Introduction

The VSS Communication Framework is part of the VSS suite that offers triggering customizable notification internally or externally based on VSS events. The framework offers a notification system as a service to various VSS apps or VSS business event, both internally and externally. The framework utilizes SAP FIORI Notification as the “carrier” for communicating messages. The framework is also customizable by the customer or project implementation to feed the business needs.

On the other hand, the framework offers the functionality to design task processing steps for a VSS business objects. Task can be created and assigned with sets of process steps. These sets of process steps can be designed to be executed one after another with each steps updating task related information such as task status, task priority, task action, and task validity. History of each steps execution is recorded in task history for audit trail and monitoring purpose.

VSS Task Center FIORI application is also introduced as part of the framework to monitor the progress of the task and take necessary action to expedite the task processing. The Task Center also support attachment upload and download with playback capability.

Business Context

With the ongoing digitalization initiative of the automotive industry, communication becomes more and more important to deliver messages between applications be it internal or external. The market needs way of communicating that can drive engagement, ability to notify the target recipient, provide actionable functionality, and allows immediate navigation to the targeted business object. The activity or task should also be monitored with reference to specific object like order number or VIN.

Manual communication, unnecessary back and forth escalation, overwhelming email inbox, rigid communication setup, disengaged flow of processes and high waiting time are just some of the common problem statement or pain point faced by automotive players in regard to managing communication within their organization.

With the introduction of the framework, it is expected that the customer and user experience will improve, user engagement can be stimulated, and process responses time will increase. With the utilization of SAP FIORI Notification capabilities, the framework also ensures that the solution is aligned with SAP standards and will benefit from the evolving technology.

Main Features

The following describes main features of the VSS Communication Framework:

Solution Overview

The following describes the solution overview of the VSS Communication Framework:

Open

Component	Description
Source or Input Open	Notification can be triggered from various sources to address various needs or reason. Notification can be triggered by customer, partner, or employee. The notification can be triggered to execute certain processes or event, to update certain task or just simply to carry information from the sender to the recipient. Source of notification trigger: ·        Customer-built application ·        Message with links – for example link from email ·        VSS application – for example VSS order events or the technician app
VSS Communication Framework	In general, the framework contains the following components: BASIC SETTINGS o  Communication Event ID: A unique ID that represents the communication objects. This ID can be mapped to business objects such as VSS order events to trigger notification or to create a task. o   Roles, Sender & Recipient: Customizing to define actor of the task for example owner or person responsible, define sender type for example SAP User or Employee, and define recipient type for example SAP User, Employee or PFCG role. o   Navigation Target: Customizing to define which application the user will be navigated to when a particular notification or link is clicked. o   Plug-ins: Customizing to define the mapping between communication event ID and VSS application or business objects. o   Business Add-In: Sets of business add-in that can be used in project implementation to enhance the communication framework to suit specific business requirement. NOTIFICATION o   Notification ID: A unique ID that represents the notification object. This ID can be assigned with notification channel, notification template, parameters, or action. o   Notification Channel: Customizing to define types of notification channels for example SMS, E-Mail, FIORI push notification, or customer-defined channel. o   Notification Templates: The framework utilizes the standard SAP E-Mail template functionality to build custom notification content. The template can be assigned to the notification ID which will then be assigned to notification trigger or task. o   Notification Trigger: A transaction to define condition of the notification to be triggered. TASK o   Task ID: A unique ID that represents the task object. This ID can be assigned with task status and task action which will influence the task processing. Task always corresponds to single business object. o   Communication Group: Customizing to manage or group communication by organization structure for example sales area. Communication can be restricted to specific plant or sales area or can be transparent across the organization. o   Task Processing Definition: A transaction to define processing steps and actions for task. Steps of processes can be defined to be executed one after another and while processing the steps, task attributes can be updated, task action or event can be executed, and notification can be sent to target recipient. o   Task Center Setup: Customizing to define task center related setup for example layout determination, processing status, and UI icon assignment. SAP TECHNOLOGY o   FIORI Notification: The framework utilizes the SAP FIORI Notification functionality to support the push notification for the Task Center and adheres to the SAP FIORI design guideline. o   Attachment Handling: The framework utilizes the SAP attachment services to manage attachment in the task center.
Output	Once the notification or task is processed, it will be distributed to the target recipient. The output can vary according to the target recipient or the processed business objects: ·        SAP Internal: In this situation, the organization is using SAP VSS to process transactions or business objects. By configuring the framework, FIORI notification can be triggered and displayed in the FIORI launchpad, while the task center can be used to monitor progress of tasks, take action on the task and manage attachment. ·        External: In this situation, in case of external communication, email, SMS, or customer-defined notification channel can be used to deliver notification.

Technical Overview

VSS Communication Framework is event-driven, highly customizable solution, that offers automation in generation and processing of messages (Communication Notifications) and automation in monitoring and proceeding of business processes (Communication Tasks).

It is event-driven – because it responds to an event (Communication Event), that can be raised (fired) from any source in context of specific business object. The event carries always following information:

• Event ID (unique code that identifies situation),

• Source object ID (indicates single business object instance),

• Context (a pair-value map, that allows to send any additional information about the object or situation).

Communication Event can be raised (fired) via Communication Framework Event API by any source. It can be VSS process, customer app, any 3^rd party software etc. Events are raised as fire-and-forget operation. Communication Framework handles them asynchronously and responds to them accordingly, depending on process definition.

A response to the event from Communication Framework perspective can be following:

• Generation and sending a notification to the recipients,

• Starting or proceeding with business process, for specific business object,

• Ignoring the event when there is no action expected.

Communication Notification represents dynamic, fully customizable message sent to the recipient(s) via one or multiple channels. Depending on the channel, notification can provide various content: text, images, attachments etc. Notification can also provide some sort of interactivity – from Fiori notification, there is a possibility to execute an action on business object or Task. Notification always refers to specific business object instance and a context, from which it was triggered.

Communication Task represents a business process. Single task instance can be just reflection of the business process in certain step (used for information and monitoring purposes), or can expect some activity from the user (recipient) – what can be used to control process flow, handle interactions between participants, information exchange, prompts, escalations, approvals, rejections and many more. Task is always created and processed with reference to specific business object and has information about event and context, from which it was triggered. Task processing can enforce multiple operations performed on task itself and on connected business object as well. Task utilizes the same Communication Notification mechanism for sending messages.

Dedicated Fiori app Task Center is available for users, that allows comprehensive monitoring, managing and processing of Communication Tasks.