Are you using a Web shop app that is connected to an SAP S/4HANA backend system? And do you want to efficiently monitor the logistics processes of your sales orders within SAP S/4HANA?

The solution for you is Process Flow Transparency. This feature allows your Web shop app to access information about logistics process steps and milestones in SAP S/4HANA through business events called Logistics Process Flow Transparency Activity Events.

The event payload comes with detailed information that you can use to update your Web shop orders or notify your customer by e-mail.

In this blog post, we won’t explain the entire approach, but we will demonstrate a practical use case scenario to show how Process Flow Transparency can benefit your business.

Use Case: Web Shop

In your fashion Web shop NiceToWear, a customer places an order for a pair of flared black trousers and three white shirts. This order (number 3434) is then forwarded to your SAP S/4HANA system. Here, a sales order is generated with two separate items: one for the black trousers and another for the three white shirts.

Each item within the sales order prompts the creation and processing of an outbound delivery in the SAP S/4HANA system. The outbound delivery for the black trousers is handled within a store, managed via SAP S/4HANA. Meanwhile, the delivery for the three white shirts is processed in a warehouse managed with Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) embedded in SAP S/4HANA.

You have enabled the Process Flow Transparency feature, configured to dispatch a Logistics Process Flow Transparency Activity event in two specific scenarios:

• When a delivery is set to ready-for-shipping within the warehouse.
• When goods issue is posted for a delivery.

To integrate to the Process Flow Transparency events from SAP S4/HANA, you can use SAP Event Mesh for the consumption of events and SAP Integration Suite to connect to your Web shop and map the objects involved.

Deep Dive: Logistics Process Flow Transparency Activity Event

And now let’s have a close look at the payloads of the two Logistics Process Flow Transparency Activity events to show you the information we provide.

The payload for the Ready for Shipping activity event (for the three white shirts) includes the following:

{​
"type":"sap.s4.beh.LogisticsProcessFlowActivity.Created.v1",​
"specversion":"1.0",​
"source":"source/system",​
"id":"42010aef-4c9f-1eed-93f2-e28bc28a78a5",​
"time":"year-month-day-time",​
"datacontenttype":"application/json",​
"data":​
 {​
 "LogsProcFlwStsCollStatusID": "",
 "LogsProcFlowActivityType": "OutbDeliv-ReadyForShipping",
 "LogsProcFlwActivityEventUUID": "42010aef-4c9f-1eed-93f2-e28bc28a78a5",
  "_Attributes":
  [
   {
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttrib": "ExternalDocumentID",
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttribValue": "WebShop Order No. 3434"
   },
  {
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttrib": "ExternalItemID",
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttribValue": "White Shirts"
   },
   {
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttrib": "SenderBusinessSystemName"
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttribValue": "WebShop NiceToWear"
   }
  ],
    "_EventDetail": 
   [
    { 
      "LogsProcFlwStsCollRefObjNdeTp": "SalesOrderItem",
      "LogsProcFlwStsCollRefObjNodeID": "54321000020"
      "LogsProcFlowActivityQuantity": 3,
      "LogsProcFlwActyQuantityUnit": "PC",
      "LogsProcFlwActyQtyUntISOCode": "PCE",
      "LogsProcFlowActivityTotalQty": 3,
    }
   ]
 }
}

And in parallel, the payload for the Goods Issue Posted activity event (for the black trousers):

{​
"type":"sap.s4.beh.LogisticsProcessFlowActivity.Created.v1",​
"specversion":"1.0",​
"source":"source/system",​
"id":"89030aef-6c2f-1eed-71f2-e46bc13a58a9",​
"time":"year-month-day-time",​
"datacontenttype":"application/json",​
"data":​
 {​
 "LogsProcFlwStsCollStatusID": "OutbDeliv-GoodsMvt",
 "LogsProcFlowActivityType": "OutbDeliv-GdsMvt",
 "LogsProcFlwActivityEventUUID": "89030aef-6c2f-1eed-71f2-e46bc13a58a9",
 "_Attributes":
  [
   {
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttrib": "ExternalDocumentID",
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttribValue": "WebShop Order No. 3434"
   },
  {
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttrib": "ExternalItemID",
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttribValue": "Black Trousers"
   },
   {
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttrib": "SenderBusinessSystemName"
    "LogsProcFlwRefObjAttribValue": "WebShop NiceToWear"
   }
  ],
   "_EventDetail": 
   [
    { 
      "LogsProcFlwStsCollRefObjNdeTp": "SalesOrderItem",
      "LogsProcFlwStsCollRefObjNodeID": "54321000010"
      "LogsProcFlowActivityQuantity": 1,
      "LogsProcFlwActyQuantityUnit": "PC",
      "LogsProcFlwActyQtyUntISOCode": "PCE",
      "LogsProcFlowActivityTotalQty": 1,
    }
   ]
 }
}

The event payload provides all you need to have an up-to-date overview of your logistics processes of interest, regardless of whether the backend source originates from SAP S/4HANA or from EWM embedded in SAP S/4HANA. It further enables the tracking of logistics process steps back to the corresponding Web shop, to the Web shop order, and even to the individual Web shop order item.

Why is this information particularly valuable? Well, it enables you to swiftly communicate with your customers regarding the current status of their order. And you can update the status within your order management system, ensuring your Web shop maintains up-to-date information.

Get to Know our Solution

Not yet convinced that Process Flow Transparency is the right solution for you? Afraid of getting overwhelmed by thousands of events sent out? Check out the following resources to get more detailed information about our solution:

• Details of Process Flow Transparency on SAP Help Portal.
• Process Flow Transparency events on SAP Business Accelerator Hub:
  • Logistics Process Flow Activity Events
  • Logistics Process Flow Status Collection Events

If you have any further questions, leave us a comment and we’ll come back to you.