Study of SAP ERP Connection System Driven in Smartphone 1 Jong Youel Park, * 2 Dea-Woo Park, 3 Young Hyun Chang, 4 Kyung Bae Yoon 1, First Author Hoseo Graduate School of Venture Korea, parkjy4567@daum.net *2,Corresponding Author Hoseo Graduate School of Venture Korea, prof_pdw@naver.coml 3 Baewha Women's University Korea, baewhaoa@paran.com 4 Kimpo College Korea, kbyoon9@paran.com Abstract This study suggests a method of an SAP ERP connection system which uses a GUI, without using the SAP mobile platform provided in the SAP. The interface of the SAP ERP connection system is implemented as a GUI to be driven in smartphones so that users can easily establish the part for interworking in the SAP ERP. The case described in this study is to provide communication for client applications and the SAP service through TCP/IP as a web service, and to implement a method of transferring server s and client s data request and result values in XML, to suggest a new method of efficient underworking of the SAP ERP. 1. Introduction Keywords: ERP, SAP, Mobile, SmartPhone, SmartOffice, Platform One of products generally used in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system is the ERP solution available from SAP. While services converged on communication and banking are vitalized by means of smartphones in the smart convergence environment, a new commercial transaction environment is rapidly growing, for example, non-financial institutions entry into the e-transaction market, sharply increasing mobile banking transactions, and increasing e-payment by means of mobile credit cards. The scale of Korea s e-transactions in 2010 is approximately 824 trillion won in total, increased by 22.5% in comparison with approximately 672 trillion won in 2009. B2B which describes commerce transactions between businesses acounts for 746 trillion and 34.6 billion won in the total volume of transactions, and B2G which describes e-transactions for public sector marketing between the government and businesses accounts for 6.4%[1]. The concept of smart work is a future-oriented business environment in which people use IT technology to work conveniently and efficiently anytime and anywhere. The mobile office is for working without spacial limitations by using smartphones, PDAs, laptop computers, smart pads, etc., and is one type of services for providing a business environment through a mobile communication network and portable terminals, not just typically using an in-house radio network and laptop computers. It enables staffs to do office work in other places by accessing the in-house computer network, and to access the in-house system and data by externally using a security network in connection with the ERP and the CRM including e-mails, groupware and e-approval [2]. The Smart Revolution led by smartphones is changing the IT industry and the overall economic paradigm into the mobile era as well as ordinary daily living [3]. Large and medium-scale enterprises have already changed their PC and PDA-based system into a system fit for smartphones, and use the MEAP platform to develop products. However, the development by the MEAP platform requires a lot of costs to be connected with the SAP ERP system, and work forces to develop the products for smartphones. Small- and medium- scale enterprises which do not appreciate the importance of development do not want their system to be connected to smartphones in consideration of costs. Research Notes in Information Science (RNIS) Volume14,June 2013 doi:10.4156/rnis.vol14.47 273
Using the SAP Mobile Platform for connection of smartphones with the SAP ERP requires a lot of costs, and the ERP experts should be equipped with a proper ERP system and business technology. Therefore, enterprises always have difficulty in recruiting good experts [4]. This study aims to devise an interface for common modules to develop the system for smartphones, to reduce enterprises development cost, to implement users easy connection to the SAP ERP system, and to connect the PC-based system with smartphones in Android and IOS. This study has the following chapters. Chapter 2 describes the architecture and the environment for development with smartphones. Chapter 3 describes the design for interworking the SAP ERP with smartphones. Chapter 4 describes the details of the system interworking of the SAP ERP with smartphones. Chapter 5 summarizes this study and suggests the direction of future studies. 2. RELATED STUDY 2.1. Current smartphone OS and development language The current smartphone OS is based on Apple s ios, Google s Android, Microsoft s Windows7, Samsung/Intel s Tizen, and Samsung s Bada to develop applications. The leaders of the market are Google s Android, and Apple s ios. The development language used by each OS is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Smartphone OS and development language Development OS Development tool language Android ios Java Windows7 C# Objective- C/C++ Eclipse-based installation of Android SDK X-Code tool Visual Studio 2010 bada C++ bada2.0 Tizen Javascript, C/C++ Tizen2.0 The ios architecture which is the iphone platform is an OS embedded in iphone of Apple s smartphone, ipod touch which is a digital media player, and ipad which is a tablet computer [5]. The ios architecture is actually similar to the basic architecture of Mac OS X, and is composed of four software layers, that is, the core OS layer, the core services layer, the media layer, and the cocoa touch layer [6]. The Android architecture works on the Linux kernel, and is developing fast thanks to the free open OS. This can be used by enterprises which use an open OS to develop business solutions. Here, applications are executed through a virtual machine, Dalvik, which is different from the existing Java virtual machine [7]. Windows7 is an OS for mobile applications, similar to Microsoft s PC OS [8]. It is greatly improved for the features and speed of smartphones, and has enhanced the functions of SNS, the multimedia hub, and user-centered design. Bada and Tizen are an OS operating on the Linux kernel, and are being developed by Samsung. This study is based on Android and ios the most usually used currently. 2.2. Comparison of architectures for each development environment In the development of smartphones, it is required to study the SAP ERP connection system which can be driven in smartphones with reference to matters of the Android architecture, the iphone 274
architecture, the development environment, and the mobile Web development environment in order to develop native Apps [6][7]. 3. Designing smartphone-sap ERP connection system 3.1. Analysis of SAP ERP client connection system A client application communicates with the SAP interface through TCP/IP communication, and the SAP API is established to be a GUI type. Apps developed with the SAP API transmits and receive data through the SAP interface. When the client application requests a service to a server, the application in the server drives the SAP service to be connected to the SAP ERP, and transmits the return value in XML to the client. Figure 1 shows the process. Figure 1. SAP ERP Interface Interface 3.2. Designing SAP ERP server connection system For designing the SAP ERP connection system modules of a server, it is essential to use computing resources for high performance data processing, data sharing and access to the SAP system data from other functions of applications. It is essential to implement stable services to address greatly increasing request of applications on the server side, and to design the system which implements distributed processing. Figure 2 shows the system design for applications on the server side. Figure 2. Server Application 4. Implementing smartphone-sap ERP connection system 275
4.1. Analysis of SAP ERP client connection system The SAP service applications in a server is designed to use simple scripts to drive services so that users can easily use them, and to implement distributed processing in the applications. The server application should be driven in the form of services in the Window Server or the Linux Server. Matters for script settings to implement SAP ERP interworking are described below. Setting Java JCO connection 4.2. Implementing client application SAP API The client application SAP API is implemented to enable users to communicate with the server application by simple operation in the client application. The client application is developed to be the GUI type, and implemented to specify service name, path and service type, and to set communication protocols, and transmission methods. Figure 3 shows how to set the SAP API of the client application. Figure 3. Setting the SAP API in client 4.3. Implementing client application SAP API The client application is implemented to be a GUI type to enable users to easily access the SAP. Users use their own development tools, to call the SAP API of a relevant module so that the client application can process it. When the client application calls the SAP RFC required for the relevant logic, the server data is processed in XML through the SAP interface to be transferred to the client. Figure 4 shows the client application implemented for automatically setting the XML values. 276
4.4. SAP ERP interworking test Figure 4. Client Application It was identified that, when the client application requested the RFC service, the server transferred the result in XML to the client through the SAP service. The operator could receive and process the result in an XML file format or a structure. Figure 5 shows that the XML file name is processed to be the same as the RFC name. Figure 5 Result of SAP ERP interworking test 5. Conclusion A major issue involved in implementing a system which can be driven in smartphones by means of the SAP mobile platform is increasing costs and a difficulty in connection with the SAP ERP system due to non-open interfaces. A simplified interface system is thus needed. This study aims to design and implement a simplified SAP ERP connection system that can be driven in smartphones. Required future studies include implementation of interworking with other mail servers as well as the SAP ERP, Microsoft s share point, and interworking with other external connection systems. 6. References [1] "Korea Internet White Paper",Korea Internet and Security Agency(2011), 2011. Oct, pp.272-276. 277
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