Since the Sybase acquisition by SAP, everyone has been harping on about mobile apps - it would be getting a little boring if it wasn't exciting.
I have to admit to being quite jealous of all those Sales people and management types who were getting all their nice wizzey dashboards and reports on their mobile device. Being a Basis person I thought there must be tools to help me keep these backend systems up - so I went looking.
Being an iPhone user I will deal only with iPhone apps right now, that is not because I am blind to all but Apple - but because I do not have an Android platform to use, so in the interests of fairness I encourage Android users to dig into their developer Ecosystem and find similar tools to give this post some balance :-)
The tools I found come in several different flavours
1. Information gathering - iPhone apps which I use to find information on SAP when on the move.
- iERP Consultant - a very useful application for finding Transaction codes, Tables, BADIs (Screenshot)
- SAP Notes Search - search for SAP Notes by number, the next revision will hopefully have a free text search (Screenshot)
- MyHelp - an app which taps directly into SAP Help website (Screenshot)
2. VPN technology
- Junos Pulse - the iPhone app for the Juniper VPN product
- Cisco VPN - the iPhone has a built in Cisco VPN ability
3. SAP access, Web and WebGui - iPhone apps which I use to provide access to SAP systems or platforms
- SAPPLAPP - Uses a HTML Gui connection to provide transactional access to the SAP system - I love this app, it has transformed how I support systems. Just stick Web Dispatcher in the DMZ and you have access to your full landscape using something like this
Using the Web Dispatcher, you can connect to an non-standard port and be forwarded into the Solution Manager system using the Management VLAN - from here it's possible to RFC into all the systems in the landscape. (Screenshot) - StreamWorks - Does exactly what it says on the tin, gives you access to SAP Streamworks. I have personally used this on my last project and found it to be very useful, especially when keeping decisions up to date. (Screenshot)
4. Alerting - iPhone apps which can be used to monitor alerts coming from the SAP system
- Redwood Cronacle - Provides access to the CPS system so you can check your scheduled jobs
- BizBox Direct - A workflow approval system which looks very interesting and useful
- SAP Request Management System - A remote transport management system which pushes notifications of transport workflow items
5. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Apps - iPhone apps which I use to provide complete management of AWS landscapes and Servers
- AWS Manager - This is an amazing app, which gives complete access to the EC2 API, from this app it is possible to create and manage an entire AWS landscape (Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2)
- Mocha RDP Lite - As most of my demo environments are Windows based, I use this app to connect to the Windows Desktop and manage the server (Screenshot)
These tools have enabled me to do some amazing things, for example I was able to build an AWS Cloud based SAP system whilst being driven up the M5 by a colleague - granted the iPhone screen was a little small for the job but it did work in a pinch. This is not an exhaustive list, just a selection of the tools I have used directly for SAP, there are many other useful tools which I use to free me from my desk :-)
I am always on the look out for new SAP iPhone tools to help ease my life in SAP, and I want to thank all the great inventive iPhone developers for making these tools and helping me in my job. If there are any new tools released or in Beta, tools that you think deserve a mention or Android tools that need talked about - leave a comment to discuss.
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