An Enterprise Information Model for Knowledge Transfer with
Application Systems: The Current State of Enterprise GPS
Hans-Jürgen Scheruhn
1
, Elnur Bayramli
1
and Johannes Hintsch
2
1
FB Automatisierung und Informatik, Hochschule Harz, Germany
2
Faculty of Computer Science, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
Keywords: ERP, Enterprise Architecture Framework, Enterprise Information Model, Business Process, Business IT
Alignment.
Abstract: The artifact presented in this paper contributes to enhanced knowledge transfer with a comprehensive,
integrated online enterprise information model. It can improve knowledge and understanding of Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) systems from different perspectives such as business and IT as well as enable
recognition of the dependencies between the relevant information objects and information models. The
authors develop the Enterprise Global Positioning System framework based on existing enterprise architecture
frameworks with a special focus on the integration between the business and IT views in order to reduce the
inherent complexity of cross-view corporate knowledge. The successful use of Enterprise GPS (EGPS)
focusses on the university context in this paper at first, but also shows its utility in non-university
environments. EGPS supports companies not only in terms of knowledge transfer between all parties being
involved but also facilitates further phases of the process life cycle like controlling, implementation, and
monitoring of processes. This paper shows the current state of development and highlights in detail the
extensive validation of the artifact.
1 INTRODUCTION
Business application systems, in particular,
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, are a
central theme in information systems research
(Esteves and Pastor, 2001; Esteves and Bohórquez,
2007). Due to the widespread use of business
application systems (Klaus et al., 2000), companies
expect students to be able to use, adapt, enhance and
operate these systems (Hess et al., 2012). With the
aim of providing practical training, lecturers at
universities are in great demand for comprehensive
training materials and access to complex application
systems. The students mainly come from the fields of
management, information systems, and computer
science. This paper focuses on classical ERP systems
as business application systems, even though
companies today often rely on industry-specific
special solutions and increasingly use big data as well
as artificial intelligence solutions. However, ERP
systems still form the backbone of most companies’
IT application landscape (Kappelman et al., 2018).
In practical parts of courses, one or more business
processes are independently worked on by the
students in a teaching and learning environment. This
environment usually consists of a fictitious company,
one or more application modules in the provided ERP
system and the teaching materials which contain tasks
and content explanations (Léger, 2006; Magal and
Word, 2009). The teaching materials are geared to the
needs of the various courses (e.g. introduction to
business administration, controlling, introduction to
information systems or application systems) or are
integrated by the teachers into their own courses
(Leyh, 2016).
The teaching materials created and used before
2010 mostly focused on the view of a system user.
They neglected the interaction between the IT system
and the business process and thus reduced the
sustainable learning success (Scheruhn et al., 2012).
With regard to the process life cycle, the learner can
be assigned to the phase of process execution. Many
teaching case studies only describe the data input and
output required for process execution in the user
interface of the ERP system. However, the acquisition
of context knowledge by the students about the entire
process life cycle, adjacent processes and relevant
information from different views at different levels of
278
Scheruhn, H., Bayramli, E. and Hintsch, J.
An Enterprise Information Model for Knowledge Transfer with Application Systems: The Current State of Enterprise GPS.
DOI: 10.5220/0009365602780289
In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2020) - Volume 2, pages 278-289
ISBN: 978-989-758-417-6
Copyright
c
2020 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
detail is not supported. The importance of this,
however, is illustrated by practical use cases
(Weronek, 2012), which emphasize the importance of
education in which students learn to correctly
contextualize and fully understand the business
information system and its components.
This paper, aligned with the design science
research paradigm (Hevner et al., 2004), addresses
the problem (Peffers et al., 2008) that the described
teaching materials offer only a limited overview and
presents a solving artifact. The artifact is called the
Enterprise Global Positioning System (GPS) and
complements the described existing teaching
materials.
Contributions both to academia and practice are
made. The paper has the following structure: The next
section briefly summarises related work and
highlights the research gap. Subsequently, the
research design aligned with design science is
presented. The artifact itself is presented in detail in
section four in its development and current state. The
framework-based evaluation for validation takes
place in section five. Section six discusses the results
and the contribution. Finally, the paper concludes
with a presentation of the limitations as well as an
outlook on future work.
2 RELATED WORK
Teaching with and about ERP systems has employed
teachers for many years (Davis and Comeau, 2004;
Ruhi, 2016). Different teaching formats exist to
convey economic content and ERP system concepts
to pupils and students: Lectures and seminars, case
discussions, demonstrations with systems,
simulations, workshops, case studies, and simulation
games as well as project work (Ruhi, 2016).
Simulations, simulation games, and case studies are
often used in other formats. Simulations and
simulation games have their origin in military training
programs from the middle of the last century
(Kurbjuhn, 2012). However, both formats have also
found widespread use in non-military domains. These
include school and university education, health
training and in-house training (Kurbjuhn, 2012). In
simulations and simulation games, the term "serious
games" is often used (Breuer and Bente, 2010).
Various learning case studies have been carried
out in recent years. SAP itself uses the Internet
Demonstration and Evaluation Software (IDES)
(SAP AG, 2008) for its product demonstrations and
training programs. In addition, there are the case
studies which accompany ERPsim (Léger, 2006)
based on IDES, Super Skateboard Builders
Incorporated (Magal and Word, 2011) and the case
studies which have been built around the fictitious
company Global Bike Incorporated (GBI) (Scheruhn
et al., 2012). The GBI case studies have become
widely used in school and university teaching and are
prominently placed by SAP (LoBue, 2010).
However, the case studies are problematic in that
they provide little contextual information to the
student other than the instructions given (Scheruhn et
al., 2012). For example, it is difficult for a student to
understand which primary business process of a case
study he is currently involved in, who his internal or
external customers are, what the customers’ goals are
and what the required competencies are to enter the
data correctly. This paper addresses these
shortcomings and builds on enterprise architecture
frameworks for facilitating an overview in ERP case
studies with its solution artifact.
Examples of enterprise architecture frameworks
(EAFs) are TOGAF (The Open Group, 2009) or
LEADing Practice (Rosing et al., 2015), many of
which originate in the Zachman framework for
enterprise architecture (Zachman, 2011) from 1984.
Examples of tools for modeling information objects
are ARIS from Software AG, Visio from Microsoft,
aeneis from Intellior, IBM Rational Software
Architect or E+ from LEADing Practice. Examples of
information objects from different views and
hierarchical levels of an information system are
department goal, process step, or data table. The
manufacturers of standard business software offer
supporting software, often embedded in a multitude
of IT service management functions, which enable
the support of implementation projects of standard
business software. In particular, the exchange of
modeled information objects between this software
and the business standard software is of importance
for this paper. Examples are the SAP Solution
Manager or the Oracle User Productivity Kit.
The discipline of enterprise architecture tries to
coordinate the views business (strategy to process)
and IT (software and data) as well as technology
(platform and infrastructure) by means of an
integration layer (Winter and Fischer, 2007). The
Zachman framework has a matrix structure that is
also found in standardized frameworks such as
TOGAF (The Open Group, 2009). Metamodels are
an important part of EAFs. They depict information
objects and their relationships to each other in a
formal, calculable model (Strahringer, 2013).
Metamodels can be modularized in EAFs, according
to the matrix structure, in views (layers) and
hierarchical levels.
An Enterprise Information Model for Knowledge Transfer with Application Systems: The Current State of Enterprise GPS
279
The Open Group Architecture Framework
(TOGAF) is a recognized standard in enterprise
architecture (Buckl et al., 2009). TOGAF subdivides
the architecture of an enterprise information system
into the three domains Business (1), Information
Systems (2) and Technology (3). In addition, six
domains are subdivided: Motivation (1.1)
Organization (1.2), Function (1.3), Data (2.1),
Application (2.2) and Technology (3.1). In TOGAF,
however, the breakdown of the levels of detail is not
consistent. Although TOGAF uses an integrated level
concept for the information system and technology
aspects, it does not define this concept for the
business aspect. Corresponding inconsistencies can
also be detected using formal methods (Polovina et
al., 2016).
Due to the missing localization of information
objects of the aspect business in the metamodel of
TOGAF further reference models and related artifacts
are regarded. While the Supply Chain Operations
Reference (SCOR) model (Supply Chain Council,
2010) and APQC's Process Classification Framework
(APQC PCF) (APQC, 2015) describe the process
view in detail, the LEADing Practice Framework
considers all of the above views (Rosing et al., 2015).
SAP Solution Manager, as an example tool for
enterprise architecture management (SAP SE, 2018)
and its partially also inconsistent Best Practice
Content (SAP SE, 2019) are implemented in the
application view.
Finally, the aspect "Technology" should be
compliant with standards in the context of industry
4.0 such as RAMI 4.0 and IIRA. (Bundesministerium
für Bildung und Forschung, 2018; Heidrich et. al.,
2016).
In the following, the research approach of this
paper is explained in more detail.
3 RESEARCH DESIGN
The research approach follows the design science
process model presented by Peffers et al. (2008). The
main steps of the research are shown in Figure 1.
Demonstration and evaluation are summarized into
one step (Hevner et al., 2004). The artifact has been
iteratively extended in many research cycles (Hevner
et al., 2004). Here, these many cycles are summarized
into two phases.
Phase 1: Conventional teaching materials used in
teaching with ERP systems have the following
problem: They support learners in independently
exploring (and learning) contexts of the enterprise
architecture of the example company under
discussion (Identify Problem & Motivate) only in an
inadequate way. In order to improve students'
understanding of information objects and their
dependencies, it is therefore proposed to enrich
conventional teaching materials (in text or slide
format) with a comprehensive and integrated
enterprise information model (requirements A, see
Table 1).
Requirements A are addressed by the
development (Design & Development) of a first
artifact part (EGPS Content, see Figure 3). Extensive
and integrated models are created on all essential
views of the enterprise architecture framework. These
models have been successfully used in university
teaching for several years and thus extend
conventional teaching materials. In a first step, the
Figure 1: Research cycles (summarised into two main phases).
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280
successful and beneficial application validates the
artifact (demonstration & evaluation).
Phase 2: A large number of models used meets A1.
Model diversity is justified because it reflects reality.
However, this diversity leads to a high degree of
complexity in the learning situation and can have a
negative effect on the learning objectives (Scheruhn
et al., 2013).
Table 1: Requirements for the artifact Enterprise GPS.
ID Description
A1 A comprehensive description of all
architectural views of a company
A2 Integration of the model types of all views
B1 A clear delimitation of views
B2 Cross-view definition of detail levels
B3 Assignability of information object and
information model types
B4 Horizontal and vertical navigation between the
individual models
To handle this additional complexity, the
Enterprise GPS will be developed based on existing
enterprise architecture frameworks with a special
focus on the integration between business and IT
aspects (Design & Development). The requirements
B are addressed (Define Objectives of a Solution).
The Enterprise GPS has recently been successfully
used in an industrial context (Demonstration &
Evaluation). Its evaluation is performed using
multiple criteria (Sonnenberg and Brocke, 2012; Prat
et al., 2015). Its current state is presented in this
article (Communication).
The next section describes the artifact. The
complete current state is described.
4 ENTERPRISE GPS
When comparing the above reference models, the
problem arises that information objects are described
synonymously on different levels (e.g. process and
process step (APQC, 2015; Rosing et al., 2015)). A
clear view of the levels of detail and corresponding
subdivision of the views is necessary to ensure
vertical navigation within the views and horizontal
navigation between the views (requirement B4).
In Enterprise GPS, therefore, three hierarchical
levels are defined first, with the level of detail
increasing from top to bottom. Level three forms the
logical level (Scheruhn et al., 2015). Below the
highest level of detail, a fourth level is introduced, the
physical level (Scheruhn et al., 2015). In fact, the
fourth level should contain the attribute structure of
all media or documents involved (such as
measurement protocols, certificates, contracts, and
general business documents), which regulate the data
input/output process (requirement B2).
The metamodels examined are combined into a
single process layer with the following information
object types (excerpt) on the four levels developed: 1.
process, 2. process step, 3. process activity and 4.
process attributes.
In order to transfer the four levels of detail to all
views (layer) (requirement B2), a typical hierarchy of
an enterprise must be derived, which can be applied
consistently to all layers and always follows the
hierarchization concept of the process layer
(requirement B2).
For the definition of the layers, the standard of the
LEADing Practice Framework (Rosing et al., 2015)
was used and the nomenclature for 38 of the 78 meta
object types defined there was mapped. Accordingly,
the Enterprise GPS Framework consists of eight
different layers. Each of the eight layers is always
Figure 2: Enterprise GPS Framework Map.
An Enterprise Information Model for Knowledge Transfer with Application Systems: The Current State of Enterprise GPS
281
Figure 3: Enterprise GPS metamodel.
assigned exactly four identical levels. All information
object types defined in the framework are always
assigned to a combination of these. The model types
that comprise the information object types can also be
assigned to several combinations (several levels).
This is referred to as a location in the EGPS Map
(Figure 2). This means that the layer and the level of
the model types must always be the same as that of
the object types contained. The object types are
connected to each other by vertical (level) or
horizontal (layer) relations.
These relations are the basis for the so-called
horizontal or vertical navigation between different
model types. A so-called vertical navigation takes
place between the model types at different levels. You
can branch to several lower-level model types or
aggregate them into several higher-level model types.
Both are always process-oriented in EGPS. In this
case, the object types are subordinate or superior to
other object types (or the same object types) at
different levels via relations (object types from
different levels or layers can be equated). Vertical
navigation is required whenever the vertical
relationships between object types extend beyond a
model. The same applies to the horizontal
relationship between the object types. These can also
be mapped in one or more model types and can be
reached by the user through horizontal navigation
between different layers.
A documentation of the EGPS Framework is
typically done in a table representation. The permitted
object and model types, their relations and navigation
options between the eight layers and four levels are
also defined and thus assigned to 32 different cells.
When implementing the EGPS framework, two
further artifacts arise. These are the EGPS Content
(built in research phase 1, see section 3) and EGPS
Navigator (see EGPS metamodel in Figure 3).
The EGPS Content for GBI/SAP currently
describes a large part of the SAP University Alliance
case studies for SAP ERP (incl. SAP S/4 HANA)
based on the model company GBI with the focus on
the instantiation of model and object types. By
adapting the GBI organizational structure to the
EGPS competency layer, an automated transfer of the
remaining views to already mentioned demo
companies such as IDES or others is possible.
The EGPS Navigator enables the user of the
EGPS Framework or the EGPS Content to
automatically move from one model (type) to another
in order to illustrate the relations between the
contained objects (types). Essential components are
an instantiation of the EGPS navigation (right grey
dotted-line frame) and the EGPS Map (left grey
dotted-line frame).
The evaluation of Enterprise GPS is presented
below.
5 EVALUATION
A difficulty of design science projects lies in the
validation of the results (Sonnenberg and Brocke,
2012). In this regard, Sonnenberg and Brocke (2012)
propose a framework with four evaluation steps.
EGPS is validated according to this framework.
EVAL 1 validates the research approach (research
gap). EVAL 2 validates the artifact design. EVAL 3
evaluates EGPS on the basis of an instantiation of the
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artifact but in an artificial environment. In EVAL 4,
validity is represented by the real and beneficial
application of EGPS. The evaluation steps are shown
in Table 2. We used various criteria for evaluation.
These evaluation criteria match with those identified
by Prat et al. (2015) and Sonnenberg and Brocke
(2012).
Table 2: Evaluation steps.
Step
(EVAL)
Methodological approach Evaluation
criteria
1 Validation of the research
justification
Novelty
2 Ontology-based formal
analysis of the artifact’s
structural integrity
Consistency
and
comprehens
ibility
3 Feasibility study based on
prototypical implementation
Technical
and
operational
feasibility
4 Field study amongst students
and teachers as well as case
study with two company
cases from industry
Usefulness,
completenes
s, alignment
with
business
5.1 EVAL 1: Research Justification
The validity of the research approach (research
question, research gap, and approach) could be
demonstrated, as already described in the introduction
and in the course of studying the relevant literature:
Further support in understanding and navigating the
complexities surrounding ERP systems is required.
5.2 EVAL 2: Formal Analysis of
Structural Integrity
For the problem-oriented research approach,
requirements are derived in two iterations addressed
by the artifact. The EGPS contains extensive
specifications of all object types used, their detailed
assignments in the EGPS framework, their relations
to each other, the model types formed from them and
the possible horizontal or vertical navigation between
them, which is recorded in a convention manual.
By using formal methods, the design specification
of the Enterprise GPS could be verified
mathematically and essentially confirmed view-
specifically (Polovina et al., 2016). A subsequent
specification of the underlying ontology, semantics,
and relations within the information models used led
to further improvements. In particular, this was
implemented by a continuous process-oriented
hierarchy across all layers in a further adaptation.
5.3 EVAL 3: Prototypical
Implementation
For the instantiation of EGPS, the choice of the
modeling tool was initially essential. Four tools were
compared: ARIS Architect & Design, Enterprise Plus
(E+), Microsoft Visio and SAP Solution Manager.
Important criteria were the ability to map the EGPS
standard and the automated exchange of information
models and objects with SAP Solution Manager for
comparison with SAP ERP. Since a variety of models
had to be developed for the EGPS content, ARIS
Architect & Design and E+ (MS Visio interface) was
chosen as shown in Figure 4.
The recent prototypes comprise the first six layers
(Value - Data) and all four levels of the EGPS
framework. The EGPS Navigator supports horizontal
and vertical navigation. The current position can be
displayed in the EGPS Map (requirement B4). EGPS
instantiation also uses the SAP Solution Manager for
model synchronization. This allows parts of the
models or objects defined in ARIS to be transferred
to SAP ERP or S/4 HANA and SAP HANA in the
context of the EGPS content, making it easier to
implement business process changes. The prototype
can be reached via the EGPS Navigator at the
following address in German: http://t1p.de/3tfe.
5.4 EVAL 4: Validation in Academic
and Industrial Context
EGPS was validated in an academic context, among
university students and educators as well as in an
industrial context with two company cases.
Figure 4: Comparison of modeling languages.
An Enterprise Information Model for Knowledge Transfer with Application Systems: The Current State of Enterprise GPS
283
5.4.1 Academic Context
Besides SAP ERP, Microsoft Navision is most widely
used in ERP-based teaching at German universities as
we learned in a survey, which was conducted with
489 lecturers at German universities, universities of
applied sciences and vocational academies in 2016
(Sicorello, 2013; Müller, 2016). Within the SAP
University Alliance, the SAP University Competence
Center Magdeburg provides more than 3000
educational institutions worldwide with teaching and
learning environments. These consist mainly of the
GBI or IDES model company and various SAP
software solutions. In addition to the teaching
materials provided, Enterprise GPS could be made
available as a supplementary artifact via the EGPS
Navigator to the teachers or students interactively.
The models from the EGPS content could be made
available within the framework of the case studies.
The EGPS Navigator has been widely used for two
years. Since June 2016, more than 11,000 hits have
been recorded worldwide, especially from America
(e.g. Silicon Valley and Colombia), Europe and Asia.
According to the survey (Müller, 2016), ARIS and
Visio are used in almost equal proportions at German
universities. Other modeling tools are far behind,
18% of respondents use Enterprise GPS with GBI.
62% of them consider horizontal and vertical
navigation to be useful. This resulted in different
usage frequencies of the individual model types in the
different cells (83% for the EPCs of the application
layer on level 3, 67% for the BPMN diagrams of the
process layer on level 1-3, 56% for the ERM of the
data layer on level 3 and only 8% for the mask
diagrams of the application layer on level 4).
5.4.2 Industrial Context
Our current projects also show the applicability of
Enterprise GPS for two cases from industry (see
Table 3).
Case A: Over a period of a total of two years, the
project participants were able to improve parts of the
strategic and operational sales process within the
framework of two projects at an internationally
positioned medium-sized company in the area of
electronical motor construction.
In the initial phase of the first project, the
company wanted to migrate its existing big data
structure (Data layer) to a new database system.
Further specification and especially the
implementation of the project made it clear to all
participants that integration with the management
processes to be supported (Process Layer) and with
the application used by the management for weekly
determination of the break-even point (Application
Layer) was necessary. Using EGPS, this integration
could create transparency for all participants as well
as constitute a continuous structure from the company
level down to the media breaks at the workplace (3)
and document level (4). Figure 6 collects all
assignments of the structural / completeness
evaluation.
Figure 5 illustrates the usage of EGPS in Case A’s
first project. Starting at the company level, the
distribution of the management process to five
different plants was presented in BPMN (P1). A
detailed examination of the third plant at the
department level (P2) shows the release of the
management report in the highest swimlane located
there. In the two lower swimlanes, the sales data (see
the second project) must first be aggregated plant-
Table 3: Evaluation cases for EVAL 4.
Case A Case B
Case
business
model
The industry-leading midsized company in the area of
electro motors construction
Leading consultancy company that
implements and migrates SAP solutions
for its worldwide customers
Case’s
application
software
usage
SAP & custom software used for logistics and strategic
management on different databases SAP Solution
Manager only used for IT service management; Quality
management spread over process modeling tool &
document management
SAP Solution Manager used for SAP
implementation based on SAP Activate;
SAP best practice models synchronized
with ARIS and other process modeling
tools like E+ and aeneis
Contribution
to validity
by EGPS
Project 1: Improvement of Management Processes: Use-
fulness, completeness, alignment with business
Project 2: Integration of quality mgmt. f. order
processing: Usefulness, completeness, align. w. business
Usefulness, completeness, alignment
with business: Improvement of Quality
of SAP Best Practice models for “Order
to cash”
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Figure 5: Usage of EGPS in Case A.
Table 4: Benefit of EGPS for Case B.
Position in the EGPS Map The benefit of EGPS for Company
V1, V2, V3 & V4 Adaptable integration of a cascaded sustainability balanced scorecard over three levels
with the exemplary assignment of key performance indicators
C3 Adaptable role concept for the process-oriented organizational structure
P3 & A3 Parallel display as BPMN and EPC on customers demand
P3 Representation of SAP document flow and adaptable customers documents
P2 & P3 Process selection matrix for transparent differentiation of existing company scenarios
A3 System organizational unit types as configurable SAP layer models
P3 Extensible business vocabularies and business rules
D3 & D4 Adaptable and extensible SAP data models e.g. for visualizing extensions of S/4 HANA
data model e.g. regarding integration of business partner and customer
D1, D2, D3 & D4 Future integration of HANA views into S/4 HANA
A4 200 mask attributes for a structured comparison of ERP masks, S/4 HANA masks and
FIORI apps & for the layout of new Fiori apps
{V|C|S|P|A|D}4 Adaptable definitions of compliance and performance indicators for all layers at level 4
All positions Automated generation of process and sustainability/environment documentations
A3 Improved usage of SAP Solution Manager for model-based customizing
S123 Hierarchical selection from all End-to-End, baseline and support services offered by
SAP
A3 & A4 Support of SAP Activate Prototyping by content of 6 SAP ERP modules (e.g., sales)
specifically and then merged for all five plants in the
company controlling department located there before
release processing or cancellation processing can take
place, which is frequently required in practice. At
work center level (A3), the improvements found
compared to the as-is state can be recognized on the
basis of newly created SAP Big Data applications as
to-be state. These applications are compared to the
media breaks that existed previously in the as-is state
due to a non-integrated use of Excel depicted as an
EPC. These applications are fed by entity types,
which are first arranged on the same level as star
schema ERM (D3) and then enriched with
controlling-specific evaluation dimensions specified
by companies as (foreign) key attributes on the
document level (D4) in the new database
An Enterprise Information Model for Knowledge Transfer with Application Systems: The Current State of Enterprise GPS
285
management. Finally, the new application can be
recognized as A4, which could now provide the
management with the required break-even point
every Monday morning faster and more reliably.
In a second project, the actual state of the process
was already determined in the context of the EGPS,
whereby all documents provided by the company
were assigned a layer/level in the EGPS Map. The
description of the developed company-specific EGPS
content as a prototype also follows the layer/level
assignment of the EGPS map in the respective final
report (see also Figure 6).
While the project participants were able to map
the value layer with sustainability balanced
scorecards at the organization (V1) and department
(V2) level, BPMN diagrams down to workplace level
were used in the process layer. The application layer
contains the SAP S/4 HANA systems to be examined
as well as SAP ERP systems. On level 4 (A4), the
project participants presented the (foreign) key
relationships between SAP Fiori masks and the
input/output documents of the process layer involved
as well as the quality problems resulting from the not
yet digitized media breaks. As the most important
result, case A plans to convert its worldwide quality
management to EGPS. This will be used for
automatically creating quality and sustainability
certifications that have to be provided on a regular
basis.
Case B: The case used for evaluation is a leading
consultancy company that implements SAP software
solutions for its worldwide customers. Their “Best
Practice” process templates are provided by SAP and
can be imported into SAP Solution Manager. The
resulting BPMN models can be assigned to levels 1-
3 of the application layer. In an investigation of
structural properties with regard to consistency and
completeness, about 169 end-to-end, baseline and
support processes (level 2) could be examined and
about ten different structural breaks could be
identified and typified on levels 1-4:
Among other things, levels were swapped, BPMN
conventions were not observed, assignments were
located incorrectly, different languages were mixed,
process descriptions were assigned syntactically
incorrectly or with incomplete content. The process
description ID was also partially missing.
SAP Solution Manager maps only about 50% of
the required object types and even only 30% of the
required model types (Scheruhn et al., 2013). The
current version 7.2 has also changed little about that.
The authors see considerable potential for
improvement here. A project’s content (objects and
models) can be synchronized with an external
modeling tool such as ARIS or E+ (next version) via
an interface of the SAP Solution Manager. By
extending the application layer of the modelling tools
by five additional layers of EGPS with the
simultaneous complete integration of the additional
layers on all 4 levels, usability, comprehensibility
and, above all, acceptance by all participants should
be considerably improved (see Table 4).
A subsequent investigation on the part of the
company and its customers should clarify to what
extent the improvements make business sense and are
adaptable or scalable to the respective customer.
Figure 6summarizes the above described four
different validation tasks in the academic
environment and for the two cases. It compares these
regarding the structural completeness in the context
of EGPS. Not surprisingly the mostly used structural
parts of EGPS are the “classic” P1-P3, A3-A4 and
D3-D4 selections, followed by the value and
competency layers on all levels. Due to the didactical
structure of the teaching case studies (e.g. only used
as a clicking guideline) used by German universities,
only the three uppermost levels are accessed.
The next section summarizes this paper, shows
limitations and draws a conclusion.
Figure 6: Eval 4: Summary of EGPS application comparing their structure/completeness.
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6 DISCUSSION AND
CONTRIBUTION
The problem addressed in the paper was identified as
the lack of clarity and the limited and non-integrated
selection of views and levels of detail in the execution
of case studies in typical teaching and learning
environments with ERP case studies.
These limitations make it difficult to understand
important ERP information objects from case study
documents and their interrelationships when teaching
or learning.
As a solution, an integration of all required views
at user selectable levels of detail was implemented
through the development of the Enterprise GPS. The
Enterprise GPS Framework builds on recognized
enterprise architecture frameworks such as LEADing
Practice and process frameworks such as SCOR and
APQC's PCF. When applied by lecturers or students,
new difficulties due to additional complexity should
be avoided.
Enterprise GPS EAF was instantiated as
Enterprise GPS Navigator and Enterprise GPS for
SAP Content using ARIS Architect & Designer and
E+, SAP Solution Manager and SAP ERP or SAP S/4
HANA. For easy orientation of the user, each
individual model is graphically located in a view and
on one or more levels. The authors call this part of the
framework EGPS Map because of its analogy to a
navigation system.
A subsequent online demonstration of the
Enterprise GPS Navigator and EGPS Map based on
the EGPS Content for SAP was made available to
teachers and students of SAP UA via the SAP
Learning Hub and ARIS Business Publisher.
An online evaluation showed that EGPS still has
limited prominence amongst teachers. The portion of
teachers who are already working with the models
rates the horizontal and vertical navigation in the
EGPS as “useful”. This seems to be limited to three
out of six layers and three out of four levels. Both
BPMN diagrams and EPCs are often shared by the
instructors, which is very well supported by different
layers of Enterprise GPS that are integrated at
different hierarchy levels.
Compared to the academic scenario, the industry
cases show a significantly extended structural use of
the EGPS layers and levels to support knowledge
transfer among all participants. In addition, both
companies rate the usefulness of the EGPS, its
structural completeness and its compliance with
business management challenges as high.
No car driver today wants to do without a GPS
navigation system. Many companies still believe that
they can navigate through their company without a
GPS. Like a conventional GPS, Enterprise GPS
supports several vertical "zoom factors" from the
company level to the departments and workplaces to
the documents located there. EGPS thus provides an
overview factor as demanded in the literature
(Weronek, 2012; Robert et al., 2013). In contrast to a
normal GPS, Enterprise GPS also combines various
maps that are required to successfully manage a
company. As an analogy to GPS for motorways, it
also combines (horizontally) e.g. train, airplane, ship
and rail connections at exactly the same (vertical)
level of detail, e.g. continent, country, road, house. In
Enterprise GPS these different maps are called Value,
Competency, Service, Process, Application, Data,
Platforms, and Infrastructure. They are mapped as
perspectives in an information model. One challenge
was to find a complete and consistent zoom factor for
a typical company across all these perspectives,
which had to be easy to understand and range from
the company level to the workplace documents.
First evaluations in the university and company
context show that well-defined parts of the EGPS are
used up to a complete use. An important part of this
success can be the complete integration of a leading
IT service management software (SAP Solution
Manager) or its enhancement by extending the
application layer by five additional layers of the
EGPS. Consequently, benefits of EGPS go well
beyond knowledge transfer and can be used, for
example, for the automated generation of quality and
sustainability certificates (Case A) or for an improved
model-based implementation of ERP systems, as
could be demonstrated by the example of the SAP
systems used by case B.
7 LIMITATIONS AND
RESEARCH OUTLOOK
The authors have made considerable simplifications
in the arrangement of various existing EAFs. In
particular, the arrangement of the underlying
LEADing Practice Framework was rotated by 90
degrees. Reasons for this are the complete integration
of the SAP Solution Manager as well as a division of
the object relations into horizontal and vertical. The
vertical relations, in turn, are regarded as process-
oriented decomposition similar to SCOR and APQC
PCF. However, this is only possible due to the limited
selection of 38 (out of 78) existing LEADing Practice
objects. The associated model types are typically
displayed horizontally within a layer, such as a
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BPMN model on level 1, 2 or 3 (e.g.
predecessor/successor relationship). Model types
such as organigrams, on the other hand, are vertically
hierarchized over several levels within a layer. This
concept could also be considered for almost all other
model types. Exceptions are the event-driven process
chain (Figure 5), which is typically displayed from
top to bottom, and even more clearly the Balanced
Scorecard. The last example makes it very clear that
the process views of the Balanced Scorecard are
hierarchized vertically in a process-oriented way on
levels 1, 2 and 3. However, the strategic goals of the
customer or success perspective and the associated
strategy or vision and mission are superior in each
case. At this point, the process-oriented overlaps with
a "natural" hierarchy or order of the objects of the real
world, which can only be represented to a limited
extent in EGPS. The authors expect a similar overlap
in the representation of the technical layer, which can
typically be hierarchized component/object-oriented.
In the future, the EGPS for SAP content will be
enhanced to fully cover the Technology layer, which
it currently does not. This should allow a better
mapping of domains such as Industry 4.0 or technical
information of SAP Solution Manager. Furthermore,
further SAP best practice models are to be localized
by EGPS in order to further increase their usability.
An adaptability and scalability check has to be made
at the customers. Furthermore, the EGPS for SAP
Content is to be further developed in Technology
Layer in the context of Industry 4.0 and its usability
is to be evaluated not only in teaching at universities
but also in the industrial sector.
By the continuous use of formal methods on the
EGPS framework, the authors want to extend the
user-friendliness (e.g. for schools) of the EGPS
Navigator with new tools appearing on the market
like E+ from Leading Practice and AENEIS from
Intellior continuously.
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