Lesson 1 of 6
The Signavio suite in one picture
10 min
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SAP Signavio shows up in almost every SAP transformation conversation, usually as a single word. For a process owner it is several products with different jobs, licenses and users. Some draw processes, some publish them, some measure how the processes really run. Knowing which is which keeps you from buying the wrong thing, or from assuming you already own something you do not.
The components
| Component | What it does | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| SAP Signavio Process Manager | Model processes in BPMN, with a shared dictionary of roles, systems and documents | Process modelers, solution architects |
| SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub | Publish models so the business can read, search and comment on them | Everyone: process owners, key users, end users, auditors |
| SAP Signavio Process Governance | Workflows, for example approval of a model before it is published | Process owners as approvers |
| SAP Signavio Journey Modeler | Model customer or employee journeys and link them to processes | Experience and process teams |
| SAP Signavio Process Insights | Prebuilt analysis of standard SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA processes: performance indicators, flows, blockers, benchmarks and recommendations | Process owners, transformation leads |
| SAP Signavio Process Intelligence | Full process mining on event logs you define, from SAP and non-SAP systems | Process analysts, with owners as consumers |
| SAP Signavio Process Explorer | Library of SAP best-practice content and value accelerators to start models from | Architects and modelers |
The SAP Signavio components a process owner will meet. Packaging and names change; check current documentation.
Three questions, three products
A process owner asks three kinds of questions, and each points to a different part of the suite. "How should this process work?" is answered by a model in Process Manager, published in the Collaboration Hub. "How does my SAP process perform compared with what good looks like?" is answered by Process Insights, which ships with indicators and recommendations for standard SAP processes. "Why do these particular cases take so long, and which paths do they take?" needs Process Intelligence, where analysts build investigations on your own event data.
Contoso's starting point
Contoso runs SAP S/4HANA under a RISE with SAP contract, which includes the Business Process Transformation starter pack (lesson 5 covers what that means). During the conversion program, Grace's team used Process Manager to document the to-be processes for the converted system, and published them in the Collaboration Hub for key users. Dan, the finance process owner, wants more: he wants to know how record-to-report and procure-to-pay actually perform, and where the conversion changed behavior. That is a measurement question, and this course follows his path through it.
| Owner activity | Signavio component | Other SAP tool involved |
|---|---|---|
| Agree the to-be process in fit-to-standard | Process Manager, starting from Process Explorer content | SAP Signavio Process Navigator for SAP Best Practices |
| Approve and publish process documentation | Process Governance, Collaboration Hub | None |
| Baseline performance before or after a change | Process Insights | Embedded analytics in SAP S/4HANA |
| Investigate a specific delay or deviation | Process Intelligence | None |
| Track the agreed KPIs in daily operations | Process Insights for periodic views | SAP Cloud ALM Business Process Monitoring, embedded analytics |
| Scope tests from real usage | Process Insights or Intelligence variants | SAP Cloud ALM test management |
Where Signavio fits among the owner's other tools.
Signavio is not the only measurement tool. Embedded analytics in SAP S/4HANA (course sap-xpr-203) shows operational KPIs inside the system, and SAP Cloud ALM monitors processes in production (sap-alm-304). Signavio adds the process view across documents and over time, benchmarks and recommendations. A good owner knows which tool answers which question and does not pay twice for the same answer.
- Models tell people what should happen and who does it.
- Diagnostics tell owners where the standard process underperforms and what SAP suggests.
- Mining tells analysts exactly which paths cases take and why.
- A process owner needs all three, but rarely needs to operate the tools personally.
What would you do?
In a steering meeting, someone says: "We have Signavio with RISE, so we can mine every process continuously." Dan is unsure. What should a well-informed process owner answer?
- Process Manager models; the Collaboration Hub publishes; Process Governance approves.
- Process Insights gives prebuilt SAP diagnostics; Process Intelligence gives full mining.
- Each answers a different owner question: how it should work, how it performs, why cases deviate.
- Confirm licenses and limits before planning around a component.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which component publishes models for the business to read?
2. Which component gives prebuilt diagnostics for standard SAP processes?
3. Which question needs Process Intelligence rather than Insights?
4. What does Process Governance provide?