Item: SAP NetWeaver BPM
Rating: 7
Author: Shiv Shivakumar

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for SAP projects and it works well with SAP products and use it mainly to automate procedures and avoid manual process/procedure where possible and can be integrated with ERP/CRM. It helps orchestrate the business processes very well and integrate them.

Pros and Cons

Integrated well with SAP ERP/CRM
Comes with adequate tools that help define business rules/processes and also monitoring them and managing exceptions

Strong dependency with SAP portal is a drawback as it means that one needs to have SAP portal implemented
When there are certain workflows that run for a lengthy period of time, running more workflows can become slower
Strong SAP skills required

Return on Investment

Helped us harness integrated benefit from having SAP ERP/CRM by leveraging NetWeaver to define business processes/rules and monitor exceptions
Did not have any negative experience except for the fact that at times when multiple rules run, it can be somewhat slow

Alternatives Considered

IBM Business Process Manager

I found the initial setup of NetWeaver is much simpler than other products especially in an SAP environment where we have SAP ERP/HRM/CRM as it can be well integrated with other SAP products. The only drawback is the need/dependency on SAP Portal. It is better suited in an environment where SAP ERP is running.

Other Software Used

IBM API Management, camunda BPM

Likelihood to Recommend

It is well suited when we need to integrate business processes with SAP ERP and SAP CRM - the solution can be integrated with business rules/procedures defined in SAP ERP/CRM and NetWeaver can be used to monitor the rules and flag off exceptions. When there are multiple workflows running, it tends to slow down running of these processes. Also, it entirely depends on SAP portal for it to run efficiently.

SAP NetWeaver BPM integrates well with SAP environment

Overall Satisfaction with SAP NetWeaver BPM