Example of a Business Scenario  

This section explains the concept of the Business Scenario by using an example.

Business Scenario Booking a Flight Trip

 

The Business Scenario Booking a Flight supports a travel agency as it sells a flight trip to a customer. The travel agency needs to work together with the corresponding airlines to carry out the flight bookings required.

The Business Scenario has two logical participants, namely the travel agency and the airline.

The travel agency is represented by the application component on the left. The functions of the travel agency are performed by the product SAP Web Application Server 6.20.

The airlines are represented by the application component on the right. Since during the design phase you do not know what product an airline uses, a template is used in the Business Scenario. The expected functions of the airline are modeled (specified) using this template but are not connected to a particular product.

Two steps have to be performed by the travel agency in this Business Scenario, namely  searching for suitable flight connections and the booking of the flight trip. The corresponding actions for these steps in the travel agency are Search for Flight Connection and Book Flight Trip. To execute these actions, the travel agency must work together with the corresponding airline. It requires information about the availability of single flights and it wants to make reservations and bookings for particular flights.

The airline has three actions to execute namely Determine Flight Availability, Reserve Single Flight, and Book Single Flight. These actions provide the functions required by the travel agency.

The Business Scenario graphics displays the process flow of the scenario as well as the points of data exchange between the travel agency and the airline:

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       1.      The Business Scenario begins with a travel agency employee searching for a suitable flight connection.

       2.      To determine the availability of a single flight, messages are exchanged with the airline. This is symbolized by a connection between the actions Search for Flight Connection and Determine Flight Availability. The communication is synchronous since the answer is required immediately. In the Business Scenario, this is represented by the fact that both actions are located horizontally on the same level.

       3.      The next step is for the travel agency to book the flight trip. The connection (sequence) between the actions Search for Flight Connection and Book Flight Trip implies that the first action is a prerequisite for the second action and that the actions must be executed in this order.

       4.      The action Book Flight Trip comprises two substeps. Firstly, messages are exchanged with the airline to reserve seats on the various flights. This is symbolized by the connection between the actions Book Flight Trip and Reserve Single Flight. The communication type is synchronous since the travel agency expects a response to confirm that the reservation was successful.

       5.      If the reservation was successful, the final booking can be carried out. This requires messages to be exchanged with the airline once again. This is symbolized by the connection between the actions Book Flight Trip and Book Single Flights. In this instance, the communication type is asynchronous. In the Business Scenario, this is represented by a downwards-pointing arrow.

       6.      For a booking to be successful, the airline requires there to have been a successful reservation made first. This is represented by the connection (sequence) between the actions Reserve Single Flight and Book Single Flight.

       7.      The Business Scenario is complete once the single flights have been booked successfully with the airline.

All actions involved must have the corresponding interfaces available to exchange messages. Furthermore, it is also possible that mappings be executed. Information about interfaces and mappings is not contained in this Business Scenario example.