Recently, there have been a lot of questions and confusions over the options available for customers to upgrade to the latest version of Process Integration (PI) or Process Orchestration (PO).

These confusions came mainly from PI customers with volume-based licenses.  And, these customers want to upgrade to PO.

Let us first look at the basic product information for Process Orchestration (PO):

• PO is a bundled product of PI, Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Rule Management (BRM).
• PO is licensed based on CPU.
• With PO, PI can be installed as dual-stack or single-stack (AEX).
• If PI is installed as AEX, PO can be installed using the same system ID (SID), meaning PI, BPM and BRM are installed on one JEE server.  This will improve TCO due to savings in hardware, support and administration.  There are also performance improvements due to internal processing of messages between PI and BPM/BRM.
  
• AEX can also be installed by itself on one SID, with BPM/BRM installed on a different SID.  With this option, BPM/BRM cannot be added to AEX at a later time; a new installation will be required.  (In my opinion, this is not recommended for a PO license unless there is a special reason to do so.  However, this might be a valid path for PI volume-based license as stated below.)
  
• If PI is installed as dual-stack, then PO, PI and BPM/BRM, will have to be installed with different SIDs.  PI on one SID and BPM/BRM on a different SID.
  

For PI customers with CPU-based license, they can go to PO by converting their license from PI to PO.  Generally speaking, this is a direct license conversion. 

For PI customers with volume-based license, below are the options:

The bottom line is that PO is a bundled product of PI, BPM and BRM.  It can be installed using different options, with a single SID or 2 SIDs.  To install as a single SID, PO must be licensed.

With NetWeaver 7.31, a new capability is introduced to use PI mappings in BPM.  Even though BPM has a powerful mapping capability using XPath expressions, it is not quite as powerful or flexible as PI’s Operation Mapping.  Using Operation Mapping, we have the following advantages:

1. We can use Message Mapping, XSLT and Java programs; this provides much greater flexibility when we design mappings and transformations.
2. Operation Mapping can have multiple mapping programs during the mapping process.  The mapping programs can be executed in sequence.  The mapping programs can be a combination of Message Mapping, XSLT and Java.
3. Reuse existing Operation Mapping to save development time.

In this blog, I will go over the steps of how to use PI’s Operation Mapping in BPM.

It is assumed that the user is familiar with using the NWDS tool to design BPM processes.

Limitations
There are some limitations:

• No parameters.  The Operation Mapping cannot contain any parameters, since there is currently no way to pass parameter values from BPM to PI.  So, this eliminates the possibility of using the "wizard" to do lookups using tables and RFCs.  However, we can still use user-defined functions to do such lookups.
• NetWeaver 7.31 SP2 or above.

Operation Mapping Design in the ESR

We can develop or use the existing mappings in the ESR as before.  The Service Interface used can have any interface pattern; it is not examined by BPM.  Therefore, we can just use "stateless", or whatever the existing interface pattern is using.

The Operation Mapping I am using is very simple; it uses a key then use the Fixed Values Lookup Table to find the value.

There is no need for any configuration in the Integration Directory.  Operation Mapping is exposed as a web service and can be call by BPM directly.

BPM Process Design in NWDS

I will not go through the steps and how-tos of using the BPM design tool in NWDS, this information can be obtained from SAP Help and other SCN blogs and articles.  However, I will only detail the how-tos of using Operation Mapping during the design phase.

The basics steps are:

1. Import the WSDL of Operation Mapping.
2. Create an Automated Activity in BPM to reference the imported WSDL.
3. Create a new Service Reference using the type "WS" and "localhost".
4. Create the Input and Output Mappings.  This is to:
   • map the BPM local variable to the outbound interface of the Operation Mapping
   • map the result of the mapping in the inbound interface to a local variable.

          These mappings are normally drag-n-drop, one-to-one…very simple.

As you can see in the Composite Designer perspective, where we design our BPM process, there is no place where we can import Operation Mapping:

Therefore, we have to use the Process Development perspective:

You will be prompted for username and password to logon to the ESR.  Select the Operation Mapping from the ESR by navigating the SWCV and namespace.

After importing, you should see something like the screen below with the WSDL of the mapping:

You can now switch back to the Composite Designer perspective and find the WSDL under Service Interfaces:

In BPM design tool, we create a mapping step of Automated Activity:

Select in the mapping WSDL in the drop-down for the Service Interface:

Select "New..." for Service Reference:

In the New Service Reference dialog box, check the "Local Provider System" and "Finish".

Perform Input Mapping:

Perform Output Mapping:

That is it!

Additional Reference:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73ehp1/helpdata/en/d9/ccbfe89e2a4b80b818e28f1107db9a/frameset.htm

With NetWeaver Orchesteration 7.31, which includes PI, BPM and BRM, we are now able to design integration with stateful processes using NW BPM and PI.  As we all know, PI’s dual-stack installation will eventually go away, which means that PI’s ccBPM, which is based in ABAP, will also be gone.  Even though the date for the dual-stack to end has not been announced, we should probably start looking at using NW BPM to replace ccBPM in PI.

At first, I thought this would be a monumental task to learn a new tool, but actually, I found the learning curve is actually less than when I started with ccBPM.  There are a few notables when working with NW BPM:

1. With BPM, there is no need for Abstract Interfaces as in ccBPM.
2. With BPM, there is no need for Operations Mapping when we need to split or combine messages as in ccBPM.
3. In BPM, correlation conditions for asynchronous messages is much easier and transparent to define.
4. PI treats BPM just as another sender or receiver system.
5. Sending messages between BPM and PI is based on XI protocol via the SOAP adapter. 
6. Because BPM uses XI protocol, we can easily use BPM with multiple PI systems, including PI 7.11.
7. The graphical design tool is based on BPMN and using NWDS, the tool is much easier to use, and more interactive.
8. When needed, we can include user-interactions easily within BPM.
9. Through some preliminary performance tests, we found BPM to be much faster than ccBPM.
10. The combined tools of PI and BPM bring a very powerful environment to design, execute and orchestrate messages among SAP and non-SAP applications and system.

To introduce BPM, a how-to article has been written using a simple business process scenario that includes asynchronous messaging with correlation, synchronous messaging, and orchestration of messages between a backend SAP system, a database and files.

The article can be access via the link:  http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-28803

SAP Help for PI 7.31:  http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73ehp1/helpdata/en/8e/995afa7a8d467f95a473afafafa07e/frameset.htm

SAP Help for BPM 7.31:  http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73ehp1/helpdata/en/ce/19dc55105b46a0b498af9d840a93a8/frameset.htm

Process Orchestration 7.30 EhP1 (7.31) is now generally available (GA since 16 May 2012) and ramp-up has now ended.  Process Orchestration contains PI, BPM and BRM.  If deployed in a java-only environment, Process Orchestration 7.31 can be installed as a single SID.  In addition, we will be able to take advantage of iFlow, the Eclipse tool, based on BPMN, to configure integration scenarios (which can also be done using the Swing tool of Integration Directory).

In summary, Process Orchestration 7.31 provides the following benefits:

Next generation tooling for SAP NetWeaver PI via Integration Flows

• Installation in “pure Eclipse”
• A visual BPMN representation of an integration scenario
• Modeling based on Enterprise Integration Patterns
• Bringing design-time and configuration-time in PI together
• Easier to understand and integrate systems

Enhanced monitoring for SAP NetWeaver PI via SAP Solution Manager

• Central User Defined Message Search (upon payload)
• New PI Message Alerting with simplified configuration
• Trend graph representation based on message alerts

Integration Centric Process Support

• Model-driven development environment based on BPMN standard
• Leverage SAP NetWeaver BRM for business rules
• Reduce TCO with single System ID (SID) installation
• Reliable connectivity between BPM and PI/AEX at lower costs (as an alternative to WS-RM)
• Enhance mapping capabilities within a BPM process by calling PI mappings (e.g., calling XSLT)

Java only deployment option of PI

• Functional completeness of the Java stack
• Support requirements towards the Payment Card Industry standard
• Message status overview enablement for synchronous (logged) messages

Service Bus Capabilities – Overview

• Increased Integration Flexibility
  • Java only PI with optional non-central adapter engines
  • Integration with FTP proxy server via File / FTP adapter
  • Logging of synchronous messages
• Increased Support For Connectivity and High Performance Scenarios
  • Completion of Java IDoc adapter
  • Principal propagation for SOAP adapter (XI protocol)
  • Completion of integration between Java proxies and SOAP adapter (XI protocol)
  • Packaging for receiver SOAP adapter (XI protocol)
  • Parameterized mappings in Integrated Configuration
  • Single action scenarios of B2B adapters in Integrated Configuration
• Lower TCO And TCD
  • One central ES Repository for multiple PI domains
  • JMS adapter enhancements

Enhanced B2B support

• Address mainstream EDI capabilities in PI
• Rapid deployment solutions for building B2B solutions based on PI
• Support hybrid deployment options for B2B (on premise / managed services)

Additional Information

For additional information on using the Eclipse tool to design interfaces and mappings in the Enterprise Service Repository, please see the blog Eclipse Tool for ESR in NW PI:

http://scn.sap.com/community/pi-and-soa-middleware/blog/2012/03/29/eclipse-tool-for-esr-in-nw-pi

For additional information on using the Eclipse tool, iFlow, to configure the Integration Directory, please reference the blog Introducing iFlow in PI 7.31 Configuration:

http://scn.sap.com/community/pi-and-soa-middleware/blog/2012/03/20/introducing-iflow-in-pi-731-configuration

The NWDS, which contains the Eclipse plug-in tools for ESR and iFlow can be downloaded from SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio Update Site:  (Authorization will be required.)

https://nwds.sap.com/swdc/downloads/updates/netweaver/nwds/nw/731/

SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management (BPM) involves both people and systems. With the new functionality of BPM in SAP NetWeaver 7.20, this development process becomes much easier.

The Composite Environment (CE) is already the preferred environment to develop user interfaces and interactions. With the new features in BPM, it gives us another option in the coordination and orchestration of messages between systems. 

Due to the easiness of connecting to SAP and 3rd party business systems and applications, Processing Integration is still preferred for system integration.

In this pod cast, we will take a look at how to take advantage of both environments (CE BPM and PI), and provides a high level view for development in both CE and PI.

Click on the "Download Media" link to view the pod cast.