Process

A process in the context of process chains is a procedure inside of or external to an SAP system with a defined beginning and end. The following process types are possible: start process, application process and collection process.

In order to automate runs in BW, processes are compiled into process chains. The processes are scheduled in the background. Each process can trigger one or more events, which trigger further processes.

A process has the following characteristics:

Process Chain Characteristic	Explanation
Process Type	The process type is the category of the process, for example, a loading process. The process type decides which tasks the process has and which properties it has in the maintenance. The process type is set in the RSPROCESSTYPES view. See also: Maintenance of Process Types
Process Variant	The process variant is the name of the process. Within the process chain context, the variant displays the configuration (of a process with a particular process type), which is set at the time of definition. A variant is only uniquely defined together with the process type. A process can have different variants. During the loading process, for example, an InfoPackage represents a process variant. The user normally defines the process variant at the time when the process is scheduled. With some process types, the variants are defined internally and are stored as GUIDs.
Prozess Instance	The process instance is the characteristic value of the process. It contains important information, which the process wants to communicate to any subsequent processes. In the loading process, this would be the name of the request, for example. If the process is ended, the instance is transferred to the process chain management and saved. The logs for the process are stored under the process instance. The instance is defined by the process itself at runtime, and is normally defined uniquely; non-time-specific and non-system-specific.

Process Chain Characteristic

Explanation

Process Type

The process type is the category of the process, for example, a loading process. The process type decides which tasks the process has and which properties it has in the maintenance.

The process type is set in the RSPROCESSTYPES view.

See also: Maintenance of Process Types

Process Variant

The process variant is the name of the process. Within the process chain context, the variant displays the configuration (of a process with a particular process type), which is set at the time of definition. A variant is only uniquely defined together with the process type. A process can have different variants. During the loading process, for example, an InfoPackage represents a process variant.

The user normally defines the process variant at the time when the process is scheduled. With some process types, the variants are defined internally and are stored as GUIDs.

Prozess Instance

The process instance is the characteristic value of the process. It contains important information, which the process wants to communicate to any subsequent processes. In the loading process, this would be the name of the request, for example. If the process is ended, the instance is transferred to the process chain management and saved. The logs for the process are stored under the process instance.

The instance is defined by the process itself at runtime, and is normally defined uniquely; non-time-specific and non-system-specific.