Process management with SAP Signavio

Feb 16, 2024

The world is changing fast and we have to adapt to it... You have heard this sentence a hundred times already, right? However, if we stop and ponder the question: what can you do on a daily basis so that you don't fall behind the progress of the world, we approach this question from a different perspective. 

The complexity of an operation can make it difficult to identify potential improvement areas and standardization opportunities. Additionally, process inefficiencies can lead to long cycle times, bottlenecks and other issues that can increase costs and negatively impact the experience with the company. You may also be experiencing waste in processes, such as hidden activities, idle time, duplication or high variation that can increase your costs. Without visibility into related dynamics and the underlying root causes of these issues, it can be challenging to identify and implement effective changes. Finally, poor process compliance can lead to deviations that compromise compliance within the organization. 

Identifying and addressing these pain points is crucial for improving your customer's experience and for ensuring that the company operates efficiently and effectively. But how can you understand your processes and have an overview to see where the bottlenecks and inefficiencies are? 

Our answer is: Signavio.  

But what is SAP Signavio exactly?

SAP Signavio is a cloud-based process management tool in the SAP portfolio since 2021, which helps to understand, analyze and improve business processes, while supporting the clear communication about the changes that have been made to make the business more efficient. According to Chet Harter, the vice president of the SAP Signavio Center of Excellence, “SAP Signavio is the starting point for process improvement”, and its usage is recommended for all companies using any SAP ERP system whose aim is to improve their process management. But how? Let's dive in, and see what you need to know about this solution of SAP. 

SAP Signavio is a complex tool with the parts below: 

elements of Signavio


Components of Signavio 

The product portfolio of Signavio consists of multiple tools with a wide range of functionalities – all of which can be combined with each other flexibly in order to enable end-to-end process analysis and data-centered, formalized optimalization. Let's dig in a little deeper into how this tool is set up, and how you can improve your business operation with the help of the countless features of Signavio. 


Process analysis and mining 

SAP Process Insights is a process analytics tool that helps you to optimize your processes and make data-driven decisions. This tool provides a performance report of the current state of your company's processes within just 24 hours, allowing you to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in your processes with the help of predefined performance indicators. Moreover, the tool also offers improvement recommendations based on industry benchmarks. 

Meanwhile, SAP Process Intelligence is a powerful tool that enables you to analyze and mine your processes, providing you with an all-encompassing view of the company. With its ability to identify deviations from standard procedures, it aids you in optimizing your operations and reducing costs through simulation capabilities. The collaborative environment of SAP Process Intelligence allows for process mining, analysis, simulation, modeling, and collaboration to take place seamlessly, while insights and analyses can be embedded into process models and journeys. By connecting journey models with process mining and experience data, you can gain even greater insights. 


Process and journey modeling

SAP Process Manager allows users to document, model, and simulate business processes, offering a comprehensive view of the organization's operations by process flow diagrams. With the ability to compare your processes and outline process interconnections, SAP Signavio Process Manager enables the creation of a shared understanding across the organization. Additionally, the software platform can generate process reports for analytics, alignment and governance purposes, providing you with valuable insights. 

With the help of SAP Journey Modeler, you can design and optimize your customers’ journeys. It helps you to better understand the needs of your customers and look at your operation from a customer’s point of view. The tool allows you to map out the customer journey, identify pain points and optimize the customer experience. Furthermore, it offers collaborative journey modeling, allowing teams to work together to design journey models that are tailored to the organization's needs. Connecting data with experience helps you provide valuable insights to improve customer satisfaction. 


Process governance and automated execution 

SAP Signavio Process Governance enables you to maintain compliance with organizational and regulatory requirements for all documented processes. With its advanced capabilities, the software platform allows users to manage the entire lifecycle of processes, ensuring that they remain compliant with all necessary regulations and guidelines. The platform provides a centralized view of all processes and their associated risks. Additionally, SAP Signavio Process Governance helps lowering the cost of workflow administration and change, making it easier to meet regulatory requirements without incurring significant costs.  

Last, but not least, SAP Process Automation is a tool that helps to automate processes and reduce manual tasks by automating routine tasks, integrating systems and accelerating workflows. SAP Process Automation also increases efficiency, reduces costs and improves scalability. 

However, it's not just about efficiency

When it comes to process optimalization, you can have the feeling that it is all about efficiency and automating everything. However, we do not think that this is the case: we are not robots, our main focus can't be only process execution and hyperautomation. We believe that there is a bigger goal, a more complex aim which is business transformation which involves the following: 

  • enterprise transformation which means changing mindset, structures and status quo, 
  • customer experience, as it should be the focus to offer outstanding products or services, 
  • and the last part is process excellence which means to standardize and improve processes. 

However, these together are not only considered as a goal, but a tool to transform your business. 

The role of SAP Signavio during SAP implementation

Implementing the SAP enterprise resource planning system is a major undertaking that requires significant resources and planning. One of the key challenges is ensuring that the business processes are aligned with the system. This is where Signavio can help. By leveraging the functionalities of Signavio, businesses can map out their existing processes and identify how they will change after the SAP implementation. This can help to identify areas of misalignment and potential issues before the SAP implementation begins. 

During the SAP implementation, Signavio can be used to optimize the processes in order to align them with the SAP system. This can help reducing the amount of customization required, which may save time and money. Moreover, Signavio's process simulation and process mining tools can help identifying bottlenecks and inefficiencies, enabling businesses to optimize their processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness. 

After the SAP implementation is complete, Signavio can be used to ensure ongoing process improvement. By monitoring the processes and identifying areas for optimization, businesses can continue to improve their operations and achieve greater efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

47% of the SAP implementation projects overrun costs and 42.6% take longer than planned, resulting in lost time and money. Signavio's process management software is an excellent tool for modelling, change management and analysis. As good as the tool is on its own, it needs experts who can put the raw data in context of the processes and align it to the business goals of the company" emphasized Daniel Olah, project manager and consultant at delaware. Signavio plays a critical role in a typical SAP implementation by enabling businesses to align their processes with the SAP system, optimizing their processes for greater efficiency and ensuring ongoing process improvement. In today's fast-paced business environment, if you're looking to achieve business process excellence, Signavio might be the solution for you. 

Impressive, isn't it?

With the implementation of Signavio, understanding the processes is no longer just a static flowchart collection, but a starting point of business innovation. At delaware, we believe that all opportunities enabling bottom-up initiatives are supporting long-term and efficient business transformation - and with our expertise, we help our customers and partners every step of this way.” - highlighted Istvan Palasthy, consultant at delaware. With SAP Signavio’s visibility into the real process execution, you can make data-driven decisions, standardize your processes and manage performance more effectively. 

Additionally, you can execute changes if needed by identifying and understanding the underlying root causes of issues and inefficiencies, allowing you to start making improvements and changes that have a meaningful impact. This can help you improve process compliance by enabling you to quickly identify noncompliant processes. Furthermore, process mining and analysis can help you reduce costs by eliminating problems and inefficiencies in your processes, and identifying areas where automation can be leveraged. Finally, you can improve service levels and customer experience by gaining visibility into process dynamics that lead to negative customer experiences, shorter cycle times, fewer bottlenecks and greater process harmonization.  

These benefits of SAP Signavio can help you to operate more efficiently and effectively, ultimately improving your bottom line and enhancing your overall customer experience. 

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