Process 

Definition

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.

A distinction is made between a start process, an application process and a collection process.

Use

In order to automate runs in BW, processes are brought together in so-called process chains. The processes are scheduled in the background. Each process can trigger one or more events, that trigger other processes in turn.

Structure

A process is characterized by

·         the process type

The process type is the kind of process, for example load 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

·         the process variant

The process variant is the name of the process. Within the process chain context, it displays the configuration of a process of a particular type set at the time of definition. A variant is only consistently defined together with the process type. A process can have various variants. During the load process, for example, an InfoPackage represents a process variant.

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

·         the process instance

The process instance is the characteristic value of the process It contains the most important information that the process, or subsequent processes want(s) to communicate. In the load 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 determined by the process itself at run time, and is normally determined consistently, independent of time or system.