SAP BTP DMS (Document management service) – Guide

SAP’s cloud-focused strategy has led to the pioneering and adoption of several excellent and innovative solutions in various important areas, including – 

• Procurement, 

• SAP S/4HANA, 
• Planning,  
• Human resources, and  
• Customer services. 

However, the organisation previously didn’t have anything to help you improve your data management aesthetics. Thus, by introducing SAP BTP DMS, they’ve tried to bridge that gap and assist you in tackling a continuous data flow. 

But what is SAP BTP DMS? 

How does it work? 

Does it offer any other benefits apart from the obvious one? 

In this article, we have tried to answer these questions more elaborately. So, be sure to read till the end and let us know if you are confused about anything. 

What is SAP DMS? 

If you use an SAP-based framework for your organisation, you’ll find two types of DMS in your system. One of them is available on SAP S/4HANA’s side, a cross-application component that offers e-asset and document management capabilities. 

The DMS from S/4HANA is also used to manage the regular documents of a business. And it’s only available to someone who’s authorised to use it. Hence, it tends to be quite secure too. 

So, the question is – what’s the role of SAP BTP DMS? 

The short answer – is to get a cheaper and more accessible place to store your documents. Yes, it’s certainly possible to store whatever documentation you’re producing within S/4HANA. But, if you store a massive amount of data, it might affect your core SAP performance. 

However, this issue won’t affect the performance of the SAP Business Technology Platform. 

As the tool is based on OASIS industry standard, it can be used by almost any business in about every country. And it also comes with various features, like – 

• Versioning, 
• Access control,  
• Hierarchies, and  
• Document management 

… that can improve your data structure, and control data flow efficiently. The SAP DMS is currently available in two different options altogether. These are – 

• Application Option (a type of SaaS offering) 
• Document Management Service 

How Can It Improve Your Business? 

Helping you manage your organisational documentation is undoubtedly a benefit from SAP BTP DMS. However, it’s not the only way it can be helpful for you.  

Additionally, it can also offer assistance with – 

1: Virtual Copies  

With SAP BTP Document Management Service, you can easily create and keep a virtual copy for whatever document you are using. There’s no risk of getting overloaded with data. 

2: Business Work Distribution 

With the tool, you’ll get a place to keep all of your business-related documentation in a single place. You can also offer data access to people according to their business roles. 

3: Version and Change Management 

If someone with access changes the data available in your system, you’ll get a notification on it almost instantly. Besides, who and when the change has been made can also be seen. 

4: Security 

The selective data access system can offer decent security regarding your data. But SAP has also included additional tools to keep your documents even more secure.

5: Easy Search 

With the availability of advanced document search functionality, you’ll easily search and find whatever you’re looking for with a single click. But be sure to list down the keywords of the documents you currently have stored there to make your job easier. 

What Business Issues Can SAP BTP DMS Solve? 

While SAP BTP DMS can make your data management job easier, it will not be a sloth in solving other business issues. Here are a few of them – 

1: Documentation Storage 

• Offering a secure storage option within the SAP content server 

• Providing storage of technical, engineering, and other forms of documentation 
• Converting documents automatically for storing and viewing 

2: Document Classification 

• Simplifying document search through characteristics and classes 
• Using the classification system of SAP to describe documents in different categories 

3: Access Management 

• Can offer authorisation control setting with different SAP authorisations and roles 
• Documents access control setting alongside SAP authorisations and roles 

4: Document Management 

• Tracking the status of different tasks 

• Managing different document revisions and versions  
• Document distribution 
• Learning about the change history (who did it and when was it done) 

The Available Features of SAP BTP DMS 

As mentioned, there are two different options to choose from and use regarding SAP BTP DMS. Here’s what you need to know about them and their features. 

SAP Document Management – Integration Option 

The Integration Option of SAP BTP DMS can enable you to build document management and improve your business’s productivity.  

Besides, it also comes with a reusable UI component that’s easy to use and integrate within an organisational structure. Here are some other benefits that it can offer to the users – 

• Use the Repository option to store your organisation’s attachments and documentation effortlessly. You can manage and achieve more with simple SAP storage. 
• With it, you can bring your own CMS-compliant cloud-based or on-premise repository to connect SAP DMS and leverage the benefits of the service. 

• Organise the available content in your organisation with folder and file hierarchy and status management. Versioning can also be quite helpful in maintaining the data flow. 
• It’s easy to embed in your application and, therefore, can be used in almost any document management scenario. Also, as it is UI5-based, it can be reused. 
• Leverage the available APIs in the structure to create a customised layer of document management. It can be done both on your cloud-based and on-premise environments. 

SAP Document Management – Application Option 

On the other hand, the Application Option is a standalone yet ready-to-use application that’ll offer excellent document management capabilities for your organisation. While it can perform a few similar tasks as the Integration Option, it acts within the application instead of the services. Hence, the procedure might be a little different in this aspect. 

• With the Application Option, you can easily personalise your document list and sort it based on the document-related attributes. There’s a feature available here that is used to restructure your document hierarchy, making it easier to organise the files in a structured format and find whatever’s required within a single click. 
• It can help you view your images, vector graphics, and PDFs efficiently by using the in-built viewers of your system. You may also support other file extensions offered via a download option to get the documents quickly. 
• You can also use the tool to view and edit the core or basic document supported by the repository. The same can be done with the folder properties as well. You can manage the available metadata with it as well. 

How to Get Started with SAP BTP DMS? 

The process of doing so will include two primary use cases from the perspective of business requirements. Here’s what you need to know about it – 

• Connect SAP HANA in your system and use DMS as a front-end layer. 
• Connect SAP HANA in your system and leverage DMS as a content server. 

However, you first need to create your SAP BTP account and subscribe to the SAP BTP DMS from there. Here’s how you can do it – 

• Log into your account in SAP BTP and create a DMS instance. 
• Click on it and start creating a service key. 

• Now, navigate to the ‘Role Collections’ segment and click on ‘+’ (available on the top right corner). 
• Give a name of it (it can be something like DMS_ADMIN) to a new role collection. 
• After that, select the ‘role collection’ button again and click on ‘edit’ to include the corresponding roles. 
• Now, go to ‘users’ and choose the user (or yourself) you wish to grant access to DMS. Assign the ‘role collection’ to the ‘DNS_ADMIN’ you previously created. 

Once you are done with it, you can access SAP BTP DMS API without any limitations. 

Final Summary 

SAP DMS is a brand new part of SAP BTP and, therefore, can be challenging to implement in an organisational structure at the first go. So, if you are having trouble with anything, it’ll be best to opt for someone who’s an expert in this aspect.  

Also, before they begin working on your system, make sure to ask them about the roadmap they will be following. This way, you will know precisely what to expect.