Processing

In this section, you execute the core functions of the model.

This stream takes the data from Warehouse Management and analyses the process.

The starting points are the WM Transfer Order Header and WM Transfer Order Item in LTAK/LTAP/LTBK and the document changes in VBFA. This data is selected and matched in order to have only document relevant to WM and their changes.

Key activities are then derived both from the documents and their changes. Each document is assigned a unique Case ID. Lines in the final document represent activities and are marked by a timestamp as well as some additional fields, such as an automation and compliance flag. Based on the concatenation of their ordered activities ID, the cases are then grouped into different variants ranked by frequency. Next, KPIs are computed to provide useful information that helps understand the process and where, when and how it deviates from the standard variant.

After calculating the KPIs, the system determines the automation and compliance as well as the happy path. Based on these results, activities are derived and additional KPIs are computed in the final function Start and End.

It comprises the following functions as input:

  • VBFA – SD Document Flow

  • LTAK – WM Transfer Order Header

  • LTAP – WM Transfer Order Items

  • LTBK – WM Transfer Request Header

  • MBEW – Material Valuation

  • T300 – WM Warehouse Numbers

  • USR02 – Logon Data

  • Process Compliance Rules

  • Process Forecast Data

It comprises the following functions:

Join T.O. Line Items with Enriched Header and Line Item Data

This Join function first derives the creation date and time for SD- and Transfer Request-originated items from the relevant tables (VBFA – SD Document Flow and LTBK – Transfer Request Header) before joining the enriched Transfer Order Header data with the Transfer Order Items data. The creation date and time is later used to create the Event Timestamp.

The join method is left outer join to select all data from LTAP – WM Transfer Order Item.

Derive Activities from Enriched Header and Line Item Data

This Derivation function is used to derive basic activities for each document line item.

Each line coming from Join TO Line Items with enriched header data corresponds to a single document line item and usually produces more than one activity. Each rule defines an activity. The result of this function produces an Activity ID, Case ID and Event Timestamp for all derived activities.

Generate Variant ID

This Join function generates a unique Variant ID for all cases that share the same Activity IDs and sequence based on timestamp. It also derives the standard price for each material from the Material Valuation table that is used to calculate monetary values later in the process.

Calculate KPIs

This Calculation function takes the results of the Generate Variant ID join and calculates the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

  • Preceding Activity ID

  • Following Activity ID

  • Duration [Seconds]

  • Activity Frequency

  • Activity Sequence

  • Duration [Days]

  • Right First Time Flag

  • Variant Frequency

  • Right First Time Rate [%]

  • Variant Rank by Frequency

Determine Automation and Compliance

This function generates an automation and compliance flag in every record and user type/violation type for automation/non-compliance in each record.

There are two types of violation, sequence and outright. Sequence violation means that a particular activity sequence represents violation. Outright violation occurs when an activity by itself represents the violation. In case of non-compliant records, the compliance flag is set to value “0”; else are set to value “1”.

There are also two types of users, dialog (type “A” and “S”) and batch (type “B”, “C” and “L”). Dialog user means that the tagged activity has been processed manually, while batch user means that the tagged activity has been processed automatically. In case of automation records, the automation flag is set to value “1”; else are set to value “0”.

Determine Happy Path

This function generates a Happy Path Flag for every record. Records satisfying a happy path sequence have the record's flag value “1”; else have value “0”.

Start and End

This Join function takes the Determine Happy Path function as input and creates new lines for each Case ID corresponding to a start and end point that is common to all.