As some questions arised after that I've took the chance to get Stephan Brand and get some details from him arount this software that is very much in line with the concepts from Matthias Kaiser and Cirrus Shakeri from SAP's Technology Strategy team.
Watch the video below and learn how FindGrid supports it's users with information and knowledge and how it collects the necessary way in a non-disruptive way.
In the past months you might have noticed that SAP is sharing with the community much more news around technology innovation. We started a series of blogs around SAP's Technology Strategy and other topics like semantics.
For those of you who are on Facebook we've created the SAP Technology Innovation page as an additional channel to provide you with these news. Feel free to "Like" the page and to comment on the posts.
Let us know what you think about the page and what kind of information you'd like to see there.
You might remember Semantics at SAP or why apple computers don't taste sweet. In that interview Matthias addressed the aspect of objects and how machines need to be able to give a description of an object the correct meaning. In that interview Matthias used the example of an apple that could either be something to eat or could also be a computer.
I met with him again and this time Matthias explained to me two other aspects of semantics. Machines don't just need to know what kind of object (e.g. an apple) they have, but also what kind of context the user has who e.g. searches for specific information. In the business world this context is normally a role of a user in a company. Combining search results of a user with a specific role and using that information for other, maybe similar searches for users with the same role, makes a search algorythm much more precise and relevant for an enterprise user.
But it's not only about storing this information. It's also about being able to let the machine "forget" certain information that might become irrelevant over time.
Listen to Matthias and find out what peanut butter sandwiches have to do with all of this and how these concepts find their way into SAP products.
I really loved talking to Matthias how he explained to me this complex topics and during the interview he also started talking about a new concept he developed called "Unified Information Access". But that will be part of another interview with Matthias.
In this blog I want to talk about an SAP project called "FindGrid" that addresses some of the concepts that Cirrus and Matthias talked about in their interviews like self learning machines.
A few questions beforehand. Have you ever conducted research work related to markets, products or customers? And if so, have you ever wished
when you came on to existing and similar work of others, all of the knowledge and insights were easily accessible and conveniently stored in one place?
you could synthesize knowledge to create credible and reliable knowledge assets e.g. as basis for decision making?
you could easily access key information that is likely only sitting on unknown sources somewhere?
FindGrid can help you on these taks.
FindGrid is a software to "build organizational memory via a collaborative, self-learning environment that enables knowledge capture across people, teams and enterprises". In other words this software learns constantly which knowledge is available in your company and connects it with relevant processes, roles, teams and individuals. How cool is that?
This software is available as Solution in Early-Adoption Phase, currently rolled out at Colgate-Palmolive’s Market Researchers und in pilot stage at Fujitsu, Kaeser and other SAP customers and their feedback is rolled into the next version which is planned to available as a standard product by end of 2011.
To get an introduction to the solution concept and to see this software in action you can watch the following three videos:
The Story of FindGrid
Introduction to FindGrid
An application demo with the use case "Review SAP Brand Performance"
I'm planning to interview Stephan Brand, Vice President of Corporate Functions Platform, soon. Stephan worked together with Archim Heimann (Chief Architect for Semantic Business Applications) and colleagues from SAP's Technology Innovation Platform (TIP) to implement semantic concepts into software solving requirements in the day-to-day enterprise-work.
Stephan will share, how SAP can solve real business issues by leveraging the capabilities of semantic technologies in a very pragmatic, end-user and solution-oriented way. Also, we will discuss how SAP could use a semantic framework to bring the power of semantics to a broader variety of users and applications.
Claus von Riegen who is also in Kaj's team works in the large area of Open Source at SAP. SAP utilizes open source as a productivity driver and to drive interoperability with open source technologies. This helps SAP to ensure connectivity with well-known open source development environments (such as PHP, Python, Perl, JavaScript, JQuery, Ruby) and by selecting mature open source OS/DB platforms with enterprise-level support this enables SAP customers to significantly lower TCO.
Listen to what Claus has to say regarding Open Source in the video below.
In case you want to learn more about SAP's engagement in Open Source you can find more information on the Open Source page on SDN or in the Technology Strategy site on SDN. You can also follow the blogs from Claus who writes regularly about SAP's engagement in Open Source and Technology Standards.
You might remember Semantics at SAP. Given that another of my team mates in the Technology Strategy team, namely Matthias Kaiser, just sits in the office next door, I asked him if he could tell us a little about semantics, too.
Mathias is specialized in natural language processing and as a chief architect for semantics he gives in the interview some general explanation around semantics and why it is relevant for the software industry.
At the end of the interview Matthias already proposes to do another interview with me where he wants to explain a little more around the topic of self evolution and self learning of computer systems.
Fred works for NL4B and asked me if I'd be interested to hold a keynote at the beginning of the "Developer Dag" for the VNSG (Dutch SAP User Group) about Code Exchange at SAP. I happily accepted, and extend the scope of my keynote to innovation at SAP in general.
Inspired by the excellent Technology Strategy at SAP Part 3 I've explained how the technology strategy is embedded in the efforts around fostering innovation at SAP.
The first part of these efforts is a solid technology strategy that translates SAP's product strategy into technological investment areas. Another part are "enabling" tools like Idea Place and Code Exchange allowing the SAP Ecosystem to better engage in the development process of SAP and to enable collaboration between SAP community members. Finally we also have enabling programs like SAP InnoJam giving the SAP community hands-on experience on SAP's newest technologies.
With this blog I want to share with you the slides that I've presented during my keynote at the VNSG developer day.
As a follow-up to Technology Strategy at SAP Part 1 and 2 I asked Kaj if he could explain how customers, partners and other SAP enthusiasts can engage in the definition and development of SAP's Technology Strategy.
Listen to his words and get inspired on how you can be part of this exciting journey.
Some weeks ago I visited my colleagues from the Technology Strategy team in Palo Alto.
Besides the Technology Strategy at SAP Part 1 and 2 about SAP's Technology Strategy I also talked to my team mate Cirrus Shakeri. Together with other colleagues in the team he works on SAP's technology strategy for semantics.
Listen to what he has to say about semantics in general and how semantic technologies influence SAP's product portfolio.
One of the SCN community members that significantly pushed this platform is the SAP Mentor Gregor Wolf. Therefore each of his requests for Code Exchange I consider as something to look into with highest priority.
After the SAP TechEd season I looked into his request to enable "webhooks" for Code Exchange. Webhooks are something that the Assembla platform provides for it's users per default. Assembla is SAP's choice for the "Expert view" of Code Exchange and provides the subversion system for each Code Exchange project. For the Public availability of Code Exchange for SAP TechEd 2010we didn't integrate webhooks as we wanted to start with the minimum set of functionality for the SCN community and then let the SCN community decide what it wants additionaly to that.
So I looked into Gregor's request to see how useful it could be for the SCN community. Gregor didn't just say what he would like to have. He even created a video showing how webhooks can be used to enable a continious build for an SAP system. Webhooks enable the project owner to connect a Code Exchange event with a HTTP post to an URL.
I loved the idea and asked Andy Singleton, the CEO of Assembla and the architect of the Assembla solutions, if and how we could enable this on Code Exchange. After some necessary changes for the Code Exchange Webhooks we just enabled webhooks on Code Exchange.
As a project owner you can activate webhooks for your project very easily.
Go to the expert view of your project
Select the Admin tab
Click on Tools
Activate the Webhooks tool
I think you'll find it as useful as Gregor and I say a big thank you to Gregor for all his commitment and support for the Code Exchange platform.
Happy holidays to all of you and see you soon.
Best,
Rui
PS: I hope to get a Christmas present, too, in form of many,many additional projects on Code Exchange. Who knows? Maybe SAPLink will be on Code Exchange soon, too?
The other point was the process of accepting the TOU where the users have to manually sign the document and send it to SAP by fax or email.
We'll now make modifications in both points that will go live by December 6th.
Firstly the TOU text was modified. The Enterprise Services have been re-classified as API’s and therefore don't appear in the TOU anymore. Additionally there was a small tweak in section 3 that addressed concerns by some of the SCN community members raised during Summary of Code Exchange Terms of Use presentation @ SAP Inside Track 2010 Brussels. These changes certainly don't address all issues that have been brought-up by the community, but we are addressing these where we can and are working hard on addressing others in the future.
Secondly, as already announced in Coming soon for Code Exchange: Click-through TOU, the sign-up process will be updated to a click-through agreement, where you no longer need to manually sign a document, but can just accept the TOU with a click.
As mentioned above these changes will all become live at December 6th.
Due to that those of you who already are Code Exchange users as well as those of you who are interested in joining will both be asked to accept the updated TOU with a click-through agreement once they access the system for the first time after December 6th.
We hope these changes will make it easier for the SCN community to join and use the Code Exchange platform. Let me an the community know your thoughts.
Surprisingly the event started with a visit of two local police officers.
They got an alarm from the building of Ciber (the hoster of SAP Inside Track in Eindhoven). But after Twan van den Broek was able to explain the reasons for the alarm they drove away.
Some community members already asked me if I can provide the slides that I've presented during the event. Therefore I've created a small video that goes through the slides. Whenever you want to read through a specific slide just pause the video, as each slide shows up for around 3 to 4 seconds.
Those of you who listened to the keynote from Vishal Sikka during SAP TechEd 2010 in Las Vegas already know that we wanted to get rid of the current process for joining Code Exchange.
In that process you need to actually print out the TOU document, sign the paper and send it to SAP by fax or scan it and send it by email to SAP.
Finally we were able to remove the last hurdles to make this obsolete.
Within the next weeks (most probably December this year) we'll move over to a click-through process where the SCN users just need to click the "accept" button to get access to the Code Exchange platform. No more paper work.
I'll post another blog on SCN once it's available, but wanted to give you a heads-up on what will be available soon. We try to be as transparent and open to you as possible and I want to thank the SCN community and specifically the SAP Mentors for all their engagement and the questions around Code Exchange.
Looking forward to see some of you at the SAP Inside Track in Netherlands at Nov. 20th where I'll provide some more details around Code Exchange and it's status.
After that you have to provide the details of your project.
Think carefully about the project name. It shouldn't be too long, but still give an interested SDN user an idea what it is about. The URL of your new project will be based on that name. You can still change the project name afterwards, but the URL to your project will stick to the name of your initial project name.
The project description should provide a good summary about your project. That description is also visible in the Code Exchange project list page, and is the first thing a potential user will read from your project. So you rather spend some good thoughts on it.
The tags help the users identifying to which topics your project is related. In the Code Exchange project list page these tags will appea, too, and help a user to get those projects listed-up that relate to a certain tag. So also here, use those tags that describe your project in the best way.
Last, but not least, the project image can be uploaded, the "logo" of your project. Look what other projects did and ask yourself which project images you like most and why you liked them.
Image 3: providing the project details
After entering all the data click on "Create project" and your project is created.
