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1.     EP Fundamentals

  • SAP NetWeaver Portal is one of the building blocks in the SAP NetWeaver architecture. With only a Web Browser, users can begin work once they have been authenticated in the portal which offers a single point of access to information, enterprise applications, and services both inside and outside.
  • This is also known as SAP Enterprise Portal.
  • This is the platform which provides the facility to integrate all the SAP and Non SAP applications with the portal and seamless integration with all the applications and enhanced security.
  • Block diagram is as follows,

 

1.1   Application Platform

  • Portal can have two types of application platforms,
    1. ABAP
    2. JAVA
  • Recently the entire portal version above 7.3 is having ABAP as application platform, whereas earlier versions were on JAVA.
  • This platform indicates on which all the inbuilt applications and administration of part of portal are built.
  • Apart from this this is also having its own database and that is of oracle.
  • Database configuration is one of the most important steps during installation.
  • Application platform is just above the DB layer.

1.2   Process Integration

  • This is the part responsible for each integration and process management of portal systems and entities/Applications.
  • This layer is having two basic parts,
    1. o Integration Broker
    2. o Business Process management
  • Integration broker
  • Business process management (BPM)process optimization

1.3   Information Integration

  • This layer handles all the information communications with backend systems as well as integrated applications. This is having following two basic parts,
    1. o Business Intelligence
    2. o Knowledge Management
  • Business Intelligence
  • This layer provides the user interfaces and GUI to handle the information exchange and inputs from end users.
  • Knowledge Management
  • These both parts refers the master data management where all the information are managed in well-structured manner, this also manages the information in runtime and communicate between two different entities.

1.4   People Integration

  • This is the layer which integrates the users with different applications/Roles.
  • This channel provides the access to the different applications or integrates one user with another group of users using collaboration.
  • Through collaboration, mailing and room facility can be managed to exchange of information.

2. EP Integration Structure

  • Integration on the portal can be divided in two parts,
  1. o Application Integration
  2. o Workflow Integration
  • Application Integration
  1. o ECC   (HR – ESS/MSS)
  2. o SRM (EBP/SUS)
  3. o BOE  (BOBJ/BW/BI)
  4. o CRM
  5. o Any of the non-SAP applications
  • Once business packages are installed all the above types of applications can be integrated with the portal using either templates or iViews or from backend systems.
  • Basic integration structure diagram is as follows,

  • Workflow Integration
  • All the customizations like tasks, actions can also be configured on the portal through xml files. All the data communications and data integration is done through xml files.
  • Portal is also having different type of connectors to integrate backend business processes.
  • Integration structure of workflow are as follows,

 

3. Business Package Introduction

  • Business package us bunch of SAP application iViews, Roles and worksets provided by SAP.
  • These reduce the effort of new developments and facilitate to implement the standard processed with some customization.
  • Following kind of business packages can be installed on portal,
  1. o ECC (ESS/MSS)
  2. o SRM (EBP/SUS)
  • These packages can be installed according to requirement and patch level.
  • Business package can be installed on the portal through following path,
  1. System admin à Transport à Import.
    • Business package always contains number of iViews and WD pages representing different ESS/MSS or EBP/SUS backend applications.
    • As those applications are pointed to standard system aliases, those aliases need to be maintained in related system object.
    • This all the application should be accessible to all the users by providing “Everyone” group read authentications to folder named as “Content provided By SAP” in portal content.
    • It is standard practice to copy the content from above folder to different folder and then do customization in the iViews and attach it in roles.
    • Business packages and their components can be found on the following part of portal.

  1. o Link : https://<FQDN>:<Port>/nwa
  2. o Path:  Troubleshooting à System Information à Component Info à Search by “BP*” in the Name column.
  • Here all the ECC and SRM business package information will be available with version and internal component.

4.     Portal Administration

4.1   Content Administration

4.1.1    Introduction to portal object

  • In the portal content administration, there are various portal objects available for application integration from backend.
  • Portal content may be from business package or it may be custom.
  • Depending on requirement and with the help of the configuration these objects can be used for different role configuration consisting of collection of applications.
  • Portal content is having following types of portal objects
  1. o iViews à of Backend applications (Transactions, WD ABAP), WD JAVA, Workflows(UWL)
  2. o Pages à Collection of iViews (or WD JAVA Applications)
  3. o Worksets à Collection of pages or iViews
  4. o Roles à Collection of worksets, Pages, iViews, Folders

4.1.2    IView Template and Installation

  • To integrate the backend system application with the portal, there is provision of iView. Which also a user interfaces and need to be attached to the role to provide it to the end users.
  • Following types of iViews can be possible on the portal,
  1. o iView from template
  2. o iView from remote source

 

  • IView from Template
  • There are different types of templates available on the portal for iView creation. IView can be created using these templates but with this some configuration required to point that iView to the backend client.
  • Also some application parameters can be configured in properties according to backend application which need to be configured on the portal.
  • Universal Worklist iView can also be created using template.
  • It’s not necessary that all the templates are installed on the portal; some templates need to be installed manually by deploying .par files.

  • IView from remote source
  • While creating the iView from remote source following types of backend configuration can be configured,
  1. o Transaction
  2. o Webdynpro JAVA
  3. o Webdynpro ABAP
  • Here no additional configuration is required, only we need to select the system and search for the application by selecting any of the above option.
  • Then upload the application to the portal, this will create the iView for the same.

4.1.3    Role Types

  • Role
  • Each and every portal content need to be attached to the role to make it avail for end users.
  • After structuring roles, these roles need to be assign to end users; this is the job of security team.
  • Role assignment can be done from portal in case if user data source is UME, or from backend ABAP system in case of portal UME is pointed to backend client.
  • Role structure should be according to the design and requirement.
  • Role structure can be maintained by attaching different types of portal objects into it.
  • Role assignment can always be handled by “User Administration”.
  • Role is having following types,
  1. o Freestyle Role
  2. o WorkCentre Role
  3. o Role From Backend
  4. o Role from package

  • Freestyle Roles are generally used where no define structure is there and having small number of content to attach.
  • Structure of this role is user define and of freestyle.
  • All the portal content need to be attached manually to this role
  • Admin has to create folders or worksets to include iViews or Pages manually according to design and requirement.

  • WorkCentre Roles
  • Here structure or role is predefined; admin has to include the different portal objects in navigation Section as per requirement.
  • New navigation section can be created and customized.
  • Here no need to add any of the portal objects directly to the Navigation node.
  • Navigation node will get automatically structure once portal objects are added into the different sections.

  • Role from Backend
  • If some backend roles are defined for backend transactions or application then they can be fetched to the portal.
  • Here no need to create any custom iViews or pages for the applications defined under backend, they will get fetched and created automatically on the portal once role is created from backend.

  • Role from Business Package
  • All the roles from package will be displayed on the screen once this option is selected.
  • Once role is selected and “Add to Folder” then copy of that role will get created and admin person have to customize this as per the requirement.
  • Admin can make visible/invisible content within this as per requirement.
  • Due to this facility, no need to develop all the applications, we can use this role by doing customization.

4.1.4    Portal Content Management

  • This is a part of content administration where all types of portal content can be managed.
  • Here all types of portal content like Roles, Worksets, Pages, iViews etc…can be created.
  • Here Transport packages of portal content can also be created and modified.

4.1.5    Portal Display

  • With this part of content administration, following activities can be done,
  1. o New theme generation
  2. o Editing in existing theme
  3. o Change the property of application elements
  4. o Export of newly generated theme

 

  • New theme can be generated using ajax frame work studio provided in the portal display. After selecting a theme, this need to be exported in the form of zip and need to be imported using theme transport in System Administration.

  • Editing in Existing theme can be possible through theme editor, where all standard and custom themes are listed.

  • Property of Elements can be changed using theme editor, once selecting the theme from the list, select desired element and change the property of theme accordingly.

4.1.6    Portal Content Translation

  • SAP Enterprise Portal provides a process for translating the following text types:
  • Resource bundles : Text parts of a PAR file that exist as separate objects
  • Texts of portal objects (iViews, pages, worksets, roles, systems, etc.)
  • Multilingual object metadata for portal objects that is stored in the database of the Portal Content Directory (PCD). If a property of a portal object has type text attribute, it is marked as a text and can be translated (e.g. name, description).
  • The translation process is supported by two tools that can be called from the content administration role.
  • Choose

Content Administration → Portal Content Translation → Translation Worklist Coordination or Worklist Translation.

These tools are used to coordinate and to translate translation worklist.

4.1.7    KM Content Management

  • Knowledge Management (KM) is the umbrella term for the management of unstructured information - that is, all kinds of documents. The Knowledge Management (KM) capabilities of SAP NetWeaver turn unstructured information into organizational knowledge - an essential function in this age of global e-business.
  • The business challenge is to transform unstructured information into organizational knowledge by structuring and classifying it in such a way that it becomes assessable and relevant to the enterprise's knowledge workers. Because today's enterprises are increasingly distributed in their operations - often global in scope - there is an urgent need to create a central point of access within the enterprise to manage information and translate it into knowledge for success.
  • Knowledge Management with SAP NetWeaver provides an opportunity within your organization to "connect those who know with those who need to know". Its functions help companies manage all facets of unstructured information - from collaborative authoring and publishing to advanced search and navigation.
    The open KM platform offers user-centric services that provide a single access point to 3rd party repositories and SAP's own content management
  • The Knowledge Management capabilities include:
  1. o Document authoring and publishing
  2. o Version management
  3. o Powerful search and navigation through taxonomies
  4. o Intelligent publishing, automatic classification and subscription
  5. o State-of-the-art business collaboration
  6. o Flexible and configurable user interface
  7. o An open framework for applications, content, and services

4.2   System Administration

4.2.1    System Configuration

  • System configuration is all part of system admin where following things can be configured,
  1. o UME configuration – Here portal UME can be changed and can be point to the backend system.
  2. o Portal Display – Portal desktop configuration and master rule collection configuration can be done through this.
  3. o Content Model Management - The portal content model describes portal object types and templates, their properties and the relationships between them. The content model represents objects and object types according to common properties and exposes all object properties. This enables property-based filtering, which simplifies maintenance and allows you to find portal objects quickly, by their properties, regardless of their location. The content model contains metadata of object types in the Portal Content Directory (PCD), but may also contain metadata for other object types, such as Knowledge Management objects and applications located in the GPAL repository.
  4. o Cache Management – Cache management is having two parts,
  5. o Navigation Cache used to improve performance, the portal caches each set of navigation nodes required by a user. If a user accesses a navigation hierarchy that was previously accessed, the portal can retrieve the navigation hierarchy from the cache instead of generating it again.
  6. o The navigation cache stores nodes separately for each navigation connector. The cache stores both entry points and navigation nodes.
  7. o OBN Cache - SAP NetWeaver Portal maintains a repository to cache OBN data. Object-based navigation looks for cached OBN targets before searching the PCD.
  8. o Caching can be switched on or off according to the needs of the environment. OBN caching considerably improves the performance of navigation to previously used targets in a production environment. Caching may not be desirable in a development or testing environment.

  1. o Universal Worklist – This part is used to,
  2. a. Create and register UWL systems
  3. b. Task and view configuration
  4. c. Xml customization and Upload
  5. d. Priority Management

4.2.2    Transport

  • This part of system administration allows to
  1. o Transport the portal content (Export/Import)
  2. o Deploy the business packages
  3. o Transport custom theme

4.2.3    Monitoring

  • Following are the basic part of monitoring,
  1. o Object Locking: With this tool all the objects can be unlocked which are opened in other sessions and enable them for editing.

  1. o Knowledge Management

  1. a. Component Monitor can be used to identify wrongly configured objects of the following technical components:

·  Filters

·  Repository managers

·  Repository services

·  Global services

The status of an object is displayed using a colour symbol. The colour indicates whether objects are incorrectly configured. A message text helps you to find errors and correct the configuration of the objects in question.

  1. b. Cache Monitor You can use the cache monitor to monitor the current status of all active caches in your system landscape. The data displayed in the cache monitor can be used for evaluations.

  1. c. Indexing Monitor provides information on the status of running indexing processes. You can monitor them and intervene if necessary.

  1. d. TREX Monitor iView can be used to administrate the queues, display important index parameters, empty the search and classification cache, and check the availability of the TREX servers.

  1. e. Crawler Monitor can be used to monitor and control the activity of crawlers.

  1. f. Running Reports is used to monitor the background job or reports running on the portal.

  1. g. Deployment Monitor is used to monitor the object deployed on the portal.

  1. h. Transport Monitor is used to monitor the transport which is in progress. And also we can switch it ON and OFF.

4.2.4    Permissions

  • Permissions part of system admin can be used to authenticate the user for different portal objects and system objects.
  • When user is created, one default group names as “Everyone” will come attached with the user.
  • So in general when “Everyone” group is added to permissions of any portal or system object, it means that content is allowed to access for each and every user.
  • Permissions can be provided for any of the user, Group, role.

 

4.2.5    System Landscape

  • System Landscape represents the entire system objects configured on the portal representing related backend systems.
  • All the system objects will be presented with their system aliases.
  • Connection test with the backend system can also be performed in this division.

4.2.6    Desktop configuration

  • Desktop configuration is required to be done to change the theme on the portal.
  • After changing or generating the new theme, that theme and new frame work page need to be assign to this desktop.

4.2.7    Master Rule Management

  • Master Rule Management
  • Master rule collection is nothing but the collection of IF-THEN statement.
  • Variety of conditions can be added In IF statement,
  • Conditions are as follows, IF…
  1. a. User
  2. b. Role
  3. c. Group
  4. d. Bandwidth
  5. e. URL Alias
  6. f. Browser Version
  7. g. Browser Type
  8. h. Device Group
  9. i. Device Type
  • After applying conditions, select THEN statement and add created desktop into it.

4.3   UWL Administration

  • Portal is having different domain which is known as UWL (Universal Worklist), using this part all the backend workflows can be configured on the portal.
  • This is totally xml based configuration.

4.3.1    XML Configuration

  • XML Configuration is basically contains all the following elements representing backend workflows.
  1. a. Task definitions
  2. b. View Definitions
  3. c. Navigation Node Definitions
  4. d. Actions and Display Attribute definitions
  5. e. Filters and Dropdown Definitions
  • While creating and registering the UWL systems in the portal, all the backend workflow will get fetched to the portal in the form of xml files or zip format (collection is multiple files).

4.3.2    Priority Management

  • While editing and uploading xml files to portal, priority need to be managed properly as per requirement and depending on task definitions.
  • By default all the xml files will be at low priority, and also this wizard allows us to download and upload the xml or zip files.
  • After required modifications while uploading the file on the portal, property should be either medium or high, low priority is not allowed.
  • Before editing any of the xml files it is necessary to know which xml files your actual workflow task is using.
  • Each and every time newly uploaded xml file will overwrite the existing tasks.

 

 

4.3.3    Task and View Definitions

  • On the portal there will be separate xml files for each and every configuration and also for each backend systems
  • Files from backend system is having naming convention as “uwl.webflow.<system name>”.
  • Number of this type of file is same as number of UWL systems connected to the portal.
  • These files contain the task definitions for related backend system workflows.
  • Other than this, one more file must be available on portal named as “uwl.standard”, which basically contains view and navigation node definitions.
  • While creating any of the UWL iView from template, or in any of the standard UWL iView, View and Node will be pointed to view and Navigation node defined in above mentioned “uwl.standard” xml file.
  • Customization of view definition and node can also be done by changing above file and uploading the same on portal with the priority more than the existing one.

4.3.4    UWL iView configuration through xml code

  • As discussed in above point, after customizing view and navigation node in the xml file, this also need to be attached to the iView to get it reflected on the end user login.
  • To do this customized view and navigation node name need to be mentioned in the iView properties.
  • And property names are as follows,
  1. uwl_view_name (Mention view name in this)
  2. uwl_navigation_node (Mention navigation node name in this)
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