Luis Felipe Lanz Blog

Read this if coming to SAPPHIRE NOW + TechEd in Madrid

Luis Felipe Lanz — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:40:57 GMT

You are probably packing to come to Madrid already, thereby, I want to share with you just four personal tips to make your conference and visit more enjoyable:

Transportation: Madrid is the capital city for the Spanish Kingdom, a modern and very active city that have a great public transportation system, you can go from Airport to your hotel by using metro, train, bus or taxi, I´d recommend you to get a Tourist Card or a multi-ticket that allow you to use several of them without any problem

Free PDF´s with City Information: In the following link you will get some PDF´s about the city, get it before you come and have fun during your trip :)http://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information-madrid

Almudena Day: Just be aware of this Public Holiday in Madrid, the Wednesday, November 9^th,so you will find less traffic and probably some places closed, but is a great moment to visit the Cathedral and the City Center

Last but not the least, our conferences match with the "Madrid restaurant week", one exiting gastronomic experience that you should never miss, have a look on this link for further details http://www.esmadrid.com/en/madridrestaurantweek

I really hope you find this information useful and help to prepare an unforgettable experience, not only within the event but also with the lovely city that host it :)

See you there !

SAP Support goes Mobile

Luis Felipe Lanz — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 06:00:21 GMT

Hi SCN Family!

We are glad to introduce the new SAP Support Desk Application 1.0 for iPhone, with it, you get a great experience with our Active Global Support organization, right at your fingertips.

Here are some of the SAP Support Desk highlights:

Display customer messages Inbox

You don´t have to wait to be in front of your computer any longer to read the SAP Support Engineer response, now you only have to run the app without losing your place

Search and Display SAP Notes and Knowledge Base Articles

SAP Notes and knowledge Base Articles are the heart of maintenance. As you know several topics about our products are covered by them, and now, with this application you will be able to search for it, in a format optimized for your screen.

Open and Book Remote Connections

This is one of the most time consuming task during incidence processing, sometimes a remote support is required to debug and check your system but you are busy with meetings, having lunch or just away from your laptop. Now you don´t need to get back to your office, you only need to have this app on your device.

Store User and Password for the remote support in the secure container

If a remote support is required, you can record the credentials in the secure container directly, no matter where you are

Contact SAP Customer Interaction Center Worldwide and Read SAP Hot News, Top Notes, etc. Via RSS Feeds

Use your fingertips to scroll through your SAP Top Notes or Hot news, also, if you are away, no worries, here you have the full directory for Support Call Centers at SAP.

Get the App:

You can download the app directly form the following link (Apple Store)

More Information and Feedback:
Please check our SCN Wiki Page for more details.

We hope you like this application and we want to get your feedback via this e-mail for improvements and new features in the upcoming releases.

Agile for Mobile

Luis Felipe Lanz — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:25:59 GMT

Oops, I just realized that my last blog post was 7 months ago; the reason is that I've been busy with a new exciting Mobile Application development project at SAP. Unfortunately I cannot unveil the results yet (but keep an eye on my blog), however what I can do, is to share with all of you about the experience we got and some tips and tricks in case you want to explore this new area.

First, be patient:

Before you start with your Mobile Application (Platform Independent) development, there are lots to do before the first line of code gets written, here you have some tips.

Use the appropriate methodology, we use Agile (scrum) methodology, because we use Lean at SAP, because this methodology give us all the information and tools that we need, and because it is flexible and allows you to adapt it to your needs. Remember Agile is more efficiency than speed, so don't use it if you want speed only.

In my humble opinion, I think that Agile is the best methodology in order to convert from idea to product, and do it faster with the expected quality.

Second, kept it SIMPLE!

Some of the best mobile apps around, really only do one thing. Don't try to change the world, what the end users wants is a very simple and elegant single feature application, and of course, with a smart navigation that won't force them to do more than 5 clicks.

Doing a very specific set of features, you will keep it small, and deliver customer value.

Remember that there are thousands of applications already in the market; you have to catch your place by using the Innovation per differentiation.

Start with non development task:

This is a Developer Network and I'm sure you want to know what is the best code, API's and combination to use, but there are some other "time consuming" task that you need to start as soon as possible to grant the success of your project, the following names will sound familiar to you now on:

Hosting, Analytics, Backup Strategy, E-mail distribution list, Admin Interface, Customer Support Feedback forum, Community Management, Term of Services, Privacy Policy, EULA, Licenses, TM ...

Once ready, go to development:

You have to develop it with Focus, Speed and Execution; these 3 concepts will help you in all the stages of your product development

Write user stories, several of them; it will make you aware of user expectations.

Once you have dealt with several "user stories", make a mock up, and go back to the simplicity concept, reduce all the unnecessary "points of failures", because, believe me, they WILL fail!

Figure out the absolute least you need to do to implement the features, do just that, and then optimize it, remember that the performance in your hands is a key factor.

If the hard part can be done in the server, do it in that way and not by processing in the device.

Re-use, don't try to reinvent the wheel, if there is something that does what you need, just take it and make it work in your concept, but I've assumed that sometimes it is better to start from scratch, so evaluate all the resources first and just when you have all you need to start coding.

Graphic Design:

In the past, this was a much ignored concept, but from now on, you cannot move out with an ugly user interface, the latest devices like iPad, iPhone, Android or Palm, are based in touch screens, the graphic and elegant UI design is a must.

We're developers; we know the core beyond the look and feel; we're able to send rockets to the moon, but let's assume that we're not Graphic Designers, hire one and hire them on time.

Feedback:

Last but not the least is the feedback, once you test a bad application in your mobile phone, you will never use it again, the final users want a tool for getting things done, they want apps to keep them working productively despite the location, so be prepared to get the feedback soon, deliver Beta versions and act as fast as you can.

I hope you can re-use my experience managing projects in this area.

Please note that this post is a personal opinion and do not refer the official SAP statement.

Key tools for success in the new Consulting Model

Luis Felipe Lanz — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:57:28 GMT

Since the summer of 2008 our economy is in a dynamic change due to a well known financial crisis, and as any crisis there are victims and the old model of consulting services is one of them.

A new model of consulting services is emerging since last quarter (Q4 2009), leaving behind the previous methods and looking for a survival in the new economic reality. Thereby, new tools and roles have more weight in the success of any technology project and that's exactly what I want to share with you here.

Changes in technology require new Project Management capabilities, for this reason we have to focus on two key roles that need to be considered in any project plan for 2010 and beyond. One of them is the Business Process Expert (BPX), and the second is the Project Lead / Manager.

Based on Stanford University articles these new project leaders need to have some characteristics that allow them to provide innovation via differentiation.

In this post, I want to share with you two new tools that I'm currently using and that I think will help you to make this differentiation, and if used well will help you to achieve successful projects:

The first one is provided by SAP, currently in Beta phase with codename 12Sprints. This excellent tool will allow you to work with your team in a very collaborative scenario that provides to all the team members real-time information and an effective decision-making environment. In other words you have at your hand the power of a real Virtual War Room.

You can find further information in the following blogs:

Beta: (codename) 12sprints - what is it, and how can you register?

http://timoelliott.com/blog/2010/02/some-examples-of-how-to-use-12sprintscom-the-new-sap-businessobjects-collaborative-decision-making-platform.html

The Second Tool, bring you into the Agile environment, using SCRUM as the default methodology for project management together with Lean Management. Here we're talking about a free on-line tool that allows you to work with focus, speed and execution control.

The Pivotaltracker tool (from Pivotal Labs) will help you to base your project management software on proven agile methods.

So, give both of these tools a try and use them in your projects. For sure both of them will help you to drive your projects successfully in a new consulting model.

__
Note: screenshots taken from: http://timoelliot.com/ and http://www.pivotaltracker.com/

The Secret of Successful Visual Composer Model

Luis Felipe Lanz — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:05:10 GMT

It is only the experience who gives us the best ways to do something, we call it "Best Practices", but in fact it's a continuous learning about a subject and that's exactly what we want to share with you here

There are some steps that you should follow to be successful in your Visual Composer Modeling, as usual this can be modified and adapted to your needs but keep the schema as a guideline:

1^st Get a clear statement from Product Owner and Scrum Masters

The usage of Scrum methodology will help you to deliver the application on time (which is of course part of the success) you can find more information about this great methodology in the following links:

Visual Composer Apps delivered “On-Time”

Scrum at Wikipedia

However, what is also really important is that you get a clear definition about the usage and purpose of your model, in that way you will avoid making a new model from scratch several times in order to adapt it to new requirements that appear "in flight".

2^nd Get a clear data sources and UI design definition

Once you get a clear statement about the model expected you have to identify your data sources, it means from where you will get the data to fill the UI elements in your model.

Then you have to get and discuss the UI design, just prepare a drawing of the UI elements and how it will look and discuss it with the Scrum Master and with the Product Owner (and if possible get feedback for end users). It's easier to make all the changes over a paper than modify an advanced model.

3^rd Create a base model

So, you already have a clear idea about what is required, you now have to create a very simple model that contains the infrastructure required.

Then you can try different options in your model, and if something is wrong you always can return to the base.

Also, the "reuse" is a NetWeaver principle, this base might help you to create another models in the near future.

4^th Check dataservices availability

This is the critical part of any Visual Composer development, the dataservices are the key elements in the application, and the response time of each one will determine the performance and thereby will affect the end user satisfaction, so here you have some tips that will help you in this optimization:

First of all you should check the dataservices availability, does that dataservice exist or should it be created ? if it doesn't exist, who should provide us with it ?

Once you get the dataservice, test it and check the permissions and the response time.

It's really important to check all the permissions to adapt it in the Portal, as well as the response time in order to optimize it.

In my humble opinion, the optimization of dataservices is the hard and key part of your development, for this purpose we can do this:

Check the response in normal times and peak times, if the response time is bad, you should contact the administrator of the source system to solve this.

Optimize the data required, do you really need a select* from that table ? so, please ask to the source system admininstrator to provide you with a dataservice optimized according to your needs, i.e: if you get the BAPI_BANK_GETLIST, you can ask for a copy of this BAPI with only the fields that you really need. This might take a time, but it will be rewarded with a great performance.

Make your Visual Composer model “Universal” as mentioned in this blog you can avoid further problems making your model transportable, and it is so simple, only be sure that you follow the recommendations and of course that the optimized dataservices exist in the target system.

5^th Create a model flow

One of the biggest advantages for Visual Composer is that you can create a model flow, so you can distribute in the storyboard the flow of your model and it doesn't affect the UI.

With using this technique you will be able to trace the data in your model in an easy way, and together with an HTTP trace you can find and fix any problem in a fast and easy way.

For HTTP trace you can use tools like HTTPWatch or the one included in the SAP Solution Manager Diagnostics

6^th Use your common sense

A wise man told me once, that beside the name, the common sense is not that common, but here you have some hints that will sound "logical" to you, however you should check it during development:

Keep the model as simple as you can
Use only necessary UI elements, layers or views etc.
Try to re-use datasources (e.g. use the VC connector Data Store or nested iviews)
Use connectors
Use only operators when needed (e.g. prefer filtering in the datasource than set a Filter in the model)
Use formulas it helps a lot, you only need to have a basic math knowledge for it

7^th Adapt the UI look and feel

The last step before finishing your application is to adapt the UI look and feel (color, sizes, locations of the UI elements, sort order, etc.) after you make this, it's recommended to perform demo to product owner and SCRUM master

Afterwards there are some topics that should be adjusted like:

select compiling options
configure the compiler
select the best compiler runtime
adapt the PAR name prefix
adapt the data services retrieval (cache or not)
determine if you want to deploy the model in a PAR file

Then you should have a success model, in a fast time and with the reusable capability that might reduce a lot of effort in the next model.

I really hope you find this information useful and you have a happy modeling!

Make your Visual Composer model Universal

Luis Felipe Lanz — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:16:12 GMT

Before get into details about the subject i want to clarify what i do understand as "Universal" and what is the scope of the information shared here:

Normally the Visual Composer models are made by Business Process Experts which want to prepare reports and dashboards for executives and stakeholders, however the process is wide open and other scenarios appears, for this reason I want to share with you my concept of "universal model"

An "universal model" is that Visual Composer applications that can be deployed in any Portal and consumed with a minimal adjusting effort, i.e: you've created a report that interact with an ERP Logistics area providing with a Sales report and it can be used by your current customer or by any other customer with the same backend/portal version.

The most popular of the universal models is the xApps Analytics and some applications used by SAP Business by Design, which has been created by a development team and used by several landscapes around the SAP ecosystem.

In this blog I want to give you a hint about how to make your Visual Composer Model Universal, that means you will be able to transport it to your Quality Assurance and Productive Portal, as well as re-use it in any other project that you have in the future, of course before do this, please be aware of Intellectual Properties topics.

Let's do it:

During the design time of your Visual Composer Model, you have to identify the dataservices, which are those data repositories where you will extract the information or interact with the backend system, normally we use Web Services, BAPI's in SAP System, BI Queries, JDBC Queries, all of them linked to a backend system that exist in your NetWeaver Portal.

There is the single point of failure (SPOF) that you have to avoid making this model universal, this SPOF is the system alias. Let me explain it to you:

Normally your Development Portal with system ID (EPD) is connected to Development backend systems, (like DEV for SAP ERP, BID for BI CRD for CRM, etc) and the system administrator use the same system ID to create the system alias in the Portal, so while you are creating a model you normally use those aliases to retrieve the dataservices from the backend.

This is the point that we should change to make our model universal, in a single way: just use common additional alias to the backend

I want to illustrate this with an example:

In this case the backend system ID is ALA and I just add SAPERP as an additional alias. This common alias is the one that I need to use during the design phase:

Hence if you transport / migrate this model to the NetWeaver Portal used for QA or to another NetWeaver portal, the only thing that you have to adjust is to add this alias to the desired backend system, and there you will have the model / iView working without any problem.

It will work for simple or complex models, of course you have to prepare the documentation to indicate the pre-requisites like add the "ABCD" alias to the backend system in your portal before import the package / model.

For complex models with several dataservices, be sure that you select common aliases for all the systems involved.

I hope you find this information useful, and I'm sure that you will not have to deal with transport issues any longer.

Visual Composer Apps delivered On-Time

Luis Felipe Lanz — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:10:22 GMT

Many of you want to know best practices for create Visual Composer Applications in an efficient way, but as Mario Helger say in his book, “Modeling is an art, with any art, there are many ways to do something … “ so, now a question come into my mind, which is the most efficient way to develop a VC application ?

There is no answer for it, Visual Composer is a wide open tool that allows developing highly customizable Portal applications rapidly and without writing code, at the end a Web-based visual modeling tool provides the chance to “paint” your application as well as you see it in your mind.

Until now you have the best way to develop the application in your mind, now you need a methodology that help you to deliver it on-time, by passing all the quality controls, performance checks and fulfill the end-user expectations, for this purpose i recommend you to use SCRUM, why do I recommend it to you?, because we use it and the results are excellent!

Thanks to Hamid Shojaee, now you can have a look on this video and understand SCRUM in less than 10 minutes, I really hope you like it and based in my experience I can tell you that this is the best way to deliver a Visual Composer based application on-time.

Enjoy the video:

New Features @ Visual Composer 7.01: Export to Excel (Improved)

Luis Felipe Lanz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:47:49 GMT

Part 1 of Blog Series - New Features @ Visual Composer 7.01

One of the most demanded features for a new version of NW Visual Composer is an easy "Export to Excel" system function; here you have an example of the newest functionality:

Fist at all we have a very simple model like this:

On the table UI element, we edit the toolbar and add a button with name "Export to Excel":

Then, we have to select the type of system action "Export Data to Excel":

But of course, we have to indicate the coverage of this action, by selecting:

And this is all that we have to do in the modeling to export the data contained in a table to Excel.

But, let's have a look about what is happening in the runtime; first we compile and deploy our model :

Then, we click over the button "Export to Excel" and select if we want to open or save the resulting file:

now we can play with the results in Excel:

New Features @ Visual Composer 7.01: Blog Series

Luis Felipe Lanz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:02:08 GMT

Blog Series New Features @ Visual Composer 7.01

Starting today and during the current quarter, we will provide and deep-dive into the SAP Enhancement Package 1 for SAP NetWeaver 7.0, focus on Visual Composer 7.01.

We will release a blog series showing existing and new capabilities to modeling and to discover the great tool that is Visual Composer 7.01.

With some blogs and some video-blogs we want to give you a clear picture of the enhanced Visual Composer capabilities, you will recognize the blog by the title:

New Features @ Visual Composer 7.01: "TOPIC", however we will update this blog with the most recent links.

So, we hope you enjoy the series and we wish you a happy modeling!

Series:

Part 1 : New Features @ Visual Composer 7.01: Export to Excel (Improved)

Part 2 : https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/12210 [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

Part 3 : https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/12440 [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

Part 4 : https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/12578 [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

SAP Support, or SAP Expert Forums: that is the question

Luis Felipe Lanz — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:05:34 GMT

For everybody it's well know that SAP offers a high class of support, however when a problem occurs in our customer's SAP systems, the best approach is to use the right channels to get assistance.

For this purpose, it would be very interesting to know in detail how SAP Active Global Support (AGS) interacts within the Ecosystem.

In the SAP Support Portal you will be able to reach two areas to get assistance; the first area is the "Report a product error"

But this channel is reserved for reporting product errors and bugs that are affecting our customers installations (as described in the SAP Note 83020).

For those which are show stoppers you will get support directly by SAP, at different levels based on the product expertise and in the "Follow the Sun" concept. This guarantees 24*7 support delivered by our Global Support Centers located in Austria, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Brazil, Canada, China and Malaysia, as well as Development Support provided by our SAP Labs locations when a new fix, SAP Note or Support Package is necessary.

The second area is the "Request Help" option which will redirect you to the SAP Expert Forums here in the SAP Community Network:

Does that mean SAP is taking a back seat in providing customer support? Not at all ! .

The truth is that SAP AGS continues to provide full support via the forums too. Currently, 25% of SDN moderators are the same people who provide help in the Product Error Channel (CSS), another big group of contributors, bloggers and wiki administrators work in SAP AGS and also answer your questions in the forums.

In fact, via the Expert Forums, SAP offer a real-time response to the most frequently asked questions. This is what i call "the SAP Ecosystem in action"... more than 1.4 Million users including Support Experts, Product Managers, Developers & Architects, Consultants, Partners, and non-SAP employees making this channel the right alternative to get an answer in a Web 2.0 environment.

The most important message of this blog is to remark that by selecting the right channel for your questions and/or problems you will get the fastest response from the SAP Ecosystem.

How to consume Web Services with Visual Composer 7.0

Luis Felipe Lanz — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:32:02 GMT

One of the most powerful tools that we have at this moment is for sure the SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer.

This product has the advantage to be in between two worlds (The SAP Transactional and the SAP ESOA) and from my point of view, we need to know how to be able to combine the best of both to create our own applications.

In this blog i want to show you how to create a Web Service System based in WSDL url, to consume a web service within SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0.

First at all you have to take care of pre-requisites and version limitations, so please refer to the Following SAP Notes to prepare your system for this task:

SAP Note 1236741 - This note show you how to configure the pre-requisites

SAP Notes 914377 - This note show you some limitations (like flat WS only)

SAP Note 1127033 - This note show you how deal with Authentication issues

After you configured the pre-requisites, you can create your Web Service system and start using it in your model as you can see in the following video:

Root cause analysis for NW Portal Connectivity problems

Luis Felipe Lanz — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:16:34 GMT

During the configuration or creation for a backend system in our NetWeaver Portal, is quite common to face connectivity errors, although we consider that all the parameters were configured correctly errors like the following might remains:

In order to identify the root cause for the connectivity error we need to use the Connection Tester tool as is mentioned in the SAP Note 785029.

To interpret the results in a very simple language you can refer to this guideline:

Direct JCO connection failed:

Check the Portal system parameters, if the parameters are correct it could be a problem the JCO layer, to confirm an issue with JCO Layer you have to test with another SAP R3 type system, because they all use JCO.

Connection using connector JCO Client Service succeeded, but Direct Connector Framework failed:

Check the Connection Factory or Connection Properties values inserted are the corrects
If the values are correct the cause is a problem with the connector (R/3 or JDBC) in this case you have to report an incidence to SAP via SAP Support Message

Connection using Direct Connector Framework succeeded, but Connector gateway service failed:

The system is not configured correctly
The User mapping/logon ticket is not configured correctly.

Connection using Direct JCO Connection Service succeeded, but Connection using connector JCO Client Service failed:

Check the Connection Factory or Connection Properties values inserted are the corrects
If the values are correct the cause is a problem with the System Landscape Service, in this case you have to report an incidence to SAP via SAP Support Message

With this tool you will be able to identify the common causes for Portal Connectivity errors and correct them very fast or request support to SAP in a very specific topic.

Our first BoF en Español !

Luis Felipe Lanz — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:45:03 GMT

English version below

Estimado SDNer;

Es para nosotros un placer presentar nuestro primer BoF en Español, en el cual hablaremos sobre SAP Community Network, su evolución y como la comunidad tiene una fuerte presencia de habla hispana.

La cita es en el evento SAP EduTech 2007, patrocinado por SAP Iberia y tendrá lugar en:

Ciudad             Madrid - España
Día                  Miércoles 21 de Noviembre de 2007
Lugar               Hotel Velada Calle Alcalá Nº 476
Hora                9:00 a.m. (CET)

Agradecemos a SAP Iberia, a Michael Schwandt y su equipo y por supuesto a Blag quien fue el pionero en usar nuestro idioma en SAP CN

Allí te esperamos !!

Saludos,

SAP Community Network, SAP Active Global Support y SAP Iberia

Dear SDNer;

We're glad to present the first SAP CN BoF in Spanish, in this session we will discuss about SAP Community Network, the evolution and the presence of several Spanish speakers members.

The appointment is on SAP EduTech 2007 event, (sponsored by SAP Iberia) :

Place                Madrid - Spain
Date                 Wednesday, November 21st 2007
Address            Hotel Velada Calle Alcalá Nº 476
Time                9:00 a.m. (CET /GMT +1)

We thank Michael Schwandt and his team, SAP Iberia , and of course Blag who pioneered the use our language in SAP CN

Hope to see you there!

Best Regards,

SAP Community Network, SAP Active Global Support and SAP Iberia

SP Stack 12 - Dream or Nightmare ?

Luis Felipe Lanz — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:41:05 GMT

On next week (CW-21) is expected to be released the latest Support Package (Stack) for NetWeaver 2004s based products; this SPS
will contain a lot of fixes and new features, but also will come with a hard surprise ....

The Dream....

On next week (CW-21) some bugs that are making our life hard will be solved with this very expected patch, also a quite few new features.

It's true, you can check the What's New in the Portal for 2004 SP20 / 7.0 SP12 for the new features coming for NetWeaver Portals, and a SAP Note confirm more than 22 improvements and some new features for NW Visual Composer (will be mentioned in SAP Note 1020064 ).

From my point of view that's fantastic... but ..... do you remember during the installation / upgrade to 2004s that SAP Solution Manager Key requested ???

The Nightmare.......

This is the first Support Package after April 2nd, 2007.... what exactly that means ?

As mentioned in the press release on July 25th, 2006, that means :

"all corrective software packages, including Support Packages (Stacks) for SAP NetWeaver 2004s and subsequent versions, as well as all applications which are based on this software (including SAP Business Suite 2005), released after April 2, 2007, will be available exclusively through the Maintenance Optimizer in SAP Solution Manager."

In summary : If you don't have installed and well configured the Solution Manager you cannot update your solution to this great SPS and any newest available.

What to do ?

To use the new software download function in the SAP Solution Manager, the following activities must be performed:

1-. Install the SAP Solution Manager 4.0
2-. Update the SAP Solution Manager SP Stack 09
3-. Connect the systems to the SAP Solution Manager
4-. Connect the SAP Solution Manager to SAP
5-. Download the Support Package containing the extension for the Maintenance Optimizer

Afterwards the nightmare is over and all the dreams comes true!

Further information about this is available on: http://service.sap.com/solman-mopz

Logs and Trace for Visual Composer

Luis Felipe Lanz — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 03:52:48 GMT

Certainly we need to trace our NetWeaver Visual Composer models, on runtime or server mode, but to make this we need to activate first the components in the log configurator in order to make the trace visible in the log file.

This activation is also essential at the time of reporting a bug or product error to SAP Support Experts (former OSS) for the root cause analysis.

In this blog i want to share with you one of the ways to activate those traces, from my experience the most effective one is by using the NW administrator tool.

It's very important that you start using this tool as soon as you can, that's because in the near future it will replace the well known Visual Administrator.......

Ok, lets play:

First at all you have to connect to the NetWeaver Administrator tool by typing the following structure into your browser url field:
http://yourserver.domain:5NN00/nwa, to be able to use all the tools please make sure your credentials are part of Administrators Group

Once you got inside the NWA, go to "Configuration" area

Then go to "Log Configurator

This is the tricky part... once you be into the log configurator area you have to choose the "Show Tracing Locations" to continue....

Ok, now you're able to change the log severity and activate the tracing level to know exactly what's going on into while running the model,
the locations you must activate are:

com.sap.visualcomposer ; and
com.sap.portal.vc (select all under this folder)

My recommendation is to change the severity to "ALL" and press the "save configuration" button of course, afterwards you will be able to see the tracing in the latest "defaulttrace" log file.

Hope you find this useful and enjoy modeling in Visual Composer!