SAP IT Automation


What Is IT Automation?

IT automation is the use of software to create repeatable instructions and processes to replace or reduce human interaction with IT systems. Modern IT environments need to be able to scale faster than ever, and IT automation is vital to making that happen.

IT automation is a powerful tool that can provide significant cost savings and allow IT staff to focus on strategic rather than administrative work. A range of data center and cloud operations can be automated, resulting in faster operations. A fully automated environment can reduce the time-to-delivery for production-ready resources from weeks to less than a day.

What Is IT Automation?

IT automation is the use of software to create repeatable instructions and processes to replace or reduce human interaction with IT systems. Modern IT environments need to be able to scale faster than ever, and IT automation is vital to making that happen.

IT automation is a powerful tool that can provide significant cost savings and allow IT staff to focus on strategic rather than administrative work. A range of data center and cloud operations can be automated, resulting in faster operations. A fully automated environment can reduce the time-to-delivery for production-ready resources from weeks to less than a day.

What Is SAP IT Automation?

SAP IT automation refers to automating manual, repetitive IT processes within the SAP ecosystem of products. SAP has several IT automation products and services, including:

SAP Process Automation — an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, no-code solution for workflow management. The process automation solution offers prebuilt capabilities, templates, and content designed specifically to work with SAP solutions. It relies on integration and automation content from SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) and offers native integration with SAP application stack solutions.

SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation — a solution that automates repetitive manual processes by creating, scheduling, managing, and monitoring intelligent bots. It can redirect resources to high-value activities and processes. Using the solution, SAP customers can create attended bots, which are suitable for actively managing the bots or if the process requires intermittent decision-making, or unattended, which automatically execute a complete process using triggers without human intervention.

SAP Automation Pilot — a service that provides operations experts with predefined content and no-code ability to automate their manual operations to work on top of SAP BTP. The service enables developers to automate repetitive DevOps tasks without coding.

Additional Resources for SAPinsiders

New Automation Needed for Modern IT Environments. This article examines the increasing diversity of the IT landscape and the need to use automation to unite diverse systems. “Automation is the glue that keeps this landscape operating effectively. It doesn’t matter what your landscape looks like; it needs to be glued together,” says Devin Gharibian-Saki, Chief Solutions Officer at Redwood Software.

Vendors that can help SAP customers with IT automation include: Blackline, Conexiom, Panaya, Red Hat, Rev-TracSerrala, smartShift, Stonebranch, Tech Mahindra, Trintech, Worksoft, and Xsuite.

943 results

  1. Avoid Full Data Reload: Use Reverse Loading to Substitute InfoCube Characteristic Values

    Published: 01/July/2007

    Reading time: 14 mins

    Become familiar with a method for substituting InfoCube characteristic values that avoids a full data reload: reverse loading. Key Concept A characteristic is an object that presents the elementary dimension component in the BW star schema model such as customer, product, company, or sales organization. Key figures of an InfoCube relate to characteristics that supply...…

  2. Implement Custom Process Types in Process Chains for CRM Analytics

    Published: 01/May/2007

    Reading time: 26 mins

    Create up to four custom process types to automate and schedule your Analysis Process Designer models and SAP Customer Relationship Management analytics activities. Key Concept Analysis Process Designer models, data mining models, and Customer Relationship Management Analytics models (such as Customer Life Time Value and Recency, Frequency, Monetary) are not incorporated into BI process chains,...…

  3. Automate Your Updates Even When Deltas Won’t Work

    Published: 01/February/2005

    Reading time: 12 mins

    Keeping the data in your InfoProviders current is critical if you want to give end users reports with any real value. Automation is the key to efficiently performing updates that keeps the data fresh. Here’s a way to automate even the toughest updates using process chains and a little custom code. Key Concept Automating transactional...…

  4. Understanding SAP TAO: SAP’s Path to Automated Testing

    Published: 07/January/2011

    Reading time: 4 mins

    ManagementSystem testing can be a significant resource drain. SAP’s answer to this issue is SAP Test Automation and Optimization (SAP TAO), an automated testing tool aimed at replacing manual and time-consuming testing processes. Regression testing uncovers important issues during software upgrades, yet can be a cumbersome task when resources are already stretched thin across an...…

  5. Automate Sales Analytics in BW as a Predecessor to a Full CRM/BW Landscape

    Published: 01/July/2003

    Reading time: 9 mins

    Use BW’s Reporting Agent and standard Business Content to automatically generate operational sales-analytics reports, and pave the way for a full-blown mySAP CRM implementation later.   What do your sales people, or at least your good sales people, do best? Sell! Sell! Sell! Are your sales people great at planning and running Excel? Are they...…

  6. 5-Step Roadmap to a Sound SAP xMII Deployment

    Published: 15/June/2007

    Reading time: 40 mins

    This five-step roadmap helps you understand what you need to do to implement SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence, build an effective team, and establish a rapid deployment model that you can repeat and enhance after every deployment. Key Concept An SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (xMII) implementation involves functional synchronization and reengineering of...…

  7. Reduce Customer Claims by Automating Your Price Protection Process

    Published: 08/October/2009

    Reading time: 10 mins

    Learn how to automate the price protection process by using SAP user exits and VOFM routines and requirements in SAP R/3 through SAP ERP Central Component 6.0. Having an automated solution helps both the buyer and seller save significant time because it effectively manages the price protection process. Key Concept Price protection is an agreement...…

  8. Reduce Costs for Compliance by Implementing a Risk-Based Internal Control Solution

    Published: 04/February/2010

    Reading time: 19 mins

    Costs for compliance and fraud prevention have risen significantly in recent years and with the current economic situation we’re likely to manage more regulations in the future, further driving costs up. Companies relish efficiency in the GRC space to garner the true benefits of compliance. One means of more efficient compliance is an integrated solution...…

  9. Automate Data Loading in SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 7.5

    Published: 28/July/2011

    Reading time: 19 mins

    /BILearn a data loading automation solution for SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver. With this solution, business users can start and finish data loading by themselves by clicking a couple of buttons in the SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation client interface and save the loaded data in a different version. Key Concept...…

  10. Internal Controls: The Journey from Compliance to Risk Management

    Published: 15/March/2008

    Reading time: 11 mins

    See how to make compliance more operational with a more preventative, integrated approach that emphasizes risk management over compliance. By embedding more controls into this approach, your organization achieves greater efficiency and lower compliance testing costs than in the more manual report and review model that many companies use. Key Concept The Sarbanes-Oxley Act prompted...…