4/19/2022

SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain

Generated on: 2022-04-19 04:51:52 GMT+0000

SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain | 2202

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custom documentation may not reflect the arrangement of topics in the SAP Help Portal, and may be missing important aspects and/or correlations to other topics.
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Configuring a Process
You configure a process by creating a process template in the Manage Process Templates app.

Related Information
Process Roles and Authorizations
Creating a Process Template

Process Roles and Authorizations

Process management includes different roles that each have a different focus and responsibilities. This topic gives an overview of these roles, the activities that users
with these roles typically carry out, and the authorizations they need.

This image is interactive. You can use the information contained in the graphic as a checklist when you set up process management.

Hover over each role for a description. Click highlighted areas for detailed information.

Administrator
The administrator sets up the overall process and assigns all other users to the process steps.
Note

Depending on the distribution of responsibilities in your organization, these activities can also be taken over by the process owner.

Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations

Create, edit, and delete process templates Write access to the Manage Process Templates app

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Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations
Assign application job templates to process steps and view the details of the Business catalog for the Application Job Templates app
templates
The administrator can only assign templates that are shared or that they've created
themselves.
Assign custom-alert subscriptions to process steps and view subscription details Business catalog for the Define and Subscribe to Custom Alerts app

Only alert subscriptions that have been shared with the administrator or that have
been created by them can be assigned.
Assign permission filters for the planning data permission Business catalog for the Permission Filters app

Only permission filters that have been shared with the administrator or that have
been created by them can be assigned.
Assign participants to the process step No special authorization required.

Tip

To make assigning of users easier, they can be organized in user groups in the
User Groups app beforehand.
Assign an existing collaboration group or create a new one No special authorization required.
Invite participants to an collaboration group and navigate to the relevant Business catalog for the Collaboration app
collaboration groups

Process Owner
The process owner creates and monitors the overall process. They focus on the current process and the next planning cycle.
Note

Depending on the distribution of responsibilities in your organization, the process owner may also take over the setup tasks described for the administrator.

Note

Application job templates and alert subscriptions should be shared with all users involved in the process. This authorizes them to check the status of an application
job or view alert subscriptions.

Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations

Create a process, monitor the process, change dates for an active process Read access to the Manage Process Templates app, write access to the Manage
Processes app (minimum).

If a user has write access to the Manage Process Templates app, processes can
also be created there.
Create a recurring process Read access to the Manage Process Templates app, write access to the Manage
Processes app and the Manage Recurring Processes app (minimum).
Monitor the process in a dashboard Business catalog for the Dashboards - Advanced app
Enable a process step to start automatically in an automated process The automation uses the authorizations of the process owner to run assigned
application jobs, apply permission filters, and trigger subscriptions. Therefore, the
process owner needs to have access to all application job templates, permission
filters, and alert subscriptions used in the process.

For collaboration using a collaboration tool, the process owner needs to be part of
the collaboration groups for all steps so tasks are automatically created for the
participants in the collaboration tool.
Complete a process Write access to the Manage Processes app
In systems using a collaboration tool: Business catalog for the Collaboration app

Check collaborative activities in a collaboration group for a process step

Run application jobs (either manually or automatically), check details of Business catalog for the Application Job Templates app and the Application Jobs
application job templates, and check details or the status of application jobs app
Navigate from the process feed to the Application Logs app to view application Business catalog for the Application Logs app
logs for the process
Run custom alert subscriptions (either manually or automatically), check details Business catalog for the Define and Subscribe to Custom Alerts app and the
of custom-alert subscriptions, and view alerts that were generated from custom Monitor Custom Alerts app
alerts

Process Step Owner

The process step owner plans and manages the steps that they're responsible for, which includes starting, monitoring, and completing the process step (if the process
step is not automated).

Note

Application job templates and alert subscriptions should be shared with all users involved in the process. This authorizes them to check the status of an application
job or view alert subscriptions.

Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations

Start their process step, monitor it, and set it to complete in the Manage Processes Write access to the Manage Processes app
app
Start their process step, monitor it, and set it to complete in the dashboard Business catalog for the Dashboards - Advanced app

Write access to the Manage Processes app

In systems using a collaboration tool: Business catalog for the Collaboration app

Monitor discussions and tasks in the collaboration tool

View the process template for reference Read access to the Manage Process Templates app
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Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations
View the definition of a recurring process for reference Read access to the Manage Recurring Processes app
View the details of an application job template Business catalog for the Application Job Templates app
View the status and details of an application job Business catalog for the Application Jobs app
View the details of a custom alert subscription Business catalog for the Define and Subscribe to Custom Alerts app
View alerts that were generated from custom alerts Business catalog for the Monitor Custom Alerts app

Process Step Participant

Process step participants take over and work on activities (called tasks) within a process step.

Note

Application job templates and alert subscriptions should be shared with all users involved in the process. This authorizes them to check the status of an application
job or view alert subscriptions.

Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations

View the process in the Manage Processes app Read access to the Manage Processes app
View the process in the dashboard Business catalog for the Dashboards - Advanced app
View the status and details of an application job Business catalog for the Application Jobs app
View the details of a custom alert subscription Business catalog for the Define and Subscribe to Custom Alerts app
In systems that use a collaboration tool: Business catalog for the Collaboration app

Receive and complete tasks

Receive and complete tasks in the SAP Integrated Business Planning, add-in for Business catalog Basic Planning Tasks. In the write part of the Administration
Microsoft Excel Functions restriction field, the value TASKS must be selected.
Receive and complete tasks in the Tasks or Manage Tasks app Business catalog for the Tasks or Manage Tasks app

Process Step Reviewer (Optional Role)

The process step reviewer checks the planning results of a process step.

Note

Application job templates and alert subscriptions should be shared with all users involved in the process. This authorizes them to check the status of an application
job or view alert subscriptions.

Activities Required Business Catalogs or Authorizations

Review the results of planning tasks and information provided by process step Business catalog for the Collaboration app
participants in the collaboration tool
View the process in the dashboard Business catalog for the Dashboards - Advanced app
View the process in the Manage Processes app Read access to the Manage Processes app
Note

If you use a collaboration tool to support collaboration within the process, make sure that users have been integrated. For more information, see SAP Jam Integration
Guide.

Every user working in the process must be part of the right collaboration group to help make sure that collaboration tasks are automatically created and assigned. For
more information, see Prerequisites for the Automatic Creation and Assignment of SAP Jam Tasks.

Related Information
Available Restrictions

Creating a Process Template

A process template represents your organization’s planning process and can be reused for recurring planning cycles.

Prerequisites
You have write access to the Manage Process Templates app.
You have created a user group in the User Groups app for each of the process steps that you want to create. You have added the users who take part in the
process step to these user groups.
Optional: If you want to use a collaboration tool to support collaboration within the process, make sure that collaboration is enabled. For more information
about collaboration tools, see Social Collaboration. To help make sure that collaboration tasks are automatically created and assigned, every user working in the
process must be part of the right collaboration group. For more information, see Prerequisites for the Automatic Creation and Assignment of SAP Jam Tasks
Optional: If there are application jobs that you want to run automatically at the start or end of a process step, you can add shared application job templates to
that process step. In this case, make sure that the process owner has the required authorizations. You can find an overview here.
Optional: If you want to add a planning data permission, the permission filters you use must be shared with you or created by yourself.
Optional: If you want to add a subscription for a custom alert, the subscription must be shared with you or created by yourself.

Context
Process templates let you represent the planning process of your organization in SAP Integrated Business Planning. Process steps within the template represent the
individual phases of your planning process. When creating them in your template, you can define important aspects of these phases, like timelines, participants
involved (including their roles), and tasks to be completed by the participants. In addition, you can automate your process steps, assign application jobs, include
collaboration, or add planning data permissions.

Templates allow you to reuse the same process (for example, once a month) by creating a new instance of the template.

Procedure
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1. On the initial screen of the Manage Process Templates app, choose New.
2. In the Template Details area, enter a name for the process template, at least one process owner, and a time zone. You also have the option to add a description
and choose the workdays on which your process should run.

For example, if you want your process to run from Monday to Friday, you can select those days and exclude Saturday and Sunday from the selection. Please
note that the system does not consider public holidays, meaning that if a holiday occurs during a planning cycle, you need to manually adjust the process by
changing the dates.

3. To add a process step to your process template, choose New in the Steps area.
4. In the General Information area for the process step, enter a name and select at least one owner for the process step. You also have the option to add a
description.
5. In the Step Details area, enter the participant groups that are involved in the process step and the duration of the process step. If your system uses a
collaboration tool, enter the collaboration group you created for the process step. If you haven’t created a collaboration group yet, you can create one here by
choosing New. You can also add a process step reviewer. If you want the step to start later than on the first day of the process, enter a start day relative to the
first day.

For example, if you enter 0, your process step starts when the process is started; if you enter 2, your process step starts 2 days after the process is started.

6. (Optional) In the Step Settings area, select the following settings for the process step:
Settings for automation: Here you can choose whether you want a process step to start or end automatically and if so, under what conditions. You do so
by selecting the corresponding condition in the Condition for Automatic Start or Condition for Automatic End field. Note that you can still change the
status of a process step manually irrespective of what you configure here. For more information, see Settings for Process Automation.
Templates for application jobs: You can also choose an application job that runs automatically after the step has started or ended. You do so by selecting
the corresponding application job template in the Application Job Template field. For more information, see Application Jobs in Process Management.
Enter an exception status of your own choice in the Exception Status field. This field is only enabled if you apply certain conditions for automation. If a
situation occurs that prevents the process from continuing as planned, the system will set an exception status. If you leave this field blank, the default
status will be set. For more information, see Exception Status.
7. (Optional) In the Tasks area, add tasks for the process step and specify if a reminder should be sent for the tasks.
a. In the Send Notification (Number of Days Before End of Step) field, enter a number between 1 and 30 if you want a notification to be sent to a process
step participant as a reminder for an open task. If you don’t want a notification to be sent, just leave the default value of 0. For more information,see
Setting Up Reminders for Collaboration Tasks.
b. In the dialog, enter a name for the new task and optionally a description. The task can be assigned to participant groups, to individual participants from
those groups, or to both participant groups and individual users. Choose Apply. For more information, see Tasks in Process Management.
8. Continue to create as many tasks as you need for the process step by repeating step 7.
9. (Optional) In the Planning Data Permissions area, create a planning data permission if you want to allow process step participants to edit certain key figures as
long as the process step is in progress. To create a planning data permission, choose New. In the dialog, enter a name for the planning data permission and
select at least one permission filter. Similar to tasks, the planning data permission can be assigned to participant groups, to individual participants from those
groups, or to both participant groups and individual users. Choose Apply. For more information, see Planning-Data Permissions.
10. After you have entered all required information for the process step, choose Apply to save your settings.
11. Continue to create as many steps as you need for the process by repeating steps 3-10.
Recommendation

The process management functionalities are designed for modeling a typical process for sales and operations planning that includes a product review, a demand
review, a supply and inventory review, a reconciliation review, and a management meeting. We therefore recommend that you include no more than 10 process
steps in your model. Note that including too many process steps in a process could lead to performance problems.

12. Choose Save to save your template and return to the initial screen.

Results
The process template you just created appears in the Process Templates list on the initial screen of the Manage Process Templates app. You can now create a process
from the template for a specific planning cycle.
Related Information
Creating a One-Time Process from the Template
Creating a Recurring Process from the Template
Starting a Process Step Manually

Settings for Process Automation

To enable smooth continuation of your process without the process step owner having to start or end process steps manually, the process owner or process step owner
can set up a process step to start or end automatically if a specific condition is satisfied.

Depending on your requirements, you can automate either all your steps (process automation) or specific steps in the process (process step automation) only. The start
and end of your step can be automated independently: You can decide whether you want to automate the start of your process step, its end, or both.

Note

The process step owner can still start or end a process step manually on the dashboard irrespective of what is configured in the settings.

Example

One of the steps in your process, like the sales and demand review, needs to start on a certain date, while another step, like the consensus review, should only start
after the previous step has been completed. This ensures that all required data from the first step is available for the next step. In this case, you could set up your steps
as follows:

Step 1: Sales and Demand Review

The step starts automatically on the start date

The step ends automatically when all tasks are completed

Step 2: Consensus Review

The step starts automatically when the previous step is completed

The step ends automatically when all tasks are completed and when the end date is reached

Conditions
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There are the following categories of conditions for the automatic starting and ending of process steps:

Date-based conditions

You can configure your process step to start on the start date or end on the end date. For example, you can define that your management business review is to
start on workday 18.

Conditions that consider the completion status of a previous step (automatic starting of a step only)

You can use this condition if it is required that a previous process step is completed before the process can continue. For example, if the results from the
product review need to serve as a basis for the next step, you can configure your process step to start only when the previous step is completed. The same
applies to parallel steps that have an end date prior to the next step: These parallel steps need to be completed before the next step can start.

Conditions that consider the completion of tasks (automatic ending of a step only)

Similarly, you can configure your process step to end only when all tasks for a process step are completed.

Note

If you do not use a collaboration tool, it is not possible to use conditions that include the completion of tasks because there aren’t any process-related tasks that
can be completed by the members of a collaboration group.

Conditions that consider the completion status of an assigned application job

If there are any application jobs you want to run automatically when your process step starts or ends and it is necessary that these application jobs are
completed before the process can continue, you can use the completion status of the application jobs as a condition for the automatic start or end of a process
step.

This feature is particularly useful if your process contains steps in which data is shared with external partners via a data sharing plan. By waiting until an
application job that triggers the data sharing plan is completed, you can ensure that the data has been shared with your partner before the process continues.

For more information, see Application Jobs in Process Management.

Conditions that are applied in the event of custom alerts

For some steps, it may be important that any exceptional situations related to planning data that arise during the process are resolved before the process step
can start or end. For example, if the forecast accuracy falls below a certain threshold after the completion of the demand planning step, the next step for supply
planning should not be started until the forecast accuracy has been adjusted.

For these kinds of steps, you can use conditions that are applied in the event of custom alerts and that identify such exceptional situations. When you select
such a condition, you can assign a custom-alert subscription to the start or the end of the process step. If there are any alerts for this subscription when the step
starts or ends, the step does not start or end automatically, and the issue causing the custom alert must first be resolved. When all issues have been resolved and
the conditions for automation are fulfilled, the process will continue automatically after a delay of up to half an hour.

Combinations of these conditions

Very often, you will find that you need to combine the above-mentioned conditions – for example, if you want your step to start on the start date you defined
and when the previous step is completed. You can create your own combinations using AND or OR conditions. For more information, see Available Conditions
for Automating Process Steps.

Example
The following example illustrates how a process can be automated:

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Related Information
Timing in Process Automation

Available Conditions for Automating Process Steps

If you automate a process step, you can either select one single condition for the automation or combine several conditions as a custom condition according to your
needs.

Conditions for Automatically Starting Process Steps

A process step can automatically start if at least one of the following conditions is met:

The start date has been reached.

The previous step is completed.
The application job at the end of the previous step is completed.
There are no custom alerts at the end of the previous step.

Note that the only condition you can apply to the first step in a process is the condition that considers the start date.

You can also combine any of these conditions with an OR operator (meaning that at least one of the conditions must be met) or with an AND operator (meaning that
all of the selected conditions must be met for the automation to happen).

Exception: The condition that there are no custom alerts at the end of the previous step can only be considered if the condition that the previous step is completed is
met. Therefore, these two conditions for automatically starting a process step can only be combined with an AND operator.

All conditions for automatically starting process steps are equally available for systems using a collaboration tool and systems not using a collaboration tool.

Conditions for Automatically Ending Process Steps

A process step can automatically end if at least one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

The end date has been reached.

All tasks for the step are completed.
The application job at the start of the step is completed.
There are no custom alerts at the start of the step.

Just like when starting the step, any of these conditions can be combined with an OR operator or with an AND operator.

Additional Information on Process Step Settings

Date-Related Criteria for Process Step Settings

Ending a Step on the End Date

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If you choose this condition, the step is completed at the end of the date you entered. The process chart in the dashboard and the process view in the Manage
Processes app show the date you entered. For example, if you enter May 11 as the end date for the process step, the step is completed at the end of the day, which is
May 12, 0:00. In the process chart and in the process view in the Manage Processes app, the end date is shown as May 11.

Related Information
Settings for Process Automation

Timing in Process Automation

In process automation, automated actions are usually triggered immediately if the condition for automation is met. In some cases, however, this may take up to 30
minutes. Administrators can reduce the waiting time in configuration.

In automated processes, process steps usually start or end automatically when a certain condition for the automation is met. The same applies to application jobs that
are assigned to the start or end of a process step. These application jobs are usually triggered automatically right after the process step they belong to has started or
ended. This is irrespective of whether the process step is started or ended manually or automatically. However, depending on the condition for automation that is used
for the process step and the point in time when this condition is met, users may need to wait up to 30 minutes until the automated action is triggered. This is because
in some cases, the system checks if the condition for automation is met only every 30 minutes. If required, you can configure how frequently the system checks this
to reduce the waiting time.

Note

The delay can also occur in automated process steps with a combination of conditions.

The following table shows the cases where users can expect some waiting time:
Condition for Automation Details Example
All tasks need to be completed Whether a process step ends immediately or not You have used the following conditions for your
depends on the app where the last task was completed. process steps:

If the last task is completed in the Tasks, Manage Step 1 ends when all tasks are completed.
Tasks app, or in the SAP Integrated Business Step 2 starts when step 1 ends.
Planning, Add-In for Microsoft Excel, the step ends
immediately. If the last task for step 1 is completed in the Tasks or
Manage Tasks app, or in the IBP Excel add-in, step 1
If the last task is completed in the collaboration tool, ends immediately. Step 2 starts immediately after step
however, users can expect some waiting time. 1 has ended.

If the last task for step 1 is completed in the

collaboration tool, users can expect some waiting time
before step 1 ends. Step 2 then starts immediately
once step 1 has ended.
An application job needs to be completed If a process step is to start or end automatically after Your process steps have the following setup:
an application job is completed, users can expect some
waiting time. Step 1 has an application job assigned to its end.
Step 2 starts when the end application job of
step 1 is completed.

In this case, the application job of step 1 starts

immediately. When the application job of step 1 is
completed, step 2 can start, but users can expect some
waiting time.
A specific date needs to be reached If you specified a time for the automatic starting or You have used the following conditions for your
ending of the step, and the time for the system to process steps:
check if the condition is met has not reached yet, users
may need to wait for the step to start or end. Step 1 ends on a specified end date and time.
Step 2 starts when step 1 is completed.

However, if you configured step 1 to end at 9.15 am

on the specified end date, but the system doesn’t
check whether the condition is met until 9.30 am, then
step 1 ends at 9.30 am when the system does the
check.

Defining the Interval for Automation to Reduce Waiting Time

You can define the interval at which the system checks whether the condition for automation is met and triggers the automated actions accordingly. This way, you can
reduce the waiting time for users. You can define this interval using the PROCESS_MGMT_AUTO_FREQUENCY global configuration parameter in parameter
group SCHEDULING. You can reduce the default value of 30 minutes down to a minimum of 3 minutes. The shorter the interval, the shorter the time that users need
to wait for automated actions to be triggered.

Related Information
Application Jobs in Process Management
Viewing, Editing, and Completing Tasks
Global Configuration Parameters

Tasks in Process Management

Tasks represent the activities that participants need to carry out at a specific stage in a process. Tasks can also be used for the detailed calculation of the progress of a
process step.

You can specify tasks for a process step when you create a process template. Tasks can be assigned to individual users and participant groups. Creating tasks for
process steps is optional. If you add tasks to a process step, the system handles those tasks differently depending on whether you use a collaboration tool in your
system.

There are two types of task:

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Process-related task

This type of task is used by processes within a particular process step, and is assigned to one or more users. This task is important for calculating the progress
of a process step.

Note: If a process-related task contains a process step with automation criteria that rely on task completion, the process step needs to have at least one task.
Hence the last task for that particular step cannot be deleted.

Standalone task

This type of task isn't part of a process, and it represents ad hoc, individual activities for users and/or user groups.

Systems that Use a Collaboration Tool

When you have created a task for a process template and your system uses a collaboration tool, a collaboration task is automatically created for the task when the
process step the task belongs to is started. In the case of a standalone task, the collaboration task is created immediately. This collaboration task is then assigned to the
process step participant you specified for the task in the process template or individually. The participant to whom a task is assigned is also notified about the task via
email and in the home feed in the collaboration tool. If a participant has been assigned a task but is not yet a member of the associated collaboration group, an
invitation to join the group is sent.

If you assign a task to multiple participants instead of creating a task separately for each user in the collaboration tool, a shared task is created with a personal status
for each participant. If you assign a task to multiple participants in the process template, the task is created separately for each user in the collaboration tool. Each of
the participants must complete the task separately. The same applies if a task is assigned to a participant group in the process template. In that case, the task is created
separately in the collaboration tool for each member of the participant group. It is not handled as one task for the entire group.
Note

If you select an individual participant and a participant group, and the selected participant also belongs to the participant group, only one task is created for that
participant.

The progress of a process step can only reach 100% when the last participant to whom a task is assigned has completed the corresponding collaboration task. This
means that it is not sufficient for only one of the participants to complete the task. All participants to which a collaboration task has been assigned need to complete
their task.

Participants can view and complete their tasks in the collaboration tool (like SAP Jam or SAP Work Zone) as well as in the Tasks or Manage Tasks app, and in the
SAP IBP, add-in for Microsoft Excel. For more information, see Viewing, Editing, and Completing Tasks.

Example

The following graphic shows an example of a process step with tasks that are assigned to individual users as well as to user groups.

In your process template, you create two tasks for your first process step. You assign task 1 to participant A and B, and you assign task 2 to participant group 1 and to
participant G. Participant group 1 contains participants D, E, and F.

You create a process based on the template. When the process step is started, one collaboration task is created and shared by the assigned participants. In this
example, task 1 is created once in the collaboration tool and shared by participant A and participant B. Task 2 is created once in the collaboration tool and is shared
by participant group 1 and the individual participant G.

The process step is completed when all six collaboration tasks are completed.

To enable users to complete their tasks in the collaboration tool, make sure that each user has access to the collaboration tool by correctly configuring your user
authentication scenario. For more information, see the SAP Jam Integration Guide.

Prerequisites for the Automatic Creation and Assignment of Collaboration Tasks

The automatic creation and assignment of tasks in the collaboration tool can only work correctly if everyone participating in a process – meaning the process owner,
the process step owner, and the process step participants – is invited to the right collaboration groups and accepts the invitation to those collaboration groups. The
following table shows who needs to join which group:

Role Which collaboration group does the user need to join?

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Role Which collaboration group does the user need to join?
Process owner Each process owner needs to be part of all the collaboration groups for all process
steps for that process
Process step owner Collaboration group for the step that he owns
Process step participant Collaboration group for the step that the participant’s participant group is assigned
to
Process step reviewer Collaboration group for the step to which the process step reviewer is assigned

Systems without Collaboration

In SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (IBP), tasks are fully supported regardless of whether the system uses a collaboration tool (like SAP Jam or
SAP Work Zone). If tasks are generated in SAP IBP, these are not shared, but are created separately for each participant.

Calculation of the Step Progress

The number of completed tasks is used to calculate the progress of the process step in detail. For more information, see Progress of Process and Process Steps.

Related Information
Managing Tasks
Statuses in Process Management
Progress of Process and Process Steps

Setting Up Reminders for Collaboration Tasks

If you want to remind a process step participant to complete an open task before a process step ends, you can set up reminders in the process template. Reminders are
notifications that are shown on the SAP Fiori launchpad.

Setting up Reminders
Setting up reminders for tasks is optional. Reminders can be set up separately for each process step. You set them up in the Tasks area of the process template.

In the Send Notification (Number of Days Before End of Step) field, you can specify how many days before the end of the process step the reminder should be sent.
You can enter a number between 1 and 30. The default value is 0, which means that no reminder is sent.
Note
In contrast to the reminders that you can set in the collaboration tool, these reminders have the following advantages:

You can control when exactly the reminder is sent. In the collaboration tool, you can set daily, weekly, and monthly reminders. In the process template,
however, you can specify how many days before the end of the process step the reminder should be sent.
The reminders reflect changes in the process, that is, if any timelines change during the process, the point in time when the notification is sent adapts
accordingly.

For reference, the setup is also shown in the Manage Processes app.
Note

You can only change the setup in the process template. If you change the process template, your changes only become effective with the next process that is created
from the process template.

For more information about working with reminders, refer to Viewing, Editing, and Completing Tasks.

Application Jobs in Process Management

During a process phase, you may want to run application jobs that perform a planning action for that specific phase. If you don’t want to trigger these application jobs
manually, you can configure your process step to automatically run them upon the start or end of the step.

Typically, you schedule application jobs to run on specific dates. However, if used in process management, you can also schedule them to start when an event occurs,
meaning that the process step starts or ends. This allows you to better coordinate the various application jobs that you want to run during the process.

You can assign an application job template to the start or end of a process step. When the process step is started or ended manually or through automation, an
application job based on this application job template is automatically triggered.

Note

You can only assign application job templates you have access to.

The process owner needs to have specific authorizations so application jobs can be run in the process. For more information, see Process Roles and Authorizations.

For application jobs, the permission filter of the process owner is used, that is, if an assigned application job is triggered, the process owner’s permission filter is
applied to the data being processed. Whether an application job for a planning operator applies the user's permission filter depends on the type of planning operator.

Note

The system automatically triggers the application job when the start or end condition is met. By default, this happens every 30 minutes. The interval at which the
system checks if this condition is met can be configured to reduce waiting time. For more information, see Timing in Process Automation.

Example
You can assign an application job template that is to run the statistical forecast to the start of the sales and demand review step. After the step is started, an application
job that is based on the assigned application job template is triggered and calculates the statistical forecast that is required for the sales and demand review.

Monitoring

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You can monitor the status of the application jobs in the Application Logs app and in the process chart on your dashboard.
Related Information
Timing in Process Automation

Planning-Data Permissions
Planning-data permissions allow you to control which planning data, such as key figure values by attributes, can be edited in the IBP Excel add-in by the participants
of a process step. The permissions are temporary, meaning they are valid for the duration of a process step.

If the participants involved in a process step need to work on planning data that they are usually not allowed to view or edit, you can grant them a permission to view
or edit this data by creating a planning data permission. This planning data permission uses permission filters from the Manage Permission Filters app to define which
planning data is accessible for the process step participants. The permission is temporary, meaning that it is granted when the process step is started and removed
when the process step is completed. This way, results that have been achieved in the process step are preserved and cannot be edited after the completion of the step.
Example

During the process stage for the sales forecast, sales planners work on the key figures values for the sales forecast. By setting up a planning data permission, you can
make these key figure values editable for the sales planners for the duration of the sales forecast process step.

Creating a Planning Data Permission

You can create a planning data permission within a process step in a process template. To add permission filters to a process step, you need to have access to the
Manage Permission Filters app. Depending on your needs, you can create several planning data permissions for a process step. You need to add the following to the
permission:

One or more permission filters that have been created in the Manage Permission Filters app.
One or more participant groups or participants that belong to the corresponding process step, depending on whether you want to assign the permission filter to a
whole group or to individuals only.

Planning-Data Permissions in the Process

When a process step in an ongoing process is started, the permission filters in the planning data permissions are assigned to the corresponding participant groups or
participants. The participants are then able to view or edit the planning data covered by the permission filter in the IBP Excel add-in.

You can check if the permission filters have been assigned in the Manage Permission Filters app. In the detail view of each permission filter, you can see who it is
assigned to. Note here that the participant group and participants used in process management correspond to user groups and users in the Manage Permission Filters
app. The change history of that app also shows if the permission filters have been assigned.

When the process step is completed, the permission filters are removed automatically. Consequently, participants cannot make any further changes to the planning
data in the IBP Excel add-in. You can check the change history of the Manage Permission Filters app to confirm that the permission filter assignment has been
removed.

Note

The permission filters are not removed if they were assigned to the user group or user in the Manage Permission Filters app beforehand.

Custom Alerts in Process Management

In process management, custom alerts can be used for automation or for reporting issues with planning data.

Using custom alerts, you can associate a process with planning data. The advantage of associating the process with planning data is that the state of the planning data
can be considered during the process. This also allows you to automate a process based on exceptions that may occur.

For some process phases, it may be important for you to know about issues with the planning data that may have an impact on the process. For example, if the
forecast accuracy falls below a certain threshold after the end of the demand planning step, you may not want to start the next step for supply planning as the forecast
accuracy impacts supply planning.

To identify those issues and make users aware of a critical situation during the process, you can integrate subscriptions for custom alerts that have been created in the
Define and Subscribe to Custom Alerts app. You can associate the subscriptions with the start or the end of a process step. The subscription is triggered when the
process step starts or ends. If there are any alerts generated for the subscription, those alerts are then shown in the process. The issue that caused the alert can then be
followed-up and resolved by the responsible planners.

Use for Automation

If you want to interrupt the process when there are alerts, you can use conditions for automation that are applied if custom alerts exist. These conditions then control
the automatic start or end of the process step.

For more information, see Settings for Process Automation.

Use for Reporting

There may be cases where issues identified by a custom alert may not be critical enough to interrupt the process. Nevertheless, you may wish to be made aware of
these issues. For example, before you do demand planning, you want to check that the key figure values for the sales history actuals do not have any null values in
past time periods. In this case, you can add a custom alert that checks the data, but you don’t choose a condition for the automatic start or end of the process step. If
an alert is triggered, the alert will be shown for the process step, but the process is not stopped.

Assigning Custom Alert Subscriptions

You assign custom alert subscriptions for process step automation in the step settings of the process template. You can select up to 10 custom alert subscriptions for
the start or the end of a step.

Note

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You can only select custom alert subscriptions that you have permission for. Also, if you want to remove a custom alert subscription from an existing template, you
can only deselect those custom alert subscriptions you have permission for.

Monitoring
Users who monitor processes or process steps can check for process-related custom alerts in the following places:

Manage Processes app

Process chart

For more information, see Checking Custom Alerts for a Process.

Related Information
Custom Alerts

Exception Status
If a situation occurs that prevents the process from continuing as planned, the system will set an exception status to notify you.

The exception status for a step is shown on the dashboard. It is available for the Start Step and End Step settings. It is only available for the following conditions and
in the following cases:

1. Start Step

Condition: On Start Date and When Previous Step Is Completed

This exception occurs when the previous step is not completed by the start date you entered.

2. End Step

Condition: On End Date and When Tasks Are Completed

This exception occurs when the tasks are not completed by the end date you entered.

This field is a free text field. You can enter an exception status of your own choice. However, if you leave this field blank, the system will display the default statuses
Delayed (if the previous step is not completed by the start date) or Past Due (if the tasks are not completed by the end date).

If the situation that led to the exception status is resolved, for example, if the tasks are completed the next day, the exception status will disappear and the process can
continue as planned.

Related Information
Settings for Process Automation

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