SAP and SharePoint Coexistence: Information Crisis or Business Solution? August 2010 Magic Software is a trademark of Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. All other product and company names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and are the property of, and may be trademarks of, their respective owners. Magic Software Enterprises has made every effort to ensure that the information contained in this document is accurate; however, there are no representations or warranties regarding this information, including warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Magic Software Enterprises assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that may occur in this document. The information in this document is subject to change without prior notice and does not represent a commitment by Magic Software Enterprises or its representatives.
SharePoint The Information Crisis "SharePoint metadata is all messed up. Backup jobs are crashing. Office integration is confusing. The server needs more memory. The workflow is all wrong. User privileges need to be updated. Custom apps aren't getting written. Managers are screaming, users are whining and processor utilization is still too high!" David Rubinstein, SD Times With statements like these from David Rubinstein of SD Times, it is clear that for many IT departments, SharePoint has created an information crisis. Nevertheless, business users continue to demand not only that SharePoint applications be used, but that they are integrated. Clearly, interfacing SharePoint with SAP is a top priority for many IT departments managing SAP ERP systems. We surveyed IT managers running SAP across all industries to identify some of the primary reasons businesses running SAP also use SharePoint. Our research suggests that SharePoint applications extend business capabilities across a wide variety of business functions and processes thereby creating a need for integration. The most common uses of SharePoint include: 1. Reporting and Business Intelligence One of the most common reasons IT organizations use Microsoft SharePoint and SAP together is to provide a way to access and distribute SAP reports. Some organizations use SharePoint to build in approval processes around reports and to control access to reports by assigning user rights in SharePoint. 2. Employee Time Reporting and PTO Many companies reported using SharePoint to receive or display employee time, time card and similar workforce management information. SharePoint workflow was used to manage needed approvals and then integration to SAP was used to automatically transform and import approved information. Personal time off requests and reporting are frequently managed from within SharePoint applications as well. There is a need to accrue for such activity with the ERP system and so automated integration between the PTO SharePoint applications and the ERP system were required. 2
3. ecommerce A variety of ecommerce integration requirements between SAP ERP and SharePoint were reported. For example, Employee Self Service portal integration typically involved use of a SharePoint application for orders from employees for company products, logo merchandise, uniforms, supplies, and a variety of services provided to a company s employees for a fee. 4. Product Catalogues and Price Lists Numerous organizations reported that management of product catalogues and price lists was being managed by a SharePoint application or that visibility to this information was being spread widely across the organization via SharePoint. 5. Expense Management and Purchasing Organizations often wanted a wide variety of business users, including those who are not ERP system users, to be able to input expenses using a SharePoint application. In addition, simple workflow related to expense report approvals is typically included. Once approved, data from expense reports is transformed and transmitted to SAP. 6. Employee Information A number of companies expressed a need for employees to access human resources information on benefits, policies, payroll history, and other information needs. In addition to the fact that the employee contact data is typically stored in the ERP system, much of the data of interest to an employee is also stored there. If a secure display of that information is desired, then integration between SAP ERP and SharePoint is needed. 7. Financial Integration Needs expressed in this regard typically related AP/AR integration, GL integration and tasks such as automated bank reconciliation. This requirement is not due to any deficiency in SAP, but rather the need to import financial information from third parties whose systems integrate through a variety of methods (EDI, Web Services, XML, etc.) The SharePoint application provided a custom interface for knowledge workers to review, approve and react to data before acceptance and processing, for example. 8. Customer Service and Return Tracking A number of survey participants expressed needs related to customer service issue tracking for long term problem resolution as well as return material authorization (RMA) tracking. SharePoint was seen as a means to deal with these issues across 3
the organization while ERP specific data could be displayed based on user rights. 9. Asset Management and Tracking A number of users expressed needs for SharePoint applications that interface with asset data in SAP. Most of the needs related to the ability to track information and metadata about the discovery, location, inspection, maintenance and valuation of assets. 10. Facilities Management and Costing A number of companies used SharePoint to manage facilities related processes and allocate expenses associated with facilities usage to various departments. The Importance of Automation Let s consider again the comments made by David Rubinstein at the outset: "SharePoint metadata is all messed up. Backup jobs are crashing. Office integration is confusing. The server needs more memory. The workflow is all wrong. User privileges need to be updated. Custom apps aren't getting written. Managers are screaming, users are whining and processor utilization is still too high!" But David Rubinstein is actually promoting SharePoint training and education he is the host of the best SharePoint conferences in the industry. He makes a good point that despite all the great benefits of SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007), the metadata is troubling. That doesn t mean SAP ERP can t work with SharePoint, it just means you had better use a systematic approach for SharePoint to SAP ERP integration or you may get bogged down in massive development efforts involving thousands of lines of SharePoint code and leading to an IT backlog that exacerbates the very problems that SharePoint is designed to simplify. Having an automated way to deal with business process integration between Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and SAP ERP is a step in the right direction. One might assume that integration would be easier with Microsoft products than with SAP ERP. But look at David s statement again. Office integration is confusing, he says. This integration confusion exists for a product like MOSS 2007 with the words Microsoft Office in the title. Perhaps that explains why this year s update is simply titled, SharePoint 2010. 4
BizTalk, some would argue, just makes matters worse and more complex. Integration to SharePoint doesn t get easier by using BizTalk, to be sure and SAP NetWeaver charges will go through the roof if you have high levels of traffic going between SharePoint and SAP ERP. There is a frustrating level of complexity involved in trying to get a SAP to Non SAP integration project off the ground in NetWeaver. We believe this is what has motivated SAP s informal move away from NetWeaver as evidenced by the discontinuation of NetWeaver as a focus in marketing, technical communications and the like. You have to have the right tool for integration between SAP ERP and Microsoft SharePoint, and it clearly does not have either company label on it. Code Free Integration Approach Magic Software Enterprises offers the ibolt Integration Suite for integration between SharePoint, SAP ERP, and other enterprise applications. Magic Software built its reputation on the use of rapid application development tools in the 1980s and 1990s. Its latest release of the unipaas application platform enables organizations to develop or enhance any type of business application and deploy the code in numerous ways: Full Client, RIA, Mobile, Web, Background and SaaS. The company is listed on the NASDAQ using the ticker MGIC. For integration, Magic Software s ibolt Integration Suite offers code free integration that transforms data, routes messages and orchestrates business processes between applications and users. So ibolt simplifies the hard integration work behind the scenes so that SharePoint continues to satisfy users as a portal and collaboration tool. 5
Example 1. SharePoint TimeCard Template to ERP Payroll Module Integration via ibolt Flow The SharePoint Timecard Management template from Microsoft is a good example of a SharePoint application that should be integrated with SAP ERP. To import Timecard Data from SharePoint to SAP ERP, ibolt can seamlessly run processes behind the scenes that bring manager approved information from SharePoint s Timecard application in SAP ERP by automatically triggering employee transactions in the ERP system. If instead you engaged in manual programming to do this, 91 lines of SharePoint code per field are required. In SAP ERP, the relevant tables have dozens of fields in them. A few thousand lines of SharePoint code would be required just to deal with the data of a simple time card management integration project. Major questions of monitoring, error recovery, exceptions management, state management, orchestration and all sorts of other issues would have to be programmed as well. Instead, ibolt s Studio environment, allows a business analyst to create business processes using a visual drag, drop and configure approach that completely eliminates the need for tedious and expensive line by line programming. ibolt integrates with older Non NetWeaver based systems like SAP R/3 4.6a, 4.6b, 4.6c etc. and also with NetWeaver based releases like ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0 and the actual SAP Business Suite Releases including SAP ERP, SAP CRM, SAP PLM, SAP SCM and SAP SRM. 6
ibolt automates communication with SAP using standard SAP integration channels such as RFC, BAPI and idoc. ibolt can also communicate via the SAP XI/PI infrastructure using HTTP and WebService Connectors. Since all of this is done through the drag, drop and configure methodology of the ibolt Studio, creating the business logic of your process flows is straightforward and involves no programming. And data transformations are all handled through visual mapping as well; so that data is not only transported but transformed using any needed business logic. The addition of business logic in a transformation is handled through a simple expression editor accessed in the user dialog. Once your business process flow design is finished, including all of the exceptions processes you desire, the ibolt Server manages the processes automatically. ibolt Integrates to Share Point by automating Web Services integration to Windows SharePoint Services in MOSS 2007 or SharePoint 2010 as well as through Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint 2010. With ibolt, you don t have to write the Web Services ibolt handles that and all the brokering of the communications for you. With ibolt you can interact with SharePoint s Business Data Catalogue and control entities such as Sites, Lists, Content Types, Documents, and Forms. ibolt also provides systematic approaches to integration with ERP and CRM systems. ibolt handles all the Data Transformation, Messaging, Routing, and asynchronous Workflow management. ibolt's speeds the creation of business processes that integrate enterprise software 7
Combining Integration & Process Management It is perhaps best to think of ibolt as providing both Integration and Process Management. This is all based on Open Standards that let you Design, Deploy and Monitor business processes that connect Databases, Applications, Websites, Web services and Human Workflow. ibolt projects manage processes at a high level and flows at the detail level. Building these flows is greatly simplified however, because flows are built from an included library of Components, Methods and Wizards. Flows can execute in real time or asynchronously. For example, a process can simply wait for human input such as an email reply or system activity such as the pressing of an approval button before the next step in the ibolt flow continues. ibolt also has the advantage of being able to address a wide variety of integration requirements including those that go beyond initial requirements for SAP and SharePoint integration. For example, ibolt business process flows can even composite business logic from a variety of sources by calling RPG, COBOL,.NET and J2EE application logic. ibolt's Data Mapper allows for drag and drop data mapping and includes a full expression editor for data transformations ibolt s adapter library is provided as part of the ibolt studio and includes all the needed technology adapters. In other words, they are not sold separately. And the application adapters for SAP ERP and SharePoint help insure that there is no programming, no line by line code involved with ibolt. While you re designing your business processes then, it has a straightforward process emulator that you can use to step through a flow and see the results of your process. And at run time, there is a monitor that is configurable to log integration 8
steps and performance information and in addition provides a dashboard view of latency, volume, error rates and other useful information. Conclusion Focus on Integration Efficiency For an organization currently running SharePoint and SAP ERP, the Return on Existing Investment (ROEI) is attractive. Successful integration means you get the value that was originally intended from your existing IT assets when you eliminate gaps between SharePoint and your real business in SAP ERP. The end result is greater efficiencies between employees and teams by eliminating barriers to information sharing and business workflow. When you accelerate the speed of your business, you create unique competitive advantages that put you ahead in today s economic climate. Yes, SharePoint and SAP ERP coexistence can become a very powerful business solution when one breaks through the common misperceptions regarding integration. About the ibolt Business Integration Suite ibolt is a metadata platform for business and process integration. It enables organizations to synchronize data within diverse applications and provides enhanced workflows, automation of manual processes, and a real time view of business activity. ibolt simplifies the design and integration process by separating business logic from integration technology. ibolt makes changes to prototype business models without affecting actual business or technical layers. ibolt features user friendly, code free tools such as wizards, drag and drop options and tables, creating straightforward connections with enterprise applications deployed on any hardware, operating system, or database. ibolt Special Editions ibolt integrates a wide range of IT business applications including SAP Business One, SAP R/3, Salesforce.com, Oracle JD Edwards, Lotus Notes, Microsoft CRM Dynamics, IBM i (AS/400), HL7 applications and Google Apps. 9
About Magic Software Magic Software Enterprises (NASDAQ: MGIC) is a global provider of application platforms and business integration solutions. With over 25 years of experience, our technology gives our partners and customers the power to leverage existing IT resources, enhance business agility, and focus on core business priorities. Magic Software has thousands of successful customer installations worldwide and a global network of ISVs, system integrators, value added distributors and resellers, and consulting and OEM partners. Our technological approach, product roadmap and corporate strategy are recognized by the leading industry analysts. Magic Software has 13 offices worldwide, a presence in over 50 countries, and partner alliances with global IT leaders including SAP AG, Salesforce.com, IBM and Oracle. For more information visit www.magicsoftware.com, and for more about our industry related news, business issues and trends, read the Magic Software Blog. 10