Here’s how it goes.

Trying to access the table

When trying to maintain a certain table, the user will receive the following warning:

Sending a system message using a standard SAP function module

Once you’ve identified the user, access SE37 – assuming you have permission! In SE37 call SAP standard function module TH_POPUP.

Fill in the following input parameters:

- CLIENT: the system client on which you’re working on. If you don’t know this, take a look at the lower right status bar;
- USER: the user for which you want the message to be delivered;
- MESSAGE: the text message you want to deliver to the user;
- MESSAGE_LEN: allows you to define a message length. Leave it empty;
- CUT_BLANKS: allows you to specify if you want to trim existing spaces. Leave it empty.

To submit the message just hit “Execute (F8)”

What the user receives

When you click on “Execute (F8)”, the destination user receives the following message as a pop-up:

This is just a simple system tool that can help you in a day to day basis, working with SAP.

In this post I include some links to external sources like SDN, as well as some links to some of my own posts, hoping to help anyone who’s trying to accomplish an SAP product installation end to end.

1. Netweaver Sneak Preview (NSP) installation – Part 1

Gingle starts his series of posts by explaining which components are necessary, how and where to download them and how to unzip them, etc. The post includes a series of comprehensive screenshots and step-by-step approach to guide you into success.

2. Logical System & Virtual Machine – Part 2

Continuing his previous post as described in point 1., Gingle explains how to setup the Logical System and Virtual Machine. Again, Gingle was thorough in his explanation, including step by step details and lots of screenshots to help us progress.

3. License & Profiles – Part 3

In this post, the whole License and Profiles procedure is well explained and documented. Well done Gingle!

4. Transport System – Part 4

Probably as a SAP Consultant, you never had to deal with this kind of configuration. Just in case you need it.

5. HTTPS & Sapcrypto – Part 5

What is HTTPS & Sapcrypto? Learn about and also why and how you should configure it.

6. SPAM & Kernel – Part 6

Gingle intended on importing some transports and performing some upgrades, SAP always recommends the Support Package Manager – SPAM, to be the latest. Learn how.

7. Upgrade to SP6 – Part 7

This post explains which component versions to consider, how to download them and how to install them. Again, step by step approach and lots of screenshots.

8. BI Content – Part 8

According to the author (Gingle), after a successful upgrade to SP6, it seemed only natural to attempt to install BI Content.

9. The CE2 Installation- Part 9

In this post, Gingle explains how to install the Netweaver Composite Environment 7.2 Trial Version.

10. Install a Local SAP Netweaver Developer Workplace

A detailed explanation on how to successfully install your own local SAP Netweaver Developer Workplace. Please be sure to go through the necessary prerequisites.

11. How To Do a Support Package Stack Upgrade – Part 1

Learn how to apply a Support Package upgrade on your system.

12. How to Tune the Performance of KM

This SAP How-to guide provides recommendations for improving the performance of Knowledge Management (KM) in SAP NetWeaver 2004.

13. TREX Installation on EP7

This how-to tutorial explains the TREX Basis Installation as well as the some post configuration activities, needed for the TREX to work.

14. How to Use Portal Session Notification with Your Own Custom Applications

The SAP Enterprise Portal offers a mechanism called Session Release Notification. This feature is used by SAP applications running inside the portal to close their sessions in case the user closes the browser window, navigates away from the application or logs-off from the SAP Portal.

15. How to Install a SAP (Max)DB Instance

Learn how to easily install a SAP MaxDB Instance.

16. Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) on the Portal and the ERP

Learn how to easily configure Single Sign-On (SSO) on the Portal and the ERP.

17. How Many Lines of ABAP Code In Your System?

This is just a fun and easy way to benchmark how many lines of ABAP code exist in your system.

18. How to do a System Trace?

When you work with SAP Enterprise Portal, sometimes it’s useful to use the System Trace tool, enabled by the ERP system.

19. Single Sign-On with your SAP OSS User

If you have a company issued SAP OSS user and use it all the time (like myself), this post is for you.

20. Configuring SAP Connect (SCOT)

From SAP WAS 6.10, SAP directly supports SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). This means that the emails can be exchanged directly between SAP system and any SMTP compliant mail server. Learn how to configure it.

21. Configuring UWL for Guided Procedures on C.E.

This tutorial covers the configuration of the Universal Worklist (UWL) for Guided Procedures actions. It shows how to configure the UWL in the SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment when the Guided Procedures are executed locally.

22. Configuring UWL for Guided Procedures on C.E.

This tutorial covers the configuration of the Universal Worklist (UWL) for Guided Procedures actions. It shows how to configure the UWL in the SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment when the Guided Procedures are executed locally.

Please comment if you found this post useful! Many thanks in advance.

If you work with SAP Netweaver Portal implementations, the listed frequently asked questions might help you shortening your implementation times. I’ve collected some of the most common problems I’ve had while working with Portal, and hopefully provided some straight answers. Also, I’ve included some concepts which are best for you to learn sooner than later.

Please note that these topics are part of my personal experiences and are aimed to people starting off with Portal implementations. I’m also planning a series of other posts intended for more expert users . If you feel that you have complementary information or if you have a different perspective regarding something in this post, please comment on this post, ask away, share you knowledge and experience – it will be highly appreciated!

1. What’s the difference between SAP Enterprise Portal and SAP Netweaver Portal?

2. How can I check the installed version of ESS/MSS?

3. What checklist items should I follow to check an ESS Portal installation?

4. What are the main components of the SAP Netweaver Portal?

5. What’s the relation between the Netweaver Portal and the Universal Worklist (UWL)?

6. What’s the difference between a Portal role and an ERP role?

7. How does the Portal connect to the ERP?

8. What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?

9. How can I change a standard ESS application to meet my client’s own needs?

10. What is the Homepage Framework? Is it mandatory to use it?

11. Common issues and hints for ESS

12. I want to install my own local Portal. Where do I start?

13. I want to develop a custom Portal application. Should I use Web Dynpro or Visual Composer?

14. Can you provide a list of the most commonly used Portal acronyms?

15. Web Dynpro Java or ABAP?

1. What’s the difference between SAP Enterprise Portal and SAP Netweaver Portal?

Before SAP’s strategy turn towards the SAP Netweaver Architecture, what we commonly refer to as “SAP Portal” was called just that or SAP Enterprise Portal. It was just a way to identify this SAP standalone product that was capable (and still is) to connect with all kinds of external systems. These systems could be SAP modules or external systems built on different technologies, such as proprietary client systems or legacy systems. By shifting it’s strategy around Netweaver, SAP put the Portal inside the Netweaver platform, arranging its components in order to improve and simplify it’s communication with other systems, as well as harmonizing some of its core capabilities and re-utilize those of the Netweaver platform. In a daily basis, we just refer to it as SAP Portal and specify the version (e.g. Portal 6.0, Portal 7.0 or NW Portal).

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2. How can I check the installed version of ESS/MSS?

Take note of the following steps in order to find out if indeed you have the ESS and MSS components and in which versions do you have them. Please note that there are alternative ways to check this like, e.g., using the Visual Administrator tool. This is just a way that works for me because most of the times clients won’t allow access to the V.A. tool by external consultants.

• Logon the SAP Netweaver Application (Java) mainpage. The URL is similar to your Portal URL but you should remove the “/irj/portal“. The URL should look something like http://[host]:[port]. You will be asked for a username and password and provided that your user has the necessary permissions, you will be redirected to a page similar to the one below:



• Click on the System Information link as shown above
• The resulting main screen will already tell you something about the installed core versions



• Clink on the “all components” link to access the detailed components list
• For the ESS Business Packges and Components, the marked entries in the image below should be installed. You can also view the installed version in the respective column – e.g. BP_ERP5ESS is in version 1.41 SP4

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3. What checklist items should I follow to check an ESS Portal installation?

This must be one of the most asked topics in SDN and there are lots of references in the web. My first recommendation is that you start by reading my post “Employee Self-Services Initial Steps Wiki“. This “ESS Initial Steps” wiki intends to provide a hands-on initial contact with the ESS implementation.

You might also want to look into the SAP HCM Employee Self Service Wiki space.

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4. What are the main components of the SAP Netweaver Portal?

According to SAP:

SAP NetWeaver Portal unifies key information and applications to give users a single view that spans IT silos and organizational boundaries. It allows you to take full advantage of all your information resources – and maximize the return on your IT investments. And, its predefined business content accelerates implementation and reduces the cost of integrating your existing systems.

Main and general components include:

• Portal-infrastructure management
• Collaboration
• Knowledge Management

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5. What’s the relation between the Netweaver Portal and the Universal Worklist (UWL)?

The Universal Worklist is for the Netweaver Portal what the SAP Business Workplace is for the ERP system. So if you want to enable any Workflow activities using the Portal, ESS and MSS, you will need to use the Universal Worklist so that users receive their tasks and act upon them. The UWL is tied to the backend using a Portal System connector which has to be configured before being able to use it. Many users complain about data refresh issues using the UWL. Even though SAP is aware of this and try to advise some workarounds, like the optimization of the delta pull mechanism, the UWL is still the main funcionality to deliver workitems and tasks to users in the Portal, coming from SAP Business Workflow or Guided Procedures tasks. The UWL is delivered with a standard configuration but usually SAP consultants customize it to meet the client’s and project requirements. See how to configure the UWL for Guided Procedures on Composition Environment.

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6. What’s the difference between a Portal role and an ERP role?

This question arises some doubts, mainly in beginners starting to work with Portal. The role assignment function in the portal allows role assignment to users and groups. These roles will reflect the user’s or group’s function within the company (example: ESS, MSS, HR Administrator, etc.). For a Portal user to run properly, the person resposible for User Management will have to assign both portal roles as well as ERP roles. There are, however, situations for which only an ERP role is assigned.

Portal roles define how portal content is grouped together and how it is displayed in the portal navigation area. By assigning a portal role to a user or group, you’ll define which content is available for a certain user or group.

ERP roles define a set of authorization objects. By assigning an ERP role to a user or group, you grant the set of authorizations that the role defines to the user or group. In the portal, SAP recommends that you work with portal roles.

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7. How does the Portal connect to the ERP?

The main Portal object which is needed for the Portal to connect to the ERP is what is commonly referred to as a System. Systems are PCD objects, such as folders, pages or iViews. What this means is that Systems must have a unique ID, a prefix (typically com.companyname) and a name. Systems have specific parameters that need to be configured, in order to enable the connection between the portal and the backend (ERP).  Ideally, you will have created a customer folder in the PCD and you should create any needed systems in a specific client folder, in a folder name such as “Systems”.

Systems can only be maintained using the System Landscape Editor, which is an option which is only available for the under System Administrator role.

Although systems can be transported through the portal transport mechanism, they don’t need to be and, in my opinion, they shouldn’t. This is because the systems that are accessed from a development portal are normally different to the systems accessed by QA and production portals – they connect to different backends!

If you’re creating you own portal applications, as soon as you deploy them into the server, you will then need to create an iView to contain the application. One of the iView parameters will be the System Alias, which is defined when creating the System itself. If you’re working with ESS and MSS applications, this means that your Portal Administrator should have already configured the necessary systems, which have a system alias defined, and which is referred to by each of the standard ESS and MSS iViews.

I recommend that you read this SAP wiki about connectivity and different variations on connecting different systems.

You can also read this SAP weblog with a step by step to connect the Portal to the ERP backend.

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8. What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?

SAP defines Single Sign-On (SSO) as the following:

Single Sign-On (SSO) is a key feature of the Enterprise Portal that eases user interaction with the many component systems available to the user in a portal environment. Once the user is authenticated to the enterprise portal, he or she can use the portal to access external applications. With SSO in the Enterprise Portal, the user can access different systems and applications without having to repeatedly enter his or her user information for authentication.

The Enterprise Portal SSO mechanism is available in two variants depending on security requirements and the supported external applications:

• SSO with SAP logon tickets
• SSO with user ID and password

Both variants eliminate the need for repeated logons to individual applications after the initial authentication at the enterprise portal. Whereas SSO with SAP logon tickets is based on a secure ticketing mechanism, SSO with user ID and password forwards the user’s logon data (user ID and password) to the systems that a user wants to call.

In case you need to know and understand the necessary steps to configure SSO, please read my post Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) on the Portal and the ERP.

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9. How can I change a standard ESS application to meet my client’s own needs?

Well, this is a hot topic on SDN. I must say that I’ve had lots of challenges regarding this matter, due to clients requirements and short time to develop. In terms of WebDynpro Java, there is more than one way to change ESS and MSS standard applications, as well as some workarounds. In my experience, the most controlled and effective way to do this is using the Netweaver Developer Infrastructure (NWDI) as a kind of middle-ware and access the ESS and MSS applications source code directly. This versioning system allows developers to import ESS and MSS software components into their own desktops as local projects. Once here, they can work on them, doing the necessary changes. When they want to see the changes, they will generally check-in their development activities (NWDI transport requests) and view them directly in the Developement Portal. There are several key points to have in mind when performing changes to standard ESS and MSS applications, using NWDI:

• Start by understanding very well how each application is built; not all of them are clear, they can include comments in german or indian and they sometimes use external Development Components and use the Floorplan Manager (FPM), which isn’t clear to everybody;
• The NWDI doesn’t know how to manage a new Support Package implementation along with your own changes. Please be aware that whenever a new Support Package is installed, all your custom coding, bindings, context elements, model changes, etc. will be overwritten. A good and thorough documentation will help you manage these challenges;
• Make sure to trace the boundaries between your job and technical tasks that will need to be performed in NWDI. Usually the client wraps everything in a global “Portal” subject, and you’ll be responsible for everything. A good basis team which is able to solve issues with NWDI is also a plus.

Besides this technique, there are also other ways to change ESS and MSS standard applications. In terms of Webdynpro Java, here’s some that I’ve came across:

• Using the FPM personalization feature to hide or enable/disable fields (limited). The Floorplan manager (FPM) is a central part of the ESS and MSS applications. Any WebDynpro application that implements FPM is known as a FPM Application.
• Enhancing the ESS applications’ User Interface (UI) without modifying the source code, by using table/view V_T588UICONVCLAS (conversion classes);

I recommend that you read further:

• NWDI/JDI Cookbook
• iView Personalization
• ESS Personal Information UI enhancement without modification
  

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10. What is the Self-Services Homepage? Is it mandatory to use it?

First of all let me clarify that the Self-Services Homepage isn’t mandatory at all. You can build your company’s portal the way you want it. However, the Self-Services Homepage is a smart and good looking way to group several ESS applications. The Self-Services Homepage enables you to create overview pages, which allow your employees to access the self-service applications (services) with greater ease and improved usability. These overview pages group and describe the individual services and contain hyperlinks with which your employees can start the services – usually WebDynpro applications.

The Self-Services Homepage offers the following functions for adjusting the overview pages to suit your self-service applications or for creating your own overview pages:

• Replace pictogram (graphics) on area group pages and area pages;
• Enter long area descriptions
• Creating Customer-Specific Areas with Services
• Hide areas included in the standard system
• Add services to an area included in the standard system
• Hide services included in the standard system

I recommend that you read further:

• Self-Services official SAP Help (ehp4)
• Rapid Portal Content Creation using the Homepage Framework
• How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)
• How to Add Custom Area Page to Overview Page in ESS
• How to Create Custom Overview Page in ESS

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11. Common issues and hints for ESS

There is a great SAP weblog, created by Márcio Leoni, which covers known issues and very good hints on ESS. Please click here to learn about common issues and hints for ESS.

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12. I want to install my own local Portal. Where do I start?

Please read my post Install a Local SAP Netweaver Developer Workplace.

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13. I want to develop a custom Portal application. Should I use Web Dynpro or Visual Composer?

It depends on how far you want to go. Consider using Visual Composer if you:

• need a simple application to display information about your employees or outstanding orders;
• have little time to implement and want a rapid solution available in your SAP Portal;
• have little technical knowledge and feel more comfortable working with a visual tool;
• don’t predict a very large number of users accessing the application.

Consider using WebDynpro if you:

• plan to develop a more complex and robust application, with transactional purpose;
• have a technical team and skill-set comprising of WebDynpro Java, WebDynpro ABAP, Java, Netweaver Portal and knowledge of the MVC (Model View Control) paradigm;
• predict a large number of users working with the portal;
• have already planned you SAP Portal Project carefully;

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14. Can you provide a list of the most commonly used Portal acronyms?

This is yet another challenge. I will update this ASAP!

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15. Web Dynpro Java or ABAP?

In the past years, SAP Portal and Web Dynpro for Java set as a strategic user interface technology for SAP NetWeaver 04.

With Web Dynpro, you build professional, highly interactive, Web-based, and accessible user interfaces for business applications. Using the Portal, you provide role-based, secure access to any kind of information (structured or unstructured), services and applications via a Web browser. In SAP NetWeaver, these two technologies converge, enabling you to run Web Dynpro-designed content in iViews from within the portal.

In order to create portal content, different tools are available for different professional roles and objectives. The wizards and templates included with the Portal Content Studio are specially suited for content administrators, while the Portal Development Kit (PDK) for Java is geared to J2EE developers. Recently, WebDynpro ABAP has become more and more the most used paradigm for developing portal applications. Web Dynpro is best suited for business application developers. In what relates to WebDynpro Java, working from the Eclipse-based SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, business application developers need Java and ABAP skills to leverage this programming model. From a WebDynpro ABAP perspective, developers must have an advanced knowledge in ABAP as well as the Model View Controller (MVC) paradigm, in order to be able to use it with full capacity.

Bottom line is, in my opini0n, if you’re aiming to learn WebDynpro, I would bet in WebDynpro ABAP.Most of the recent SAP Business aligned with EHP4 are being developed in WebDynpro ABAP. A major plus is that you will work from within SE80 and will use the well known transport system, instead of the NWDI.

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Hope this post is useful for you. Please comment!

1. Choose your niche… wisely

At the end of the day, your work as a SAP Consultant will be to help and advise your clients, usually big companies, on how to implement highly dependable IT systems who literally help improve and run their businesses. I’d say that choosing your niche will depend on 2 distict factores: your background and opportunity. If you’re coming from a technical, computer engineering or networking background, SAP security and Basis can be a good area to bet on. This is a cross area to any SAP solution. On the other hand, if you’re coming from a business or even law degree, you can try SAP FI (Finantial Accounting), CO (Controlling) or even LO (Logistics General). There are several SAP Applications Areas which might be interesting, according to your profile and expectations. Just remember that as you grow in your SAP career, more and more you will be facing the client and acting as an advisor. The client might even depend on your judgement to choose which way to go or which solution to aquire. Besides having a good domain over the solution or industry you’re in, you must also be a good communicator and easy going with people.

2. Niche, not Narrow

Whether you work for a big consultancy firm, a medium size company or if you’re an SAP freelancer, odds are that you evolve and grow in a particular SAP Application Area. Perhaps you might even become an expert in a specific SAP Application Area within a particular industry. In my opinion, it’s ok to become a subject matter expert in your area of expertise. But it is crucial to keep expanding your knowledge and being able to look at the global picture. This means you should accompany SAP’s evolution in your area of expertise and try to be knowledgable about the connection of that area with other SAP subjects or even other suppliers. Remember: focus on your area but keep an open mind and interest at all times.

3. Money or evolution?

My opinion is that you should bet on less profitable but cutting edge projects that give you space to get your hands dirty and get paid experience. This is particulary important if you just turned a SAP freelancer. Of course at this point you have a great deal of knowledge and experience, but being a freelancer means that you’ll have to perform twice as more than a “regular” SAP consultant. So if you can choose between a solid project which gives you room to learn more, do it, even if the pay isn’t as much as other projects which aren’t big challenges to you.

4. One percent genious, ninety-nine percent perspiration

Recruiters usually say entering the SAP world is a very good learning experience and school for ambitioning to be a good professional, programmer or project manager for IT projects. Since SAP is so broad in it’s application areas and each one, by itself, is also such a big world, it’s natural that when we get used to working to SAP, we’ve travelled a step further. The important point to take home is that not only geniuses prevail. You will need to work harder though, being able to run the extra mile.

5. SAP vs IT

It is really important to understand until what extent we’re dealing with IT details and what relates to SAP and the client organization, business processes and business model. In fact, an SAP project implementation is not alone an IT Project. Of course there are several technological components, moreover with the maturation of Netweaver, but it is important to note that an SAP project is an organizational project, which impacts all levels of a company. It is crucial to have a clear commitment from every person involved, starting with the CEO, down to the managers and all the way to the key-users.

A SAP Consultant is someone who has the ability to speak the functional language in his area of expertise (e.g. FI/CO, HCM, MM, etc.). At the same time, he has to understand clearly how the company works, what is the business model, what are the client’s requirements, what does the SAP standard module cover, what can be extended and what can be done custom built (identifying the gaps). In parallel, it’s a plus if the SAP Consultant is able to get inside the system, not only knowing how every piece connects but also how to create what’s necessary to meet his client’s needs. For this reason, it is always a good idea to start your career with SAP by learning ABAP.

I strongly recommend you to take a look at Jon Reed’s blog “Career answers for SAP Professionals“. It is a full content, very complete blog about SAP careers. Inside you will find several Podcasts and Webcasts. Jon Reed also updates the blog regularly with SAP Job market information, trends and job opportunities.

Here is an excerpt from the survey:

The earnings of an SAP professional depend on many variables, including the version you are working on, industry, education level, and experience. Panaya conducted this survey to help you compare your SAP talent to industry peers, better understand what drives compensation in this market, and get useful ideas for increasing your value.

After filling in the necessary information, a link will be presented in the page and you will be able to download this 18 page PDF survey. Here’s the link:

• 2010 SAP Salary Survey

The Best of SAP Sites Directory is a SAP topics aggregator since it displays headlines from the most popular SAP sites on the internet.

Eddai leaves his welcome message:

This site is the dashboard for the latest web-buzz, a single page that encapsulates up-to-the-minute headlines from the most popular SAP sites on the internet with a purpose of getting a quick glance on updates over various categories. The lists will be enhanced in each categories by day. Hope you find this site useful.

Click here to enter Best of SAP Sites Directory

This weekend I received an e-mail announcing a new website, namely a Forum, in Wikipedia Newforum. After checking out (I confess I hadn’t yet heard of it), I thought it was woth a while to spread it in SAPLAB.

Here’s what the e-mail publicized:

Now Totally FREE* SAP HR Online Training with 5000+ Real Time Screen Shots: www.wikinewforum.com

Other Training Courses + Other SAP Modules FICO, MM, SD, CRM, PP, PM.. @ www.wikinewforum.com

Special Topics apart from general topics:

* Payroll & Time Schema’s
* Payroll & Time PCR’s (Personal Calculation Rules)
* Rates of Pay
* Factoring/Pro-ration
* Wage type Valuation
* Time Quota’s & Time Types
* Time Evaluation
* Absence Valuation
* Compensation, Benefits, Performance Appraisal, e-Recruitments
* Employee Self Service (ESS) & Manager Self Service (MSS)
* CATS – Cross Application Time Sheets
* Integration with FICO & other Modules
* and more and more….list will not stop
* Totally End-to-End implementation Process with 5000+ Real Time Screen shots

After registering, I browsed around the forum and sub-foruns and from what I read, I think it is a potential resource to use if you’re in an SAP HCM/HR project implementation. You can start by the “SAP End-to-End Implementation” and look into the Free Demo and the existing topics. For sure that we need to think before buying any content, even for just 1$. But, as I said, I think this is a starting off website and forum and in my opinion, it has a good growing potential. It’s really up to us SAP gurus to push it up .

What is your opinion on this new resource? Please comment!

First of all, and for the beginners’ sake, I want to start by defining what is a SAP Support Package. In the same context, it is also important to understand what is a SAP Online Support System (OSS) Note. On a normal day, in the more than 140.000 SAP system installations worldwide, errors occur within these systems. Normally business critical situations happen less frequently but since SAP is composed by several pieces of software designed by humans, divided into Application Areas or Modules, there are quite a few bugs, errors and misconceptions which go through to clients’ live systems.

So SAP provides a support portal on which clients can report these situations, categorizing them accordingly and assigning them with a different priority (most frequent are medium and high). The way these tickets are dealt with is also according to the type of agreement the company has with SAP – the bigger SAP clients usually have little response time. But they pay for it.

The so called Online Support System – OSS – is the system SAP uses to manage these tickets and interaction flow with the Clients.

SAP Notes

When an identified issue is considered by SAP as a software defect, it will be solved by change of code, table configuration, etc, and it’s correction will be issued by SAP in the form of a SAP Note. SAP notes are an excellent way to keep our systems up to date with SAP so it’s a common task for a SAP Basis administrator to make sure the systems he works on are aligned with the most current versions implemented. Typically, large companies have predefined dates on which they apply what we’ll cover on the next point – the Support Packages.

SAP Support Packages

SAP Support Packages are bundles or collections of SAP notes (typical volume of grouped notes is 200). They’re also referred to as “Support Pack (SP)”. Support Packages are compiled periodically and are a set of SAP applications or specific components which are made available in the SAP Support Portal. SPs can be implemented using basis transaction codes like SPAM (Support Package Manager) or SAINT (SAP Add-On Installation Tool). For the JAVA stack of WAS a tool called Java Support Package Manager (JSPM) is used for SP deployment. So it is already clear that as a Basis Administrator, you will have to deal with the ABAP Stack (for the backend) and the JAVA Stack (for the front-end).

Before starting with the Support Package Stack (SPS) upgrade, please make sure to cover the following points:

1. Ensure that a full back of the system up has been performed.
2. Read thoroughly the related SAP documentation. I recommend that start by reading the standard SAP documentation available in the SAP Support.
3. Lock all SAP users except the ones used for the upgrade during the entire process.
4. Ensure that the front-end server is in the correct version of the JAVA runtime environment.
5. Ensure that you have the correct patching on the Oracle database.
6. You should also have a complete check-list of whatever cut-over activities you’ll need to perform after the SP upgrade. A Z developments inventory is also a good idea.

Preparation and organization play a critical part in this process!

On my next post I’ll describe the Support Package Upgrade process step by step, covering the SPAM execution, the ABAP Stack, the JAVA Stack and the Kernel Upgrade.

Please comment and visit SAPLAB.org for the rest of the series. Thanks!

Please comment on this post, ask away, share you knowledge and experience – it’ll be highly appreciated!

1. What is SAP?
2. The History of SAP
3. Which Solutions are included in the SAP Portfolio?
4. What are the main components of the SAP ERP Solution?
5. What is the SAP NetWeaver Platform?
6. What are the NetWeaver Components?
7. What are the SAP Business Suite Components?
8. What are the Most Recent Releases and Versions of the SAP R/3 Solution?
9. What Industry Solutions (IS) are Available from SAP?
10. What are SAP xApps?
11. What are the SAP xApps Components?
12. What is Duet?
13. What is the SAP Document Builder?
14. What is SAP Solution Manager?
15. What is SAP Business One?

1. What is SAP?

SAP stands for German “Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte der Dataenverarbeitung,” meaning “Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing”. SAP was founded in 1972 with its still existing headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. SAP is a multi billion dollar company and the global market leader in Business software. SAP employs around 50,000 employees worldwide, with more than 140,000 system installations in about 120 countries. More than 12 million people use SAP on a daily basis. And there are more than 20 industry-specific “Industry Solutions”, known commonly as “IS” (e.g. IS-Oil, IS-Retail, IS-Bank, etc.).

2. The History of SAP

• SAP GmbH was founded in 1972 (Germany) by five former IBM employees. Their challenge was to develop a standard business application software, with the goal of processing business information in real-time.
• During 1973, the company released its first financial accounting software, “R1″ (the letter “R” stands for “Real-Time Processing”).
• In the late 70s, SAP “R/2″ was released with IBM’s database and a dialogue-oriented business application.
• R/2 was stabilized during the early 80s and the company came out with a version capable of processing business transactions in several languages and currencies, to meet the needs of their already growing international clients.
• In 1988, SAP GmbH became SAP AG. The “new” company then established subsidiaries in countries such as the United States, Sweden, Denmark, and Italy.
• The early 90s saw the introduction of SAP “R/3″, introducing the client-server architecture and GUI, which ran on almost any database, and on most operating systems. SAP R/3 brought a new concept, moving from a “main frame” to a 3-tier architecture (Data layer > Application Layer > Interface layer).
• In the beginning of 1996, the company had already more than 9,000 installations worldwide. On the verge of turning the 2k year, SAP had introduced the e-commerce enabled mySAP suite of products for leveraging ever-growing web technology.
• SAP began the twenty-first century with the Enterprise Portal and role-based access to business information.
• SAP continued to grow and innovate, bringing new technologies to business-information processing.
• SAP introduced SAP NetWeaver, the underlying technology framework, which still is based on Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA) with application integration across diverse platforms for providing one-stop end-to-end business processing. With NetWeaver, companies can now integrate people, information, and processes.
• The future will tell the tendencies but it is a fact that SAP leads innovating initiatives is areas like Mobile, SOA, BPM and Self-Services, across several SAP Application Areas.

3. Which Solutions are included in the SAP Portfolio?

Currently, SAP Solutions include the following:

• SAP ERP
• SAP Business Suite
• SAP R/3 and R/3 Enterprise (v. 4.6 and 4.7)
• SAP for Industries
• SAP xApps
• SAP Solution Manager

4. What are the main components of the SAP ERP Solution?

• SAP ERP Central Component (ECC 6.0)
• SAP SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management) (SEM 6.0)
• SAP cProject Suite (Project and Portfolio Management 4.0)
• SAP SRM for ERP (SRM 5.0)
• SAP Catalog Content Management (CCM 2.0 for ERP 2004)
• SAP Internet Sales for ERP

5. What is the SAP NetWeaver Platform?

The SAP NetWeaver platform enables organizations to build new business solutions and processes rapidly, while taking off added business value from existing IT investments. SAP NetWeaver is a technology framework which bridges the several SAP components. It supports new cross-functional business processes and helps to lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by reducing the need for custom integration. It offers a complete life cycle management for all of the Client’s applications. It is also the foundation for Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA) and helps orchestrate people, information, and business processes across the organization.

6. What are the NetWeaver Components?

By enabling a seamless integration and allowing the integration of the Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA), SAP NetWeaver unifies business processes across different systems, integrating applications for employees as needed, and accessing information easily in a structured manner.

The SAP NetWeaver components are the following:

• Security
• People Integration
  • Multi-channel Access
  • Portal
  • Collaboration
• Information Integration
  • Business Intelligence (BI)
• BI (Business Intelligence) Content
  • Knowledge Management (KM)
  • Master Data Management (MDM)
• Process Integration (PI, former XI)
  • Integration Broker
  • Business Process Management (BPM)
• Application Platform
  • Java
  • ABAP
  • Business Services
  • Connectivity
  • DB and OS Abstraction
  • SAP Knowledge Warehouse
• Life Cycle Management
  • Customizing
  • Software Change Management
  • System Management

7. What are the SAP Business Suite Components?

• SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
  • SAP Catalog Content Management (SRM-MDM)
• SAP Product Life Cycle Management
  • SAP Environment, Health, and Safety
  • SAP PLM Recipe Management
  • Audit Management
• SAP Compliance Management for SOA
  • Management of Internal controls
• SAP Learning Solution
• SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM)

8. What are the Most Recent Releases and Versions of the SAP R/3 Solution?

Since the launch of version ERP 5.0 (or ECC 5.0 or mySAP 2004), SAP abandoned for good the R/3 concept. Of course maintenance is possible however no longer on an extended period but only customer specific contracts. The latest R/3 releases were:

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Release 4.70 (partially based on SAP NetWeaver)
• SAP R/3 Release 4.6C/4.6B/4.5B/4.0B

9. What Industry Solutions (IS) are Available from SAP?

There are several Industry Solutions available from SAP in several forms:

• SAP for Aerospace and Defense
• SAP for Automotive
• SAP for Banking
• SAP for Consumer Products
• SAP Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable
• SAP for Defense and Security
• SAP for Engineering, Construction and Operations
• SAP for Financial Service Providers
• SAP for Healthcare
• SAP for Higher Education and Research
• SAP for High Tech
• SAP for Insurance
• SAP for Media
• SAP for Mill Products
• SAP for Mining
• SAP for Oil and Gas
• SAP for Professional Services
• SAP for Public Sectors
• SAP for Retail
• SAP for Telecommunications
• SAP for Utilities
• SAP for Wholesale Distribution

Please also read the available SAP Application Areas.

10. What are SAP xApps?

The SAP xApps family of composite applications enable business innovation and provides flexibility to respond quickly to business changes. xApps allow clients to extend the value of their core business investments and maximize the return on strategic assets: employees, knowledge, products, business relationships, and IT.

SAP and SAP certified partners deliver these composite applications pre-bundled. They clients drive their specific business processes and focus on the needs of a variety of industries.

All these applications combine Web services and data coming from multiple systems in an application design made possible by the SAP Composite Application Framework (CAF) within the SAP NetWeaver technology platform. This framework includes the methodology, tools, and run-time environment to develop composite applications.

11. What are the SAP xApps Components?

• Duet
• SAP Document Builder
• SAP Global Trade Services
• SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence
• SAP xApp Resource and Portfolio Management
• SAP xApp Product Definition
• SAP xApp Cost and Quotation Management
• SAP xApp Integrated Exploration and Production
• SAP xApp Sales and Operations Planning

12. What is Duet?

Duet is a product result of a partnership between SAP and Microsoft. It enables enables users to easily and quickly interact with SAP business processes and data via their familiar Microsoft Office environment. It is the first joint product created by these two industry leaders and is designed to revolutionize how IT workers interact with enterprise applications.
Duet aims to enable:

• Budget Monitoring: Schedule time-critical alerts and notifications to monitor cost centers or internal orders, which are delivered directly to Microsoft Outlook.
• Demand Planning: Create and use planning sheets, as well as analyze and manage demand planning data from the SAP System using Microsoft Excel.
• Duet Reporting: Schedule reports to be delivered regularly to Microsoft Outlook, receive individual reports on an as-needed basis, and view reports in Microsoft Excel.
• Leave Management: Add leave requests as Microsoft Outlook calendar items that integrate approval guidelines in the SAP System and enterprise-defined processes.
• Sales Management: Manage CRM accounts and contacts, create business activities, and access sales analytics information using Microsoft Outlook.
• Team Management: Access up-to-date information about yourself and employees, open positions, and organizational structures that are integrated from the SAP System into the Microsoft Outlook contacts area.
• Time Management: Record time in the Microsoft Outlook calendar, streamlining time entry while ensuring time-reporting compliance in the SAP System.
• Travel Management: Create a travel request and a travel expense report in the SAP System using Microsoft Outlook.

Even though there was a great buzz over this new and apparently revolutionary framework, Duet didn’t have the success that was announced. Instead, earlier in 2009 SAP announced a new partnership with IBM, read about it here: Alloy: SAP’s twosome with IBM.

13. What is the SAP Document Builder?

SAP Document Builder’ (CA-GTF-DOB) is a content-driven and cross-application solution for building and delivering complex documents. It can be deployed within international organizations and large corporations to generate contract and bid invitation documents, banking-related documents, auto insurance policies, real estate contracts, and corporate employment policies.

It is possible to deploy SAP Document Builder as a standalone application or integrate it with other SAP or non-SAP components.

The SAP Document Builder supports companies by:

• Automating and streamlining the document-creation process.
• Enforcing best practices.
• Building documents that reflect company-specific styles and formats from one or more regulation sets.
• Determining inclusion or exclusion of clauses based on legal regulations by means of rules.

14. What is SAP Solution Manager?<

SAP Solution Manager provides a central access to tools, methods, and pre-configured content, throughout the life cycle of solutions—from Business Blueprint to Configuration to Support.

Sokution Manager includes:

• Implementation/Upgrade of SAP Solutions
  • Central access to Project Tools
  • Central management of Project Information (Roadmap, System Landscape, Documentation, etc.)
  • Enables comparing/synchronizing customizing in several SAP components
• Solution Monitoring
  • Central System Administration
  • System Landscape Analysis with System Level Reporting
  • Real-time System Monitoring
  • Business Process Monitoring
• Services and Support
  • Access to programs/services for monitoring and optimizing system performance and availability to minimize risks.
• Service Desk
  • Solution Support through Work Flow to create and manage Process/Problem Messages.
• Change Management
  • Trace and audit system changes and transports through Change Request Management.

15. What is SAP Business One?

SAP Business One is the low-cost, easy-to-implement business management solution from SAP for small and medium Enterprises (SME). Unlike the standard ERP software, this solution enables managers with access to real-time information through one single system containing financial, customer relationship management, manufacturing, and management control funcionalities. The solution empowers managers to make better and quicker business decisions. Bundled with a user-friendly interface, SAP Business One serves as the client’s central ERP hub with standard interfaces (internal and external data sources), handheld computers, CRM applications, among others.

SAP Business One is based on the Microsoft Windows platform making it easier to install and maintain. The application comes with a demo company, which can be used by the client to become familiar with it and use it for testing and ramp up sessions.
The modules of SAP Business One include:

• Administration
• Financials
• Sales Opportunities
• Sales – A/R
• Purchasing – A/P
• Business Partners
• Banking
• Inventory
• Production
• MRP
• Service
• Human Resources
• Reporting