harald.reiter2

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    Harald Reiter

    SAP HANA Skills Trap

    Posted by Harald Reiter Aug 23, 2011

    With the general release of SAP HANA, there is a lot of curiosity on how to break into this market and what skills to obtain by the individual or consulting companies. On the other hand you have customers who are interested in SAP HANA but are not sure yet what skills are required, training available for their staff or where to find skilled resources.

     

    This blog will not go into the depth of SAP HANA and for everyone interested in additional information around SAP HANA I suggest checking out the in-memory and SAP HANA section on the SAP Community Network (SCN) and listening to the podcasts of Jon Reed. 

     

    Please note that currently SAP HANA can handle use cases around data mart functionality and thus the skills required are only targeting the capabilities of this version.  As SAP HANA will likely evolve from pure analytical engine to transactional we will have to revisit this blog but as there is no clear roadmap on release and service pack strategy it is currently unknown when this will happen and the use cases that can be realized in the future. 

     

    When it comes to SAP HANA there are two different types of projects that I currently see in the market place:

    • Implementing pre-packaged components delivered by SAP (and in the future partners) for known use cases
      • Data Model
      • Frontend reports
    • Implementing a custom end-to-end solution using SAP HANA
      • Use case unknown
      • Individual customization

     

    Since I have only participated in SAP HANA Proof of Concept initiatives (I am not aware of productive instances in the US) that focused on custom end-to-end solutions I will use that experience for this blog.

     

    Just like with a real implementation project you need to assemble a team for a POC as well. With a SAP HANA POC in particular it is important to cover your bases right away and understand that there is no specific HANA role or skill set that can do it all.

    Since a POC is quite limited in time it is advisable to have highly experienced resources on the team - even if most of them have not worked with SAP HANA before as it will be much easier for an experienced resource to grasp the concepts and inner ways of working of the HANA platform. 

     

    Let's have a quick look at a sample team lineup for a POC engagement as we can then derive the skills required of each role: 

    • Project Manager
    • Solution Architect
    • HANA Administrator
    • Data Services Architect
    • HANA Modeler
    • HANA Scripter
      • SQLScript
    • Frontend Developers
      • SBOP Webi
      • SBOP Explorer
      • SBOP Dashboards
      • Advanced Analysis for Excel

     

    The project manager does not require HANA specific skills but since we know what we want to implement but don't (yet) know how to do it I had good experience using agile project management techniques to run those POC's.

     

    The solution architect is a critical role and is normally a client resource that is familiar with the client's infrastructure, applications and especially the data as it relates to the use case(s) of the POC. If the POC is done with the mindset that the outcome should be re-used for a productive environment then good solution architecture is critical. This role does not have to be a HANA specialist and will help the team with his/her domain and technical knowledge.

     

    The HANA administrator is responsible for the initial setup of the HANA system, updates and upgrades, configuration of system parameters and overall administration and monitoring of the system. You can compare this role with a NetWeaver administrator and in my POCs this role was supplied by SAP with help from client resources trained in BW/BWA administration. Ideally this should be an in-house resource but will currently be supplemented with skilled third party resources.

     

    In this sample lineup we have a data services architect responsible for data provisioning of SAP HANA as this seems to be the most popular method. Depending on the use case this can also be R3Load, SLT or Sybase Replication Server. The resource will need to be familiar with the chosen toolset but does not have to have HANA specific skills. Using data services the resource extracts data from the data source (can be another database or from plain files), transforms the data if necessary and then loads it into the staging tables of HANA.

     

    The HANA data modeler has a critical role in the project. The quality of the data model has a big impact on the overall performance, memory consumption (which is important depending on the data volume and size of appliance) as well as enhancement options and data provisioning integration. This person needs to have experience with advanced data modeling in general and even though it’s not mandatory it will help having SAP BW/BWA experience. Time savings can be huge with a sound foundation for the data model.

     

    The HANA scripter will work closely with the data modeler or could even be the same person - in larger engagements this will be different roles however. This person needs to be proficient in SQL and especially HANA's SQLScript extension. The person will work on calculation views which can get pretty complex. Calculation views allow you to push data intensive processing into the database to improve performance. On my POC's this has been the most underestimated task as at this point you use trial and error to get it right without having reference objects or leading practice guides.  This task requires extensive knowledge of the SAP HANA development language features and built in functions.

     

    The frontend developers will develop analytical reports and dashboards with the tools most effectively suited for the identified use cases and even though they don't have to have special HANA skills it proved very useful to do basic knowledge transfer sessions at the beginning of the POC.

     

    Now that we have learned about the roles and responsibilities of the SAP HANA POC team members we can take a look at options to get the necessary skills as they relate to SAP HANA.

     

    SAP HANA documentation released by SAP can be found here but don't expect too much because it is just a first draft and requires a system to go with it - you can't really become proficient by just reading the documentation.

     

    Training courses are an obvious choice with the two day public training course TZHANA offered currently around the world to provide an overview and first hands on experience. If you are considering the training course then please be aware that there is a high chance that the version you will work on is different then what you experience in the class room. This extends to the functionality of the IMC Studio (your main IDE for SAP HANA) as well as language specific features of SQLScript and built in functions. 

     

    The available training courses show basic functionality and will allow you to find your way around in IMC Studio and get yourself familiarized with the HANA components. This is to a certain extent expected as we are at the very beginning of the product lifecycle and new features (and bug fixes) will be made available via frequent service pack revisions – in the past revisions got released every 3 to 6 weeks.

     

    A good option is to sign up for a hands-on workshop at the upcoming SAP TechEd as there are sessions offered to cover administration, data provisioning, data modeling and development as well as frontend integration with Business Objects toolset. The sessions are at most 4 hours and even though you are not an expert afterwards it can't be beat in getting your first exposure to a SAP HANA system. The first time you run your own query can be quite an emotional experience - bring your own tissues. It would surprise me if those sessions fill up quickly.

    The preferred option however is to have access to a full blown SAP HANA environment for obvious reasons. This is not feasible for most people interested in SAP HANA and especially freelancers/contractors as it's quite a considerable investment.

     

    Even if you have SAP HANA at your company it most likely is not available to everyone as system resources (e.g. main memory) are limited and controlled access is required to run development and testing efficiently.

     

    SAP HANA in the cloud may be an option to increase adoption and allow more people to get exposure to it but in my mind there are certain issues that would have to be worked out first.

    Those issues are in the area of scalability (servers and network versus amount of users and data), legality (IP related) and profitability (cost of subscriptions versus cost to run the cloud) and could easily fill another blog or two.

     

    One other option for companies deciding to get SAP HANA and building an in-house team is to get an experienced data modeler that gets trained on SAP HANA and go the route of college grad recruiting for SAP HANA scripters. SQL skills are important for HANA scripters/modelers (mainly for debugging) but more important is to get a grasp of SQLScript which at this point will most likely happen by training on the job.

     

    I hope that by now you realized the skills trap with SAP HANA as currently the options to break into the market are quite slim as well as getting experienced resources - sounds like a Catch-22 and reminds me of the early 90s with R/3.

    I am sure that SAP is working on options for the ecosystem that will allow the increase of the adoption of HANA and quality implementations. They need to start with their own workforce to ensure that timely knowledge transfer happens between HANA development and field resources. Improving documentation has to be on the agenda as well together with role based training courses for SAP HANA.

    When I checked Twitter this morning I saw a tweet from Mark Finnern that SAP Inside Track 2009 in Palo Alto is at capacity.

    This is quite an achievement in these tough economic times where even free does not guarantee that folks will show up. In this case though those lucky enough to make it to the event have indeed made the right decision. It is not only the offering of great sessions but mainly the networking and exchange of ideas that goes on during the day - at least for me.

    Mark blogged about the conference agenda in this blog if you need more information:

    SAP Inside Track Palo Alto Agenda

    I would like to take this opportunity to pimp two of my sessions to make sure it's not just me and my laptop in the room:

    Metadata based access control to Netweaver portal content

    Building: SAP Labs Palo Alto 3410 Hillview Ave
    Room: Co-Innovation Lab
    Date: 2009-05-29 01:30 PM – 02:15 PM

    You can find an abstract of this session here: http://www.sapinsidetrack.org/ocs/index.php/sit/SAPITPA09/paper/view/19

    I attended earlier this year the SAP Inside Day event in London where I also presented this session and already implemented the feedback I got in the personalization framework that I am going to present.

    Anyone who is involved with NetWeaver Portal implementations, development or integration should benefit from attending this session. This includes KMC/WPC integration as well as LDAP integration and using virtual groups for dynamic access control.

    I also proposed a session for TechEd about transforming you NetWeaver Portal into an Enterprise 2.0 portal and if there is interest then we can certainly discuss this as well - either during the session or afterwards.

    Finally we have a session about Adobe Interactive Forms.

    Custom Adobe Interactive Forms using the ISR Framework - including mobile approval via Blackberry

    Room: North Star
    Date: 2009-05-29 11:35 AM – 12:20 PM

    I have given this session at Sapphire/ASUG 2008 and there was big interest at this time as the room was full.

    You can find an abstract of this session here: http://www.sapinsidetrack.org/ocs/index.php/sit/SAPITPA09/paper/view/20

    This time I would like to go a little bit more technical and also include comparison of using ISR/PCR framework vs. HR Forms

    If you are planning to use Adobe Interactive Forms to streamline and automate processes or you already are using Adobe Interactive Forms then please come to this session. Please note that I am only going to present online scenarios and not offline scenarios but nothing is going to stop us from discussing offline scenarios as well if there is interest - that's the advantage of SAP Inside Track.

    I am ready to leave Phoenix for San Francisco and will hopefully see many of you at the event or maybe even already tonight at Gordon Biersch in Palo Alto.

    You might have noticed several blogs about the upcoming SAP Inside Track event in London by Nigel James (can be found SAP Inside Track London 2009) and the SAP Inside Track event in Palo Alto by Mark Finnern (can be found SAP Inside Track Palo Alto Friday May 29).

     Both events have something in common:

    • created by the community for the community and supported by SAP
    • kick ass sessions (technical and non-technical)
    • you can propose a session to host that interests you
    • you can request a session to be added about a topic that interests you
    • large number of SAP Mentors present
    • networking during the event and later in the evening
    • high personal ROI
    • me (well, not a deciding factor here but still)

    I was lucky enough to attend the first community gathering in Palo Alto back in 2005 and also last years event in London and both have not only delivered on the promise of great educational sessions but also allowed me to make new friends.

     

    image

    I understand that in todays economy many of you face a freeze of travel related expenditures as well as training and conference fee freezes. If you live in the London area then it should be a no brainer to attend it as there is no fee for the event itself - only a small registration fee that covers food/beverages and allows the organizers to manager the attendance. I do know that many people are actually coming to the London event from around Europe and pay the expenses out of their own pockets and this alone should highlight the caliber of people and sessions present at SAP Inside Track London 2009.

    There is also no fee for the Palo Alto event, which is actually hosted by SAP at their SAP Labs premises and if it is anywhere close to the 2005 event then it is worth the amount of money you need to spend to get there.

    I am lucky enough to be able to attend both events as I am currently travelling for work between UK and US and I would like to use this opportunity to pimp two of my proposed sessions - the sessions are offered at both locations.

    First session is about real life implementation scenario of Adobe Interactive Forms using ISR framework. You can find more detailes here.

    Second session is about Netweaver portal implementations that utilize user metadata to provide navigation and content to different users as well as proxy functionality. You can find more details here.

    Please use the following links to get more information for SAP Inside Track London and for SAP Inside Track Palo Alto, which also includes registration procedure.

    Well, what should I do if there is no SAP Inside Track near me and I can't make it to the existing events?

    Live streaming was provided at the 2005 Palo Alto event and I know that Nigel/Darren are working on providing the London event online as well. Hopefully there will be a way for people to follow the event remotely and participate as well.

    I recently read an article about the correlation of economic downtime and applications to grad schools.

    Interestingly enough a lot of people choose to go back to school during rough economic climate to invest in their education and acquiring new skills to be prepared when the economy improves.

     

    On my current project (a global HR portal implementation) we are soon loosing one of our key consultants as this person has decided to say goodbye to the great weather in the UK and head for a warmer place (much, much warmer place).

    We need to fill this gap and by accident I got a message from a fellow SAP Mentor who is currently looking for a new engagement.

    I forwarded the resume and the client decided to conduct the interview.

    The client checked the resume and asked the person what he did to occupy his time from his last project up until now - last project ended end of 2008.

     

    The answer given is what motivated me to write this blog as the person said that he used his time to update his technical skills using SAP Netweaver, Development Subscription.

    His last roles in projects where more related to BPX and project management and he could not do much hands on technical work.

    To refresh his technical expertise he decided to use SAP Netweaver, Development Subscription and also spend time on SDN to answer questions. We then discussed the details on what he did but it certainly impressed the client as it showed a self motivated individual and this is a key character trait to have in our implementation team.

     

    I have used the SAP Netweaver, Development Subscription for almost a year and some of this time I spent on looking at stuff that I normally don't get exposed to at projects e.g. BI/XI.

    I am not pretending to be an expert in BI/XI but when I am managing implementations that include those products it helps to have a basic understanding and allows me to communicate with the subject matter experts in those areas better.

     

    Even though you can't change these difficult times you can make a decision to invest in yourself and the subscription program is certainly an option - well, it's an option if you are living in a country where it is available.

     

    There has been a lot of discussions around the new SAP certification process and levels but the client actually never asked about this during the interview - looked to me that carrying the SAP Mentor credential and having the experience he had was far more valuable to the client. I am in general supporting certification as it least shows some level of commitment but in this case it was not touched during the interview.

     

    If you are a freelancer and live in a country where you can get the subscription program then   I would recommend giving this a second look - it's not just great to update your skills but you can also get exposed to products that you are not familiar with and in times like these you need any competitive advantage you can get.

     

    How about being able to tell clients that you not only worked on portal and KMC projects and about your experience but being actually able to show it to them right on your subscription system!

    You can show various Uis you created for clients, a demo KMC setup and tools that you have developed to improve productivity - remember that seeing is believing.

     

    If you think that you would not be able to install all the components of the subscription program then please note that there is plenty of help available in the Wiki area for different subscription landscapes and setups - even I was able to get it up and running.

    I booked three slots at the Networking lounge in the Community Clubhouse to discuss different topics that are close to my heart.

    First slot is on Wednesday, September 10th from 12:30pm to 1pm at Lounge 2 about dynamic personalization of SAP EP for structural and content navigation.

    • How can you provide portal navigation (top, second and detailed navigation) that is dynamically generated for a user based on user attributes e.g. country, location, company code, cost center, etc... User attributes are provided via function module from SAP backend or from LDAP or via web service.
    • How can you provide content navigation (links within a page) that are dynamically generated for a user based on user attributes.
    • We can discuss performance implications and system setup to support this and as an added benefit you can have the custom developed components (par files) that make this happen if you bring a memory stick.

    Second slot is on Wednesday, September 10th from 1pm to 1:30pm at Lounge 2 about Adobe Interactive Forms using ISR framework.

    • How can you quickly provide service request forms and supporting processes to your users using ISR framework and Adobe interactive forms.
    • Experience from customer implementations
    • How to enhance ISR framework to allow drafts and the ability for initiators to withdraw request at any time.
    • Security considerations when using this framework and mobile approval
    • If there is interest then we can also discuss HR forms and processes functionality

    Third slot is on Thursday, September 11th from 12:30pm to 1pm at Lounge 1  about project management tips and tricks.

    • Large scale vs small scale projects
    • Scrum or traditional project management (or both together)
    • Using MS Project for your technical resources and Visio/Powerpoint for stakeholder reporting
    • Keeping your team motivated
    • If there is interest then we can discuss PMI accreditation and what other educational tracks exist for PM

    The agenda for each topic is not set in stone and can be changed to whatever interests you.

    I understand that 30 minutes is not really a lot of time but this is mainly used to bring people together with the same interest and then we can surely spend more time on the topic later on.

    I hope that many of you can make it to at least one of the slots as I would love to meet new folks at TechEd - plus don't be shy and come and introduce yourself if you see me running around - I will most likely look like a real tourist carrying a DSLR, Videocam, Tripod and a SAP Mentors backpack.

    Wish you all a safe trip to Las Vegas and a great conference.

    I replied to Jim Spath's call for presentations blog last November after talking to my client at that time and proposed two sessions with the hope that one will be selected.

    I was quite surprised to get an email in February telling me that both sessions were selected and it did not take long for my co-presenter to ping me on Gtalk to discuss the details.

    We both knew that the tough part is ahead of us as we have to prepare the material for two sessions.

    We used conference calls and net meetings to discuss the outline and topics that we should present for each session as I was working for a different client on a different continent - and still am.

    After getting the draft versions to a certain level we presented them to the management to get their feedback and approval - you have to be careful when discussing client projects because of confidential data and IP related issues and management wanted to ensure a certain quality as well.

    So without further adue, here are the sessions:

    SAP Interactive Forms Software by Adobe with Custom Features at Bechtel Corporation
    3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
    Monday, May 5
    304C

    We will discuss the reason for Bechtel to implement Adobe Interactive Forms and the processes for which they are used. We will check out the framework used for the implementation and custom features that have been added. The session also discusses the way Bechtel managers can approve requests via their Blackberry devices.

    Bechtel runs ECC5.0 and we will discuss limitations of this version in regards to the implementation and a quick comparison with ECC6.0 functionality where applicable. The session also touches topics such as security, monitoring and effort of the implementation.

    Dynamic Personalization and Landing Pages in SAP NetWeaver Portal
    8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
    Tuesday, May 6
    303C

    This session discusses the Enterprise Portal implementation at Bechtel that was done during an upgrade from R/3 4.6 to ECC5.0. We will talk about the personalization feature that has been done in the ITS version of ESS and what method was used to realize the same functionality in the Enterprise Portal. The PCD filter factory components will be explained in detail and the process of using user attributes from SAP backend such as employee group, personnel area, payroll area to drive security and navigation of the Enterprise Portal.

    We will also showcase how Bechtel implemented custom landing pages that are linked to filtered PCD objects and can be configured via portal attributes with the same look and feel as XSS Home/Area pages.

    We briefly touch topics such as content personalization using KM and WPC.

    I hope I am able to persuade some of you to attend the sessions and if you are going to be at the conference but can't make it to my sessions (tons of good stuff going on at the same time) then hopefully we can meet during one of the reception events.

    I am leaving on Saturday for Orlando and I am really looking forward seeing some sunshine - I am currently on project assignment in London,UK and I miss the sun!

    There were several questions regarding the subscription program during Ran Cliff's session at the community day - mostly around availability in the UK - but also the most basic question: Is it useful or not.

    I must admit that I was a nonbeliever when I first heard about the subscription program simply because I could not find any good use for it in my line of work.

    The geek in me certainly liked the idea of having a delivery from SAP with tons of DVD's that you can install in your own environment and play around but my checkbook said otherwise - it's quite costly if you don't really have a reason for it.

    What has changed now for me to become a supporter of this program?

    Well, I am still in the same line of work but I have discovered several areas where subscription program could have saved me some sleepless nights.

    I am currently working on an HR portal implementation that is part of a global SAP HR implementation project. Each system in this environment is secured and has role specific access to certain areas e.g OS level access, application access (SAP VA)

    I was charged to build a portal prototype and asked for a separate system to ensure that I am not impacting the development team using the available systems. Unfortunately there was no system available and making a system available took 3 to 4 weeks. In addition I would not get access to SAP VA as this is only available to the basis team.

    This was a bit of a pain point as we were eager to start with the prototype but it was simply not possible - I also needed to contact basis team frequently to help me with SAP VA settings, which was a tedious process.

    I believe that I could have used the subscription program to setup the prototype and thus getting it done quicker and with less headache on my part.

    Is this worth the price tag or should I just get some advil for my headache?

    Well, if this would be a one time thing then just get the advil, wait till you have a system and be nice to the basis team.

    It got me thinking though if this was the first time I encountered it and found the following scenarios where I could have used the subscription program:

    • The SAP environment in my company is not on the latest release and with the help of the subscription program I am able to test our add-on products on the latest release.
    • I am using an external tool to keep track of DDIC/Workbench objects from previous projects but is really not a good way of doing it (especially with ABAP OO components) and with this I could keep all those components in my environment.
    • I had a customer project where I wanted to showcase integration of BI in the portal but was not able to do it because the access was restricted (and we don't have BI in my company) - now I can run my own BI.
    • I have another client at the moment that is planning to do an upgrade to the latest release but waiting for budget approval, they can't get a system setup without the budget and I am planning to use the subscription environment to show them how their custom developed components can be upgraded.

    Right now those are the scenarios that I came across - would be interesting to hear how other subscription members are using it!

    I have only ordered it at the moment but not installed it yet because I am in the UK but the box has already been delivered to my US address. Can't wait to get it after the Sapphire/Asug conference.

    I do hope that my laptop is able to run the systems that I need but I bought a new DELL XPS fully juiced and if it does not work on that machine that I will have a problem.

    I understand that the trial versions can give me a lot of the stuff that I can get from the subscription program (except BI) but I really want to use it as a repository of past client projects and can't do that with the trial versions.

    I had an interesting discussion with Mike Pokraka at the community day as he really would like to get the ECC components (preferrebly with IDES) added to the program. I agree with him but it is not really an issue for me at the moment. I also would like to have the full SAP ECC HR system running on my laptop and being able to install/run ESS/MSS BP's but I hope that I can use SAP ES Workplace ERP system for that - has anyone tried that already?

    I have proposed a session on dual factor authentication with custom JAAS login modules for the upcoming TechEd/Asug event and if selected then I will show it on my subscription environment.  

    Before I give you my experience of this event I would like to thank Nigel James and Darren Hague for organizing it and to Axon for providng the facility and food/beverages.

    I arrived a little bit before 10am and was greeted by Darren - wearing a nice SDN points T-Shirt - and a small group of people having coffe/tea before the sessions started.

    Two rooms were setup to run sessions in parallell and the first session that everyone attended was done by Ran Cliff from the SDN team to give us a preview on what SDN services we can expect in the future.

    An interesting session as there is some good stuff coming our way like 'Better Products' collaboration - hope I got that right! Certain future services are in beta testing and certain services exist as blueprint - requiring budget approval - yeap, also the SDN team has to get a budget before working on services. I hope that SDN can realize most of the discussed services and overcome any legal issues - we discussed scenarios where the community would more of less bug fix or add features to existing applications e.g. UWL, would SAP then support this.

    I am sure you will soon see blogs from other participants on this session as well.

    I then attended a session from Darren on Active Directory integration with SAP - again really interesting and done in a very informal way. Darren gave his experience and we all chipped in with our experiences on that topic and the session was really a great discussion not just a presentation.

    I stayed in the room for the next session done by Mike Pokraka and another person (really sorry but I did not get your card!) on Worklfow. Two experts giving their experiences with SAP workflow and we also discussed project Galaxy, which I did not hear before - great session overall.

    Next followed a big lunch sponsored by Axon and and some networking.

    After lunch we had my session on portal personalization which was quite packed due to the fact that no other session was going on at the same time. I apologized right at the beginning because I used slides to help me explain the concepts of portal personalization - hope it did not hurt too much using slides.

    Darren did a session on UWL afterwards where he discussed how his SAP Press book came to fruitation but did not bring any examples (Darren: I am sure you could have sold some right there!) - would have loved to see it but I guess I will have to order one now. Again, not a formal presentation but a discussion involving all the participants on that topic.

    After a coffee break we actually stayed in the cafeteria where Darren explained the concepts behind Comet, lift and Scala and showed some interesting examples. Very nifty stuff that I have not seen or heard before.

    A small group of people then headed to a pub in Egham to finish the day with some beers.

    Overall a great event to learn new stuff and network with people that you usually only know from blogs and forum posts.

    Unfortunately the air circulation did not work in the rooms due to being automatically controlled and shut down on weekends in this location - quite hot througout the day.

    The turn out of people could have been better - it's great that even a small group showed up being Saturday but knowing how many SDN members live in the London area I would have expected a lot more - and by judging on the amount of food I think Nigel and Darren as well.

    Maybe this needs to be promoted better to let people know what they are missing but it was still a great start for hopefully many more events to come in the UK.

    I was lucky enough to currently have a project in the UK as I normally live in the US and thus I was able to attend the event and also contribute with a session.

    Two people who were on the agenda to host sessions did not show up but that did not stop those tracks from happening - that's the power of the SDN community!

    There was also a short discussion on the subscription program as it is currently not available in the UK and from what I hear there is demand for it in the UK.

    I am currently working on a blog about my personal experience with the subscription program as I just recently decided to get it - even though I was initially not a big fan of it.

    This blog will explain why I decided now to get it and how I am planning to use it - stay tuned for that one.

    Most of all I loved the social aspect of the event and the great people I was able to meet and hopefully will meet again.

    I am sure we can soon see a blog from Nige/Darren on this event with pictures as well.

    As a member of the Project Management Institute(www.pmi.org) I got a newsletter the other day with the normal information that you would expect in a newsletter e.g upcoming events, book reviews, seminars, etc... This time though the newsletter included something that catched my eye: An article about the International Institute of Business Analysis. The organization itself is not new (around 2003 I think) but they just recently offered a BA certification. In November 2006, the IIBA held its first certification exam in Orlando, FL. The certification program has been carefully designed to be in compliance with the International Standards Organization (ISO) 17204 standard for certifying the competence of personnel. The exam consists of 150 multiple choice questions and is proctored over a three hour period. Successful candidates will receive the designation of Certified Business Analysis Professional TM. Just like PMI with the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) we find a BABOK (Business Analyst Body of Knowledge at IIBA - lot's of acronyms here;-) This is just a short summary of what this organization is about and the certification exam. I actually have no personnel experience with this organization or the exam but if it is anything like the PMP (Project Management Professional) exam then you better be well prepared (that was a tough one for me!). If you are interested in joining and supporting this exciting new profession, go here and you can get more information on chapters in your area here. Would be great to hear from folks who have already taken then exam or are preparing for it - I can only answer questions regarding PMP exam if someone is intersted. :-) Harald
    If you are interested in great podcasts (and videos) from some of the great entrepreneurs of our time then take a look at the Educators Corner offered by Stanford Technology Ventures Program. You can find it right here Especially interesting is a podcast from Shai Agassi, which you can find here PS: You got to survive the first minute of introduction but then it gets really interesting!
    First I would like to thank everyone who voted for this session and I truly hope you will not be disappointed.   Come and see me at TechEd session CD301 where we will discuss the following:  Filtering capabilities of the Portal Content Directory (PCD) and how it was utilized in a real world implementation.  Understand the required effort to build custom Home/Area page iViews that are directly linked to the Portal Content Directory and the reason why it was done.  How to build a portal content structure for your project to utilize the custom filter program.  Configure iViews/Pages with user context attributes.  Configure the custom Home/Area page iViews.  Schedule: Tuesday, 12th from 5:15pm to 6:15pm at Room Palazzo J Wednesday, 13th from 4pm to 5pm at Room 2105-2106  Hope to meet many of you at the session, at the SDN club house and at the SDN Day on Monday, 11th!
    There are quite a few forum posts about custom development of ESS web dynpro applications or how to enhance existing services. It also seems to me that many developers are not familiar with the Floor Plan Manager architecture, its advantages and how it is used in SAP standard ESS applications.  I would like to show the benefits of using FPM within your own custom applications but also the limitations that I encountered.  Using a real world example I would like to build a custom application in this session from scratch. I got my time slot from the SDN team and it looks like I got about 45 minutes to do that and I think I might have to prepare some of my 'cooking' at home so that I can finish it during the session.   Here is a little more detail about the 'scope': I want to create a custom ESS application with the following features  - Follow SAP standard roadmap design/pattern    - BizCard Overview screen    - Detailed screen to update information    - Review screen to check and save/delete information    - Confirmation screen with navigation links - Multiple subtypes    - BizCard shows different fields per subtype - Multiple countries with different fields - Dependable drop downs  As an additional 'bonus' you can download right now the full presentation material and start working on it at home!  The SDN team was able to make the presentation material available via the following link: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/softwaredownload?download=/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/business_packages/a1-8-4/teched-2006-sdn-day/sdnday_ess_hr.zip Please note that you have to be logged in to SDN to use the link!  I hope I could stir up some enthusiasm for my session - I am competing with other great sessions that are done at the same time slot - and will see many of you.

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