Process management based on SAP technologies

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46299/j.isjea.20260502.02

Keywords:

SAP S/4HANA, process management, BPMN, SAP Activate, process mining, SAP Signavio, SAP BTP, workflow, KPI

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the management of business processes of an enterprise based on SAP technologies (SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Signavio) in the context of digital transformation and improving the manageability of operational activities. The relevance of the topic is due to the growing demands for transparency, auditability, and speed of process adaptation in conditions of unstable demand, supply disruptions, and increased compliance. The aim of the research is to justify a practice-oriented approach to modeling, standardization, monitoring, and continuous improvement of processes in the SAP landscape based on a combination of BPMN modeling, controlled implementation using the SAP Activate methodology, process mining, and workflow automation. A closed-loop methodology of “model — implementation — measurement of facts — optimization” is proposed, in which (1) a process benchmark and a catalog of control points are formed, (2) the minimum sufficient set of events for the execution log L is determined, (3) process discovery and conformance checking are performed to identify deviations, their frequency, and contribution to key KPIs, (4) analytics results are transformed into manageable changes: rules, approval routes, automated checks, and SLA controls. The scientific novelty lies in the formalization of a reproducible protocol for evaluating deviations and prioritizing them according to business value (delays, rework, risks of non-compliance), as well as in the practical combination of process mining with the change circuit in SAP. The practical result of the work is a structured experiment plan for the “Procure-to-Pay” process with a description of the stages of data preparation, KPI/SLA construction, and “before/after” effect assessment; illustrative examples of cycle time, cost, and deviation level metrics are provided, which can be directly used as a template for implementation on real enterprise data.

References

Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., & Reijers, H. A. (2018). Fundamentals of Business Process Management (2nd ed.). Springer.

Kirchmer, M. (2019). High Performance Through Business Process Management: Strategy Execution in a Digital World (2nd ed.). Springer.

Gampfer, F., Ju¨rgens, A., Mu¨ller, M., Schmiedel, T., Urbach, N., & Wiesche, M. (2020). Past, current and future research on the relationship between business process management and information systems: A bibliometric analysis. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 62, 155–171. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 019-00609-8

Aloini, D., Dulmin, R., & Mininno, V. (2018). Risk management in ERP project introduction: Review of the literature. Information & Management, 55(4), 563–577.

Hustad, E., & Haddara, M. (2020). From ERP systems to digital transformation: A review of the literature. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 437–446.

Salim, M. A., Sedera, D., & Lokuge, S. (2021). The role of enterprise systems in digital transformation:

A systematic literature review. Information Systems Frontiers, 23, 1025–1043.

Benders, J., & van Veen, K. (2021). What’s in a fashion? Interpretive viability and management fashions. Organization, 28(1), 3–23.

Esteves, J., & Bohorquez, V. (2019). An updated ERP systems annotated bibliography: 2001–2015. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 45, 1–44.

van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2016). Process Mining: Data Science in Action (2nd ed.). Springer.

van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2019). A practitioner’s guide to process mining: Limitations of the directlyfollows graph. Procedia Computer Science, 164, 321–328.

Leemans, S. J. J., Poppe, E., & Wynn, M. T.(2020). Directly follows-based process mining: Exploration and a case study. Software & Systems Modeling, 19, 1–26.

Carmona, J., van Dongen, B., Solti, A., & Weidlich,M. (2018). Conformance Checking: Relating Processes and Models. Springer.

Berti, A., van Zelst, S. J., & van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2021). Process mining for SAP: Challenges and opportunities. Business Process Management Journal, 27(5), 1405–1427.

Augusto, A., Conforti, R., Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Maggi, F. M., Marrella, A., Mecella, M., & Soo, A. (2019). Automated discovery of process models from event logs: Review and benchmark. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 31(4), 686–705.

de Leoni, M., van der Aalst, W. M. P., & Dees, M. (2018). A general framework for organizational performance analysis in process mining. Information Systems, 82, 93–112.

Recker, J. (2021). Scientific research in business process management: A review of the literature. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 63, 1–24.

Suriadi, S., Ouyang, C., Hofstede, A. H. M., van Dongen, B., & ter Hofstede, A. (2019). Process mining of procurement: Approaches and challenges. Information Systems, 84, 102–120.

Jans, M., Lybaert, N., & Vanhoof, K. (2018). Internal fraud risk reduction: Results of a data mining case study. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 30, 1–16.

van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2018). Object-centric process mining: Dealing with divergence and convergence in event data. In Proceedings of the ER Conference (pp. 1–15).

de Murillas, E. G., Reijers, H. A., & van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2022). Object-centric process mining: A new paradigm. ACM Computing Surveys, 55(6), Article 123.

Munoz-Gama, J., & Carmona, J. (2019). A fresh look at precision in process conformance. In Business Process Management (LNCS 11675, pp. 211–226). Springer.

Syring, A. F., & van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2020). A decomposition approach for conformance checking. Information Systems, 94, 101571.

Teinemaa, I., Dumas, M., Rosa, M. L., & Maggi, F. M. (2019). Outcome-oriented predictive process monitoring: Review and benchmark. ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data, 13(2), Article 17.

Verenich, I., Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Maggi, F. M., & Teinemaa, I. (2019). Survey and crossbenchmark comparison of remaining time prediction methods in business process monitoring. ACM Computing Surveys, 52(5), Article 111.

van Zelst, S. J., & van der Aalst, W. M. P. (2021). Process mining in the large: A systematic literature review. Information Systems, 98, 101732.

Published

2026-04-01

How to Cite

Dolya, O. (2026). Process management based on SAP technologies. International Science Journal of Engineering & Agriculture, 5(2), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.46299/j.isjea.20260502.02

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.