Process Chain

A process chain is a sequence of processes that are scheduled in the background

for an event. Some of these processes trigger a separate event that can, in turn,
start other processes.

Role of Process Chain :

 automate the complex process flows in BW using event-controlled processing

 visualize the processes using network graphics

 centrally control and monitor processes

The fundamental principal roles of the process chain concept are:

 Openness

The abstract meaning of process as any process flow with a defined start and
end enables openness with regard to the type of process that can be
integrated into a process chain. The principle of openness is applied to
process chains so that user-defined programs and processes can be
implemented. In addition, you can include process chains in other process
chains. These are known as meta chains. You can integrate process chains
from the system in which the meta chain is found, or from other systems. In
this context, we talk about local and remote process chains.

 Security

Using process chains ensures a high level of security in the process flow. This
is based on the principals of background management:

 Processes are scheduled before they run and can be monitored using
the standard background monitor.

More information: Process Chain Log Display

 Background events trigger subsequent processes.

 Short dumps and terminations are recognized and handled

accordingly.
  Flexibility

The subsequent process is responsible for getting all the information it needs
from the predecessor processes so that is can run correctly. This means that
you can integrate new process types without having to modify the existing
types.

Structure of a Process Chain

A process chain consists of processes of different process types: Processes: It
consists of a start process, individual application processes, and the collection
processes.

You can define the start condition of a process chain with the start process. All other
processes in the chain are scheduled to wait for an event. Application processes are
the actual work processes that you want to automate in process chain maintenance.
They represent activities typically performed in the operative use of SAP BW∕4HANA,
for example load processes. Collection processes are handled differently in process
chain management. They allow you to combine multiple chain strings into one
individual string. This means that you only have to schedule the actual work
processes once. Processes are connected using events that are triggered by a
predecessor process to start a subsequent process.