Making Life Easier for People who Manage and Rely on Software Interfaces
Since the “second ever” software company started to share a common computer platform with the first, there has been the need to “interface” solutions. And after decades of shifting back and forth from centralized to decentralized IT strategies and development of specialized software solutions, the IT world has not eliminated but embraced the need to interface software. Though technology and sophistication of software has evolved to levels unimaginable when I started my career, the need for comprehensive yet easy to manage interfaces is as relevant as ever.
Interfaces for business processes and the software that enables them are complex. When different software solutions are used in multiple locations often a mix of software interfaces are required. When new solutions are added, the new interfaces enter this tangled web. This complexity makes interface setup and maintenance complicated and costly.
I’ve personally written and managed interfaces between systems in a past life and I can tell you first hand (as can anyone who has shared the pleasure) that it is rarely an easy task to map, build then develop solid interfaces. Then once built and tested, the job of keeping them updated, current and efficient can be even more daunting. So when a tool comes across my line of sight that can dramatically improve the development and management of interfaces I feel that it is worth a second look.
Application Interface Framework
Making life easier is often mentioned, but harder to prove. The SAP® Application Interface Framework (AIF) is designed to really help make the life of the “Interfacer” easier. With the SAP Application Interface Framework tool, users can, among other improvements, simplify the maintenance of business rules and validations and perform interface-related monitoring. This leads to better process integration performance and time savings on making required changes. These improvements alone make life easier on many sides because business users can manage many of their own interfaces without having to involve IT.
As a next step, I plan to learn more, and hear from SAP customer, Anil Thalayat, Senior Manager IT, Hewlett-Packard Company on September 10 on how HP quickly achieved measureable benefits by implementing SAP Application Interface Framework. For Anil, time to value was one of the key drivers of adopting AIF and early success is leading to expanded plans.
I invite you to join me at this informative webcast on September 10th at 2pm (East) http://spr.ly/Webcast_Sept10 to hear first-hand for yourself on how you can make your interface life easier as well.
To register for the Webcast just follow this link. http://spr.ly/Webcast_Sept10
To learn more about SAP Application Interface Framework, visit www.sap.com/aif
Dave
