Whitepaper. The ERP-Link Software Platform: Counterpart to Duet Enterprise

Transcription

1 Whitepaper The ERP-Link Software Platform: Counterpart to Duet Enterprise

2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ERP-Link Suite for SharePoint and SAP Duet Enterprise CAPABILITIES ARCHITECTURE COMPONENT OF SHAREPOINT ADD-ON COMPONENTS OF SAP ADD-ON The role of documents in SAP Systems Limitation of Duet Enterprise: No support for documents ERP-Link extends Duet Enterprise CAPABILITIES OF AN ERP-LINK ENABLED DUET ENTERPRISE ENVIRONMENT Benefits to SAP-side users Benefits to SharePoint-side users SAP Data and Records Archival Benefits ARCHITECTURE CONSIDERATIONS ROADMAP FOR FURTHER EXTENDING DUET ENTERPRISE

3 1 Introduction The ERP-Link Suite for SharePoint and SAP and Duet Enterprise both provide interoperability between SAP applications/processes and Microsoft SharePoint. Each product platform provides features and functions not found in the other. The products complement each other and can be utilized together. This whitepaper addresses how the ERP-Link platform extends Duet Enterprise to enable collaboration around documentcentric processes and applications. 2 ERP-Link Suite for SharePoint and SAP SAP automates many aspects of operations including finance, manufacturing, supply chain and human capital. SharePoint has become your standard for collaboration. SharePoint has achieved viral user adoption with intuitive, flexible functionality that extends familiar tools such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Organizations need the functionality and content owned by the SAP system to be available to a broader group of employees and trading partners. SAP and SharePoint interoperability is the solution. The ERP-Link Suite for SharePoint and SAP brings the bi-directional access of content to users of SharePoint and SAP. With ERP-Link, your SAP and SharePoint users will have common access to documents and the ability to work on shared business processes. ERP-Link can be used for accounts payable and finance, HR, plant maintenance, project management anywhere documents are needed to support functions based in your SAP system of record. ERP-Link s SAP-Microsoft interoperable document services platform enables SharePoint to function without boundary as the underlying enterprise content storage and management system for SAP document centric processes and under SAP DMS. ERP-Link has built a solution platform that allows SharePoint to be used as a central ECM system for SAP Business Processes. SAP has no solution offering to support the scan/capture of documents and the subsequent storage of documents into SharePoint along with the linkage of those stored documents to SAP business processes. ERP-Link is the solution available for customers wishing to use SharePoint in such a capacity. ERP-Link, SAP ArchiveLink and Microsoft SharePoint ERP-Link is SAP-certified as an ArchiveLink interface to SAP. This requires ERP-Link to directly integrate 3

4 ArchiveLink with the underlying SharePoint document object model and services. Neither SAP BAPIs nor SharePoint BCS supports such a construct. (Note that ERP-Link works with the 2007 and 2010 versions of SharePoint and that Duet Enterprise requires SharePoint 2010.) ERP-Link offers a complete solution for both standard inside-sap functions and to also enable business processes to be extended, leveraging the collaborative SharePoint platform. ERP-Link leverages SharePoint, a legal document archive recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense, to centrally manage content repository services for enterprise SAP systems. It leverages the ECM services of SharePoint, previously Microsoft Content Management Server (CMS), for the storage and distribution of SAP business documents while provisioning seamless and transparent access from SAP, Microsoft Office and even third-party tools. ERP-Link Suite for SharePoint and SAP The ERP-Link Suite for SharePoint and SAP is an SAP-certified solution as an ArchiveLink Interface, is Solution Manager certified and certified for NetWeaver. 4

5 3 Duet Enterprise 3.1 Capabilities Duet combines the collaborative and ready-to-use capabilities of SharePoint with the business data and processes of SAP. Duet Enterprise provides key functions such as single sign on and access to SAP workflows, reports, and collaboration tools. A summary of the key capabilities of Duet is included below. While Duet Enterprise surfaces SAP data and business processes in SharePoint, it does not include support for the SAP DMS document services and content management framework. SAP Business Objects are based on the standard SAP Object types known as SAP BAPIs (Business APIs). The BAPIs have been exposed to be bi-directionally callable by applications external to the core SAP system. A series of BAPIs would be assembled to create a desired business process that is functioning outside the SAP system. Duet Enterprise offers certain SAP Business Objects pre-packaged and provided as External Content Types in BCS. Duet Enterprise includes tools to support an end-to-end solution development between SAP and Microsoft. In order to accelerate development of Duet Enterprise composites, configurable templates and building blocks are delivered so customers can develop SAP Business Objects in BCS specific to their business needs. The following table lists additional detailed functionality of Duet. Source: SAP Roles Claims Provider BCS Solution Galleries Business Data Collaboration Customer Center Farm level collection level collection level collection level This feature augments the Duet Enterprise user's security context with roles that are defined in SAP. Activating this feature provisions the building block galleries. This feature creates three document libraries: action, layout, and codebehind building blocks. This feature has to be activated on the site collection in combination with the BCS solution design feature at the sub-site level to be able to use the Tooling for applications features and to create offline capable applications. Activating this feature will enable users to create Duet Enterprise collaboration workspaces. After the feature is deactivated, new collaboration workspaces cannot be created but existing collaboration workspaces will still be reachable. This feature provides the Web Part to the home page of the Customer Center site. Reactivating this feature will replace the Web Part that is present on the home page, and all customizations on the previous Web Part will be lost. Duet Enterprise This feature is required for instance sites reporting functionalities. 5

6 Reports Content Types Duet Enterprise - SAP Workflow Product Center BCS Solution Design Duet Enterprise Entity Collaboration Duet Enterprise Reporting collection level collection level collection level level level level Activating/Deactivating will reflect on instance sites under that site collection. Enables the site to host SAP workflow type tasks. This feature provides the Web Part to the home page of Product Center site. Reactivating this feature will replace the Web Part that is present on the home page, and all customizations on the previous Web Part will be lost. Adds document libraries, lists, and pages that are required to extend this site by using Business Connectivity Services solutions. These solutions enable offline synchronization of data from external lists to Microsoft Outlook 2010, along with associated business data actions and task panes. This feature is required to create instance sites under the given site collection. Activating/Deactivating will reflect on instance sites creation under that site collection. Retrieves data from the SAP System and generates reports. You can also create and save report settings to generate reports according to your personal preferences. Some examples of tasks that users can do include: Revise SAP data that exists in a SharePoint list and write these changes back to the SAP system. Update information about a customer or create a new sales contact from within Microsoft Outlook Surface SAP information, which is integrated as external content types in SharePoint Server, and displayed in Microsoft Outlook 2010 as contacts, tasks, calendars, and posts. When deploying Duet Enterprise, SharePoint administrators (and developers) can choose to do any combination of the following in a Duet Enterprise-enabled Web application: Create one or more reporting sites Create one or more workflow sites Create Duet Enterprise sites Add Duet Enterprise Web Parts to any SharePoint site Bring SAP HR data into the SharePoint Profile Create external lists that surface SAP data in SharePoint Server 6

7 3.2 Architecture Duet Enterprise is enabled by installation of a Duet Enterprise-specific SAP Add-on Server that is ABAP NetWeaver-based plus a set of SharePoint-side add-on per the following diagram. This requires SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition. 7

8 3.3 Component of SharePoint Add-on The following list describes the components of the Duet Enterprise SharePoint Add-on (shown in the above figure). 1. The Duet Enterprise site templates provide SharePoint users with an entry point into the preconfigured Duet Enterprise experience. The Duet Enterprise sites are composed of an initial set of subsites, including Customers, Products, Quotations and a set of sites for collaboration on customers and other business data. These sites are preconfigured to connect to the corresponding business objects in the SAP environment. 2. The Duet Enterprise Workflow feature enables SharePoint users to participate in SAP workflows, for example, to approve an expense report. 3. The Duet Enterprise Reporting feature enables SAP reports from SAP BW or SAP Enterprise Resource Planning to be retrieved directly from and viewed in SharePoint Server. 4. The Business Connectivity Services Solution Designer feature is used to customize Duet Enterprise solutions. 5. The Duet Enterprise Collaboration feature enables SharePoint users to collaborate around SAP information and objects. This feature provides a set of templates to set up collaboration sites. 6. The monitoring and supportability components support troubleshooting of both Microsoft and SAP components. 7. Duet Enterprise Role and Profile Sync enable SAP roles and SAP profiles to be used in SharePoint Server Components of SAP Add-on The following list describes the components of the Duet Enterprise SAP Add-on (shown in the figure): A. Business Content includes a set of prepackaged SAP business objects. B. Duet Enterprise Workflow enables SharePoint users to participate in SAP workflows. C. Duet Enterprise Reporting enables SharePoint users to retrieve reports from SAP. Reporting also enables the configuration of report catalogs, which are then made available on a Reporting in SharePoint Server. D. The Content Publisher is used to transfer content from SAP to SharePoint Server. E. The Object Instance Cache is used to cache Duet Enterprise specific data and information. F. The Routing Manager routes requests for reports from SAP NetWeaver to the corresponding SAP system. G. The Role Provider enables SharePoint Server 2010 to get a list of SAP roles that can be used to grant permissions on securable objects in SharePoint Server. In the SAP environment, the Duet Enterprise SAP Add-on provides the services, listed above, for enabling the interoperability between SAP business applications, such as the SAP Business Suite, and end-user platforms such as Microsoft Office client applications and SharePoint sites. 8

9 4 The role of documents in SAP Systems Many inside SAP business processes are heavily involved with the handling of, or reference to, actual documents. These can be physical documents that may need to be digitally captured, CAD drawings, images, photos of employees, signed contracts, etc. This type of content is considered unstructured content. SAP DMS and its proprietary Content Server are the base SAP functionality for storing documents and maintaining proper linkage and management of those documents to specific business processes. There is a whole set of document services managed by the DMS framework. By default, SAP stores documents in its own database system. Because this storage facility lacks integration capability with optical devices, it is not a legal archive. It cannot be accessed by non SAPGUI users and is generally not considered a true Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system. As a result, SAP provided an open interface so third-party ECM systems could be used. Most large SAP implementations turn to such robust third-party ECM systems. By providing such document services under SAP DMS control, enterprises gain the following benefits: Secure compliant storage of documents Easy Retrieval of documents based on object based association Reduces the search time for supporting documents A controlled environment for updates to documents Comprehensive security and access control to documents Increased visibility of key documents One source and one set of rules for managing documents Reduced time and effort spent on document management Ability to maintain document history to meet legal requirements 5 Limitation of Duet Enterprise: No support for documents Most importantly, note that SAP BAPIs used by Duet Enterprise only support the passing and handling of structured content thru their APIs. The SAP interface for archiving and recalling unstructured content needed for business processes is not BAPI based but rather a sophisticated HTTPS protocol that is based on the SAP ArchiveLink interface. Thus the DMS document services for storing documents, recalling them to workflows, deleting and adding notes to them, etc. in a managed, controlled and traceable framework are a set of functionality not delivered in Duet Enterprise. 9

10 6 ERP-Link extends Duet Enterprise The ERP-Link platform adds capabilities to Duet Enterprise. These capabilities are not addressed by Duet Enterprise and are requested by customers who have SAP-Microsoft interoperability requirements. These customers also need to use SharePoint for SAP Document Storage/Enterprise Content Management (ECM) (i.e., active transaction-supporting content) plus Data Archival and Records Management (for inactive content). Specifically, ERP-Link: Enables SharePoint as the central ECM/Document Management (DM) system for SAP Business Suite document centric processes both those inside SAP and those that may be implemented as Duet Enterprise solutions (Document Storage and Recall) Provides Transaction Supporting Document Services to all SAP Business Suite Objects (AP/Finance, HR, PLM, Plant Maintenance, CRM, etc.) Adds unlimited SharePoint-indexable metadata to the documents. Without ERP-Link, SAP supports only two pieces of metadata and they are not business data. Enables SAPGUI one-click jump-out to SharePoint FAST/Enterprise Search Provides document-centric services (DCS) to both inside SAP users and Duet Enterprise- /SharePoint-side users Provides access to documents regardless of whether the user is inside SAP or working on the SharePoint/Duet Enterprise side Auto-attaches SAP metadata to SharePoint-held documents Allows Duet Enterprise/SharePoint users to easily attach new documents to SAP transactions/business objects) Enables interoperable SharePoint team sites to hold documents needed within SAP Solution Manager to support implementations and SAP lifecycle systems management Allows SharePoint to be used as the Data and Records Archive for older SAP transaction data and Finance Reports that need to be moved out the SAP system into a near-line archive 6.1 Capabilities of an ERP-Link enabled Duet Enterprise Environment End users, in an ERP-Link enabled Duet Enterprise environment, can work in-side SAP or on the Duet Enterprise side to accomplish key document-related business tasks Benefits to SAP-side users In-side SAP users that are participants in document centric business processes can attach documents to SAP transactions and view documents that have been already attached, with SharePoint 2007/2010 as the physical back-end repository for those documents. To such in-side SAP users, the existence of the SharePoint 2007/2010 repository is invisible, as ERP-Link handles the full interoperability between SAP processes and the SAP document services framework with the SharePoint content management system. Without constraint (for either the inside or outside user), documents can be scanned and attached, or retrieved from folders/desktops/shares and attached to SAP transactions and business objects. SAP-side users can, from inside SAP: Capture and attach documents to the SAP application object and store these documents automatically to SharePoint 10

11 Recall documents from SharePoint and view in SAPGUI in support of the workflow Perform early and late archive of documents Become co-actors with Duet Enterprise users Be notified of Duet Enterprise users and automated applications that externally attached documents to their SAP Application Objects and workflows Activate an in-side SAP Viewer to utilize SharePoint FAST and search from inside SAP Benefits to SharePoint-side users ERP-Link further extends SAP document processes enterprise wide to involve outside-sap workers and teams anywhere using web browsers and Office products in lieu of the SAPGUI. It exposes a special set of document services that can be consumed by SharePoint BCS, providing a framework to extend and optimize these document-centric business processes with the integrated collaboration, workflows and search capabilities of SharePoint. Duet Enterprise-side users can work with SAP (without logging in) and accomplish the following: Scan, capture, and attach a document to an SAP application object and the Duet Enterprise composite applications simultaneously while automatically storing documents in SharePoint Recall documents from SharePoint and view in Duet Enterprise in support of their workflow Perform early and late archive of documents with SAP remotely from Duet Enterprise and SharePoint Function as co-actors with SAP power users in Duet Enterprise Workflows Use Duet Enterprise document-centric Business Paks and applications that incorporate documents services SAP Data and Records Archival Benefits ERP-Link also supports the use of the ArchiveLink framework for archiving inactive SAP data, records and documents into SharePoint per the SAP managed, compliant framework for Archival. This is a service not available in Duet Enterprise, and another way that ERP-Link extends Duet Enterprise and further increases the ROI, and can improve the TCO profile for Duet Enterprise. 6.2 Architecture Considerations ERP-Link can be installed on the following SharePoint Servers. Duet Enterprise is not a prerequisite, but can be implemented at the convenience to businesses running SharePoint Windows SharePoint Services 2007 SharePoint 2007 Enterprise SharePoint Foundation Server 2010 SharePoint Enterprise Server 2010 ERP-Link installs on a host SharePoint server and can store and recall documents key to SAP business processes inside SAP or Duet Enterprise composite applications that need unstructured document and 11

12 content services, across the full array of SharePoint topology options, including site farms and collections, SharePoint in BPOS or the cloud, etc. (This augments the premises-only capabilities of Duet Enterprise.) 6.3 Roadmap for Further Extending Duet Enterprise ERP-Link currently offers a set of Smart Business Modules (SBMs) for SharePoint. SBMs are pre-developed business services for SharePoint that address specific business cases, such as attaching scanned invoices to a SAP PO object, or attaching pictures and documents to employee HR records. About provides information and records management solutions that accelerate the delivery of business value and compliance. Our software products extend the world's market-leading enterprise platforms, Microsoft SharePoint and SAP, to provide best-in-class unified records management, information governance, compliance, and business application solutions. For more information, visit , LLC. ERP-Link is a trademark of. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 12