SAPexperts _ 5-Step Roadmap to a Sound SAP xMII Deployment.pdf

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5-Step Roadmap to a

Sound SAP xMII

Deployment

by Mo Ghanem, Manager, xMII Field

Enablement and Consulting Services,SAP Labs

une 15, 2007

SAPexperts/SCM

This five-step roadmap helps you

nderstand what you need to do to

mplement SAP xApp Manufacturing

ntegration and Intelligence, build aneffective team, and establish a rapid

eployment model that you can

epeat and enhance after every

eployment.

Key Concept

An SAP xApp Manufacturing

Integration and Intelligence (xMII)

implementation involves functional

synchronization and reengineering

of business processes as opposed

to being a technical application

development. A successful

deployment approach must combine

functional and technical knowledge.

Business process analysis, industry

knowledge, and best practices are

keys to build ing a useful application

and realizing return on investments.

Taking the time to prepare and

analyze business process execution

and building a repeatable

implementation model is the best



approach to ensure continuous

success.

SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration

and Intelligence (xMII) connects the

operation-level and enterprise data in

your manufacturing systems with R/3

and SAP ERP Central Component

ECC). It allows you to detect and

esolve schedule, material, machine,

abor, and quality issues in real time.

So, what does it take to implement

SAP xMII? My clients and partners

ave asked the same questions over he past couple of years:

How many people does it take and

what are their required skill sets?

What is the best way to approach a

project?

How do I coordinate with other

eams?

What interfaces/systems do I need?

Which architecture is best for us?

To understand what it takes toachieve manufacturing integration

and synchronization, you need to

nderstand your business. Most

kely, you execute every business

process on both sides of the

enterprise — the shop- floor and ECC

ides. Your implementation projecthould do so as well.

There is no one-size-fits-all



eployment strategy. Therefore, I

ave compiled the following

eployment roadmap based on SAP

ASAP methodology: project

preparation, business blueprint,

ealization, final preparation, go-live,and support. I also based this

oadmap on my own experience

managing implementations and from

projects that I witnessed or reviewed

across different industries and

hroughout the SAP xMII community

of partners and customers.

will describe each step in the five-

tep process in the context of a

ypothetical Quality Management

QM) scenario. Although you can use

SAP xMII with other manufacturing

ystems, such as manufacturing

execution systems and shop- floor

automation applications, I’ll use QM

n my example because i t’s an area

hat is equally understood and

mportant across industries.

Note

For more information about SAPxMII, including installationprerequisites, see my article, “ WhatYou Need to Know About SAP xMIIto Enable Adaptive Manufacturing.”

QM Scenario

n my example, the company’s SAP QM and the Laboratory

nformation Management System (LIMS) system are not

tegrated, so the operator must manually enter in- spectioneadings from measuring equipment into the LIMS system. The

M analyst gets the results from the operator and manually

e-enters them into SAP QM, which introduces redundancy,

rrors, and delays — for example, sometimes the QM analyst

http://sapexperts.wispubs.com/Articles/2006/November/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-SAP-xMII-to-Enable-Adaptive-Manufacturing









nters the results long after the products have shipped. This

sconnect between the quality check on the shop floor and

he quality management in the ERP system results in

dditional costs due to reworks and scrap and low customer

atisfaction due to defective products.

he company needs to improve its quality inspection process

nd increase customer satisfaction by reducing the variation

om customer’s specifications. This reduces cost by

ecreasing the amount of reworks and scraps, and improvessibility by delivering real-time quality notification of inspection

ts results and displaying up-to-the- minute Statistical

rocess Control (SPC) analysis or out-of-spec parts and

utliers.

he following is a roadmap for implementing SAP xMII, which

lows you to quickly set up a framework and deployment

trategy. When complete, SAP xMII allows the QM and LIMS

ystems to share data with each other.

Step 1. Prepare for the Projectso ensure cross- functional and other team support for your

roject, it is useful to understand your company’s priorities and

ign your project goals accordingly. For instance, if one of the

ompany objectives is lean manufacturing and supply chain

ptimization, your project goals should include enhancing

ventory visibility, enabling flex scheduling, and improving

orecasting. If quality and customer service are the main

oals, your application should enable quality managers to

monitor and respond to problems with actionable information.

s you prepare for your project, keep in mind three key

eatures that the project must have:

ffer real benefits (i.e., it has to be meaningful)

ave a manageable scope, so the team can get it done

ave a business necessity (i.e., it has to solve a business

roblem, such as reducing rework and scrap). It’s easier to

nd project sponsors if you can prove its necessity and

uantify its results, such as saving the cost of reworks.

Step 2. Map Business Processes and

Applicationsny SAP xMII implementation has to start with defining the

rocesses that enable the business. SAP xMII can simplify

nd optimize any process to a degree, but it doesn’t replace

he know-ledge and understanding of the business intelligence

ehind the process.

o map the business processes, you need to understand the

usiness objectives behind it, the data, and systems that

nable it. Take, for example, QM. The business goal is to

ngineer quality into production and reduce defects. It requires

pplications such as Sample Management, Batch

Management, Quality Inspection, Quality Analytics, and SPC.

n addition, you can use interfaces to supportive systems, such

s Integrated Problem Management, Corrective and

reventive Action (CAPA), and Customer Complaint



Figure 1

Business process mapping

Management.

he business process blueprints should map the process flow,

pplications, and roles that you need to complete the

orkflow. Next, create a high-level diagram, such as the one

Figure 1, to illustrate process workflow and roles you need

o complete it. At this point, five to 10 steps are enough to

escribe the “as- is” process and enable everyone to have the

ame picture and work from the same assumptions. It also

elps in the next step when the team needs to understandhen and where to collect data.

ext, a complete data mapping is required to determine what

ata elements the business process needs to gather, post,

stribute, save, and display. This mapping starts with an

ventory of the systems and applications that enable the

usiness processes, as shown in Table 1. When the SAP xMII

mplementation is complete, QM uses it to integrate data from

hese systems and provide a comprehensive view on quality.

epeat this step for every business process in the project

cope.

Systems Processes DataQM

LIMS or Sample and

Batch Management

systems

SPC and Statistical

Quality Control (SQC)

Analytics System

Electronic test

equipment interface

•Quality planning

•Specifications and

sampling plans

•Results recording

•Test equipment

interfacing/reading

•Usage decision

•Certificate of

Analysis

generation•Trigger quality

notifications in QM

•List of QM

inspection lots

•List critical

inspection

characteristics

•Inspection test

results from

electronic test

devices

•Manual recording•Data results to

generate graphics

and chart

able 1 The systems, processes, and data involved in QM



Step 3. Build the Teamhe mix of functional and technical roles on the team is

rucial. Understanding the business’ processes goes hand-in-

and with understanding your team requirements. An SAP

MII implementation requires both technical and functional

nowledge. Cross-functional and technical skills are the

oundation of a successful SAP xMII project.

he disparity of the shop-floor landscape with systems fromfferent vendors built on different architecture and platforms

alls for a wide range of technical and functional skills. These

kills include:

echnical Web and programming knowledge of concepts, such

s JavaScript, HTML, Extensible Stylesheet Language

ransformations (XSLT), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

trong database skills, such as SQL and Oracle

nowledge of manufacturing systems, such as Manufacturing

xecution Software (MES) and Supervisory Control and Data

cquisition (SCADA)

n addition, an SAP xMII developer should have a good

nderstanding of SAP NetWeaver servers and components

uch as Portals. An SAP xMII Solution Architect (SA) or a

unctional lead should be familiar with ECC systems focused

n the following modules: Materials Management (MM),

roduction Planning (PP), QM, and Plant Maintenance (PM).

he SA role is needed for about 20-40% of the project time

uring the business process mapping, data analysis, and

esting phases.

recommend you start with a core team of SAP xMII

evelopers with a solid knowledge of the product capabilities

nd flexibility and bring the functional skills into the team as

eeded. See the sidebar, “Project Team,” for details about

ach role on the team and the typical task each role performs.

or more information about the project management aspect of

n SAP xMII implementation project, see the sidebar, “Build

he Project Plan and Governance Model.”

Step 4. Implement SAP xMIIs best to implement SAP xMII in three phases. Build the

pplication and data interfaces, use rapid prototyping to test

ach business process, and optimize the SAP xMII

rchitecture and connectivity.

Build the Application and Data Interfaces

nderstanding the business process allows you to determine

hat application and interfaces are needed. Figure 2

emonstrates the QM inspection process that I want to build in

AP xMII. Looking at the diagram, you can see that the

pplication interfaces are QM, LIMS, electronic test equipment,

nd possibly some homegrown applications.



Figure 2

QM inspection process workflow using SAP

xMII

o build the application and data interfaces, follow these four

teps.

lassify your applications (current and needed) to enable

he business processes. Use the business process mapping

ou created in Figure 1 to determine all of the applications you

eed for your scenario — QM in this case. If you need

dditional applications, revisit the project scope and determine

adding the application is something you can do (using SAP

MII services to interface to the application) or if you need

nother approach, such as buying or building the application.

se SAP xMII data services to connect to the target

ystems and gather the necessary data. You can build a

ommon data interface layer to collect and share data across

pplications. SAP xMII has an extensive library of connectors

hat enable you to connect to systems on the shop floor and

oordinate communication between ECC, the shop-floor

ystem, and even third-party systems without the need to build

r maintain a middleware or separate integration layer.

efine the business process triggers. Using SAP xMII

usiness logic services (BLS), map the process data element

nd build its workflow. The system can trigger BLS

ansactions by receiving real-time inspection results to update

he inspection lot results in QM, for example. SAP xMII also

an notify production managers, customers, and sales reps if



Figure 3

Quality application and interfaces (Source:

SAP)

n issue occurs. I explained this in more detail in the “Quality

Management and Continuous Improvement” section in my

ovember 2006 article.

Tip!

You can build a library of common functionality that works

with many business processes — for example, to create a

“get inspection lot list” function that the system can use to

download inspection lots every time that you need a listbased on material ID or work center. You can use and reuse

this library across applications and projects to save time and

effort and to enforce standards.

sing SAP xMII visualization services, build the user

nterface and the tools you need to interact with the

rocesses. The system feeds the real-time test results and

ata that the SAP xMII data services collect into the business

gic layer, BLS. BLS combines this and other data from SAP

M and PP, such as the inspection lot numbers androduction order number (Figure 3). BLS analytics

omponents examine the inspection results and update the

PC/SQC analysis chart. The system then updates the chart

bjects in SAP xMII visualization services with the results to

eliver a real-time SPC analysis chart (Figure 4). It also feeds

erformance metrics at the portal and global KPI level (Figure

).



Figure 4

SPC in-line analysis dashboard

Figure 5

Real-time divisional KPI view

Rapid Prototyp ing

good practice is to start with one business process.

rototype SAP xMII with it to get the functionalities right,

reate a user test, and then finalize the user interface. For

xample, when you implement QM, start with the inspection

ts list processes, and then the lot details and characteristics

equirements. Finally, build the view and interface (Figure 6).

Mark this milestone as completed and then move on to the

ext business process. Using this model, you can phase your

roject in rapidly deployed deliverables that keep the team

motivated. Always test your model after each deployment,

ocument lessons learned, and update the governance



Figure 6

Inspection lots list as a first step

models.

Architecture and Connectiv ity

o optimize connectivity and reduce network traffic, you should

ace an SAP xMII server close to the shop- floor data

ources. Refer to the “SAP xMII Deployment and Architecture”

ection of my November 2006 article for additional hardware

equirements, depending on whether you have a single plant

r multi-plant environment.

AP xMII connectors optimize the communication between the

arget system and the SAP xMII server, as well as among

fferent SAP xMII servers. Figure 7 illustrates the suggested

multi-plant architecture. An SAP xMII server is installed in

ach plant to provide operational integration and visibility for

roduction personnel. An additional SAP xMII corporate server

installed at a centralized location (the corporate data center)

o aggregate and compare multi-site data and provide plant-o-plant matrix or divisional views and analytics for a complete

alanced scorecard or best-of-class comparison.



Figure 7

SAP xMII multi-plant architecture (Source:

SAP)

nother reason for installing an SAP xMII server at each plant

that most of the applications SAP xMII interacts with and

onnects to, such as control systems and process historians,

re operational and required at each plant. Also, the data

olume generated from some of these targets is very high and

ansferring it across the network may impact performance.

dditionally, having an SAP xMII server at each plant allows

ou the option of running in a disconnected mode in case of

ide area network (WAN) outage or ERP maintenance.

Step 5. Go-Live and Ongoing Supportfter testing your prototypes, you must perform three checks

o determine if your application is ready to face the users: the

unctional, technical, and go-live checks.

unctional check. The functional check investigates the

pplications to ensure that they meet the business process

bjectives. Functional users should perform this check.

nother important step is to identify specific risk factors

esulting from integrating legacy systems, such as continuity,

modifications, maintenance, and support. Next, you need to

entify and evaluate risk resulting from high volume

equirements. This can identify problems with the required

olume of data reads per minute and test whether the

ardware architecture is the correct size.

echnical check. For the technical check the solution

rchitect or the technical consultants perform a detailed

nalysis of technical integration by reviewing the implemented



terfaces, focusing on performance, throughput, availability,

nd data consistency. Use SAP’s knowledgebase as a

enchmark to identify showstoppers and improvement

otential.

o-live check. After the functional and technical checks you

eed to evaluate your hardware sizing based on project

equirements, concurrent users, data, and document volumes.

ext, follow the optimizations and configuration best practice

f implemented systems, operating system, and database.

Ongoing Operations and Support

ventually, the users have to accept responsibility for the SAP

MII application and use it for the implementation to be

onsidered successful. The best way to get your users’ buy-in

to demonstrate the impact and value of it on their day-to-

ay work. You should quantify the real change and its value

y the numbers or more easily managed processes.

ven the best new system can die quickly if the business

rocess owners do not embrace and use it. Another way to

nsure that you sustain the change is to know your users’

eeds and service them by continuing to perfect the solution

nd work out any bugs. Create an education and change

management plan and involve your user. A good practice is to

entify and encourage change agents in your user

ommunity. Involved and educated users reduce the overall

ost of operations by enabling better maintainability, freed

esources, and knowledge transfer among the user

ommunity.

Project Team

An SAP xMII implementation requires people with diverse skill

ets — from Web designers to business analysts to ECC

unctional analysts. Table 1 shows the key roles for the project

eam.

Role Tasks

SAP xMII solutionrchitect • Designs and tests systemarchitecture

• Conducts business process

workshop

• Facilitates system scalability

• Builds architecture

• As-is business process analysis

• Proof of concepts

• Creates validation master (test) plan

SAP xMII solution

onsultant

• Installation and configurations

• Builds the SAP xMII application

• Builds data connectors• Designs and builds matrix logic

• Configures ERP Integration

• Facilitates user testing



• Helps with user training

SAP functional analyst • Conducts business process

workshop

• Achieves consensus on business

rules

• Identifies and qualifies data and datasources

• Creates test scripts

• Facilitates user testing• Helps with user training

Plant automation

nalyst

• Attends business process workshop

• Achieves consensus on business

rules

• Identifies and qualifies data and data

sources

• Tests data and data connection

• Facilitates user testing

• Helps with user training

able 1 Project team roles and tasks

Build the Project Plan and

Governance Model

Although project management and methodology is outside

the scope of this article, it is very important to have a

project plan with defined scope and milestones. SAP xMII is

a perfect candidate for methodologies that break down a

project into manageable implementations and build

deliverable into iterative and rapidly deployed phases. I

prefer the Scrum method, but you can pick your own.

The Scrum methodology calls for breaking down your

project into small manageable incremental components

called “sprints” with deliverables at the end of every sprint.

Scrum enables you to be flexible with fast emerging and

moving requirements, as is always the case with SAP xMII

projects. When you break the project into lightweight

components, the QM inspection process, for example, you

are more agile and flexible so that you can change your

model as you discover more about the process. Also, Scrum

is a team-based approach to iteratively, incrementally build

solutions when the end requirements are not yet clear or

rapidly changing.

Documents

SAPexperts _ 5-Step Roadmap to a Sound SAP xMII Deployment.pdf