achieve the correct financial settings.

• Add buttons inside IW31 and IW32 for performing Release / Save / Print / No Print functions.

Work Order Creation for Maintenance Groups

Slide 25

Presenter

Presentation Notes

At MMWD, our work order costs are primarily charged to the work unit performing the work, rather than the asset “owner”. This may be different than in your organization. For us, this meant that we couldn’t simply default in any particular Technical Object and get most of what we needed in the way of Settlement Rules and Fund Assignments. The top set of buttons represent the assignment of the work order to the various MMWD Cost Centers, which in our world are also the Main Work Centers. The second set of buttons is specific to our primary System Maintenance organization and further specifies the Planner Group value being set. The bottom set of buttons represent creating Capital Project related work orders where the work will be carried out by the System Maintenance group. Because these work orders settle to Capital Projects, they carry an entirely different set of Settlement Rules and Fund Assignments than the typical repair/maintenance work orders. Additionally, these carry specific Maintenance Activity Type codes that are automatically set as well.

Work Order Creation for Maintenance Groups

Slide 26

Savings Achieved using GuiXT

Slide 27

StandardSAP With GuiXT Savings

Clicks 42 8 34

Keystrokes 59 15 44

Screens 11 4 7

Elapsed Time 2:20 0:22 1:58

Work Order Savings Using GuiXT

Manually Created Work Orders per Month = 624Average Time Savings per work order = 1:58Average Time Savings per month = 20.45 hoursAverage Time Savings per year = 245 hoursWhat is harder to quantify is the time saved by needing fewer investigations into work order problems.Fewer Problems in Settlement = Better Relationship with Accounting

Presenter

Presentation Notes

These numbers represent the minimum time savings compared to a user who is performing the CORRECT steps manually. Think how much time is saved from users who many not know exactly how to correctly perform each step and the time that would be spent finding and correcting the problem work orders.

Work Order Creation for Other Departments• Leverage existing improvements and offer department-specific

data entry screens to other groups.• Assist our Engineering users who create Work Orders both to

Projects/WBS Elements as well as Cost Centers.• Support a Cost Tracking initiative in Watershed Management

group by integrating the selection of Standardized Task Lists to define a common set of Work Order Operations for labor charges.

• Facilities & Watershed Divisiono System Maintenanceo Facilities Maintenanceo Auto Shopo Watershed Management

• Environmental & Engineering Services Divisiono Subdivision and New Services Dept.o Water Systems Operations

Operations (aka Dispatch) Mechanical & Electrical Shop

• Finance Divisiono Meter Operations

MMWD Work Order Users

Slide 30

These Work Orders are primarily set up to settle to various WBS Elements.

These Work Orders are primarily set up to settle to the Meter Operations Cost Center.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Our various shops/trades are shown in Red. These are where the actual work takes place. In our Engineering Division, the Subdivision & New Services Department issues work orders both for Projects (WBS Elements) and for Operational (normal business) purposes. The work orders to WBS Elements are for New or Upgraded Services, New or Upsized Hydrants, New or Upsized Firelines. The work orders to the Meter Operations Department are primarily related to Meter placements or investigations and for the placement or removal of Hydrant Meters for contractors.

Work Order Creation for Engineering Users

Slide 31

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This GuiXT enhancement of the IW31 Order Creation screen allows the New Services work group to create a number of their commonly used types of work orders. Often these types of work orders are tied to Projects through WBS Elements and have been prone to errors, usually missed financial settings. Additionally, these GuiXT scripts also set Planner Groups, Work Centers, Maintenance Activity Types and standardized text descriptions.

Task List Assignment for Watershed Management

Slide 32

Presenter

Presentation Notes

By defining a standardized set of operations, it has become easier to track discrete labor charges across the large number of vegetation management sites (defined as Functional Locations) on the 21,000 acre watershed. The standardized operations really benefits the reporting needs of this organization.

Task List Assignment for Watershed Management

Slide 33

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Presentation Notes

By using GuiXT, we simplify the process of manually selecting the correct task list from the user.

New Enhancement Efforts for System Maintenance Users• Address User Frustrations with existing MMWD Work Order

business processeso Increasing time spent on paperwork before and after field work

• Pent up demand for additional functionalityo Can’t SAP do this…(fill in your favorite desired process improvement)…for

me?• Desire to reduce time spent on redundant data entry

o Why am I typing the Work Order number AGAIN?!• Difficulty in finding useful information about the object to be

worked on (Service / Valve / Pipe / Hydrant, etc)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

As we matured in our use of SAP and we gained experience with work orders and various SAP Plant Maintenance functions, more users were exposed to SAP. We also experienced various retirements and personnel changes that moved more of the work order business processes directly to the crew leaders rather than support personnel.

Other Factors at Work

• Support Staff Position transferred outo Formerly performed most SAP steps to update and close work orderso Shifts more SAP work order steps to Crew Leaders

• New “tech-friendly” manager of System Maintenanceo Actually Uses SAPo Desire to get more out of SAP Plant Maintenanceo Belief in Users Ability to Learno Willingness to do hands-on training, lead by example

The importance of this last factor cannot be over emphasized in introducing change.

Our Approach

• Focus business process improvement efforts around the Work Ordero Keep the user in the Work Order context – don’t send them off to other

transactions unnecessarily• Reduce physical paperwork by moving to electronic forms linked

to the Work Order• Integrate with GIS and Document Management where feasible to

provide information about where the crews will be working• Incrementally add functionality and ease-of-use improvements

Initial Steps Taken in SAP

• Define Crew Leaders and other work order users as Planner Groups to allow assignment of work orders.

• Use GuiXT to develop a “push button screen” for the IW38 Work Order retrieval screen. This allows the Crew Leaders and others to pull up their own work orders.

Steps Taken in SAP

Main Work Centers

Planner Groups for Orders

Address User Frustrations• CAT2 – Time Entry Confusion and Redundancy• Paperwork - Additional paper forms used at MMWD

o Manual paperwork. Lots of redundant data entry.• Navigating the Work Order system in general

o How do I find what I need?o What do various fields mean?o What transaction codes?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

As the Crew Leaders spent more time in SAP, they found certain aspects more frustrating. The Crew Leaders had been responsible for entering their crew members time through CAT2 for payroll purposes from the beginning of MMWD’s use of SAP. The CAT2 screen was an ongoing source of frustration. For new Crew Leaders or crew members filling in during vacations or extended absences it was hard to get up to speed and there was often confusion. This is not what you want to have when time entry is so directly tied to your paycheck.

Addressing CAT2 Time Entry• Use GuiXT scripting to:

o Provide streamlined entry form, prepopulated with useful defaultso Process the user’s data from the Work Order into CAT2o Provide reasonable error handling for uncommon, but possible situationso Return success or failure messages to the usero Provide an inquiry tool to verify the time entry was processed

Time Entry from the Work Order

Slide 41


Slide 42

Clicking Step 2 initiates a second session, and starts the CAT2 transaction. Each employee line is processed individually and a result message is returned. The actual CAT2 processing is hidden from the user.


Slide 43

Paperwork Forms associated with Work Orders• Multiple types of forms and reports with different uses

o Leak Reports, Street Opening Notices, Encroachment Permits, New Meter Sets, New Service Turn Ons

• Initial Efforts with MS Word and data merge were problematic• Use Notification attached to Work Order to create “electronic

forms”o Use the Classification System to create data tables to store relevant data

in each Notification Item. o Use GuiXT to create the data entry forms and manage the retrieval and

save process of the Notification Item data.

Form Data Stored as Notification Item

Slide 45

Work Order

Leak Report Data Entry

Form

Street Opening Data Entry

Form

Meter Change Data Entry

Form

Use GuiXT to manage the Create / Retrieve / Update process for the Notification and individual Items, which store the form data.

Use GuiXT to display the appropriate Data Entry Form, perform data validation, etc.

Notification

Item 1Text: Leak ReportClass: ClassName

Class: LROForm Data Field 1Form Data Field 2Form Data Field 3…Form Data Field n

Item 2Text: Street OpenClass: STO

Class: STOForm Data Field 1Form Data Field 2Form Data Field 3…Form Data Field n

Item 3Text: MeterChangeClass: METER

Class: METERForm Data Field 1Form Data Field 2Form Data Field 3…Form Data Field n

The SAP Classification System is used to create data tables to hold the data values for each type of work order form.

The Notification specifics are generally unknown by the Work Order users.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Each Notification Item is individually classified as needed to store the appropriate form or report data fields. We use GuiXT to display the Data Entry form within the work order, and to manage the create / retrieve / update processes and the preliminary data validation steps.

Paperwork Forms associated with Work Orders• GuiXT allows us to default in data from work order and technical

objects (reduce duplicate data entry) including Classification data.• Encourage/enforce data consistency between forms.• As business needs evolved over time, additional data fields can

be added to the Classification table and the data entry screen.• GuiXT allows better data entry screens, taking advantage of the

usual form controls (calendar, checkboxes, radio buttons, drop down lists).

• Render printable images of the forms using HTML in a browser window or by using Adobe Forms.

Work Order Forms

Slide 47

Leak Report

New Service Turn On

Meter Change

Encroachment Permit

Street Opening NoticeWork Order

Leak Report Data Entry Process

Slide 48

Forms Selection

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Using GuiXT, we hide the tabs in the lower portion of the screen to make a bigger area to use as our form data entry area.

Leak Report Form

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Presentation Notes

As you can see, the data entry form can be much more complete and easy to use than the native SAP Notification Item classifcation entry screen. GuiXT supports various types of data fields: Text, Numeric, DropDowns, Radio Buttons, etc. Fields can be made Read Only if needed. The Calendar control is available for easy Date entry. Now scrolling down, you can see the entire data entry form, including a set of Remarks lines. The user “saves” the data by clicking the Save the Report button at the bottom of the screen. Data is then validated using GuiXT and written to the Notification Item. The Notification is not truly “saved” until the work order is saved.

Navigating the Work Order – Finding Information

• How do I find what I need?o Understanding how SAP uses Equipment and Functional Locationso How does this map to MMWD-centric naming and numbering schemes?

• Getting supporting documents for field worko Sketches and Record Drawings

• Integration/touchpoints with other Enterprise Systems (GIS & Document Management)

Finding the Equipment

Slide 52

Presenter

Presentation Notes

When the user needs to look up an Equipment to assign the work order to, they are likely to be familiar with the MMWD Name or Numbering scheme, not SAP’s generic Equipment number assignment.


Slide 53

Search using IH08(search option-Equipment by Equipment List)

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Presentation Notes

By adding GuiXT code to the IH08 Equipment search screen, we allow the work order users to more easily search using MMWD-specific naming or numbering conventions that the users are often more familiar with.


Slide 54

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We use GuiXT to link to a PDF help document that explains how to search for new users or those less familiar with SAP searches.

Finding the Equipment (example)

Slide 55

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Presentation Notes

Performing the Find Hydrant search activates a script that then performs the Classification search shown at the bottom of the screen. The details of the classification search are hidden from the user and the SAP equipment number is then returned to the work order.


Slide 56

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Slide 57

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Presentation Notes


Using GuiXT to Enable Hyperlinks to GIS and Document Management from the Work Order

Slide 58

Thanks to our GIS Staff who added the GIS Web server capability.

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Presentation Notes

Although we used GuiXT to create the button that links to GIS, I’d like to thank Gavin McGhie and Mariette Shin of the MMWD GIS Department who add the GIS Web Server to our Esri GIS landscape. This Zoom To Equipment function has been very useful for our work order users.

Using GuiXT to Enable Hyperlinks to GIS and Document Management from the Work Order

Slide 59

This URL Hyperlink function is built in to our Document Management System.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Likewise, we use another GuiXT created button to call the appropriate URL to retrieve the sketch or drawing that pertains to the specific type of equipment.

Extend This Functionality to Technical Objects• Same scripting code used to enable hyperlinks in the Equipment

and Functional Location records.

Additional Work Order Functionality enabled with GuiXT Scripts• Enable Creation of Pre-composed Emails

o Integrate Work Order and Technical Object Details into a pre-composed, pre-addressed email

o Crew Leader can add comments as needed before sending• Single Button Activation of User Statuses• Review Materials Charged to the Work Order• Convert Work Order to Settle to a Project (WBS Element)• Record Vehicle Time (and charge through KB21N if appropriate)

Additional Work Order Functionality

Slide 62

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Some of these buttons simply activate a particular pulldown menu path, others set user status values, open data entry forms or run more complicated scripts. For example, the Vehicle Entry button ties to a data entry form, which, when the user chooses the Save function, writes a formatted set of text into the Work Order long text box. Additionally, if this work order is being charged to a Project (WBS Element) or is in other ways reimbursable, particular vehicle charges are made through the KB21N Direct Activity Allocation transaction.

Enable Creation of Pre-composed Emails

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The GuiXT scripts invokes the MAILTO function supported in Windows. In this example we create an Outlook email and have defaulted in a number of values from the work order.

• GuiXT provides substantial improvement over native SAP.• Training…easier to introduce new users to work orders with

GuiXT hiding some of SAP’s sharp edges and simplifying the number of steps needed.

• Ongoing GuiXT development as needs arise.

Work Orders - Where We Are Today…

Slide 64

GuiXT Development At MMWD

Slide 65

In House development• Work Order Business Process• Simplified Equipment Lookups• Enhanced Equipment Displays• Customer Service Searches• Transaction Navigation

Outsourced to Synactive Inc. consultants • Corrosion Control Application to achieve similar functionality in SAP.• Replaced legacy application soon after SAP Go Live. • Performs on-the-fly creation of Functional Locations, Equipments, Measuring

Points and Measurement Documents. • Over 10 years of stable, functioning code.

• Start Simple and Grow From There• Mistakes happen - how you handle them

makes a difference• Support, Support, Support


Slide 66

Presenter

Presentation Notes

1 - Start Simple and Grow From There - Look for the easy wins, the low hanging fruit. Look for the commonly used transactions that seem to have more steps than seem necessary. Smoothing out or simplifying high volume transactions provides quicker payback. Our original Work Order creation script was a barely modified recorded script. That saved us lots of time and reduced the issues with Accounting. We expanded our use of GuiXT to address many other issues around our Work Order Business Process. 2 - Mistakes happen - how you handle them makes a big difference - The saying goes "To err is human, but to really screw things up you need a computer". When creating GuiXT scripts, don't assume that everything will always go perfectly. Some transactions have varying needs, different values, sometimes allowed values change. Sometimes changes occur at the turn of the year (calendar or fiscal). Make reasonable allowances in your code for the reasonable or foreseeble alternatives or problems, but when you get an unexpected error, try to present it to the user in a way that doesn't cause the scripts to blow up in their face. I'm still working on integrating more error handling. 3 - Support, Support, Support - User Support - One of the keys to developing our Work Order scripts is to see how the users interact with the scripts and also with those functions they perform in native SAP. By working with the users and being directly available to them I can get feedback when things go wrong and I can generally go to their PC and see what is going on. Try to get a sense of the context the user was in when things went wrong (what were they trying to accomplish, what sequence of steps had they performed, what error messages are they encountering). Developer Support - In order to resolve problems, take advantage of Synactive's support, through the GuiXT documentation and training, the Yahoo Groups, or directly from Synactive. Professional Support - Sometimes you need to get expert level help. This might be due to tight deadlines or trying to integrate complex processes. We did this with our Corrosion Control application for these reasons and it is still in use and has rarely needed any follow up support. Take advantage of all the support functions available to you.

Start Simple and Grow From Thereo Look for the easy wins, the low hanging fruit.o Smoothing out or simplifying high volume transactions

provides quicker payback.o Expand use of GuiXT as opportunities arise.o Don’t overlook GuiXT when thinking of linking to other

systems.


Presenter

Presentation Notes

Look for the commonly used transactions that seem to have more steps than seem necessary. Our original Work Order creation script was a barely modified recorded script. That saved us lots of time and reduced the issues with Accounting. We expanded our use of GuiXT to address many other issues around our Work Order Business Process. 2 - Mistakes happen - how you handle them makes a big difference - The saying goes "To err is human, but to really screw things up you need a computer". When creating GuiXT scripts, don't assume that everything will always go perfectly. Some transactions have varying needs, different values, sometimes allowed values change. Sometimes changes occur at the turn of the year (calendar or fiscal). Make reasonable allowances in your code for the reasonable or foreseeble alternatives or problems, but when you get an unexpected error, try to present it to the user in a way that doesn't cause the scripts to blow up in their face. I'm still working on integrating more error handling. 3 - Support, Support, Support - User Support - One of the keys to developing our Work Order scripts is to see how the users interact with the scripts and also with those functions they perform in native SAP. By working with the users and being directly available to them I can get feedback when things go wrong and I can generally go to their PC and see what is going on. Try to get a sense of the context the user was in when things went wrong (what were they trying to accomplish, what sequence of steps had they performed, what error messages are they encountering). Developer Support - In order to resolve problems, take advantage of Synactive's support, through the GuiXT documentation and training, the Yahoo Groups, or directly from Synactive. Professional Support - Sometimes you need to get expert level help. This might be due to tight deadlines or trying to integrate complex processes. We did this with our Corrosion Control application for these reasons and it is still in use and has rarely needed any follow up support. Take advantage of all the support functions available to you.

Mistakes happen - how you handle them makes a differenceo Include Reasonable Error Handling – “To Err is human, to

really screw things up you need a computer”o Testing, Testing, Testing – Users will always find an untested

possibility…once the system is live.o Defensive Programming Techniques – Try not to let an

unanticipated error ruin your day.


Presenter

Presentation Notes

The saying goes "To err is human, but to really screw things up you need a computer". When creating GuiXT scripts, don't assume that everything will always go perfectly. Some transactions have varying needs, different values, sometimes allowed values change. Sometimes changes occur at the turn of the year (calendar or fiscal). Make reasonable allowances in your code for the reasonable or foreseeble alternatives or problems, but when you get an unexpected error, try to present it to the user in a way that doesn't cause the scripts to blow up in their face. I'm still working on integrating more error handling. 3 - Support, Support, Support - User Support - One of the keys to developing our Work Order scripts is to see how the users interact with the scripts and also with those functions they perform in native SAP. By working with the users and being directly available to them I can get feedback when things go wrong and I can generally go to their PC and see what is going on. Try to get a sense of the context the user was in when things went wrong (what were they trying to accomplish, what sequence of steps had they performed, what error messages are they encountering). Developer Support - In order to resolve problems, take advantage of Synactive's support, through the GuiXT documentation and training, the Yahoo Groups, or directly from Synactive. Professional Support - Sometimes you need to get expert level help. This might be due to tight deadlines or trying to integrate complex processes. We did this with our Corrosion Control application for these reasons and it is still in use and has rarely needed any follow up support. Take advantage of all the support functions available to you.

Support, Support, Supporto User Support Clear Requirements, Testing, Error Reporting, Error Correction Feedback Loop

o Developer Support Synactive Support – Including Documentation, Tips & Tricks GuiXT Yahoo Group -

o Professional Support Synactive Consulting Assistance


Presenter

Presentation Notes

Support, Support, Support - User Support - One of the keys to developing our Work Order scripts is to see how the users interact with the scripts and also with those functions they perform in native SAP. By working with the users and being directly available to them I can get feedback when things go wrong and I can generally go to their PC and see what is going on. Try to get a sense of the context the user was in when things went wrong (what were they trying to accomplish, what sequence of steps had they performed, what error messages are they encountering). Developer Support - In order to resolve problems, take advantage of Synactive's support, through the GuiXT documentation and training, the Yahoo Groups, or directly from Synactive. Professional Support - Sometimes you need to get expert level help. This might be due to tight deadlines or trying to integrate complex processes. We did this with our Corrosion Control application for these reasons and it is still in use and has rarely needed any follow up support. Take advantage of all the support functions available to you.

Benefits Realized by MMWD• Quick and cost-effective way to modify user-interface• Automated data-entry, reduce redundant data entry and

fewer data entry errors• Less Actual Paper Pushed• Reduce end-user training time • Enhanced user satisfaction – fewer complaints, less time

spent in correcting errors• Save Time and Money

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Quick and cost-effective way to modify user-interface – Not everyone uses the same transaction identically. Different groups of GuiXT users can have different scripts to match their business process need. Our System Maintenance Users get different set of scripts from our Engineering users. Enhanced user satisfaction – Anecdotal or Quantitative? Generally related to

A collaboration of:

Client Process ReengineeringWithout Disrupting Core SAP Processes


• The Basic SAP End User Opportunity

• The Synactive Solution Suite

• Q&A

Agenda

The challenges faced with traditional SAP use

Hasso Plattner at 2013 Sapphire

• Internally developed or acquired solutions• Silo’d solutions for different interfaces• Browser-based alternatives with latency issues

And a multitude of SAP solutions

All solve a single problem but not the overriding issue

What if you could go from this…

25 Screens with less than 4 input fields per screen

To this…..One Screen with all fields plus

Intuitive Screen Layout

• Pushbuttons and radio buttons for

repetitive search criteria.• Allows data to be entered to screens that

are not showing.

• One button click to access various

transactions.

That also works with your mobile device

One development effort, multiple touchpoints

• How GuiXT works?• How do you create a Solution?• Where are the scripts stored?

Agenda

How Does GuiXT Work?1) User makes a

request via SAPGUI (e.g. VA01)

2) SAP responds with VA01 screen

3) GuiXT screen modifications are applied and SAPGUI draws new screen for VA01

SAPGUI

Desktop (PC)

SAP ERP

GuiXT Developer Toolkit used to generate GuiXT screens

1

1

3

2

Presenter

Presentation Notes

So how does it work? Here is the basic architecture. When a user goes into SAPGUI and goes to a transaction code, the request goes to the backend server, the SAP backend server runs the ABAP code as it normally does, and sends the package to SAPGUI and SAPGUI draws the screen. If you have GuiXT activated and there is a script on that particular transaction, before SAPGUI draws the screen, GuiXT intercepts the packet, applies the changes that you have in the script for that screen, repackages the info, sends it back to SAPGUI and then SAPGUI draws the new screen. So there is no change in the backend application server. You are not changing any of the existing security or validations or the business logic, and there is no ABAP required to have a simplified GuiXT screen for your users.

The Synactive Developer Suite

One Suite – Two Components

Designer Workbench

Designer Development Platform

Generated ScriptsNetwork, SAPWR, Local

Workbench Development Platform

Generated ScriptsNetwork, SAPWR, Local

Excel template

Desktop

Desktop template

Excel

PDF template

PDF

Offline template

Windows CE/Offline

Access template

HTML

DesignerThe Synactive Tool for Creating the Consolidated View

• WYSIWYG Tool• Screen changes without

writing any code• Start with any SAP

transaction• Render to desktop or mobile

touch points• Enables personalized

applications based on roles and functions

• Automatic script generation© 2013 Synactive, Inc. DesignerTrial.exe

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Designer is a graphic, WYSIWYG tool for defining the layout of SAP screens. Using the mouse you can shift or delete fields; you can add new elements such as images, buttons, texts, or group boxes. �In parallel to the wysiwyg mode, Designer generates and updates the GuiXT script. Designer comes with an integrated, syntax colored script editor which lets you switch between wysiwyg mode and script editor mode at any time.��You can also create different UIs for different groups of users for ANY SAP transaction. The screens are dynamically displayed based on a user’s SAP role or SAP profile. For example, a Plant Engineer gets a different screen than an Electrician working on a different plant floor, even though they are using the same transaction. The personalized user friendly interface reduces training, and costly user errors which also reduces support costs.

WorkbenchThe Synactive Tool for process flow collection

Record And Deploy To All Touch Points

Workbench_Access.exe

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The Developer Kit comes with 2 tools, one is the workbench. There are basically 3 steps to creating an interface. You first record the process, choose the front end which is the environment where you want to render the simplified screens which automaps and creates the script. This renders either a simplified SAPGUI interface on the desktop, on a mobile device, an excel spreadsheet front end which you can use to upload or download data to and from SAP, or a PDF document front end. The other tool included in the Developer Kit is Designer.

• Options for Script Storage:o SAP Web Repository (SMW0) (Recommended)(Integrated with SAP; uses SAP transport

mechanism)o Network Server/File Shareo FTP/HTTP Servero Local Machine (Developers)

Where are the Scripts stored?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We recommend the SAP Web Repository option so that you can transport the scripts using SAP’s standard transport functionality from DEV to QA and QA to Production. Also if the scripts are in the WEB repository and caching set up it will download the scripts to the local machine in the encrypted form. If the version number is not changed and cache not deleted the scripts will be executed from the local machine reducing the overhead.

With Synactive, you…

…start with existing complex SAP transactions and simplify them to suit your needs!

…record your business process flow once and redeploy to a more intuitive interface!

…extend your new screens and process customizations to any number of touch points and devices

…centrally manage all deployments

GuiXTTechnology

Record/Design

Automate/Extend Manage

Extending Reengineered SAP Client Use To…

Browsers and Portals

Barcode/RFID Scanners PDF/Excel Front-Ends

Tablets and Phones

• Built on proven GuiXT technology• Extends your SAP across both desktop

and mobile devices• Consolidates business related

transactions, fields and tabs• Start from SAP, Record Once and

Deploy everywhere• No Java, ABAP programming; No 3rd

party application server required• Simple scripting to empower a

responsive IT Team Non-Disruptive Business SolutionLean, Agile Development

Liquid UI Platform

Local SAPGUI

Web Browser

Central SAPGUI

Barcode/RFID

iOS

OfflineExcel

PDF

Android

Blackberry

ApplDatabase Connector

Liquid UI PlatformConnects directly to SAP through patented connectivity technology

GuiXT Solutions Case Study Results

A white paper study for virtually all key SAP/Synactive functions

• Go to Guixt.com• Enter your key use

parameterso Time of transactiono Number of transactionso Number of userso Employee costs

• The system will calculate your return

An ROI Worth CalculatingA simple way to measure the cost/investment

In Good Company!Over 1000 Customers Across Multiple Industries

Some Of Our Utilities Customers

Slide 91

For more information about Synactive’s GuiXT Solutions:

[email protected]

Tel: 650.341.3310

Thank You!!!

Presenter

Presentation Notes

For any additional information, please go to www.guixt.com. And for any additional questions, send us an email at [email protected].

http://www.guixt.com/�

mailto:[email protected]�

Thank you for this opportunity to show what MMWD has done.

Questions???

A collaboration of:

Brian RichardsMarin Municipal Water District

[email protected]


[email protected]

Simplifying Plant Maintenance Business Processes at Marin ... Simplifying Plant Maintenance Business...

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