sapexperts _ an overview of cprojects integration with sap erp hcm

7/17/2019 SAPexperts _ an Overview of CProjects Integration With SAP ERP HCM

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An Overview of cProjects

ntegration with SAP ERP

HCM

by Srini Munagavalasa, PMP,

Principal Business Integration

March 7, 2011

SAPexperts/HR

SAPexperts/Project Management

SAP’s Collaboration Projects

cProjects) may appear complex as i t

nvolves integration with multiple SAP

modules and spans mul tiple SAPystems. However, with a closer look

and step-by-step instructions, you

will discover that it is a simple and

ser-friendly application.

Key Concept

SAP Collaboration Projects

(cProjects) is a Web application

used by project managers and other

project resources to access SAP

CRM via a Web URL and your

company’s SAP NewWeaver Portal.

cProjects provides enhanced

functions for projects and business

scenarios that require an easy-to-

use and flexible project management

tool. It is integrated with SAP

Accounting, SAP ERP Human

Capital Management (SAP ERP

HCM), SAP CRM, SAP Supplier

Relationship Management (SAP

SRM), SAP ERP Project System

(PS), SAP Cross Application Time



Sheet (CATS), and order processing.

cProjects is a cross -industry tool

that you can use to plan and

monitor projects.

This overview of SAP’s CollaborationProjects (cProjects) explains the

configuration and the processes

nvolved from the creation of a project

o i ts close. It is targeted to SAP CRM

and SAP ERP HCM functional and

echnical managers and team

members who understand thecapabili ties available in SAP CRM. It

also helps project managers and

business leads discover what

cProjects offers for new

mplementations.

The most important factor on any

project is staffing project resources

internal employees and partner

employees). These resources are

maintained in the SAP ERP HCM

ystem and will be distributed to the

SAP CRM system via Application Link

Enabling (ALE). To enable the

esource manager to be able to

assign the right resource with the

ight sk ill set for the right duration,

ata about employees such as

ualifications and time needs to be

istr ibuted into the SAP CRM system.

Then project users from cProjects

can access i t.

You access cProjects from SAP



NewWeaver Portal by clicking the

Resource Management tab.

You call the cProjects application in

he browser using a URL that is

tructured as follows:

<Prot>://<Host>.<Domain>.<Extension>:<Port>/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/cProjects

<Domain>. Domain is your Web

application server.

The Web URL looks like this:

ttps://idomain01.my.com:8300/sap/bc/bsp/sap/cprojects/default.htm?

ap-client=100&sap-language=EN.

The benefits of cProjects include:

Project team members can access

projects via a Web URL. The user

oes not need to access SAP GUI.

The application is simple to use and

ery user friendly

t is integrated with various SAP

modules (SAP Customer Relationship

Management [SAP CRM] SAP ERP

HCM, Financial Accounting

FI]/Managerial Accounting [CO],

materials management [MM], and

ales and distribution [SD])

The integration with SAP ERP HCMenables resource allocation, resource

availability, and workflow approvals

Provides flexible analytics,

evaluations, and reports

n this article, I focus on a

professional service industry

consulting project to illustrate how to

et the most out of cProjects.

Typical Project Business Process

https://idomain01.my.com:8300/sap/bc/bsp/sap/cprojects/default.htm?sap-client=100&sap-language=EN






Flow

ollowing is a generic process flow used at my company prior

o the cProjects implementation. I briefly outline all the project

ements with respect to a cProjects implementation, but this

usiness process flow can be generalized and used for any

roject system implementation.

very project is broken down into various phases, and eachhase branches into different tasks or checklists. Every project

eeds resources to get the work done. Resources are

ssigned to specific project roles (examples of project roles

re architect, senior consultant, and technical) on a project.

roject roles are configured in the system by the SAP CRM

eam. Roles on the projects are assigned by the project

manager. Each project role is assigned required capacity with

nite start and end dates. For example you may need a part-

me architect role on your project for 120 hours capacity from

tart date 03/07/2011 to finish date 06/30/2011. Project

ost/billing rates are maintained for each of these roles byour project management office and usually these rates will

hange every year. Billing rates can be standard or project

pecific. For the same role, billing rates may change based on

he project. These roles are then assigned to project tasks. As

n example, I need four roles (one project manager and three

onsultants) on my project. I do not assign resources until the

roject kicks off. Based on availability, the resource manager

ill staff the roles either internally or externally, or with a

ombination of both.

ow the project shell is created but no resources aressigned to the project. The project manager runs planned

ost and revenue reports and adjusts the project tasks, roles,

ates, and cost/billing rate as necessary. After fine tuning the

roject shell the project manager gets approval from the

takeholders to start the project. After approval the project

manager can start to staff project roles with resources. The

roject manager may request staffing for each specific role or

or the entire project. This triggers notification to the resource

manager. Based on the size of the company, there may be a

esource management pool or the project manager can act as

he resource manager.

he resource manager searches for resources based on

vailability, qualifications, and skills. After booking them on the

roject, the resource manager sends an email to the

esources and their managers with project, tasks, staffing

etails, and other project-related information. If internal

esources are not available, external consulting resources can

e procured for staffing on the project.

he project can link items such as purchase or sales orders

s object links and monitor the progress of the project by

unning various valuations, such as a staffing report, plannedost and revenue report, project resource report, or a staffing

eport.

he project manager can close individual project tasks,



Figure 1

Project structure

hases, and eventually the project. Before closing the project

l the resources are released. The project elements are

osed only after time is booked and approved on the project.

fter the project is closed all related phases and tasks on the

roject are closed and time can no longer be booked on the

roject. See Figure 1 for a view of a typical project structure.

Required SAP Landscape

Projects is a standard integration package in SAP CRM,

ccessed via web URL and it is integrated with other SAP

modules. cProjects is a cross-industry tool that you use to plan

nd monitor development and consultant projects. All

Projects configuration is performed in SAP CRM. This

unctionality comes free with a standard SAP ERP license.

ata created or maintained in cProjects is captured in SAP

RM. You can replicate this project data (e.g., project

tructures) to the SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC)

roject System (PS) module using middleware. You can also

tegrate HR data from SAP ERP HCM into SAP CRM via

pplication Link Enabling (ALE). See Figure 2 for integration

etween cProjects Web URL (Portal User Interface [UI], CRM,

nd SAP ECC. In addition to SAP standard functionality, you

an customize the application to suit to your business needs.

n this article, I will discuss each of these in detail.



Figure 2

cProjects i ntegration with SAP ERP Central

Component (SAP ECC) modules

will provide you with an overview of cProjects configuration

nd the processes involved from the creation of a project to its

osure.

Steps Involved in Creating a

cProject

o successfully and efficiently manage projects, the project

manager and other team members should be able to perform

he following typical tasks and processes in a project

management tool with ease:

1. The project manager creates a project, a project

structure, roles, and scheduling

2. The project manager calculates planned cost and

revenue3. The project manager notifies the resource manager to

secure and assign resources on the project roles

4. The resource manager checks for resource availability

5. The resource manager staffs the roles with internal

resources or procures external vendor partner

resources

6. The project manager links to business objects (e.g.,

quotes, sales contracts, purchase order items, and

project work breakdown structures)

7. The project manager and resource manager

communicate details and staffing schedules for the

project to project team members

8. The project team starts work on the project and creates

a project status report

9. The project team creates documents and assigns them

to project elements in cProjects



Figure 3

10. The project team captures time and expenses on the

project

11. The billing department generates invoices and bills the

customers or clients for the project work

12. Accounts payable settles the purchase order-related

invoices with the vendors for the work performed by

vendor/partner employees on the project

13. Actual costs and revenue are posted in Profitability

Analysis (CO-PA) for the project

14. The project manager runs actual cost/revenue reportsand various status reports for the project management

office

15. The project team completes project tasks and charges

time and expenses on the project

16. The project manager verifies and closes the project

Configuring cProjects

ow let’s translate these business process requirements into

onfiguration elements in the SAP system. I will list some of he important cProjects configuration steps in SAP CRM and

he output of this on the cProjects user screen.

n your SAP CRM system go to SAP IMG via transaction code

PRO. You can also follow menu path IMG > Collaboration

rojects > Basic Settings/Define General Interface Settings.

his configuration setting influences the appearance of the

Projects interface. You can define the header information

such as your company logo and the page information) to

esemble your company’s Web site (see Figures 3 and 4).



Configure cProjects general interface

settings

Figure 4

Setting as displayed on the user screen

based on configuration

ow, to define time units for the cProjects implementation,

ollow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Basic SettingsDefine Time Units (Figure 5). In my example, I’m using HR

hours) as the unit of work, but you can use minutes, days,

eeks, or months. As a result of this configuration, users see

he project time unit as hours in the project structure, resource

taffing, and reporting areas in the cProjects user interface.



Figure 5

Define time units for your cProjects

our users should be able to view only the data they are

upposed to view. For example, your project lead, resource

manager, and team members should have different levels of

ccess to view project data. In this step, you can configure

hat your users can see on the cProjects user interface. In

he example below, the project manager role is configured to

ccess more views on cProjects than the resource manager

ole or a team member role. Figure 6 displays the

onfiguration setting and Figure 7 displays the user view for

he project manager. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration

rojects > Basic Settings/Define Initial Views for cProjects.



Figure 6

Based on the configuration, cProjects view

for a project manager

Figure 7

Based on the configuration, cProjects view

for a project manager

n this configuration step of your IMG activity you define the

roject types you want to use in your cProjects and make

roject type-specific settings. You define project types such asime & Materials, Fixed Price, Spot Consulting, or Pre-Sales.

ach project can have only one project type. If there are two

rojects with different project types at the same company, say

ne is a new implementation and the other is a support



Figure 8

Typical time and materials project

configuration

roject, then you create a parent project and add these two

rojects as child projects. All the data rolls up into the partner

roject for reporting. Figure 8 displays the configuration steps.

ollow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects >

tructure>Define Project Types.

igure 9 shows all the project types configured in the SAP

RM system. In this case the project manager can create one

f the nine project types from the drop-down list.



Figure 9

View on user interface. Based on the

configuration in Figure 8, the project

manager can pick the configured project

types.

Figure 10

Configuring allowed phase type on your

projects

n the next step you define the phases that are allowed under

ach project type. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration

rojects > Structure > Define Phase Types (Figure 10).

ow you can configure what tasks are allowed on your

roject. Each phase can have one or more tasks for a project.ollow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects >Structure>

efine Task Types (Figure 11).



Figure 11

Configure allowed task types

ou now activate the object types for which you want to

reate object links in your project. Selected object types found

the SAP ERP system are predefined in the standard

ystem. As an example, after you create a project in

Projects, you replicate this data into SAP ECC and integrate

with PS, SAP ECC SD, and SAP ECC MM.

he integration element among all these modules will be via

he project work breakdown structure (WBS) element. After

ou activate the standard object links, you can assign the

bjects via this link to your cProjects. The project manager (or

ther users) can access SAP ECC projects, purchase orders,

nd sales contacts via this object link. By adding the object

nk in the cProjects, the user does not need to log on to

arious systems to view details such as purchase orders,

ales quotes/contracts, or internal orders. Follow menu path

MG > Collaboration Projects > Structure > Define Object

ypes for Object links (Figure 12). After your Object Link is

onfigured, you can create hyperlinks to SAP ECC projects,

ales contracts, and purchase order line items (Figure 13).



Figure 12

Link the Object Link to the Object Type

Figure 13

Create links to SAP ERP projects, sales

contracts, and pu rchase order line items

n the next configuration setting, you integrate components

om SAP ERP HCM with business partners in cProjects.

ollow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Resource



Figure 14

Set up integration with SAP ERP HCM for

your cProjects

Management > Business Partner > Set Up Integration with

R. Employee data is distributed in cProjects for employees

om existing HR master data. This integration is enabled via

LE, as stated earlier. In the standard SAP system, business

artners are not integrated with the SAP ERP HCM

pplication components from the SAP ERP system. You can

tegrate your SAP ERP HCM data as shown in Figure 14.

et up what you want to integrate between your SAP ERP

CM and SAP CRM systems. You distribute data from the

AP ERP HCM system such as employee data, qualifications,

nd organization structure. Due to the sensitive nature of

mployee HR data, make sure to use a filter in the distribution

ystem and distribute only infotypes 0000, 0001, 0002, 0006,

nd 0105.

ere are some of the critical aspects of these configurationettings:

ctivate HR Integration = X: This switch specifies integration

om an SAP ERP HCM system is active. This setting

eplicates employee data from SAP ERP HCM. Organizational

nits are integrated with the business partner. The switch

splays whether employees are replicated from SAP ERP

CM using ALE or created locally.

ntegration of O-BP Activated = ON: Integration between the

rganizational unit and the business partner is active. When

n organizational unit is created via the ALE inbox or in a

alog, a corresponding business partner is generated in therganizational unit role. Any changes made to organizational

nits are also made to the business partner. There are ON,

FF, and CREATE options. With the CREATE option, when

n organizational unit is created, so is a business partner. If

ny changes are made to an organizational unit, the business



Figure 15

Assign a form for emai l communication

artner is not updated.

ntegration of Employees/BP Activated = ON: The switch

splays whether employees are replicated from SAP ERP

CM using ALE or created locally. Employees are copied from

AP ERP HCM using ALE. Therefore, they cannot be

maintained as business partners.

mport qualifications = X: The system replicates qualifications

nfotype 0024 - Qualifications) from the HR system and saves

he data in CRM.

umber Range for BP for HR Employees = ZE: Define customumber ranges for your cProjects business partners (e.g.,

mployees/vendor partner employees).

fter the resource manager completes the staffing process, he

r she should communicate project and staffing details to the

eam resources. You can enable this communication via

roupware integration functionality in SAP CRM (your system

dministrator should already have set up this functionality).

ou need to assign templates or forms to your email and

roupware communication. The forms are language specific.

he standard system provides various forms as templates for

he subject line and the body text of emails to the selectedmanager or resource. It also provides templates for emails

escribing tasks and announcing appointments. Follow IMG

menu path Collaboration Projects > Resource Management >

asic Settings for Resource Management > Assign Forms for

mails and Groupware Communication. Figure 15 displays

arious templates and form configuration. For my example, I

sed custom forms for the email subject and email body.

igure 16 shows a sample email notification to the resource

taffed on the project based on email communication

onfiguration.



Project role configuration and setup

Figure 18

Define project role applicability to project

types

Figure 19

User interface of configured roles

n Figure 17, you define project roles. Also, you can configure

roject types with or without extended staffing by checking or

nchecking the Ext.Staffing Process check box. If it is

hecked, this role can staff these resources directly without

oing through the resource management team. If you check

he Res.Mgmt check box, this means the role is relevant for

esource management. This specifies that the planned effort

educes the availability of resources and increases capacity

tilization for the project role for which this indicator is set.

n Figure 18, you define possible project role types and assign

hem to project types. Here you can control the availability of a

roject role for certain projects. For example, you could

onfigure project role Architect to be available only on project

ypes Time & Material, Education, and Fixed Price.

ased on the roles configured in the system and the project

ype, the project manager can select the roles that can be

taffed on the project via a drop-down menu (Figure 19).



Figure 20

Project cost and revenue rates

ext, you define the cost/revenue rate used in costing. The

ost rate is the internal cost rate charged to the employee cost

enter. The bill rate is the billing amount charged for project

ork. Cost rates and bill rates are maintained in CO-PA and

eplicated to SAP CRM by following IMG menu path

ollaboration Projects > Connection to External Systems >

ccounting Integration > Integration using single-object

ontrolling > Replicate Cost/Revenue Rates in SAP ERP.

roject users cannot change cost rate and list rate values. If

he bill rate is different from standard bill rates (e.g., if your

roject manager decides to add a premium or discount the

lling rate), it overrides the standard bill rate. In some cases,

our project manager may decide not to bill the customer for a

e-work and can select the NonBillable check box. The project

manager should follow menu path cProjects URL > Projects >

esources > Costing to make these adjustments (Figure 20).

Projects is integrated with Microsoft Project and allows you to

xchange data between these two applications. You can

ansfer data from Microsoft Project to cProjects and vice

ersa. After the project manager completes staffing the project

oles with resources, they can export cProjects data into

Microsoft Project and distribute this to project resources. In the

ext configuration setting, define the fields for exporting and

mporting from Microsoft Project. Follow IMG menu path

ollaboration Projects > Connection to External Systems >Microsoft Project Integration > Assign Fields for Export. Here,

ou map cProjects fields to Microsoft Project fields. You can

xport to Microsoft Project from cProjects via menu path

Projects URL > Projects > Export. Figure 21 displays how to

xport your project from cProjects to Microsoft Project, while

igure 22 displays the exported project in Microsoft Project.



Figure 21

Download cProjects to Microsoft Project

Figure 22

Output of the exported cProjects into

Microsoft Project

Figure 23

n evaluation is a project view of data extracted from a

roject. This view helps you measure the project’s progress,

hich activities are on track, and which activities need to be

efined. You can define the threshold values used in

valuations to identify critical situations. To do this, follow IMG

menu path Collaboration Projects > Evaluations > Define

ttributes and Object Types for Evaluations (Figure 23). Thisarticular output is for a cost/revenue evaluation of my project.



Evaluation for cost/revenue

Figure 24

Replicated project

fter the project is created and staffed, it is replicated via SAP

RM middleware into the SAP ERP system. You can then

ew it in PS using transaction CJ20N (Project Builder). Figure

4 shows a project replicated from SAP CRM to SAP ERP.

sapexperts _ an overview of cprojects integration with sap erp hcm

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