Portfolio and Project Management A PLM Consulting Solution
The PPM Consulting Solution Approval Dashboard streamlines the process of time recording verification. The solution allows a project manager to either approve or decline selected time recordings. The Approval Dashboard displays recorded times of business partners who are assigned to projects the user is responsible for. Furthermore, other important information such as the role the business partner is staffed on, assigned tasks, project name, status of booking and already booked time can be displayed.
Our Service An implementation-ready Solution Implementation of the Solution Documentation of the Solution 6 Months of Bug fixing Optional Online Scoping Session and/or Presentation at Customer
Functionality Overview Selection of business partners, projects, roles, tasks and statuses List view of recorded times (using standard ALV technology) Approving and declining of time recordings; field to enter reason for declining HTML E-Mail to business partner after declining time recordings Integration with SAP CATS or other customer developed solutions 4
Process in Standard (CATS) 1. The employee is staffed to a role 2. Time records are reported to WBS elements, using the cat2 transaction 3. After the records are released for approval, the line manager can decide whether to approve or decline the recorded times. 5
Process in Standard (ESS) 1. The SAP PPM business partner is staffed to a role 2. Time records are reported to the project, using the WebDynpro ESS 3. After the records are released for approval, the line manager has to access the backend to approve the recordings The process and backend functionalities are not optimized to this scenario as they have not originally been designed for SAP PPM. 6
Process with Approval Dashboard 3. After the recorded times are released for approval, the project manager uses the Approval Dashboard to get a clear overview of the times to be approved. As Approval Dashboard is fully integrated with SAP PPM he can use selection criteria to cluster the times he needs to approve. 4. If time recordings are declined by the responsible project manager, an email is generated automatically to inform the business partner about the reason for the decline. 7
Solution Integration Scenarios With sophisticated time recording, the customer has the advantage to have full control over who enters which effort, and therefore can introduce a real time approval and monitoring process. 8
Standard Selection Screen The responsible project manager can select different modes of display: All time records to be approved Only the time records of a certain project Time records for a certain project member or Time records in a given time frame 9
Extended Selection Screen The Extended Selection allows the user to further specify the selection by adding additional attributes: Task Role WBS element Status (specific time record status) 10
Search Help for Selection Criteria Search helps can be used to fill the selection criteria as in SAP GUI Only relevant objects are displayed allowing for a less time consuming selection. For example, if the user is not authorized to see the time records on a certain project, the project does not appear in the search help. 11
Authorization object in PPM project Approval authorizations can be set for projects, phases and for tasks (customizable). It is possible to allow either only to view the recorded times (TimeRead) or to view and approve them (TimeAppr). The authorizations can be assigned to users, user groups, HRorganizational units and roles. This authorization is treated like any other ACO authorization. 12
User Variants in Approval Dashboard Create preset selection criteria and settings Via Load, Save and Delete Variant, the user can create and change reporting variants, as in other SAP GUI applications. 13
Results in Approval Dashboard Depending on the selection, the system comes up with a resulting table The staffing the user is responsible for approving is displayed for each task Sums are highlighted and show how much time the selected business partner has recorded in sum. 14
Additional Information in Result Table Together with the needed attributes, the approval dashboard provides you with: The overall recorded time on this role or task The overall approved time on this role or task The left time on this role or task (task/role effort - approved time) 15
Approve Times After approving the selected records they are shown in status Approved. This status cannot be changed (the approval and decline buttons disappear). 16
Decline Times After declining time recordings, a popup appears allowing the user to enter a reason for declining After entering a reason, the selection is displayed in status Approval Rejected along with the reason entered. 17
Actually Saving s & Declines Up to this point all decisions are stored only in the internal buffer To write the approvals/declines to the database, the Save button is used In case of wrong entries, changes can be discarded using the Undo button. 18
Emails are being sent for declined Times For declined time recordings an HTML email is generated and sent to the responsible business partner The responsible business partner is asked to correct his records or get in contact with the approver The email contains links to the SAP PPM projects, tasks and roles. 19
Integration to Project Management The approval dashboard is offered as additional tab strip in SAP Project Management and can be launched from there. Further possibilities would be: Started from the NWBC Used as standalone WebDynpro application 20
Integration to Project Management on Task Level within a Project possible to display the recorded times directly for a certain project, task, phase or role within SAP PPM depending on customizing additional tab is shown for the project element, directly displaying the records for this project element and its sub elements Approval is also possible there, but saving of the changes is done via the usual SAP PPM save button. 21
Generic Integration Approach to other Time Sheet Applications generic interface for assigning a Time Sheet application SAP CATS Included with this consulting solution is an integration with SAP CATS and an alternate scenario for non CATS customers Approval Dashboard Others Alternative Scenario (next slide) All integrations can run in parallel, differentiated by the project type. 22
Alternative Time Recording Integration without using SAP CATS The user does not record the time via CATS, but sets it directly in PPM Effort changes are recorded by the alternate integration and written to a customer table The time of the change is taken as the working date, the user as the working business partner The responsible approver can display these recordings in the approval dashboard and approve or decline 23
PPM-Based Approval Functionality for Time Records The Consulting Solution streamlines the process of time recording verification. The solution allows a project manager to either approve or decline selected time recordings. Business Challenges You seek to have time approval functionality for project managers You want to be able to check on time records from external employees You strive to have a general overview on time records per project You only have limited project resources Key Features Selection of business partners, projects, roles, tasks and statuses List view of recorded times (using standard ALV technology) Approving and declining of time recordings; field to enter reason for declining HTML e-mail to business partner after declining time recordings Integration with SAP CATS or other customer developed solutions Availability, Technical Details Available for SAP PPM 6.0 and SAP PPM 5.0 Delivery via transport Distributed ERP systems are supported Complete documentation of all development objects Contact SAP Note: 1238739 SAP Service No.: 50109202, Enhancement Services for SAP PPM Contact: PLMServices@sap.com Related Services List of Open Points Periodic Status Management PowerPoint Export Risk Management Time Recording Business Benefits Ensure correct billing from external partners Ensure correct usage of project budget Slim and robust time approval process Reduce administrative time Cost reduction through efficient processes 24
Contact Information Tobias Gläser SAP Portfolio and Project Management Consulting SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG Hasso-Plattner-Ring 7 69190 Walldorf, Germany M +49 160 908 23181 tobias.daniel.glaeser@sap.com
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