michael.eacrett

Why consider attending the ASUG mySAP ERP Upgrades Symposium?

Michael Eacrett — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 15:04:21 GMT

In early November 2006, ASUG will be running the ASUG mySAP ERP Upgrades Symposium in the Americas - A 2 day forum completely dedicated to the topic of upgrading mySAP ERP and SAP R/3 systems. It really feels like this season is becoming the season of upgrades based on recent events, announcements and the buzz in the community. This symposium may be run by the Americas ASUG group, but it is open to every SAP customer and non-SAP customers worldwide (partners, consultants, etc). So no excuses for not going to Atlanta! (Event website: http://asug.prod.web.sba.com/events/2006upgrades/) So why is someone from SAP writing about this in SDN? Whell this is pretty simple - ASUG has its own website, forums, newsletters, webinars, so they tend not to advertise directly on SDN. However I thought that we, in the SDN community, should not miss the opportunity to learn about this event and how it might be interesting to everyone. After all it is one of THE current hot topics! (In the interest of full disclosure, Ive also been asked by ASUG to present a couple of sessions at the event too)

So why go?

This Symposium is interesting, in my personal opinion, for a number of reasons:

It is a forum created by SAP users for SAP users.
Sessions are delivered by SAP Customers based on their direct experiences (with additional sessions by Partners and SAP at ASUGs invitation).
SAP has announced that mySAP ERP 2005 is the long term mainstream release of mySAP ERP.
A small event with an upgrade to mySAP ERP focus.
It covers both the functional and technical views with tracks dedicated to each of them.
There is a specific track dedicated to the business justification of planning and actually doing the upgrade. All this sounds well and good but give me detail! Well, I feel this forum will help address a number of questions I have been getting very recently, especially questions that do not have a single answer but depend more on each customer's situation with their SAP R/3 / mySAP ERP and SAP NetWeaver rollouts. Most recently SAP have been getting these questions at the SAP TechEd events in Las Vegas and Amsterdam as a result of SAP announcements that mySAP ERP 2005 is mainstream release of mySAP ERP with no future major release of mySAP ERP 2005 before 2010. Thats right, if you are upgrading to mySAP ERP, then it would be prudent to consider mySAP ERP 2005 for this very reason. Not to mention that it is the first release where SAP will be shipping all those Enterprise Services you have been hearing about on SDN. Also given the fact that SAP R/3 4.6c is out of standard maintenance at the end of the year (2006), there are lots of reasons for planning an upgrade. So getting on with - why is the symposium useful to the SDN community? ;-) Basically it should help answer these 10 questions that a lot of people have: 1. What you should consider when upgrading to mySAP ERP 2005 (and the underlying SAP NetWeaver 2004s)? 2. What does the 2010 announcement mean and how will I get enhancements without Disruption? 3. What are the functional deltas between my current SAP R/3 release and mySAP ERP 2005? What does the transition to mySAP ERP from SAP R/3 mean!? 4. What are the technical deltas and what technology is being used by mySAP ERP 2005? 5. How do I build a case and justify to the business an upgrade? You can also use this business justification to get your hands on the latest SAP NetWeaver 2004s technology (hmm, interesting if you havent been able to convince your boss to get it yet!) 6. How do I plan the project? What should I expect to have to plan for? 7. What skills will be required for the project and after it is done (functional, development, and system admin) 8. Who else has already done this upgrade? (and I dont want to just hear from SAP  give me the real customer data!) 9. What are the requirements for Solution Manager with the upgrade? 10. What is the impact of the mySAP ERP 2005 upgrade on my existing SAP NetWeaver deployments? How will I get new functionality for mySAP ERP 2005 if there are no major releases until after 2010? So I think this just about covers it! Im sure you have your own set of questions in these areas that you want answered. Hopefully ASUG have a session to help you, if not there will be open panel discussions to help you. I hope you found this interesting and can make it to Atlanta for the symposium. Ok, I came up with another reason! The community aspect: You get to engage and network with customers who have already completed their upgrades or are in the various stages of planning their upgrades. I better stop now otherwise Im starting to sounds like a used car salesman. I hope to see you there! Mike. P.S. If you cant go, why not try convincing your local SAP user group to host a similar event, meeting, or series of conference calls on the topic. Why not even try to get the SDN guys to host a virtual event if you cant get the real-time event scheduled!? Craig, Mark, Marilyn?? :-)

SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview track at SAP TechEd '06

Michael Eacrett — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:32:12 GMT

SAP TechEd is a little over a month away and it is about time we blogged and unveiled the most diverse and coolest track at the SAP TechEds this year, yes Im talking about the expansive SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview track. Dont let the name fool you, this track is not just overview  it also covers the IT Practice Enterprise SOA Design and Deployment and its IT Scenario Enabling Enterprise Services in addition to 'powered by SAP NetWeaver' applications such as mySAP ERP and xApps. Like all tracks at SAP TechEd, this track contains sessions (lectures and hands-on workshops) for beginners and intermediates audiences. [I had to say coolest because my Boss is my SAP TechEd Amsterdam track owner counterpart and he said it was cool so who am I to argue!] So getting on with it, lets talk about what sessions are covered in the track (remember I told you it was diverse). The first section will highlight the sessions that you can say you attended at the event while you cope with the other distractions of Las Vegas and Amsterdam . But if your boss does read SDN blogs I would suggest that you check out a few of these sessions as he/she might have questions on your return!

SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview Track:

IT Scenario 'Enabling Enterprise Services' related sessions: This is focused on the Session Enabling Enterprise Services IT Scenario: These session focus on service enablement and are a great compliment to the sessions on building composite applications in the Custom Development track (you gotta have services to build service based composite application, right? ;-) ) SOA104: Enterprise Service Infrastructure: Enabling and Making Enterprise SOA a Reality SOA106: Introduction to the Core of the Enterprise SOA Solution  the Enterprise Services Repository SOA108: SAP NetWeaver, Enterprise SOA, and Cisco AON Working Together SOA150: Providing and Consuming Web Services in ABAP SOA151: Web Services with SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio SOA200: Build Applications from over 300 Enterprise Services to Be Released in SAP NetWeaver 2004s SOA204: Service-Orientation Made by SAP (SAP TechEd Amsterdam only session presented by SDN members) So on to the diverse and expansive section of the track covering SAP NetWeaver itself, powered by SAP NetWeaver applications, and miscellaneous SAP NetWeaver related topics. Without a doubt some of these sessions will be the most popular at SAP TechEd if you use prior years attendance as a gauge, so do not overlook these sessions ;-) Session related to SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview: SOA100: "Powered By SAP NetWeaver" ApplicationsWhat's the Technical Perspective and Impact? SOA101: Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture: Approach, Tools, and Community Collaboration SOA102: What You Need To Know About SAP NetWeavera Comprehensive Introduction SOA103: Duet Software: mySAP Business Suite Through Microsoft Officea Solution and Technical Overview SOA105: A Practitioners Guide to Development Enterprise SOA-Based Composite Applications (SAP TechEd Las Vegas only session presented by ASUG members) SOA107: Next Generation of Client Technology for SAP SOA109: SAP NetWeaver Model-Driven Development SOA110: SAP xApps for Analytics CommunityHow Business Users Benefit from Being a Co-Developer SOA111: User Interface Strategy for SAP SOA113: Drive Innovation with Composite Applications Built on Top of mySAP Business Suite SOA114: Developing a Customer Centric Enterprise SOA Roadmap SOA201: Enterprise Information Management: The Next Generation of Information Management SOA202: Jumpstart Your SOA Implementations with the SAP Discovery System for Enterprise SOA SOA203 -=CANCELLED=-: Use SAP NetWeaver To Develop SAP-Based Composite Applications (SAP TechEd Las Vegas only session presented by ASUG members)-=CANCELLED=- SOA206: What's New in and Around SAP NetWeaver SOA207: Enabling Business Innovation via Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture (SAP TechEd Las Vegas only session presented by ASUG members) SOA250: SAP Discovery System for Enterprise SOA Workshop Phew a long list and many hours of lectures and hands-on sessions. A short word about our SAP TechEd Bangalore sessions. Most of the sessions have been selected from the best of the sessions above with a few additional sessions. IT Scenario 'Enabling Enterprise Services' related sessions: SOA104: Enterprise Service Infrastructure: Enabling and Making Enterprise SOA a Reality SOA106: Introduction to the Core of the Enterprise SOA Solution  the Enterprise Services Repository SOA112: Using Solution Composer for ESA Discovery ( SAP TechEd Bangalore only session presented by SDN members) SOA150: Providing and Consuming Web Services in ABAP SOA151: Web Services with SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio SOA200: Build Applications from over 300 Enterprise Services to Be Released in SAP NetWeaver 2004s SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview sessions: SOA100: "Powered By SAP NetWeaver" ApplicationsWhat's the Technical Perspective and Impact? SOA102: What You Need To Know About SAP NetWeavera Comprehensive Introduction SOA103: Duet Software: mySAP Business Suite Through Microsoft Officea Solution and Technical Overview SOA110: SAP xApps for Analytics CommunityHow Business Users Benefit from Being a Co-Developer SOA113: Drive Innovation with Composite Applications Built on Top of mySAP Business Suite SOA201: Enterprise Information Management: The Next Generation of Information Management SOA250: SAP Discovery System for Enterprise SOA Workshop So there you have it, a brief introduction in this track at SAP TechEd. I look forward to seeing you at one of the SAP TechEds. I hope you enjoy the event we are planning for you. All the best - Keep on learning. Mike.

Obituary for 'SAP NetWeaver Components' 2003 2005

Michael Eacrett — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:44:27 GMT

Im not sure if this should be an obituary or a eulogy entitled Ode to SAP NetWeaver Components? Anyway it got your attention and I should proceed. If you are involved with any SAP NetWeaver projects, this is essential for you to know.

In the late hours of October 28th 2005, the term SAP NetWeaver components passed peacefully away into SAP product terminology history and was put to rest from future SAP NetWeaver use at SAP. They were the fortunate victims of the evolution of the single SAP NetWeaver platform. It was a very somber and poignant moment for the SAP NetWeaver teams as this page in SAP NetWeaver terminology closed and they joined other famous past terms like mySAP.com (remember the enjoy release smiley? sob sob!!), SAP R/3, SAP Basis, SAP R/2, etc. Coincidently the date coincided with the birth of the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release of SAP NetWeaver (i.e. into the Ramp-up program). Fortunately we opened a new page and SAP NetWeaver has a terminology succession plan! You may have seen a sneak preview of them at the SAP NetWeaver, BW, and Portals conference, ASUG conferences, and our SAP TechEds. SAP NetWeaver components have been succeeded by the IT-Practice & IT-Scenario concepts. SAP NetWeaver, the platform, will be rolled out based upon these concepts going forward. Therefore we strongly encourage you to become familiar with these new concepts as it will affect everyone who comes in contact with SAP NetWeaver or SAP NetWeaver powered by applications. They are already here! For system administrators I suggest that you also look at the new usage type concept too. My colleague, Matt Kangas, has a good introductory Blog on these concepts Building the Bridge - From IT Practices to Usage Types. (Building the Bridge - From IT Practices to Usage Types) To see how IT Practices and IT Scenarios are implemented in the SAP Service Marketplace SAP NetWeaver home page click here (http://service.sap.com/netweaver) For the people without access to the SAP Service Marketplace, for the information on the published IT Practices, click here (http://www.sap.com/solutions/netweaver/itpractices/index.epx) And for information on the published IT Scenarios, click here (http://www.sap.com/solutions/businessmaps/6064CC13D46849EC8491E2308AA43795/index.epx) Update: SDN is now moving to the IT Practice and IT Scenario view too: https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/itpractices So you say, What exactly went the way of the Dodo? (kind of like a funeral crashers question who was he? - Im just here for the food and drinks! ;-) For those of you who don't know what a funeral crasher is, it's a wedding crasher who realized that you don't have to bring a present to a Wake! A Dodo is a casualty of evolution or unintelligent design (not too politically correct I guess.. oops) Well, the SAP NetWeaver components themselves evolved from the new dimension product names and were rolled into SAP NetWeaver in 2003. Unfortunately for historians the actual SAP NetWeaver component names also evolved in the short 3 years too  more times than Prince has changed his name! Did someone get paid per name change? Ill endeavor to explain the rationale for sending the components to the branding graveyard in the sky later in the post mortem at the end of the blog. So moving on, here are the terms that will no longer be used going forward for describing SAP NetWeaver;

SAP NetWeaver Application Server (formerly SAP Web Application Server  SAP Web AS)
SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (formerly SAP Business Information Warehouse - SAP BW)
SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (formerly SAP Exchange Infrastructure - SAP XI)
SAP NetWeaver Portal (formerly SAP Enterprise Portal  SAP EP)
SAP NetWeaver Mobile (formerly SAP Mobile Infrastructure  SAP MI)
The astute readers will notice that SAP NetWeaver MDM escaped the axe, but this is only temporary until it is rolled into the SAP NetWeaver synchronized release and thats a blog of its own on its roadmap!

Note that while the SAP NetWeaver components are no longer used by SAP for all NEW content delivered as of SAP NetWeaver 2004s, the ghost of SAP NetWeaver components past will still haunt the SAP websites and materials until SAP NetWeaver 04 leaves maintenance (2013!). Now thats some haunting! As with every loss, some of the readers will have mixed feelings about this progress. We have already had some interactive discussions and we encourage feedback via SDN forums and blog discussions too - we will endeavor to follow up and to provide bereavement counseling ;-). Some of you will move on quickly to the new concepts, but some of you will have some difficulty with the loss and change  in particular the more mature SAP NetWeaver customers/partners who used these components before there was SAP NetWeaver (yes those exciting pioneer New Dimension days). With regard to moving on, you will start to see the components phased out on SAP Service Marketplace, online help, SDN, and other SAP product information repositories  Just remember all new materials will be IT-Practice/IT Scenario based going forward. If you are looking for functionality grouping names to describe SAP NetWeaver, you still have the SAP NetWeaver fridge with the key capabilities listed. The fridge is not deceased, but it will continue to evolve as more capabilities are added  and there are more coming next year  of course!

The Post-Mortem:

SAP NetWeaver components time has simply past, the meaning just gave out and we cannot use them to adequately describe the new integrated capabilities of SAP NetWeaver. The components segregated the technology platform into meaningful point-in-time buckets but things have radically changed since their inception. With the new release of SAP NetWeaver (SAP NetWeaver 2004s) these buckets quite frankly do not adequately represent what IT is doing with SAP NetWeaver to deliver business solutions. SAP NetWeavers integration really blurs the lines between old components and makes most of them irrelevant within the context of the platform. That is, the sum of all of the components into a whole platform means that the underlying technology can be reused and developed upon in any context. Essentially, the whole platform is greater than the sum of the parts (components). Its a natural progression that occurs with most technology evolution, innovation and progress. The emphasis here is 'progression' as customers can easily utilize and expand using the the new IT Practice/IT Scenario concepts with their existing SAP NetWeaver deployments. No point in throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Ill give a quick example: - In the past the SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (aka SAP BW) component represented data warehousing functionality running on the SAP NetWeaver Application Server (aka SAP Web AS) ABAP stack. - The BI capabilities of SAP NetWeaver 2004s are now built on technologies from other old components of SAP NetWeaver and some clever new technology too! In short if we use the previous component view, you will now need the SAP NetWeaver Portal running on the SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java stack with some special SAP NetWeaver BI Java capabilities in addition to the old SAP NetWeaver BI component to develop/deploy queries and analytical applications and to manage the Data Warehouse  Phew!. So doing the math Does the SAP NetWeaver BI component name still fit if you are using most of the technology of the platform? We dont think so so it's time for the old terminology to die and a bigger, better concept to take its place.

R.I.P.

What's new in SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s)? - An introduction to the functionality deltas and major changes

Michael Eacrett — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:39:31 GMT

Note: SAP NetWeaver 2004s was renamed SAP NetWeaver 7.0 in April 2007. mySAP ERP 2005 was renamed to SAP ERP 6.0 too! (Blog updated accordingly!)

So SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) is finally out in the open in unrestricted shipment (as of the 6th of June 2006). After a joint Ramp-up with SAP ERP 6.0 (2005), we are finally happy to make the software available to everyone. I can assume that you have a lot of questions about this release, and I hope this weblog will be a good introduction to this latest release. Just remember there are SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) highlight pages on SDN and the official SAP NetWeaver product homepage on the SAP Service Marketplace (http://service.sap.com/netweaver) So what is SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s)?
First of the all I have to explain what the little ‘s’ is all about? Well, the primary focus of the new features and deltas delivered in the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release are focused on the specific needs of the mySAP Business Suite applications. Therefore it is not considered a major SAP NetWeaver release but a minor special ‘s’uite release - specific suite features made to the SAP NetWeaver ’04 release. Don’t stop reading here… some of the new features and deltas are quite major when viewed alone and you can definitely leverage nearly all the features in your own SAP NetWeaver implementations.

When is SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) supported until? SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) is supported under the 5-1-2 maintenance model so the end of mainstream maintenance is scheduled for March 31, 2011

Update: Mainstream Maintenance has been extended for SAP NetWeaver. Extension of mainstream maintenance to the end of March 2013. Extended maintenance will be offered from 2013 to March 31, 2016

How do I get SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s)? There are a couple of ways to get the SAP NetWeaver 2004s software. First of all it should be clear that it is not automatically shipped to customers, it has to be ordered. You can order SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) install or upgrade software from your SAP Account Executive or from the SAP Service Marketplace (downloadable from there too if you have such a contract!). In addition all the SAP NetWeaver 2004s software will automatically ship with software kits for the latest mySAP business suite applications (SAP ERP 6.0(2005), SAP CRM 2005, etc). Finally if you purchase SAP xApps based on SAP NetWeaver 2004s, you will get the software that way too! All the SAP NetWeaver software shipped in the next months will be based on SR1 so you'll start with have some reduced patching benefits. For some SAP Customers, you will end up with many copies of SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) in the near future! Maybe time to consider using the CD recycling option that the kits offer! :-)

What are the major changes in SAP NetWeaver 2004s? There are three main groupings of what’s new:

New concepts

Platform for first shipments of Enterprise services

New features and deltas to existing functionality

1. New Concepts:
For a minor release the concept changes in SAP NetWeaver 2004s are quite radical and will take some thought, head scratching, and in all honesty, some time to get your head around. There is more information the concepts uploaded to the SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) page on SDN. ‘No More Components’ Yes! The component view of SAP NetWeaver has gone as of the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release. SAP will no longer use components to segregate SAP NetWeaver functionality, or use it for Sales licensing view, the installation view, or the implementation view. The removing of the components completes the roadmap of delivering a single SAP NetWeaver platform at SAP. This has been a little controversial when covered in a prior weblog. I have seen the classic 5 phases of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance) expressed directly or indirectly but unfortunately they are gone and there’s not much we can do about it … Change is always a challenge for everyone (SAP included) and it is good, in my opinion, that SAP introduces such radical changes in a minor release but I digress. So this leads to the what has replaced them topic:
Functionality and Implementation view:
The introduction of the IT Practice and IT Scenario concept. This is a very easy to understand concept for assigning the features and functions with the tasks that IT actually do. You will see that SDN is already changing in this direction with their IT Practice and IT Scenario pages: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/itpractices IT Scenarios are further broken down into manageable and implementation units call IT Scenario variants. You can see a holistic view of all delivered IT Scenarios from the SAP NetWeaver technology map
Installation view:
With SAP NetWeaver 2004s we install and deploy parts or all of SAP NetWeaver based on installable units. There are 3 installable units used in SAP NetWeaver or applications based on SAP NetWeaver 2004s onwards – they are technical ‘Usage types’, ‘Standalone Engines’ and ‘clients’. You can probably guess that ‘Usage types’ are the largest units you can install and represent large building blocks that can then be used to implement IT Scenario variants. For more information on the installable units, please consult the SAP NetWeaver 2004s Master guide located in the SAP Service Marketplace (https://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=01100035870000626763&_SCENARIO=01100035870000000202&)
Sales licensing view:
You will see SAP NetWeaver platform licensing, engine licensing, and user licensing. I’m not a expert in this area so I would suggest you contact your SAP NetWeaver Account Executive or SAP VAR for more information.

2. Platform for first shipments of Enterprise services:
SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) is the platform powering the first Enterprise Services that SAP is shipping in Q3 2006. This basically means that SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) provides the core technology for delivery, enablement, and consumption of Enterprise Services. Enterprise Services(ES) are the key building blocks for implementation of SAP’s vision of Enterprise SOA. I will not dive into this topic further as there is ample knowledge on SDN already on ES and even hosted systems to preview and play with the services (if you can’t wait for the SAP Discovery System for Enterprise SOA)

3. New features and deltas to existing functionality:
Now we get to the most interesting part of the new release. What does it do? In this section I will give an outline of the major changes and links to other weblogs from other colleagues on their specific IT Scenarios. Remember there is more detailed information in PDF on the SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) page on SDN. Further very detailed information is available in the online help for SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) – just remember that there are no more components and therefore the release notes are organized by IT Scenario! Don’t say you were not warned! :-)

Major changes: Even though SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) is billed as a minor release, there are a number of areas where there are significant new features and deltas. Please note that some (not all!) of the features are back-ported to SAP NetWeaver ’04 (these are highlighted in the documents on the SDN page above):

BI Capabilities:

Enhanced query, analysis, and reporting with integration of the BEx frontend into Portal capabilities. Exciting additional new features include the BI Kit for SAP Visual Composer and the new Excel features such as drag and drop. This is definitely not your old BEx from the 3.x days!
A new integrated business planning feature has been delivered. This new feature is seamlessly integrated with exist data warehouse objects and query tools.
Enhanced Enterprise Data Warehousing features include new objects for modeling and implementing EDW layers, the new administration cockpit for managing the data flows in your EDW, and lastly the new BI Accelerator feature enables ridiculously fast and high performance analytics

Portal capabilities:

A new feature called Federated portal networks enables you to manage distributed portals as a single local unit. This feature is a godsend for those who will have multiple installations of the Portal capabilities of SAP NetWeaver and most likely on differing releases.
External facing portals enable you to reuse your existing SAP NetWeaver based portal investments for delivering extranets and servicing occasional low touch users.

Development capabilities:

Web Dynpro for ABAP. Yes, by popular request the previously available WebDynpro for Java feature has been delivered on the ABAP stack. So if you have major ABAP investments, you can now deliver WebDynpro applications with minimal investments in J2EE.
There is a new “Switch Framework” feature delivered that helps to deliver support for multiple industry solutions in a system faster – nearly all the IS solutions are available for SAP ERP 6.0(2005) from the day it was released. In addition this gives the developer access to more business functions via the ‘Enhancement Framework’.

As I mentioned previously, my colleagues have written weblogs on the new features and deltas in their respective IT Scenarios.

You can find them as follows (if one is missing – it is coming soon!)

IT Practice: User Productivity Enablement

Running an Enterprise Portal: /people/jana.richter/blog/2006/05/30/highlights-in-sap-netweaver-2004s-150-running-an-enterprise-portal

SAP NetWeaver Collaboration News: SAP NetWeaver Collaboration News

Take a butcher's at business task management in NW04s and before: Take a butcher's at business task management in NW04s and before

Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management: Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management

IT Practice: Data Unification

What is the IT Scenario 'Enterprise Data Warehousing' about?: What is the IT Scenario 'Enterprise Data Warehousing' about?

IT Practice: Business Information Management

Business Planning and Analytical Services: Business Planning and Analytical Services

What is the IT Scenario 'Enterprise Data Warehousing' about?: What is the IT Scenario 'Enterprise Data Warehousing' about?

Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management: Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management

IT Practice: Business Event Management

Take a butcher's at business task management in NW04s and before: Take a butcher's at business task management in NW04s and before

IT Practice: End to End Process Integration

Enabling Application to Application Processes: https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/cs/junior/view/wlg/3738

Take a butcher's at business task management in NW04s and before: Take a butcher's at business task management in NW04s and before

IT Practice: Custom Development What is the IT scenario "Developing, Configuring and Adapting Applications" about?: What is the IT scenario "Developing, Configuring and Adapting Applications" about?

IT Practice: Unified Life Cycle Management

IT Scenario 'Software Life-Cycle Management': New Capabilities with SAP NetWeaver 2004s: IT Scenario 'Software Life-Cycle Management': New Capabilities with SAP NetWeaver 2004s

IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations: IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations

IT Practice: Consolidation

IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations: IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations

What is the IT Scenario 'Enterprise Data Warehousing' about?: What is the IT Scenario 'Enterprise Data Warehousing' about?

Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management: Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management

And so there you have it, a somewhat brief introduction to what's new with SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s).

I hope this weblog was worthwhile and enjoy the 7.0 release.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil and Write No Evil - To remove postings on SDN forums or not?

Michael Eacrett — Tue, 23 May 2006 13:33:37 GMT

Write no Evil?

Background to the weblog: While attending the ASUG/Sapphire US 2006 event, I happened upon an interesting discussion at one of the SAP NetWeaver exhibit booths (or pods as we call them at SAP  something out of invasion of the body snatchers dont you think?) I was staffing. The discussion started out simply enough about implementing additional capabilities of SAP NetWeaver and the approach that the customer should take. The discussion wound its way to the part about staffing the project itself  this is where I was asked by the customer if it was worth hiring SAP NetWeaver certified consultants for the project. From SAPs perspective, the answer is always Yes to this question. Now this is where the conversation got more philosophical as the customer stated that while he liked the idea of a consultant having a certain quality level of knowledge. An observation from the customer was that the certification itself did not always ensure that the consultant was competent -How could some consultants actually get certified when they obviously did not have the basic understanding of the product area they were meant to have specialized in?. There are probably a large number of reasons you could argue why this could be, so I was pleased to see that this customer had rigorous interviewing techniques to reduce this risk of hiring a consultant who know less than his staff. Following this conversation, while talking to colleagues on the SDN pod (yes, we use alien technology to clone our SDN staff  it explains a lot!) about some of the challenges of moderating SDN forums, one of my colleagues mentioned that he was having some challenges in his area, specifically the BI related forums, with multiple postings of requests for certification questions and the responses. He said that he had started to remove some of the postings but had received feedback from some SDN posters that this was censorship and he should stop. As further background, the SDN community guidelines state "We reserve the right to remove any postings (although we have no duty to do so)." So this leads to the philosophical discussion?

Should SDN editors and moderators have the right to control content posted on SDN? Is this censorship?

Completely taking off my SAP Employee hat here, I personally have strong beliefs in the freedom of speech and against censorship in almost every form but unfortunately its not a black and white subject and needs intelligent discussion, agreement, and some enforceable rules. The subject of this weblog is not to talk about censorship vs. freedom of speech in the general context (there are numerous newsgroups on the web that cover this already) but the specific topic of whether SDN editors and moderators should remove content that they deem questionable or harmful. Of course this now leads down the whole rat-hole of what does questionable or harmful actually mean? So for this blog I want to limit the discussion to that of the certification questions postings (and answers!) on the forums in SDN. I think this is a relatively safe discussion for SDN and relevant to most people who use SDN without opening up a very very large can of worms. In addition I do not want to open the discussion in the specific merits of the actual certifications themselves as that is a weblog in itself and something someone else might want to post on! It is not an easy topic to get your hands around so Ill pose a few questions to think about:  Is it ethical for people to post certification examination questions and answers on SDN forums?  Is this cheating or simple information sharing or are the posters cheaters or information sharers?  Do such postings diminish the certification test itself?  Would you feel comfortable hiring a consultant if you knew that they could have cheated on their certification tests?  Do you see the SAP NetWeaver certifications as valuable achievements that people should work hard for?  Should SAP change the certification test questions more frequently?  Should SDN forum moderators remove such postings on SDN?  Is there any difference between removing these posts and removing blatantly incorrect information from SDN?  Should fellow community forum posters self police the forums and add postings requesting the posters not do this? Would self policing work?  Does it make a difference if the moderators removing these posting are SAP employees or not?  Do inaction or removal actions by SDN forum moderators on these postings diminish the SDN community as a whole?  Or does the presence of such postings diminish the integrity of the community? OR You may or may not have made up your mind when thinking about these questions. This bloggers opinion is that we should remove such postings and specifically prohibit such postings in the community guidelines - other communities do control content too (see below). I have not removed any postings as of yet but there are a multitude of them already in the forums. Obviously this does not holistically solve this problem as there are other nonSDN SAP forums on the web where these individuals could go to post but I believe it does improve the SDN community itself by reducing unethical actions by individuals. In addition I believe that everyone benefits when we have highly ethical and trained/certified consultants and users to work with. If we do exercise content control, where is the tipping point if we start adding more content restrictions to an open community? Even Google, whose corporate philosophy is Do No Evil has wrestled with this one and implemented at its discretion the ability to edit content on newsgroups set up by individuals (I will avoid the whole Chinese censorship issue immediately as this is a highly political discussion and not really a topic for SDN). Below is an extract from its terms and policies: Google's Rights. "... If Google discovers Content that does not appear to conform to the Terms of Service, Google may investigate and determine in good faith and in its sole discretion whether to remove the Content..." During my limited research for this blog I found newsgroups with answers to the questions for my states driving examination! Now this is really scary that people may be out there without having learnt the laws. Obviously SAP Certification exams are not as life endangering as this example but it does bring some of the arguments into perspective Maybe I should be suspicious of people who have passed both and drive really badly or am I including myself there??? :-) Got to love this WWW, you find examples for everything! We could produce handbooks for these people too!! So there you have it, I hope you found this thought-provoking and something worth reading? I look forward to the comments posted. All the best, Write no Evil Mike (A SDN forum moderator, SDN community volunteer, former SAP consultant and SAP customer)

Single code page SAP systems heading towards history - Unicode Only Future!

Michael Eacrett — Wed, 03 May 2006 06:28:42 GMT

The next step in the transition to Unicode at SAP is just around the corner  actually sneaking in with the New Year while we are partying. So what delights does 2007 bring us?

As of the end of 2006, all new releases of SAP NetWeaver and SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver will only be available for installation based on Unicode.

This next step on the road to Unicode is probably an obvious one for those observant globalization readers of SDN and the SAP Service Marketplace but this now puts a definitive stake in the ground in regard to what and when. Before we go into details, it might help to know a little background about the SAP globalization solutions for supporting representation of multiple language character combinations:

The first step for SAP was to work on the Unicode standard itself with other technology companies. We had prior SAP workaround stop gap solutions but Unicode was the ultimate goal. Once Unicode was defined and implemented, SAP delivered versions on all SAP applications that supported Unicode.
The second step was to provide robust and productized conversion tools for all application, whether the source is a single code, a blended code page, or an MDMP based application (much better than delivering fragile and pre-production quality tools, dont you think? ;-) ).
The next step was to phase out the older workaround technologies used to support multi-language requirements prior to Unicode. Blended code pages were de-supported with the release of SAP NetWeaver Application Server 6.10 (and therefore for SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver AS 6.10 or higher). New MDMP installations for SAP R/3/mySAP ERP were not possible starting with the release of mySAP ERP 2004. Finally MDMP is no longer supported as of mySAP ERP 2005 - only single code pages and Unicode (to view a weblog on this click Globalization: End of full support for MDMP implementations)
The latest step is that all new applications and SAP NetWeaver capabilities will only be built and delivered as Unicode solutions (example of these applications include SAP NetWeaver Exchange infrastructure, SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management, any J2EE based SAP applications, etc)

So this brings us to today and the announcement covered in this weblog. So what are the important points of the Unicode customer announcement and what does it mean to you:

1. Every SAP Customer was sent a letter in April 2006 notifying them of this change. It is a possibility that this letter did not reach the system administrators/landscape architects in your company - it is probably sitting on the desk of someone who signed the SAP contract and is still wondering what Unicode and bits are but afraid to ask anyone. Yes, this the same person who gets the regular shipments of service release CDs, all requested SAP Applications CD shipments, and is invariably always on holiday when you desperately need to get that CD for the installation. But I digress; you can find a copy of the letter at this link: Customer letter
Please note that there is also information in the customer letter about the de-support of 32 bit for new SAP installations! My colleague Matt Kangas has an informative and entertaining weblog on that topic you can access this Will You Still Love Me When I'm 64?. 64 bit processing is a real asset for delivering Unicode solutions.

2. This change only really effects NEW installations of SAP NetWeaver and SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver that were previously available with non-Unicode installation options (e.g. mySAP xxx business suite applications, SAP xApps, and the BI and (ABAP) AS capabilities of SAP NetWeaver). Remember only the ABAP stack supported single code pages in the past - J2EE is only Unicode.

3. Existing installations of SAP NetWeaver and SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver that were based on single code pages can be upgraded to the new releases WITHOUT having to convert to Unicode. This is really cool as it protects your existing investments and you can live in the non Unicode world for a little longer. Please do remember that MDMP will not be an option for mySAP ERP customers this solution was de-supported as of the mySAP ERP 2005 release!

4. For those administrators worried about processes that require some of the installation tools (i.e. those much loved system copies that you are asked to do much too often!), SAP will still deliver tools to enable you to do this for single code page based system. I guess some administrators would prefer that we did not make the tools available. That way they could tell the business users to tidy up their own data and not rely on system copies to provide refreshes for them! :-)

5. For clarification - Unicode does not simultaneously translate from one spoken language to another (Youd be surprising how often this is asked!).
Another additional clarification - contrary to some popular beliefs Unicode is not the name of a small, yellow, leechlike fish that is probably the oddest thing in the Universe. That is another globalization solution from far away in future whose species was hijacked by a translation tool (I hope Mr. Adams estate is getting royalties!). Just in case there was some confusion or misplaced beliefs in this area, check out this Link for more information on the other globalization solution for your amusement.

6. Customers can convert to Unicode now assuming that they are on the minimum supported Unicode releases and do not have to wait for the delivery of all new releases of SAP NetWeaver and SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver after 2007. SAP strongly recommends that customer's consider Unicode conversions in the short term as a per-active step and to potentially reduce the need for further resources and monetary costs further down the road as you systems grow.

So there you have it, a whirlwind tour of the upcoming changes for SAP NetWeaver and applications built on SAP NetWeaver from the end of 2006 onward.

Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.  So I hope the weblog was somewhat informative and good, otherwise you may have read it before I finished it

All the best,
Mike.

Globalization: End of full support for MDMP implementations

Michael Eacrett — Tue, 02 May 2006 07:52:22 GMT

We at SAP have had a lot of questions concerning the ongoing support of 'Multi Display, Multi Processing' (MDMP) for our future mySAP ERP releases. Hopefully I can clarify this question and provide you with information that enables you to plan your future mySAP ERP rollout and requirements for multiple languages.

Some background:

MDMP was the solution SAP developed for support of combinations of multiple code pages in one system prior to the availability of unicode database support. MDMP effectively enabled an SAP ERP system to be installed with a non-unicode database, and to support connections to the ERP application by users with language combinations not supported by a single code page.

Example: support of one ERP system with English, French, Japanese, and Chinese.

MDMP implementations implemented strict rules and restrictions(*) in order to ensure data consistency and avoid data corruption.

MDMP was only supported for SAP R/3, SAP R/3 Enterprise, and mySAP ERP applications. No other SAP applications or SAP NetWeaver components support MDMP.

Future of MDMP:

MDMP was a short term solution delivered to customers until unicode was released for SAP ERP applications. Once unicode was released, MDMP was not recommended to customers. Therefore SAP strongly recommends utilizing unicode versions of SAP ERP for multi-language solutions that require multiple codepages.

Note: Unicode is supported from SAP R/3 Enterprise onwards

For those ERP customers already running MDMP, SAP has clarified the ongoing support of MDMP in a letter to customers:

MDMP will no longer be fully supported from mySAP ERP 2005 onwards:

From mySAP ERP 2005 onwards SAP can only warrant for consistent data in installations with mixed languages (more than one code page) if the whole system is based on Unicode.

In cases where customers want to use MDMP from mySAP ERP 2005 onwards, SAP strongly recommends to involve an experienced SAP consultant, but SAP disclaims all responsibility for

Any damages or losses of (productive) data and Interruption of or restrictions for scenarios in mixed environments (E.g. Unicode <-> MDMP - systems)

Unless such damages are attributable to SAPs willful misconduct or gross negligence.

Conversion from MDMP to Unicode:

SAP provides migration tools and services to support the conversion of non-unicode and MDMP systems to unicode. For more information please consult the unicode home page on the SAP Service Marketplace.

Further information:

For more information please consult the following info sources:

SAP Unicode home page: http://service.sap.com/unicode

>SAP note: 741821

*- Since the potential risks are extremely complex depending on a given scenario, interfaces and data exchange, a general list covering ALL potential possibilities of data corruption is not feasible to cover.

May 2006: Update on globalization support:

SAP has announced that as of 2007, there will no longer be shipments of non-unicode installation kits for new releases of applications that run on SAP NetWeaver or SAP NetWeaver itself. More information can be found in this Single code page SAP systems heading towards history - Unicode Only Future! (Single code page SAP systems heading towards history - Unicode Only Future!)

I hope you find this useful

All the best,

Mike

Got SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays II? (The Sequel)

Michael Eacrett — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:13:24 GMT

Hi everyone SAP NetWeaver,

I wanted to write a quick follow-up to my prior weblog on the upcoming SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays (DID) after the ASUG forum 2005.

Prior weblog and announcement of the SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays: Got SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays?

Firstly my apologies if you could not access the registration form; my useless HTML coding was to blame!

>Link to registration form: Registration form

(http://ls2.asug.com/t/331119/4173011/3618/2/ or >http://www.sap.com/fm/data/RegFormDID05.doc>)

Secondly, the good news! By popular demand the registration deadline has been extended until April 27^th.

Thirdly and finally, I have had some follow-up questions about the content of the InfoDays and I would like to address these. The main focus of the sessions is SAP NetWeaver ’04 and the deltas between SAP NetWeaver ’04 and the next release of SAP NetWeaver. Yes, this is a view of the future features and functions from the ‘authors’ themselves!

In addition as I mentioned in my prior blog, the sessions are deliberately small so you have a chance to determine the focus of the session and we avoid the large lecture hall effect. The content and the interaction possibilities really make this a very unique opportunity to learn.

The session tracks are based on the new SAP NetWeaver IT Practices:

Track 1-3 : User Productivity Enablement featuring SAP Enterprise Portal, SAP Enterprise Portal & Guided Procedures, and SAP Knowledge Management & Collaboration

Track 4 : Data Unification featuring SAP Master Data Management

Track 5 : Business Information Management featuring SAP Business Intelligence

Track 6 : Custom Development featuring SAP Web Application Server

Track 7 : End to End Process Integration & Services Oriented Architecture featuring SAP Exchange Infrastructure & Enterprise Services Architecture

For more information on the IT Practices, please come and see us at the SAP NetWeaver village in the exhibit hall at ASUG.

The full agenda is available at the following link: Agenda or (http://www.sap.com/fm/data/2005_DID_Agenda.pdf)>

We look forward to seeing you there!

SAP NetWeaver Product Management

Got SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays?

Michael Eacrett — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 09:08:06 GMT

+Ever

been to SAP in Walldorf? +

+Ever

been to SAP Labs in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Palo Alto?

+

+Ever

been to SAP Labs in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel?

+

For most

readers, the answer is “NO” to the majority of these questions unless you are

one of the fortunate ones signed up for one of the SDN meets Labs “<a

href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/index.sdn?page=sdnmeetslabs.htm">SAP

NetWeaver Technology Tour</a>”.

What if you

are unable to attend the SAP NetWeaver Technology Tour but still want

interactive sessions with “the” infamous SAP NetWeaver Developers?

We have

another amazing offer for you!

We would like to use this weblog to inform you of an exciting SAP NetWeaver education

opportunity brought to you by US SAP NetWeaver Product Management for our Customers.

This is a unique event where participants have a chance to interact directly

with the SAP NetWeaver technology platform development organization.

How cool is that?

Details:

What:
style='mso-tab-count:2'>

SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays

(DID)This time as we have greatly extended the scope, it is planned to have at least 7

concurrent parallel tracks based on the IT Practice themes. You can find out

more about the IT Practice themes at the ASUG event itself!

The sessions will be a mixture of lectures, demos, and detailed Q&As. To
maximize the interactivity and benefit for each participant, the sessions will
be relatively unstructured and limited to small groups. This will enable the
participant to influence each session and gain as much value from this event as
possible. Over the 1 ½ days each track will have at least 11 hours of SAP
NetWeaver Developer, Product Management, and Product Definition face time!

So now we know what you DID after ASUG 2005?

Registration
info:

Please

complete the registration form for each attendee and send it to Martha

Schmidhauser at SAP by April 25, 2005.

Email to Martha.Schmidhauser@sap.com or Fax to 650-849-4009

Link to registration form: href="http://ls2.asug.com/t/331119/4173011/3618/2/">Registration form

A confirmation will be sent to each attendee prior to the event.

Each attendee is responsible for making their own travel arrangements and accommodations.

We would advise that ASUG attendees extend their existing ASUG housing (and use ASUG
negotiated rates)

Please
forward this weblog to your colleagues, as appropriate.
If you have any further questions please post
your questions/comments on this weblog and we'll respond as soon as possible

So now we know what you DID after ASUG 2005?

michael.eacrett

Why consider attending the ASUG mySAP ERP Upgrades Symposium?

So why go?

SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview track at SAP TechEd '06

SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture Overview Track:

Obituary for 'SAP NetWeaver Components' 2003  2005

I&#146;m not sure if this should be an obituary or a eulogy entitled &#147;Ode to SAP NetWeaver Components&#148;? Anyway it got your attention and I should proceed. If you are involved with any SAP NetWeaver projects, this is essential for you to know.

The Post-Mortem:

R.I.P.

What's new in SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s)? - An introduction to the functionality deltas and major changes

So what is SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s)?

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil and Write No Evil - To remove postings on SDN forums or not?

Write no Evil?

Should SDN editors and moderators have the right to control content posted on SDN? Is this censorship?

Single code page SAP systems heading towards history - Unicode Only Future!

As of the end of 2006, all new releases of SAP NetWeaver and SAP applications based on SAP NetWeaver will only be available for installation based on Unicode.

So this brings us to today and the announcement covered in this weblog. So what are the important points of the Unicode customer announcement and what does it mean to you:

Globalization: End of full support for MDMP implementations

May 2006: Update on globalization support:

Got SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays II? (The Sequel)

Got SAP NetWeaver Developer InfoDays?

Obituary for 'SAP NetWeaver Components' 2003 2005

Im not sure if this should be an obituary or a eulogy entitled Ode to SAP NetWeaver Components? Anyway it got your attention and I should proceed. If you are involved with any SAP NetWeaver projects, this is essential for you to know.