System event format

Many source systems log the processing of an operation by documenting status changes or particular system statuses. These are saved in the form of system events (source system events) with supplementary information. A typical example is a system for order processing, in which the creation of a new order or the invoicing of an order are saved. A further example is the SAP R/3 SD module, which documents the statuses and progress of an order in individual transactions.

Importing process instance fragments in PPM system event format has three stages:

  1. Define process fragments and mapping

    All system event types occurring in the source system data, which are to be imported to PPM (e.g., Create order, Invoice order), must first be created as process fragment definitions in the form of an EPC in the fragment file. In addition, the mapping file must specify which system event types are to be assigned to which fragment definitions when imported and which attributes are to be transferred to PPM. In the mapping file, you must take into account attributes, which allow the calculation of the measures and the merging of process instance fragments into a process instance (e.g., time stamp, sequential system event number, order number).

  2. Generating a source system XML output file

    Individual system events with additional information (attributes with real data) are extracted from the application system into an XML output file according to the activity flow.

  3. Generate the process instance fragments

    When importing data, a search is made for the fragment definition assigned (type level) for each system event in the XML output file, and this is then copied to the PPM database. Attributes of the system event with real data (e.g., execution time, processor, order and customer number) are transferred to objects in the copy of the fragment definition, generating a process instance fragment (instance level) in the PPM database that corresponds to this system event.

The illustration below highlights the process of generating process instance fragments:

xml_impproc