Case Study: Web-Enable SAP Enterprise Portal

Using ITS and SAP Web Application Server

Erik Gross

LSI Logic Corporation

About LSI Logic

“A leading designer and manufacturer of communications, consumer and storage semiconductors for applications that access, interconnect and store data, voice and video. In addition, the company supplies storage network solutions for the enterprise.”

What We’ll Cover

Strategy Why a portal? Short-term goal Long-term expectations

How LSI used iViews to achieve results Leveraging current investments Using Internet Transaction Server (ITS) & Web Application Server

solutions Custom development

Demo

Implementation Initial deployment Architecture Continuous improvement

Strategy

Question: “What is a portal?”

A “One-Stop Shop” for content Connecting different systems together

Common look & feel Easy access

A collection of links Connection point for partners

Question: “What are the business drivers?”

Portal Benefits

Easy access to multiple applications Common look & feel Single Sign-On capabilities

A resource focal point Everyone can start at the same place Role-based content

Illumination of ideas Intranet access Content design Collaboration Communication Partner focus

15 Key Questions: Why A Portal?

1. Why do I/we want a portal?

2. Will a portal “replace” your current intranet?

3. Have you studied your intranet usage?

4. What do people like/ dislike?

5. Change management issues?

6. Is the portal going to be an external solution?

7. How do partners use your systems today?

8. Are partners just employees or more?

9. Will a portal “fix” problems or add new benefits?

15 Key Questions: Why a Portal? (cont’d)

10. Is the portal solution going to be more than an a set of application Web screens?

11. Who are your business partners?12. Who is on your development team?13. How can you determine ROI?14. Can you make a case short-term or long-term?15. Have you addressed the following critical issues?

Training Security Redundancy (intranet) Collaboration (shares) Communication (e-mail)

LSI Logic Drivers for Portals

Found value in “Workplace” and wanted to enhance Replace “Workplace” with an open standard Integrate more non-SAP content Change the look & feel

Enhance Single Sign-On (SSO) to more applications Presentation layer for reports produced by multiple

systems Deliver personalization to the end user Reduce training for the casual user

Deliver information & access for the employee who doesn’t use the “system” every day

Combine multiple solutions into a

single delivery mechanism

LSI Logic Drivers for Portals (cont’d)

High usage of SAP solutions R/3 Finance, Manufacturing, Sales, HR,

Projects, Logistics, Workflow “my.SAP.com” and new dimension solutions

Employee Self-Service (ISS) and Internet Transaction Server (ITS) SAP Web Application Server SAP BW SAP APO SAP BBP

Industry solutions Oracle Applications Siebel CRM Legacy Manufacturing & Supply Chain Systems Payroll, Time Management &

Compensation Systems

LSI Logic Long-Term Expectations for Portals

Replace the “intranet” with a portal General navigation and information for all Role-based & user-based content when entered Deliver all content through the portal Stay focused on intuitiveness & ease-of-use Integrate all applications Delivery mechanism for targeted content Use as the solution for business partner access

LSI Logic “Portal Working Council”

Membership from all areas of the business

Primary responsibilities Bring to the table what is important to their groups Identify content Define content taxonomy and structure Act as communication evangelists Act as “Change Management” champions Prioritize enhancements

Find representation for external users!

LSI Logic: Initial Portal Definition

Replace “Workplace” solution Define a casual user content selection Create functional area roles

Ensure compatibility Localization OS & browser support

Introduce personalization Publish/subscribe methodology Branding and look & feel

“Casual User” Content

News Resources Employee Self-

Service “My World” Purchasing Travel expenses

eServices Web mail Web calendar Custom SAP

transactions BW reports

Personal Links User-defined URL External Window

capability

“Casual User” Content (cont’d)

Workflow Inbox Additional

Personalized content offerings

my.yahoo.com Yahoo weather Portal Portfolio

Country-specific content offerings

ePaycheck eInvestments Japanese navigation

Role Development

Functionally targeted Engineering Finance Customer Service Sales

Adapted for worldwide users

Employee & Manager Roles

Content for Managers

Designed to simplify the process of getting information to make decisions

Combines multiple applications and sources of information together

User Compatibility

Support multiple languages

Accommodate multiple OS/browsers

Providing Help

Continuous developmentof a help index and a FAQ = ease-of-use and greater acceptance = increased portal ROI!

Why Have “Help” Resources

Intuitive A portal should be intuitive, although that means different

things to different users Use popular Internet sites as models

No training goal ROI goes down if you have to train users how to use a portal The portal can serve up training documentation “right next

to” the application. Simplicity for users!

Remember your audience!

Don’t skip the obvious – not everyone is a Web user!

What We’ll Cover

Strategy Why a portal? Short-term goal Long-term expectations

How LSI used iViews to achieve results Leveraging current investments Using Internet Transaction Server (ITS) & Web Application Server

solutions Custom development

Demo

Implementation Initial deployment Architecture Continuous improvement

6 Approaches to iViews

Developing iViews for different SAP applications can be achieved as follows:1. R/3 through ITS Web GUI

2. R/3 through ITS Application Components

3. R/3 through the Web Application Server

4. BW through the Web Application Server

5. BBP through ITS Application Component

6. Connecting to R/3 using the SAP Client GUI

How LSI Leveraged ITS for Portal Integration

SAP ITS Many solutions

provided for Employee Self- Service can still be leveraged.

Workplace

“Mini-Apps” IAC

Catalog Procurement

Custom Solutions Web GUI

How LSI Leveraged SAP Web Application Server for Portal Integration

Web Application Server (WAS) Custom Applications using BAPI calls

Internet Transaction Server vs. Web Application Server: Either, or Both?

Should you replace all your ITS services with SAP Web AS Business Server Pages (BSPs)? We didn’t!

Remember ROI Existing environment-supported ITS No substitute for Web GUI

Fast implementation Gets the job done

Maybe not at all… Programming advantages Business Process Rule Accommodation

Future development does need to be evaluated

Key Differences Between ITS and Web AS

Internet Transaction Server

Active Session with SAP 1:1 screen development

Web screen sits on top of an SAP screen

For each screen, including pop-ups, you need to have a matching Web

Dynamic in nature Dialog-dependent screen

control R/3 features that

manipulate screen layouts or field appearance

Language capabilities Errors are captured in the

dialog process

Web Application Server Calls to/from SAP with RFC Independent screen

cardinality Combine multiple SAP

screens into one Web screen

Parse one SAP screen into multiple Web screens

Dynamic to the extent it is developed

Screens are html files and are not dynamically driven by R/3

You need to retrieve parameters from R/3 and then alter your flow

Languages are challenging Errors are captured in RFC

when called

When to Use ITS vs. Web AS

Internet Transaction Server

When you have a dynamic R/3 process

Multiple Languages Dialog or R/3 parameter-

driven screen display Complex error handling

A simple one-screen process

Make sure you have the right landscape environment

ITS is an ACTIVE R/3 session

Source Control

Web Application Server When the process is more

consistent/stable Similar look & behavior for all

users Simple error handling

Complex processes in R/3 that do not need to be for your needs

Unnecessary screens Too many screens (only using

1-2 fields in multiple screens) Simultaneous multi-object

updating or maintenance You can replicate almost

anything Development time High performance

LSI’s Choice: Both ITS and Web AS

Content through ITS

Cross Application Time Sheet

Personnel Updates

Benefits Open Enrollment

Electronic Absence

Travel Expenses

Simple Reports

Content through WAS

Engineering Milestone and project updates

Total Compensation Statement

Job Requisition

Inventory Management

Pricing Maintenance BW Reporting

The Benefits of Web GUI

It’s easy It’s quick It’s

“out-of-the-box”

It uses resources

Active R/3 session

Performance

The Benefits of SAP Client GUI (Win GUI)

The Benefits of SAP Client GUI (Win GUI) It handles EVERYTHING else, but

goes against the spirit of a WEB application

Web GUI and Win GUI

When Web GUI is used

Common transactions

Simple reports

Workflow item handling

Remember, even though it’s easy, it still looks like SAP

It’s a little slower because it’s dynamically generated HTML

Search helps, pop-up windows

Screen navigation and table controls are handled with icons instead of scroll bars

When Win GUI is used

Complex transactions Drag&Drop features Heavy scrolling Extensive use of search

helps and/ or pop-up windows

It requires the client to have SAP GUI installed

Not a plug-in, the whole application

Compatibility issues with GUI version, Portal version, OS version & Browser version are numerous

Architecture for SAP Enterprise Portal Using Both ITS and Web AS Components

What We’ll Cover

Strategy Why a portal? Short-term goal Long-term expectations

How LSI used iViews to achieve results Leveraging current investments Using Internet Transaction Server (ITS) & Web Application Server

solutions Custom development

Demo

Implementation Initial deployment Architecture Continuous improvement

Demo

Questions?

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

Delivery of Content from Non-SAP Systems to the Portal

Oracle Applications

Siebel

& Other Industry Solutions

Single Sign-On

SAP provides a “logon ticket”

Works with all SAP systems Can be interpreted by .asp

and Java-written Web applications

Data Source Mapping Use the portal to send data

to target Web applications. Encrypt passwords

IIS has a drawback Some Web applications

will not work SAPNet, for instance

Single Sign-On (cont’d)

Personalization Techniques

Users like to personalize!

This is one example how we personalized SAP Web GUI iViews:

We leveraged this same technique for “Personal” iViews as well as other parameter-driven Web application iViews

http://<server>/scripts/wgate/webgui/!?~transaction=<tcode>&~language=<lang>&~<param>=value…

Personalization Techniques

The Portal Development Kit (PDK) is a great development tool

Create custom iViews, and leverage the Portal Data Viewer and “eventing” capabilities

Custom iView Development

Custom iView Development (cont’d)

This is the “Portal Portfolio”

An iView created with the PDK

It brings personal selections and Web GUI transactions together for a user

The Portal Data Viewer (PDV)

A great tool for simple to moderate database querying and reporting

Infrastructure built Supply source db Enter query statement Choose layout or

design of the results Parameter-driven Configurable

Not a BW replacement! Not a SAP query

replacement!

“Eventing” With the PDV

“Eventing” is the process of enabling iViews to talk to each other.

One iView is updated by the user and tells other iViews (pub/sub) listening to update according to its new context

Excellent possibilities for reporting dashboards or multiple views/joins of common data

Development is underway to deliver Manager Dashboard Solutions

Employee/HR Contracts/Purchasing Financial etc…

LDAP Integration

User Administration tools in the Portal were slow and cumbersome

We created a tool for the portal by writing an LDAP maintenance utility

Customizing Portal Tools

We also adapted the Export/Import tools!

Implementation

Architecture MS SQL/Win2k/IIS Cluster ITS & WAS landscapes Load balancing and server tuning iPlanet LDAP

Timeline 3-6 month project deliverables Continuous content development Full deployment strategy