SAP workflows and BPM

[Keohan, Susan - 1140 - MITLL]

Hi Will,

This is no doubt something we will all be struggling to grasp in the nearer future (for those of us who have not already grasped it, which certainly includes me).
As far as I know, SAP's party line is that Workflow will continue to be the engine of choice within an SAP system (also please refer to BestBuiltApps, at http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bestbuiltapps?rid=/library/uuid/d0619693-ce8f-2c10-07b5-fc222ad36370) - I have extracted the relevant passage here:


Business Process Modeling
SOA-BPM-2. SAP recommends that ISVs use SAP NetWeaver BPM
for business process modeling. SAP also recommends that ISVs use
the SAP Business Workflow tool for workflows within a pure, ABAP
single-instance application. SAP does not recommend using:
SAP Business Connector, which * has been retired and
replaced with functionality in SAP NetWeaver
* Workflow Modeler, except for ISV solutions that enhance
SAP CRM
* SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse process chains
(process chains are recommended for loading but not for
workflow)
* SAP NetWeaver MDM workflow
* Java ad-hoc workflows
For more information on business process modeling, go to http://www.sdn.
sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-processmodeling.

We in the workflow community (ASUG and SCN for me) are working with some BPM folks to get more educational material out - and to bridge this gap, if only in perception.
I will be monitoring this discussion closely - and value the opinions of this varied group.

Regards,
Sue

---
Susan R. Keohan
SAP Workflow Specialist
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood Street
LI-200
Lexington, MA. 02420
Phone: 781-981-3561
Fax:   781-981-1607
keohan at ll.mit.edu<mailto:keohan at ll.mit.edu>




From: sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of Will Weiss
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 10:31 AM
To: sap-wug at mit.edu
Subject: SAP workflows and BPM

Hi experts,

I'm familiar with SAP business workflow, but I understand there is a product called NetWeaver BPM (as appears here http://www.brsilver.com/2009/01/21/netweaver-bpm-and-saps-bpm-strategy/). Here's the differences as I figured out so far (my main source was SAP's site on it, http://www.sap.com/platform/netweaver/components/sapnetweaverbpm/index.epx)
1) SAP business workflow is ABAP based, Netweaver BPM is Java Based
2) Model in SAP business workflow is done in SDD, in Netweaver BPM there's an eclipse plugin, and the model is based on BPMN.

The main questions that I have are:
1) Are there any other differences?
2) Which product is "better" (and what do you call "better" :-) )
3) How common is Netweaver BPM compared to SAP business workflow?
4) Is SAP's future in Netweaver BPM or in SAP business workflow?
5) Which version of Netweaver includes NetWeaver BPM? Is it a basic component of Netweaver, or an additional product?

Thanks and regards,
Will
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