SAP workflows and BPM

[Mike Pokraka]

Some quick answers:

1) Yes, another major differenc is that NWBPM is fully SOA based

NetWeaver BPM is also supposed to be a BPM modelling tool, I'll be kind
and just call it inadequate in this regard. Last I heard SAP were doing
some work in this area, but for now I'll stick to real BPM tools.

2) I consider them complementary. NWBPM is much better suited to
system-independent / cross-system processes - including non-SAP systems.
At the same time that leaves a number of (large) gaps in the type of
integrated functionality that we sometimes need (e.g. integration with an
HR org structure). So whilst both can 'do the job', WF remains king for
deep single-system scenarios and NWBPM rules across broad cross-system
setups. So it really depends on your landscape.

3) NWBPM is still fairly new, so WF is still very much the dominant
product and will be for some time.

4) They are obviously pushing NWBPM quite hard, but it's a long way off
before it takes over. WF does useful things that go against the NWBPM
design, so I dont' see it going away any time too soon. Completely my own
opinion, but I would hope to see some integration/porting tools coming
along once NWBPM has matured a bit more and starts to gain straction among
mainstream customers.

5) Integrated with NW, you can download a demo version from SDN.

Cheers,
Mike


On Tue, June 1, 2010 3:31 pm, Will Weiss wrote:
> 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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