Manage Operations for SAP for Retail - Workforce Management 3.0

BP_MO_for_SAP_for_Retail_Workforce_Management_V30.doc 22.04.2009

Best Practice

Manage Operations for SAP for RetailWorkforce Management 3.0

Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16D-69190 Walldorf

CS STATUScustomer published

DATE VERSION

Dec-13 2008 3.0

SOLUTION MANAGEMENT PHASE SAP SOLUTION

Operations & Continuous Improvement Best Practices for Solution Operations

TOPIC AREA SOLUTION MANAGER AREA

Application & Integration Management Business Process Operation

Best PracticeManage Operations for SAP for Retail Workforce Management

2009 SAP AG - BP_MO_for_SAP_for_Retail_Workforce_Management_V30.doc page 2/77

Table of Contents1 Management Summary 4

1.1 Goal of Using This Best Practice 41.2 Alternative Practices 41.3 Staff and Skills Requirements 41.4 System Requirements 51.5 Duration and Timing 51.6 How to Use This Best Practice 61.7 Best Practice Procedure 6

1.7.1 Preliminary tasks 61.7.2 Monitoring concepts 61.7.3 Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager 71.7.4 Monitoring types for Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager 8

1.7.4.1 Application monitor 81.7.4.2 Background job 91.7.4.3 ABAP dump collector 91.7.4.4 Dialog performance 101.7.4.5 Application log 121.7.4.6 Analysis and monitoring tools 131.7.4.7 Monitoring activities 141.7.4.8 Notifications 15

1.7.5 Business Process Monitoring process 171.7.6 Legend 17

2 Business Process Monitoring for Workforce Management 182.1 Sample WFM Scenario 192.2 Business Process: Employee Maintenance 19

2.2.1 Business process step 1: Personnel actions/receiving employee master data 202.2.1.1 Description 202.2.1.2 Monitoring requirements 212.2.1.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 222.2.1.4 Further monitoring objects 23

2.2.2 Business process step 2: Maintain employee profiles 232.2.2.1 Description 232.2.2.2 Monitoring requirements 232.2.2.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 262.2.2.4 Further monitoring objects 27

2.2.3 Business process step 3: Maintain work areas and qualifications 272.2.3.1 Description 272.2.3.2 Monitoring requirements 282.2.3.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 282.2.3.4 Further monitoring objects 29

2.2.4 Business process step 4: Maintain schedule rules 292.2.4.1 Description 292.2.4.2 Monitoring requirements 302.2.4.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 31



2.2.4.4 Further monitoring objects 312.2.5 Business process step 5: Maintain time-off requests 32

2.2.5.1 Description 322.2.5.2 Monitoring requirement 322.2.5.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 332.2.5.4 Further monitoring objects 33

2.3 Business Process: Business Forecast and Workload Modeling 342.3.1 Business process step 1: Adjust actual volume data 35

2.3.1.1 Description 352.3.1.2 Monitoring requirements 352.3.1.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 37

2.3.2 Business process step 2: Performing the initial forecast calculation 382.3.2.1 Description 382.3.2.2 Monitoring requirements 392.3.2.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 432.3.2.4 Further monitoring objects 44

2.3.3 Business process step 3: Update volume forecast 442.3.3.1 Description 442.3.3.2 Monitoring requirements 452.3.3.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 472.3.3.4 Further monitoring objects 47

2.3.4 Business process step 4: Apply budgetary constraints 482.3.4.1 Description 482.3.4.2 Monitoring requirements 492.3.4.3 Further monitoring objects 54

2.3.5 Business process step 5: Approve forecast 542.3.5.1 Description 542.3.5.2 Monitoring requirements 552.3.5.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 55

2.4 Business Process: Scheduling 562.4.1 Business process step 1: Scheduling creation 58

2.4.1.1 Description 582.4.1.2 Monitoring requirements 582.4.1.3 Further monitoring objects 64

2.4.2 Business process step 2 and 3: Scheduling maintenance and analysis 652.4.2.1 Description 652.4.2.2 Monitoring requirements 652.4.2.3 Further monitoring objects 72

2.4.3 Business process step 4: Schedule posting 722.4.3.1 Description 722.4.3.2 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager 73

3 Further Information 743.1 Troubleshooting 743.2 Related Best Practice Documents 74

Index of Figures 75Index of Tables 76



1 Management Summary

1.1 Goal of Using This Best Practice

This Best Practice helps you set up a Business Process Monitoring concept for your SAP for Retail WorkforceManagement solution. The concept aims at defining procedures for business process-oriented monitoring anderror handling, and escalation procedures for your Employee Maintenance, Forecasting and Schedulingbusiness processes. These procedures intend to ensure a smooth and reliable flow of this core process sothat your business requirements are met.

This Best Practice gives orientation for defining suitable application-oriented monitoring objects in order todetect any irregularities or deviations from an ideal business process flow or to detect error situationsconcerning a core business process at an early stage.

This Best Practice follows the recommended approach of SAP to use SAP Solution Manager for monitoringfunctionalities whenever possible. But even if you do not use SAP Solution Manager we recommend to followthe procedures described in this document as much as possible in order to ensure a smooth and reliable flowof your business processes as well as an appropriate response in case of unforeseen errors.

1.2 Alternative Practices

You can have SAP experts deliver this Best Practice on-site by ordering an SAP solution managementoptimization (SMO) service for SAP business process management (BPM). This service is exclusivelyavailable within SAPs support engagements SAP MaxAttention and Safeguarding. If your company currentlydoes not have any support engagement with SAP, it is also possible to get assistance by SAP experts fromSAP Consulting. In this case, please contact your local SAP Consulting representative.

1.3 Staff and Skills Requirements

To implement this Best Practice, you require the following teams:

Application management team

This team creates the ERP Business Process Monitoring concept and consists of experts from several areasof your company:? Business department? Solution support organization (for example basis support or application support)? Implementation project team

Business process operations team

The business process operations team will be responsible for applying the resulting procedures derived fromimplementing this Best Practice. It includes the following groups:? Persons designated to perform business process-oriented monitoring and to ensure that the process runs

smoothly (e.g. the business process champion for each business process)? All parties in your solution support organization and IT department involved in monitoring focused on the

application aspects (application support, development support, job scheduling management)



SAP technology operations team

This team comprises all those in your solution support organization and IT department involved in monitoringfocused on the system administration side (program scheduling management, software monitoring team,system administration team including the system administrator)

Business process champion

The business process champion is a person in the business department that is responsible for the successfulexecution of a given business process. He or she coordinates all activities necessary for the businessprocess and, therefore, is usually responsible for the escalation paths in case of problems. Often this roleserves as a second level in the escalation procedure if the application monitoring team needs to escalate anissue.

More information about roles and responsibilities of these teams can be found in the super-ordinate BestPractice for General Business Process Management, which you can obtain through SAP Solution Manager orthe SAP Service Marketplace, quick link /BPM.

Necessary or useful trainings

? SM300 Business Process Management and Monitoring? E2E300 End-to-End Business Process Integration and Automation Management? EP120 SAP Enterprise Portal Development

1.4 System Requirements

In order to monitor business processes running in your SAP for Retail solution via SAP Solution Manager, theSAP Basis release of the systems to be monitored has to be at least 4.6C. To have all described monitoringobjects available in SAP Solution Manager, the add-on ST-A/PI01L has to be installed on the SAP for Retailsystem.

1.5 Duration and Timing

Duration

Creating a Business Process Monitoring concept can take approximately one week per business process.Implementing the Business Process Monitoring concept might take approximately another week.

Timing

The best time to apply this Best Practice is during the planning phase or during the implementation phase ofyour SAP solution.



1.6 How to Use This Best Practice

Here you find a brief description of how you should proceed in using this document:

Read through the Best Practice for General Business Process Management, available on the SAP ServiceMarketplace. The document explains the procedures to be used to create a general Business ProcessManagement concept. This includes the definition and documentation of the core business processes,definition of monitoring objects, definition of monitoring activities including error handling procedures,monitoring tools and monitoring frequencies, the definition of communication and escalation procedures andthe assignment of responsibilities.

At the beginning of chapter 2 you will find a typical flow chart of the core business process explained in thisBest Practice. It is intended to be used as a guideline for writing down your company-specific processdocumentation.

In chapter 1.7.4 you will find further information relevant for more than one scenario. In case information fromthe generic part is relevant for a specific business process step in one of the scenarios, you will find a clearlink to the corresponding chapter of the generic part.

1.7 Best Practice Procedure

1.7.1 Preliminary tasks

Before performing this Best Practice, ensure that you perform the following preliminary tasks or checks in thesystem:? Complete all installation and post-installation actions and procedures, including customizing? Ensure that the initial download has been successfully executed? Apply all SAP recommendations from SAP service sessions and any SAP recommendations resulting

from customer problem messages? Implement all current SAP support packages upon availability

1.7.2 Monitoring concepts

The monitoring procedures proposed for each business process step are the core of this Best Practice. Themonitoring procedures help you ensure that the technical processes meet the requirements for stability,performance and completeness. These procedures cover the monitoring for five areas:? Error monitoring? Performance monitoring? Throughput monitoring? Backlog monitoring? Data consistency monitoring

For each of the business process steps, you will find the following information:? A detailed functional description of the process step? Identified monitoring requirements for the process step? Defined monitoring objects, alerts and selection criteria? Description of error handling procedures and restartability



General monitoring activities that are valid for all or most scenarios are described in the generic part inchapter 1.7.4. Recommendations for performance monitoring can also be found in this chapter. Theperformance of the most important steps of your core business processes should be monitored on a regularbasis. The monitoring procedure for performance monitoring of all steps that are executed in an SAP forRetail Workforce Management solution is generally the same. Therefore, you will only find specificperformance monitoring recommendations on selected business process steps.

1.7.3 Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager

Business Process Monitoring (BPMon), as part of Solution Monitoring means the proactive and process-oriented monitoring of the most important or critical business processes, including the observation of alltechnical and business application-specific functions that are required for a steady and stable flow of thebusiness processes.

The core business processes that are implemented in an SAP for Retail Workforce Management system orother software and operated by a company are of particular importance, and Business Process Monitoring isintended to ensure a smooth and reliable operation of the business processes and, thereby, that the corebusiness processes meet a companys business requirements in terms of stability, performance, andcompleteness. SAP Solution Manager provides a graphic to visualize a companys (distributed) system- andsolution landscape and all related business processes. By using Business Process Monitoring, it is possibleto define and customize alert situations from the basic set of configurable alerts provided by SAP SolutionManager. These alerts are then visualized as green, yellow and red alert icons for each individual businessprocess step in the graphical business process representation. Business Process Monitoring is intended todetect critical situations and respond to them as early as possible in order to solve problems as fast aspossible.

SAP Solution Manager also offers extended functionality for error handling and problem resolution. By thedefinition of contact persons and escalation paths, Business Process Monitoring can be integrated into thecompanys overall strategy for business process management and solution management within their solutionsupport organization.

In general, Business Process Monitoring includes the solution-wide observation of:? Business process performance (key performance indicators)? Background jobs (Job Scheduling Management tasks)? Business application logs (such as any error log, general application log, due list logs, etc.)? Data transfer via interfaces between software components? Data consistency? Technical infrastructure and components required to run the business processes? Required periodic monitoring tasks

For further details on Business Process Monitoring, please refer to http://service.sap.com/bpm.



1.7.4 Monitoring types for Business Process Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager

Monitoring types are part of the functional scope of Business Process Monitoring as it is available in SAPSolution Manager. The below mentioned monitoring types are available:? Application monitor (throughput and backlog indicators, interface monitoring, data consistency checks,

mass activity monitors, due list log, MRP key figures, user exit)? Background jobs (jobs running on SAP systems with an SAP basis)? Dialog performance (dialog transaction performance)? Update error (V1 and V2 update errors from SM13 for specific transactions and programs)? Due list log (messages for deliveries and billings)? Application log (messages from the application Log SLG1)? Document volume (based on table call statistics in ST10)? Other CCMS monitor (all alerts that are configured in the CCMS alert monitor)

Depending on what is executed during a specific business process step, the relevant monitoring types mustbe selected. In order to receive detailed information on how to set up the monitoring objects in SAP SolutionManager, please refer to the documentation available at http://service.sap.com/bpm. In the followingchapters, monitoring types that are relevant for this Best Practice document are introduced shortly.

One prerequisite for setting up Business Process and Interface Monitoring in SAP Solution Manager is that allbusiness processes and business process steps are maintained in the respective solution that contains allaffected system components. If you want to learn more about how to set this up, please turn tohttp://help.sap.com? SAP Solution Manager? Basic Settings.

1.7.4.1 Application monitor

The application monitor is just one of many different monitoring types within the Business Process Monitoring.The latest monitoring objects are only provided if the latest ST-A/PI plug-in is installed on the satellite system.The service tool for ST-A/PI is available via the SAP Service Marketplace quick link /installations ?Entry by Application Group? Plug-Ins? SAP Solution Tools? ST-A/PI.

Please ensure that ST-A/PI is installed on the SAP Solution Manager system and on the respectivesatellite. In case of problems refer to SAP Note 915933.

The throughput and backlog indicator functionality available as of ST-A/PI 01J* is only working properlywith ST-SER 700_2007_1. This is due to changes in the underlying architecture.

More detailed information about the different application monitor functionalities and a detailed description onhow to define self-written monitoring collectors for the user exit are explained in the following documentsrespectively (http://www.service.sap.com/ Alias BPM? Media Library):? Setup Guide Application Monitoring? Setup Guide Interface Monitoring? Setup Guide User Exit



1.7.4.2 Background job

The background job monitoring should be part of a Job Scheduling Management concept. Go tohttp://service.sap.com/solutionmanagerbp, topic area Business Process Operations to find the BestPractice for Job Scheduling Management. Because of several restrictions regarding background jobscheduling, e.g. time restrictions, restriction of hardware resources (CPU, main memory, ), or existingdependencies between different activities (e.g. invoices can only be created after the corresponding goodsissue is posted, or backorder processing and material requirements planning should not run at the same time)it is very important to ensure the stable run of background jobs. A cancelled background job should beidentified as soon as possible in order to react as fast as possible. Therefore it is also necessary to definerestart procedures and escalation paths.

Monitoring objects

Before setting up monitoring, the monitoring objects must be clearly defined. A monitoring object is a singlebackground job or a group of background jobs. There are four different possibilities to identify a special back-ground job or a group of background jobs. This information needs to be maintained in the sub-nodeBackground Job below a business process step.

A detailed description of what kinds of alerts make sense or what kinds of alerts are possible is provided inthe Best Practice for Background Job Monitoring with SAP Solution Manager document, which can be foundon the SAP Marketplace http://service.sap.com/solutionmanagerbp, topic area Business Process Opera-tion.

1.7.4.3 ABAP dump collector

The dump collector provides monitoring features for alerting on occurrences of ABAP dumps of specifiedruntime errors and collects statistical data of ABAP dumps for reporting reasons.

Monitoring objects

The monitoring object is an ABAP runtime error. This runtime error can be specified via the runtime errorname, the user who is responsible for the runtime error, the client on which the runtime error occurs or theprogram that leads to the runtime error.

Monitoring alerts

Possible alert types are the Number of ABAP Dumps (Delta) all dumps since the last collector run andNumber of ABAP Dumps (Reporting) all runtime errors of specified type, client and program for this day orfor the previous day.



Figure 1: Alert type Number of ABAP Dumps (Delta)

1.7.4.4 Dialog performance

Dialog performance implies the monitoring of the dialog transaction performance of any transaction in theSAP system. This can be a standard transaction or a custom-developed transaction.

Monitoring objects

The monitoring object is the transaction itself. The customizing has to be done in the Dialog Performancenode. The Transactions table lists all transactions that are already configured to that business process step.The relevant transactions need to be selected for monitoring. It is also possible to add or to removetransactions within the Add/Remove Transactions table. The monitoring can be performed per SAPinstance. To this end, select the respective instances in the SAP Instances table, which lists all instances thatare maintained for a system. The Alert Types table shows the dialog response time and all parts of theresponse time that can be monitored, like queue time, load and generation time, database request time andthe front-end response time. Select those times that are relevant for monitoring. After saving this node, a sub-node Performance Alerts will appear where you can enter the threshold values.



Figure 2: Monitoring objects Dialog performance

Monitoring alerts

Each table in the Performance Alerts sub-node corresponds to an alert type chosen in the higher-level node,and lists the combinations of specified transaction code and SAP instance.

For each combination of transaction code and instance that you want to include in the monitoring, specify thethreshold values resulting in alert messages for GREEN to YELLOW, YELLOW to RED, RED to YELLOW,and YELLOW to GREEN.

Since the monitoring object for performance monitoring is created on the satellite system, it might be possiblethat the object already exists there. Therefore you can load the current threshold values from the respectivesystems via the Load thresholds from button, with representing the SID. If successfullyretrieved for an SAP instance, the values are filled in columns. If no active settings for the threshold valueswere found for a certain transaction code, default values are set (indicated in column Default). To transfer thethreshold values for a single line from right to left, the Copy icon can be used. To transfer all at once (allthresholds for all columns and tables) there is an additional Copy all button.

Figure 3: Monitoring alerts - Dialog performance



1.7.4.5 Application log

The application log provides an infrastructure for collecting messages, saving them in the database anddisplaying them as a log. At runtime, situations can arise in application programs that must be brought to theattention of the user. These are usually errors. It can also be useful to report a successful completion. Theinformation that arises is called a message. A set of messages is a log. A log usually also has headerinformation (log type, creator, creation time, etc.). A transaction can generate several logs. The applicationlog is not written consecutively but as a whole at one point in time.

Monitoring objects and alerts

The application log allows an application- or object-oriented recording of events. An object and any sub-object that belongs to it classify each event. The analysis of the logs is similarly object- (or sub-object-)oriented. The name of an object (or sub-object) can be found in transaction /nSLG1 together with all otherinformation specific to that log.

Figure 4: Monitoring objects and alerts Application log

It is possible to monitor the total number of messages belonging to an object. For each object, the number ofmessages that raise a YELLOW alert and the number of messages changing from YELLOW to RED must bemaintained.

It is also possible to monitor specific messages that are considered as critical in the N of Critical Messagestable. To configure the monitoring of critical application log messages, select the relevant object-sub objectcombinations. For each of these combinations, you can specify the message type, the message ID and themessage number as well as the threshold values for the number of critical messages that are supposed toresult in changes from GREEN to YELLOW and from YELLOW to RED can be specified. It is also possible touse wild cards.



Figure 5: Monitoring alerts Application log/Critical messages

1.7.4.6 Analysis and monitoring tools

It is possible to specify analysis transactions or URL addresses (including file directories) per monitoringobject. In case of analysis transactions these should be used to analyze errors or problems either locally inSAP Solution Manager system (Call Option 1) or directly in the respective satellite systems (Call Option2). Per default some standard transactions are maintained. For instance, transaction SM37, that provides ajob overview in an SAP system, is maintained for background jobs, and transaction SLG1, which is used tohave a look into the application log.

It is also possible to add new transactions. These can be standard transactions or transactions written by thecustomer.

Figure 6: Analysis and monitoring transactions



On the second tab strip, you can specify an URL that should be called in order to further analyze the givenproblem. This is especially interesting if you have knowledge documents that are linked to a portal. You candefine a short text and the URL.

For Web pages to be called, specify the full URL, e.g. http://help.sap.com. For content available on fileservers specify the full file path, using the nomenclature: file://\\\\..., for instance,file://\\\server1\operations_documents\operations-handbook.txt

Figure 7: Analysis and monitoring URL

When using the monitoring during a Business Process Monitoring session, the specified transactions or URLsare available as buttons within a business process step. When you press these buttons, for instance

, you jump directly into the corresponding transaction, either in SAP SolutionManager (here: SAT) or the connected satellite system (here: CT1), for further analysis.

In case of URLs, the button (e.g. ) contains the short text (limited to 20 characters)from the setup session and opens the defined URL in a new browser window.

1.7.4.7 Monitoring activities

Monitoring activities should be set up for every monitoring object within a business process step. Allmonitoring objects defined within a business process step are listed there. To ensure effective monitoring andefficient problem resolution, assign responsibilities and define problem resolution procedures as described inthe following table. Some information has been taken from the previous Solution Support Organization node.

Monitoring Team Defines the team that is responsible for monitoring the relevant monitoring object.Use value help F4.

Person Resp. Defines the person who is responsible for monitoring the monitoring object. Usevalue help F4.

Frequency Describes how often the responsible person should process the required monitoringactivity.

Start Time Describes at which time the responsible person should process the requiredmonitoring activity.



Problem Indicator A description about what indicates a problem.

Error Handling Describes how to react on problems or errors, i.e. how to solve the problem orcorrect the error.

Escalation Path Describes the escalation path in case that the person responsible could not solve theproblem. Persons who can be contacted should be maintained here.

You can enter additional information related to this business process step in the tables MonitoringActivities, Error Handling, Restart of Step and Escalation Path. That information is valid for the wholebusiness process step and help users who have to carry out the monitoring and who are not familiar with thatparticular business process.

1.7.4.8 Notifications

You can set up notifications for the whole business process or for each business process step individually.There are two types of notifications: Workflow notifications and support notifications. Workflow notificationsallow sending messages to a specified recipient in case of alerts, for instance, an e-mail or SAPOffice mail.Support notifications allow setting up a service desk message in case of an alert. The information entered forthe service desk message serves as a template. The service desk message can be created manually orautomatically.

On business process level, you can define notifications for the whole business process, i.e. as soon as thebusiness process gets an alert status, notifications will be triggered. Alternatively, notifications can be definedfor every monitoring type individually, e.g. all alerts related to background jobs of the business process areforwarded to a defined e-mail address.

Notifications defined on business process step level will overrule the configuration made on business processlevel for this particular step.

Workflow notification

Sender Must be a user within in the monitoring client of SAP Solution Manager. This usercan even be a system user without any roles or profiles, but the user must have avalid e-mail address which the used mail server knows.

Recipient Address Depending on the recipient type, the recipient name is required. This can be any e-mail address, an SAP user name in the same system, a remote SAP name or ashared distribution list. In case of an SMS you need to enter SMS:.

Reci. Type There are currently five different recipient types: U (e-mail), K (for SMS and pager),B (SAP user name), R (remote SAP name) and C (shared distribution list).

No. of Yellow Alerts Number of YELLOW alerts that can occur before an automatic notification istriggered

No. of Red Alerts Number of RED alerts that can occur before an automatic notification is triggered



Max Wait Time [h] Once the maximum wait time [hours] has elapsed, a notification is created even ifthe thresholds are not exceeded.

RED Only To restrict this mechanism only to red alerts, the flag in column RED Only must beset.

Detailed Triggers a long text for e-mails or SAPOffice mails, e.g. name of the solution, nameof the business process step, )

Support notifications

Priority Defines the priority of the support notification.

Queue Defines the support component on which the message is put. This componentmust exist within the service desk.

Processor Defines a default processor who should process the message. The processor mustbe known within the service desk and must be SAP user name defined as abusiness partner with role employee.

Text Template Text templates can be defined that will then be available for service deskmessages manually created for alerts.

Automatic Support notifications will be created automatically depending on the alertthresholds.

Reporter Necessary if service desk messages are created automatically. Must be a SAPuser name defined as a business partner with role general.

Num of YELLOWAlerts

Necessary when service desk messages are created automatically, e.g. after tenyellow alerts a service desk message should be created.

Num of RED Alerts Necessary when service desk messages are created automatically, e.g. after fivered alerts a service desk message should be created.

If in addition to Queue, Processor, Priority and Reporter either one of the columns Num of YELLOWAlerts or Num of RED Alerts is filled with a value, the automatic support notification creation isconfigured. In case that both columns are filled with a value, the automatic support notification creationworks with a logical OR operation. Hence, with the figures in the table above the system would create asupport notification if there are either more than nine yellow alerts or more than four red alerts for whichno support notification has been created yet.



1.7.5 Business Process Monitoring process

For a successful and efficient Business Process Monitoring, you have to define a process for implementingyour monitoring concept. This includes the definition of the roles and responsibilities involved. You need todefine who is supposed to carry out which activity within the process and how communication between thedifferent roles within the support organization is supposed to take place.

A Business Process Monitoring concept has to be tightly integrated with the support organization. Thisincludes the integration with the Incident- and Problem Management processes and the ChangeManagement process. These processes have to be adjusted to the Business Process Monitoring concept sothat communication and escalation procedures defined within these processes support the Business ProcessMonitoring concept. This includes the final communication of open alerts to SAP.

Wherever communication connected with Business Process Monitoring happens outside these supportprocesses, separate communication and escalation paths and procedures have to be defined.

Please see the separate Best Practice for General Business Process Management for further details.

1.7.6 Legend

This symbol indicates a paragraph from where you can navigate to another chapter of this documentfor a more detailed information on a topic.

This symbol indicates a paragraph from where you can navigate to another document within the SAPService Marketplace for a more detailed information on a topic.



2 Business Process Monitoring for Workforce Management

Workforce Management (WFM) performs the complex process of creating optimum employee schedules byleveraging employee skill sets and balancing workload and weighted variables such as payroll requirements,budgetary objectives, employee availabilities, workplace rules, regulatory requirements and performancestandards. WFM is a Web-based application that can stand alone on SAP NetWeaver, SAP EnterpriseResource Planning (SAP ERP) or serve as an integrated application to SAP ERP Human CapitalManagement (SAP ERP HCM). The application is delivered with nine standard Web template reports that youcan use as they are or modify via SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence to meet your needs. WorkforceManagement is integrated with SAP Enterprise Portal with configurable role-based access (manager,employee, supervisor, corporate executive); with SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence for centralizedreporting; and holds key integration to SAP ERP HCM where hiring and scheduling processes can bestreamlined. Workforce Management is comprised of four major business processes which include employeemaintenance, business forecasting, labor scheduling and managing time. This Best Practice document willfocus on three of the four business process and describe in greater detail monitoring possibilities foremployee maintenance, forecasting, and scheduling.

Figure 8: Business processes in WFM



2.1 Sample WFM Scenario

Cosmetics Inc. is a mid-size specialty retailer that sells cosmetics, fragrances, jewelry, vitamins, skin careand hair care products in the United States. Store teams range from 25 employees in smaller stores to 75 inlarger locations. It is no easy task to ensure employee coverage levels to accurately match changingcustomer demand was no easy task. The company previously managed employees by a manual schedulingsystem that was time-consuming, inconsistent across all stores, and very biased leading to organizationalinefficiencies and inadequate customer service levels. To address these issues, Cosmetics Inc. acquiredWFM delivered on SAP NetWeaver to streamline the process of scheduling store staff and improve customerservice levels. Employees are maintained in a third-party HR system and are imported into SAP through astandard employee master data interface. To forecast adequate workload for each store respectively, keyvolume drivers, such as items sold, and transactions are loaded from the point-of-sale system. Schedules areprocessed centrally and maintained at the store level by the store manager.

The following core business processes were used.1. Employee maintenance (managing employee master data)2. Forecasting (forecasting schedule and workload)3. Scheduling employee

The following chapters take you through these three core business processes step by step, explaining whereand how you can identify focus points for Business Process Monitoring. For each business process step, themost effective ways for Business Process Monitoring in the context of the example are highlighted. Currently,WFM-specific Business Process Monitoring objects are not contained in SAP Solution Manager.

2.2 Business Process: Employee Maintenance

In WFM, the employee maintenance business process defines how employees are to be maintained forscheduling once they have been hired or imported into the system. WFM either uses HR master data loadedfrom a third-party HR system, SAP ERP HCM, the Personnel Action Portal iView of WFM, or replicatesmanually created data in SAP Business Partner. Despite the method used to import employees, allemployees must have a business partner created. SAP Business Partner (SAP BP) is the entry point to viewor modify employees in WFM. The SAP BP application is a component of SAP NetWeaver and containsmaster data (name, address, date of birth, etc.). WFM utilizes the SAP BP component to representemployees (persons) within an organization. In WFM, the business partner must be assigned to a positionwithin an organizations hierarchal structure viewable as an employee of the store within the WFM portal.With this assignment the user is available for scheduling.

After the employee has been imported into WFM, a combination of required employee HR master data andsupporting data supplied directly from the employees is needed to complete the employees profile in WFM.Once created, WFM employee profiles are visible for review and modification through the portal user interface(UI). Required end-user entered employee data points include:? Employee availability? Assign work areas? Assign schedule rules? Time-off requests



Figure 9: Business process Employee maintenance

2.2.1 Business process step 1: Personnel actions/receiving employee master data

2.2.1.1 Description

Employee master data can be initiated from varying sources: the Personnel Administration iView of WFM,SAP ERP HCM, or a third-party HR system. Client requirements define how employees are imported toWFM.

The Personnel Action iView allows WFM end users to process SAP ERP HCM or HR employee personnelactions and update the employee master data via WFM. The functions that this iView enables: Hire, Update,Transfer, Terminate, and Re-Enter (Rehire). The use of SAPs standard WFM employee transfer IDocsupdates the employee master data record in SAP ERP HCM or the HR source system. The HR system thenhas to use another IDoc transfer to transmit any relevant changes to the HR data to the WFM system.

Employee master data from a third-party HR system have to transmit similar data changes in the IDoc formatused by SAP ERP HCM. In this way, you can rely upon the existing inbound processing to guarantee that theWFM business partner database is maintained correctly.

Landscapes where SAP ERP HCM and WFM reside on the same box are considered a WFM best practiceand do not require the Personnel Actions iView. WFM and SAP ERP HCM have many integration pointsthat enable employees hired into SAP ERP HCM to be replicated to WFM. Upon activating the integrationbetween the two systems and maintaining key configuration settings, standard personnel actions becomeseamless, allowing end users to proceed to business process step 2, the Profile iView, to maintain employeeWFM-related settings.



Scenario-specific sample

Due to hardware constraints, Cosmetics Inc. decides that HR and WFM must reside on different boxes.Personnel Action view is used to hire, update, transfer, terminate and rehire employees.

2.2.1.2 Monitoring requirements

Error monitoring

Monitoring can be performed in the enterprise portal, by inspecting Personnel Actions views, and also in theHR system to ensure modifications made via the Personnel Actions iView have been updated in bothsystems. This includes monitoring the data transfer between the systems via IDoc processing.

When you use WFM as an entry point for employee data, you need to monitor the subsequent EmployeeiViews Profile, Work Areas & Qualifications, Schedule Rules and Time-off Request (described insubsequent business process steps) to ensure population of required fields for employee scheduling.


An employee at Cosmetics Inc. has just accepted a promotion to another store location. The employeescurrent manager wants to complete the transfer via the Personnel Action iView. Upon submitting thetransfer, the manager will need to check the corresponding screens in HR or SAP ERP HCM to ensure thatthe changes in position, pay, and location were updated there too.

Figure 10: Changing employee master data



Performance monitoring

Utilizing the standard inbound and outbound IDocs to pass HR master data to and from HR or SAP ERPHCM residing on different logical systems allows for other data or processing capabilities to be performed aswell between WFM and SAP ERP HCM. Users can monitor the IDocs by using the IDoc monitoring function-nality in SAP Solution Manager or manually on satellite system via transaction WE05.

2.2.1.3 Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager

Monitoring Object Selection Criteria Alert AnalysisTool onSatelliteSystem

MonitoringFrequency /Data Collection

Outbound IDoc:

HRMD_ABAWFM

Basic Type: HRMD_ABAWFM

Status:Error and intermediate statuses foroutbound processing, e.g.:? 29 (error status) - Error in ALE

service.

Employeedata is nottransferredfrom WFMto HCM

WE05 Depending onbusiness needs(every 15minutes onceper day)

Inbound IDoc:

HRMD_ABA01

Basic Type: HRMD_ABA01

Status:Error and intermediate statuses forinbound processing, e.g.:? 51 (error status) - Application

document not posted? 52 (intermediate status) -

Application document not fullyposted? 56 (error status) - IDoc with errors

added

Employeedata is nottransferredfrom WFMto HCM


Table 1: Personnel actions/receiving employee master data Monitoring data in SAP Solution Manager

When monitoring IDocs, the status of the IDoc will dictate what actions need to be taken:? IDoc in error status (red light): Click once on IDoc number to read text diagnosing the error. After error has

been corrected, you may reprocess the IDoc.? IDoc in processing (yellow light): No action is needed if further processing takes place as expected. If the

intermediate status lasts longer than usual, an erroneous behavior is indicated. In this case, investigatethe root cause and correct the error.

? IDoc successfully processed (green light): No action is needed.



2.2.1.4 Further monitoring objects

Monitoring Object SelectionCriteria

Alert Analysis Tool onSatellite System


Personnel ActionsiView

WFM Portal Employee tab

Personnel Actionsperformed in WFMare not reflected inthe third-party HRsystem

WFM enterprise portal(manual check):

WFM Portal Employees Personnel Action

Weekly/for eachinstance: Hire,update, transfer,terminate, re-hire

Table 2: Personnel actions/receiving employee master data Further monitoring data

2.2.2 Business process step 2: Maintain employee profiles

2.2.2.1 Description

Users can maintain several employee master data fields within the WFM portal. The Employee Profile iViewdisplays basic employee information such as the employees hire/start date, employee type, default settingsgroup (FT/PT status), date of birth, employee number, cost class, and termination date. The Default SettingsGroup field can be maintained manually by the user or configured to correspond with updates made in theHR system. The Replacement Eligible feature, when activated, indicates that the employee is eligible toreplace shifts of other employee or for added coverage during schedule modification. The Replace and AddCoverage functionality will list any employee who has this feature active and is available to cover theselected shift. Other fields that can be modified include Cost Class, Hire Date, Start Date, and TerminationDate. When interfacing to an HR system that supplies this data, you can disable these fields by activating theDate Lock flag within the RFC destination to HR configuration. All other fields in this iView will be grayed outto prevent direct user modification. Updates or adjustments to the iView information must be performed in theHR system of record and imported to WFM via the WFM employee maintenance standard interface.


Cosmetics Inc. hires a new employee. The data is entered into the HR system. In the portal, some WFM-specific information needs to be maintained.


Error monitoring

The initial monitoring is done in the enterprise portal by inspecting the Profile iView to ensure that basic HRdata was imported properly to WFM. For all correctly created employees, the Profile tab displays anemployee profile.

Scenario specific sample

A new employee has been hired and the WFM administrator must check the employee profile for accuracy.



Figure 11: Maintaining employee profiles

New hires and employee master data modifications should appear in the portal in minutes if the integrationbetween HCM or third-party HR and WFM works properly. If you notice that an employee is missing from theemployee list, you need to check the box beside New Employees Only to get the corresponding list.

Figure 12: Checking new employees profiles

The list displaying the new employees indicates that an error was made during the hiring process. In suchcases, HR master data (such as hire date) is missing, which prevents the employee profile from creatingproperly. Manually entering Hire Date and Start Date and saving will remove the employee from the NewEmployees Only list and make the profile visible in the general list. If a majority of employees is displayed inthe New Employees Only list, it is best to find the root cause for the problem rather than manually correctingthe profiles.

In addition, check if the RFC interface WFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY works properly. It is used to maintain:? WFM global attributes (hire date, start date, termination date)? General WFM attributes (such as default settings group and cost class)? Work area assignments for an employee? Schedule rules (availability, preferences and set/fixed shifts)



? Work rules? Contract rule? Employee time-off requests

It is best practice to call the RFC interface WFA_EMP_DATA_GET, which retrieves all of the attributes main-tained by WFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY. Errors resulting from this interface are stored in table ET_RETURN,which resides in WFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY and WFA_EMP_DATA_GET interface. Object ET_RETURNcan be checked to determine if the interface failed.

If integrated with SAP ERP HCM, verify that both, HCM-PA to WFM integration and SAP BP integration, areenabled. Another issue that can result in an incomplete employee profile is that the WFM agent profile updatefailed during the hiring process. In that case the employee will appear in the portal without a start and hiredate and will only be visible in the New Employees Only list. You can correct this error by manually enteringthe start and hire date and saving the profile. You can also delete and recreate the agent relationship utilizingthe agent update program created during the BP conversion process.

Figure 13: Error WFM agent profile update failed

Performance monitoring

It is necessary to monitor the time elapsed from hiring an employee in HR until the data is visible in WFM.


A new employee has been hired and the data entered in HR but the data is not immediately displayed inWFM.




Monitoring Object Selection Criteria Alert Analysis Toolon SatelliteSystem

MonitoringFrequency/DataCollection

Outbound IDocHRMD_ABAWFM

Basic Type:

HRMD_ABAWFM

Status:Error and intermediatestatuses for outboundprocessing, e.g.:? 29 (Red light) - Error

in ALE service.

Employee data is nottransferred fromWFM to SAP ERPHCM


Inbound IDocHRMD_ABA01

Basic Type:

HRMD_ABA01

Status:

Error and intermediatestatuses for inboundprocessing, e.g.:? 51 (red light) -

Application documentnot posted? 52 (yellow light) -

Application documentnot fully posted? 56 (red light) - IDoc

with errors added

Employee data is nottransferred fromWFM to SAP ERPHCM


Function modulesWFA_EMP_DATA_GET andWFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY

(depending on theinterface technologyused, tRFC or qRFCmonitoring can beused in SAPSolution Manager)

RFC destination Any of the followingis not updatingproperly:? WFM global

attributes (HireDate, Start Date,Termination Date)? General WFM

attributes (such as,Default SettingsGroup and CostClass)? Work area

assignments for anemployee? Schedule rules

(Availability,Preferences andSet/Fixed Shifts)? Work rules? Contract rule? Employee time-off

requests

tRFCprocessing:

SM59

qRFCprocessing:

SMQ1, SMQ2

Depending onbusiness needs(e.g. once perday or once perweek)

Table 3: Maintain employee profiles Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager




been corrected, you may reprocess the IDoc.? IDoc in processing (yellow light): No action is needed if further processing takes place as expected. If the

intermediate status lasts longer than usual, an erroneous behavior is indicated. In this case, investigatethe root cause and correct the error.




Alert Analysis Toolon SatelliteSystem


Business partner created N/A Employee doesnot appear in theWFM portal.

Transaction BP Verify BPnumber createdfor eachemployee

Profile iView WFM portal Employee tab Profile

N/A WFM enterpriseportal

For each:

? New hire? Employee

basicinformationmodification? Transfer? Termination

RFC Select Trace:RFC Trace

Select TraceFunction:Activate Trace

N/A ST05 When errors aredetected fromthe employeeprofile, an RFCtrace may pointto the error.

Table 4: Maintain employee profiles Further monitoring objects

2.2.3 Business process step 3: Maintain work areas and qualifications

2.2.3.1 Description

The Work Areas & Qualifications iView allows you to assign one or several work area(s) to an employee sothey can be scheduled. Default Settings Group, Cost Class, and Employee Group are also visible in theWork Areas & Qualifications iView. The Pay Rate field can be visible to or hidden from the store level uservia Roles & Authorizations.

A work area defines the job that the employee will be scheduled to work. A work area can be given anumerical rank if the employee has been assigned to multiple work areas. The rank defines the order in whichthe work areas should be considered for scheduling for that employee during schedule calculation.



In Work Areas & Qualifications iView the employee can be assigned a proficiency rating which defines whatskill level the employee holds within a particular work area. The Shared Employee feature in WFM allowsspecific employees to work in multiple store locations. The Work Area Reluctance Profile will define, forscheduling purposes, what priority the rank of the work areas should be scheduled.


Cosmetics Inc. stores #1 and #2 would like to use the Shared Employee feature within WFM. They noticedthat employees that meet the requirements for sharing do not show up on both store schedules.


Error monitoring

Each employee must have at least one work area assigned although multiple work areas can be assignedbased on the configuration and business requirements.

The WFM administrator must ensure that the requirements for the Shared Employee feature are active:? The employees home store must have the Shared Employee feature active.? The employees home store must have the Replacement Eligible feature active? The schedule for the home store must be posted before the employee will appear for scheduling in the

shared location(s).? If multiple shifts can be worked in multiple locations, then the May work in multiple locations in same

day flagged must be active.


After schedule calculation, the WFM administrator noticed that an employee did not display any scheduledhours on the schedule, nor did they display under a specific work area in the portal.


MonitoringObject

SelectionCriteria



Function ModulesWFA_EMP_DATA_GET andWFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY

(depending on theinterfacetechnology used,tRFC or qRFCmonitoring can beused in SAPSolution Manager)

RFCdestination

Any of the following does not updateproperly:

- WFM global attributes (Hire Date,Start Date, Termination Date)

- General WFM attributes (such as,Default Settings Group andCost Class)

- Work area assignments for anemployee

- Schedule rules (Availability,Preferences and Set/FixedShifts)

- Work rules- Contract rule- Employee time-off requests

tRFCprocessing:SM59

qRFCprocessing:SMQ1, SMQ2


Table 5: Maintain work areas and qualifications Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager







Work Area & QualificationiView

WFM portal Employee tab

N/A WFM Portal Employee Work Area &Qualifications

Weekly, when newhires/re-hires areentered

Whenever workarea additions ormodifications areneeded



N/A ST05 When errors aredetected from thework area andqualifications viewan RFC trace maypoint to the error.

Table 6: Maintain work areas and qualifications Further monitoring objects

2.2.4 Business process step 4: Maintain schedule rules

2.2.4.1 Description

Employee scheduling rules can be maintained in the Schedule Rules iView in the WFM portal. ScheduleRules allows you to enter employee availabilities, preferences, fixed and set shifts. Availability start and stoptimes are entered manually by day in either standard or military time. Rotations can also be defined in thisiView if employees have rotating availabilities and/or schedules. WFM will automatically assign the rotationsettings to a specific schedule week, based on the number of rotations in the list and the settings position inthe list. WFM will reference the information in this view during the schedule calculation to schedule theemployees within their availability and shift settings.

Work rules are used by WFM during schedule creation to ensure the resulting shifts meet the schedule goalsfor the employee while complying with company policy and legal requirements. Examples include: Minimumor maximum number of hours per day or week, maximum days per week, allow overtime, maximum hours perperiod (contract), etc. Work rule templates are preconfigured and assigned to each employee to providedefault settings that meet the company policy and legal requirements. Contract work rules are used morecommonly in union environments and enable scheduling constraints for minimum and maximum scheduledhours over a period of time.

If the schedule calculation or modifications made to a schedule break any of these rules, schedule exceptionswill be generated. The manager can then modify the schedule to remove the exception or decide to ignorethe exception. When assigning the work rules for a given employee, you also need to consider the employeetype (FT, PT) or age qualification (Minor).




Cosmetics, Inc is preparing to open a new location and needs to maintain availabilities and work rules for allemployees prior to grand opening.


The initial monitoring is done in the enterprise portal by inspecting the Schedule Rules iView to ensureavailability and work rules are maintained.

Error monitoring

Employee availability must be maintained for each employee. If employee availability is left blank, the WFMscheduler will not create a schedule for that employee.

Work rules must be maintained for each employee to constrain the min/max hours of work per day or perweek according to company guidelines. For example, a part-time employee should receive fewer hours thana full-time employee. If you notice that this is not the case, you should check the work rules assigned to theemployee in question (Employees Schedule Rules Work Rules):

Figure 14: Checking work rules

Positions that require a fixed shift must be maintained to prevent erratic schedules. It is best practice tomaintain fixed shifts for managers and any other positions that require coverage that is not dependent uponcustomer demand.


A company may have the philosophy that a manager should be present at all times to assist customers andstore associates. To ensure consistent coverage, use a fixed shift. Otherwise, WFM will schedule themanager to coincide with store demand, producing a very erratic schedule.



Figure 15: Maintaining shifts




MonitoringFrequency /DataCollection

Function modulesWFA_EMP_DATA_GETand WFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY

(depending on theinterface technologyused, tRFC or qRFCmonitoring can be used inSAP Solution Manager)

RFCdestination

Any of the following is notupdating properly:? WFM global attributes (Hire

Date, Start Date,Termination Date)? General WFM attributes

(such as, Default SettingsGroup and Cost Class)? Work area assignments for

an employee? Schedule rules

(Availability, Preferencesand Set/Fixed Shifts)? Work rules? Contract rule? Employee time-off requests

tRFCprocessing:SM59



Table 7: Maintain schedule rules Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager


Monitoring Object Selection Criteria Alert Analysis Tool onSatellite System

Monitoring Frequency /Data Collection

RFC Select trace: RFC trace

Select trace unction:Activate trace

N/A ST05 When errors are detectedfrom the Schedule Rulesview an RFC trace maypoint to the error.

Table 8: Maintain schedule rules Further monitoring objects



2.2.5 Business process step 5: Maintain time-off requests

2.2.5.1 Description

Time-off requests allow the user to manage planned absences for scheduling and projected payroll planningpurposes. Requests can be made for a specific time period of a day, a full day, a number of days or anumber of hours. Comments associated with an employee time-off request can also be entered. A time-offrequest will modify employees availability by making them unavailable for scheduling without modifying theirpermanently entered availabilities. The time-off request can be processed for paid and un-paid time off. Paidbenefit time-off requests are only used in WFM for pre-payroll calculations and schedule costing purposes.

Figure 16: Maintaining time-off requests


Employee submits a time-off request to their manager to attend jury duty.

2.2.5.2 Monitoring requirement

The initial monitoring is done in the enterprise portal by inspecting the Time-off Requests iView.

Error monitoring

Errors displayed in this view are usually user errors. Time-off requests may have been entered incorrectlyand need to be modified.




The store manager has just entered a time-off request for an hourly employee and realized that they assignedthe wrong absence type.

Submitted time-off requests are listed for each individual in the Time-off Requests table. The absence typeis listed as a hyperlink displayed in blue. To modify data associated with the absence type, click on thehyperlink to view the time-off request details. To remove a time-off request, place a check in the box besidethe absence type and press the Remove button.





Function modulesWFA_EMP_DATA_GET andWFA_EMP_DATA_MODIFY

(depending on theinterface technologyused, tRFC or qRFCMonitoring can beused in SAPSolution Manager)

RFCdestination

Any of the following is notupdating properly:? WFM global attributes (Hire

Date, Start Date,Termination Date)? General WFM attributes (such

as, Default Settings Groupand Cost Class)? Work area assignments for an

employee? Schedule rules (Availability,

Preferences and Set/FixedShifts)? Work rules? Contract rule? Employee time-off requests

tRFCprocessing:SM59

qRFCrocessing:SMQ1, SMQ2

Depending onbusiness needs(e.g. once per dayor once per week)

Table 9: Maintain time-off requests Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager


MonitoringObject

Selection Criteria Alert Analysis Tool onSatellite System

Monitoring Frequency / DataCollection


Select trace function:Activate trace

N/A ST05 When errors are detected fromthe Schedule Rules view, anRFC trace may point to the error.


Select trace function:Activate trace

N/A ST05 When errors are detected fromthe Schedule Rules view, anRFC trace may point to the error.

Table 10: Maintain time-off requests Further monitoring objects



2.3 Business Process: Business Forecast and Workload Modeling

WFM includes a forecasting engine that builds staffing demands based upon recent history, variable andfixed activities, corporate labor targets, and other requirements. Forecasts are created to calculate theexpected overall business volume and workload. The process uses a stores activity together with parametersand other historical information to establish trends. The user, store or corporate user, then has the oppor-tunity to tune this data to ensure that it accurately reflects the current business situation. Once the volumeforecast is generated, WFM projects the workload, the number of employees needed per work area for eachquarter hour. Forecast creation is generally the first step when creating a new schedule week.

The steps and processes that comprise forecast and workload creation are:? System maintains historical indicator data Historical indicator data is stored in a database for access

during forecasting the workload? Select week to schedule User selects schedule week? Select forecast parameters The forecast parameters determine the indicators that will be used to create

the workload? Submit forecasting calculation request The request will be put in a queue at corporate for calculation? Monitor status of forecast request A status of the forecast request will be listed in the portal for review by

the location? Review forecast Once the forecast has been successfully calculated, the location manager can review

the forecast for adjustments? Review workload The location manager can also review the workload for adjustment? Modify forecast to reflect location variables After the location manager makes adjustments, the forecast

must be resubmitted for forecasting and approval? Monitor of status of forecast calculation request? Review and approve workload

Figure 17: Business process Business forecast and workload modeling



2.3.1 Business process step 1: Adjust actual volume data

2.3.1.1 Description

The volume data to be used for forecasting and workload modeling is defined in WFM and linked to variableactivities or tasks. Each variable activity will have a labor standard defined to indicate the time it takes tocomplete the task. This setting is used in the forecasting of the demand. Fixed activities are also defined andwill be accounted for in the forecast of the demand.

Volume data is based upon recent history derived from POS systems, traffic counters, merchandisingsystems (markdowns, price changes), and financial plans. This data is typically stored and maintained in adata warehouse system such as SAP NetWeaver BI at the corporate level. The data is imported into WFM viavarious means: RFC, IDoc or manual entry. Import of data via RFC or IDoc is controlled by the corporateoffice. Manual entry of data is typically performed at store level. Manually entered data can include thenumber of markdowns expected for the week, cartons expected from a shipment, etc. This data is enteredprior to forecast calculation to ensure the appropriate workload and employees will be scheduled to handlethese tasks.

Once the data is imported, you can further tune the data to reflect changes in the stores business orexpected new business for the scheduled week. For instance, the mall where the store is located is promotinga sidewalk sale. The data that is imported may not meet the expected requirements of the sale. You canadjust the data prior to forecast to reflect the expectations of the sale in order to ensure that the store will bescheduled appropriately for it.


Data is imported via corporate defined process and systems (i.e. POS system, traffic counter, etc.).


The initial monitoring is done in the enterprise portal by inspecting the iViews in the Forecasts tab.

Error monitoring

Successfully imported data is displayed in the WFM portal in the Forecasts Review/Modify ForecastiView. You can review the graph or the numeric values to verify whether or not the data that was imported isaccurate. WFM will utilize the volume data imported into the system when calculating the demand. If incorrectdata was loaded to the system, then the issue can be directly reflected in the forecasted demand.

Errors in the data will be reflected in the graph or statistics of the Review/Modify Forecast iView in theForecasts link.



Figure 18: Reviewing forecast data


When the user accesses the Review/Modify Forecast iView, no actual data displays.

Discrepancies in the data should be traced back to the original source(s) the POS data for the store, trafficcounter data, manually entered values, etc. You will have to contact a resource at corporate to determine whyno data has been imported for the selected indicator.


The data displayed in the Review/Modify Forecast iView does not reflect the volume expectations for anupcoming sidewalk sale.

You can adjust the indicator values by entering specific values or a percentage change so that the data willreflect the expected change in workload for the sale. Once the changes are saved, the adjustments willimmediately be reflected in the statistics as well as in the graph. You can further review and tune theadjustments until the results meet the expected needs of the sale.



Figure 19: Modifying volume data


Monitoring Object Selection Criteria Alert Analysis Toolon SatelliteSystem


Function moduleWFA_FORECAST_SAMPLE_SET (depending on theinterface technology used,tRFC or qRFC monitoringcan be used in SAPSolution Manager)

RFC destination Forecastingdata did notimport toWFM

tRFCprocessing:SM59



WFM forecast data importinbound IDoc:IDOC_INPUT_WFAFCHV

Basic Type: WFAFC_A01

Status: Error andintermediate statuses forinbound processing, e.g.:? 51 (red light) - Application

document not posted? 56 (red light) - IDoc with

errors added? 62 (yellow light) - IDoc

passed to application? 68 (green light) - Error-

no further processing

N/A WE05 Depending onbusiness needs(every 15minutes onceper day)

WFM forecast data importoutbound IDoc:IDOC_INPUT_WFAFCPV

Basic Type: WFAFC_A01

Status:? 29 (Red light) Error in

ALE service.

N/A WE05 Depending onbusiness needs(every 15minutes onceper day)

Table 11: Adjust actual volume data Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager


been corrected, you may reprocess the IDoc.



? IDoc in processing (yellow light): No action is needed if further processing takes place as expected. If theintermediate status lasts longer than usual, an erroneous behavior is indicated. In this case investigate theroot cause and correct the error.


2.3.2 Business process step 2: Performing the initial forecast calculation

2.3.2.1 Description

The initial forecast provides the first impression of how data is calculated based on the imported data and theconfigured parameter settings. There are two critical steps when generating a forecast calculation:1. Determine forecast parameters2. Submit the forecast for calculation

Once data has been imported and adjusted, and manual entries have been made, the next step is todetermine the forecast parameters for the selected schedule week. Those parameters allow a great deal offlexibility in the variables that can be selected to influence the forecast outcome. They also provide a meansto create a more accurate demand for the specific locations.

Figure 20: Determining forecast parameters



Forecast templates can be used when a given week has similar forecast attributes as another week. Whenyou create a forecast based on a forecast template, the system uses the same forecast parameters as thosewithin the template week. You can then fine tune the forecast as needed for the new week. Forecasttemplates are often used for recurring billing cycles or weeks with regular promotions.

When WFM is initially configured, you also configure the method of forecasting, either weighted average ortrended forecast. These methods influence what data will be used for forecast calculation and the importanceof the data that is being used.

Special History can be used for forecasting weeks that are not reflected by recent history. This might be thecase for days or weeks with sales events or holiday sales, i.e. the week of Christmas. Use the Tagged Historytab of the Forecast Parameters iView. Similar day/week volume information is selected and used forforecasting.

Use Copy History to influence the forecast calculation. Copy History copies the actual data from theselected day or week and assigns it to the adjusted form of the indicator for the forecasted week. When CopyHistory is used, you want the adjusted value for the day or week to be the actual value from some other dayor week. This might be the case when a specific sale event occurs every three months. You can then choosethe transaction history from the previous sale to generate a volume forecast for the next sale.

The creation of the forecast is also defined by company-specific processes in order to meet corporate labortargets. WFM can accommodate multiple scenarios, including:? Generating a forecast to meet pre-determined payroll targets (forecast and workload generation with a

budgetary constraint)? Generate a forecast using engineered labor standards to identify the workload/payroll target (forecast and

workload generation without a budgetary constraint)

Once the forecast parameters have been established, you can calculate the forecast. You can configure thecalculation of the forecast to run as a batch process in the background, without store managers execution, orto be manually kicked off by individual stores. The batch calculation is configured via the Calculation Batchparameter and identifies the locations to be included in the process. The forecasts are submitted throughstandard SAP job processing. The manual process is submitted by the user via Forecasts CalculateForecast.

The end result is a labor demand representing forecasted service requirements for scheduling the rightperson, at the right place, at the right time.


The user generates a forecasted demand for a new schedule week. Volume data for the location is presentfor the specific location. Tasks (activities) have been configured. Budgets have been defined.


The initial monitoring is done in the enterprise portal by inspecting the iViews contained in Forecasts Calculation Status. This view will report the progress of the forecast and return a final status.

Users with higher level access to the WFM system can also monitor the status of a forecast in the WFMCalculation Services iViews.



Error monitoring

The status of a forecast calculation can be monitored for errors in the Forecast link in WFM or via the WFMCalculation Services link.


Forecast calculation is initiated manually by the location manager or a corporate user.

Error and status monitoring is performed in the Calculation Status iView in the WFM portal. This view willreport the progress of the forecast and return a final status.

Figure 21: Checking the calculation status for forecast progress

Clicking on the status will reveal the cause of an error or warning message for the forecasting calculation.The information provided determines the steps you need to perform to produce a successful calculation.

Figure 22: Messages for calculation status for forecast progress




Forecast calculation is initiated by batch processing at corporate.

Error and status monitoring is performed in the WFM Calculation Services iView in the WFM portal. It offersa number of tabs that report the progress of the forecast and return a final status. In the Calculations Servicestab, you can access log files which can be used for troubleshooting by SAP Development.

Figure 23: Accessing forecast calculation log files



The Requests tab displays the requests that have been generated. The information provides the status of therequests.

Figure 24: Requests tab in WFM Calculation Services



The Batch Requests tab displays any batch processes that have been configured and initiated.

Figure 25: Batch Requests tab in WFM Calculation Services

Backlog monitoring

SLG1 can be used to determine errors and warnings, however, the information that is provided is limited. Theinformation that is found in SLG1 should be provided when entering an OSS message.


MonitoringObject

SelectionCriteria


MonitoringFrequency / DataCollection

Application log Object: WFA

Subobject: *

External ID: *

When errors and/or warnings aregenerated.

SLG1 Weekly

ABAP runtimeerrors

N/A When the following occurs:

Error: could not call RFC ..

This error indicates an RFC shortdump occurred.

ST22 Daily

Table 12: Performing the initial forecast calculation Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager




MonitoringObject

SelectionCriteria


Monitoring Frequency/Data Collection

Forecasts link CalculationStatus link

Provides success,warning or errorstatus

Enterprise portal

Link providesadditional data forresolvingwarnings anderrors.

Weekly, as forecast aresubmitted forcalculation.

WFM CalculationServices link

CalculationServices tab

Calculation timesout.

Calculation runtime is too long.

Calculation statusis error.

Enterprise portal

Log files availablefor review if aproblem isuncovered

Weekly, as forecasts aresubmitted forcalculation.

WFM CalculationServices link

Requests tab Status column:Error

Enterprise portal Weekly, as forecasts aresubmitted forcalculation.



N/A ST05 When errors aredetected, RFC tracemay point to the error.

Table 13: Performing the initial forecast calculation Further monitoring objects

2.3.3 Business process step 3: Update volume forecast

2.3.3.1 Description

Once the initial forecast is generated, you can adjust the forecast to ensure volume forecasts are accurateand to account for any last-minute campaigns or events that might impact the locations business but werenot included in the historical data upon which the forecast was generated. For example, the user can increasesales to accommodate for a one-day sale, thereby creating a proportional increase in workload.


In order to increase sales at the beginning of the week, corporate has decided to have a special brandpromotion on Monday and Tuesday of the forecasted week. They expect a 10% increase in sales for thosetwo days. The location manager accesses the Review/Modify Forecast iView and enters a 10% increase forMonday and Tuesday of the schedule week. The manager saves the changes, and then resubmits theforecast for calculation by selecting the Update Forecast button.




Error monitoring

Once the percentage change has been entered in the appropriate fields, the adjusted data should reflect thechange. The manager can monitor the re-calculation by viewing the Calculation Status iView.


The location manager has entered and saved a change to the forecasted data in the Review/ModifyForecast iView.

There are no errors when making adjustments to the indicator data. The user needs to verify that the changesare reflected in the Adjust Data field for the selected day(s).

Figure 26: Updating volume forecasts


The location manager has resubmitted the forecast to be recalculated with the new changes.

Error and status monitoring is performed in the Calculation Status iView in the WFM portal. This view willreport the progress of the forecast and return a final status.



Figure 27: Checking the progress of the volume forecast

Clicking on the status will reveal the cause of an error or warning message for the forecasting calculation.The information provided will determine the steps you need to perform in order to produce a successfulcalculation.

Figure 28: Messages for calculation status of the volume forecast

Once the forecast has been calculated, the manager can review the changes to the workload in theWorkload iView to verify the changes have been applied.



Backlog monitoring

SLG1 can be used to determine errors and warnings, however, the information that is provided is limited. Theinformation that is found in SLG1 should be provided when entering an OSS message.


MonitoringObject

SelectionCriteria


Monitoring Frequency/Data Collection

Application log Object: WFA

Subobject: *

External ID: *

When errorsand/or warningsare generated.

SLG1 Weekly

Table 14: Update volume forecast Monitoring objects in SAP Solution Manager


MonitoringObject

Selection Criteria Alert Analysis Tool onSatellite System


Forecasts link CalculationStatus link

Provides success,warning or errorstatus

Enterprise portal

Link provides additionaldata for resolvingwarnings and errors.

Weekly, as forecastsare submitted forcalculation

Forecasts link Workload link Forecasted data ismissing at theorganization,department orwork area level.

Enterpris