This document provides architectural recommendations for structuring and implementing composite applications. It does not focus on specific technologies like Business Process Management (BPM), Web Dynpro, or the Composite Application Framework (CAF), for example. Instead, it is intended to answer questions about how to structure a composite overall and what to consider when designing composite applications.

Authors: Andrey Hoursanov, Bernhard Drabant, Bogdan Vatkov, Emil Simeonov, Erik Dick, Jens Ittel, Kesavaprakash Vasudevan, Matthias Steiner, Nikolay Kabadzhov, Penka Tatarova, Ulf Fildebrandt, Ulrich Keil, Volker Stiehl, Prasanna Kumar Reddy, Harald Schubert, from SAP AG.

I’m a really big fan of keeping track on SCN’s (SAP Community Network) blogs. For sure that all of them have their own usefulness, but every now and then there is one that stands out. For many, speaking of SOA is still a big grey area. On other hand, for others, it is already a clear picture. If you’re like me, you want to keep an eye on SOA and keep up with it’s evolution, references, tendencies, etc.; you may also want to clarify a doubt that comes up within your already existing SOA knowledge. If you’re into SOA, trust me, this post is for you.

This post covers different SOA terms and references grouped by:

• Market Changes
• Market Trends
• Strategic Direction
• SOA Scenarios
• Architecture
• SOA Frameworks in the Network

Hope you enjoy it!

Click here to view Ulf Fildebrandt’s blog on SCN

No related posts found

SAP is probably the world’s leading supplier of process automation technology. Over half of the world’s business transactions, involving 12 Million users in 120 countries, touch one of 140,000 SAP systems – but is only recently making a full entry into the BPM arena. The applications in SAP’s Business Suite, such as ERP and CRM, already automate the majority of its customers’ core process logic, and in doing so deliver both efficiency and standardization.

But BPM is just as much about business-IT alignment, linking strategy to execution and governance to business integration, as it is about process automation. SAP recognizes this, and its approach to BPM must harmonize these new dimensions with its customers’ substantial existing investment in process automation via the SAP Business Suite. In that sense, the company’s BPM strategy differs from that of a pureplay BPM technology vendor or a SOA middleware supplier. SAP offers a set of mutually reinforcing BPM building blocks that leverage existing customer investment while providing a unification roadmap for the future.

(Source: text extracted from the official SAP Netweaver BPM Whitepaper)

Below are a list of 10 BPM Frequently Asked Questions. Please comment on them, it will be highly appreciated! Thanks!

1. How to assign users to a task instance

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Navigate to the affected task instance.
• Switch to the ‘Owners’ tab in the details.
• Add one user by clicking ‘Nominate’.

2. How to check if a Web service is reachable

• First of all make sure that the providing system is up and running.

then

• Check by WSDL
  • Log on to the WS Navigator as a system administrator (http://host:port/wsnavigator).
  • Search for Service Interfaces by WSDL.
  • Copy the WSDL URL into the input box & click ‘Next’.
  • Select the correct operation & click ‘Next’.
  • Specify the input parameters & click ‘Next’.
  • Optional: Specify correct credentials if prompted for.
  • Check if the result is returned correctly or if some error messages were supplied by the back end.

or

• Check by Logical Destination:
  • Log on to the WS Navigator as a system administrator (http://host:port/wsnavigator).
  • Search for Service Interfaces by Logical Destination (the one used in the Automated Activity).
  • Select the correct one & hit ‘Next’.
  • Select the correct operation & hit ‘Next’.
  • Specify the input parameters & hit ‘Next’.
  • Optional: Specify correct credentials if prompted for.
  • Check if the result is returned correctly or if some error messages were supplied by the back end.

3. How to check if SAP NetWeaver BPM is up and running

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Go to the ‘Process Troubleshooting’ (SAP NetWeaver Administrator » Problem Management » Processes & Tasks » Process Troubleshooting).
• Check if components are marked as missing.
  • To check the services in details:
    • Go to ‘Start & Stop Services’ (navigation via ‘Related Links’ available).
    • Filter for ‘Galaxy’ and check if all (4) services are started properly. If not try (re-)starting them.
    • If the services cannot be started check the trace for reasons.
  • To check if the applications are started:
    • Switch to ‘Java EE Applications’.
    • Filter for ‘glx’ and check if all applications (except *.dbschema) are up running. If not try (re-)starting them.
    • If the applications cannot be started check the trace for reasons.

4. How to check the default trace

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Go to the ‘Log Viewer’ (SAP NetWeaver Administrator » Problem Management » Logs & Traces » Log Viewer).
• Open the ‘Default Trace’.
• Filter for the timeframe when the issue had happened.
• Look / Search for entries related to ‘com.sap.glx’ or ‘com.sap.bpem’.
• In case the reported entry did not provide enough information to solve the problem and / or the trace entry looks like a defect in the application consider opening a message

Hint: If nothing was found try increasing the log level and try to redo the action. Finally check again.

5. How to check the service group configuration

There are currently two comprehensive documents dealing with SOA configuration, the official documentation and an introduction document explaining the concepts and the relations between the different entities. Make use of the resource in order to configure your service correctly:

• Configuring Web Services and Web Service Clients in the SAP NetWeaver Administrator (CE 7.11 documentation)
• The New SOA Configuration Approach (by Alexander Zubev)

6. How to check the UWL connector configuration

• Log on to the Portal as a system administrator (http://host:port/irj)
• Go to the ‘Universal Worklist – Administration’ (Portal » System Administration » System Configuration » Universal Worklist & Workflow » Universal Worklist – Administration)
• Check if the table contains an entry of type ‘BPEMUWLConnector’ and if the corresponding system (which is configured for the entry) is up and running.

See also in the SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment Library, Configuring the UWL for BPM Tasks.

Hint: If the connector is not part of this list then it was not automatically added during installation of SAP NetWeaver BPM.

7. How to configure roles

• Log on to the User Management as a system administrator (http://host:port/useradmin).
• Search for the user(s) to be configured.
• Once found, select one entry and choose ‘Modify’.
• In the details, go to the ‘Roles’ tab.
• On the left side, search for the role, select it and add it to the set of assigned roles.
• Save the changes.

Typical roles used in BPEM are:

• Every User Role (accessing UWL)
• BPEM End User Role (BPEM UIs)
• SAP BPM Navigation (SAP NetWeaver Administrator)
• SAP BPM SuperDisplay (SAP NetWeaver Administrator)
• SAP BPM SuperAdmin (SAP NetWeaver Administrator)

See also in the SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment Library, Authorizations and Roles.

8.How to find tasks recently created

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Go to the ‘Process Repository’ (SAP NetWeaver Administrator » Configuration Management » Processes & Tasks » Process Repository).
• Select the component in which the task is located.
• Select the version of the process recently started which should have created the task instance.
• Click on the name of the task definition. Due to contextual navigation this will bring you to ‘Manage Tasks’ filtered by the task definition.

or

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Navigate to the process started recently.
• Select the process instance and click on ‘Show Tasks’ in the toolbar.

or

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Go to the ‘Manage Tasks’ (SAP NetWeaver Administrator » Operation Management » Processes & Tasks » Manage Tasks).
• Use one of the predefined filters and check if your task is part of the list.
• Expand the search box for tasks (2nd icon in the toolbar).
• Click on ‘Advanced’.
• Filter for tasks with:
  • ‘created from/to’ = today
  • ‘lifecycle’ = all
  • ‘status’ = all
  • ‘priority’ = all

9. How to increase the trace level

• Log on to the SAP NetWeaver Administrator as a system administrator (http://host:port/nwa).
• Go to the ‘Log Configuration’ (SAP NetWeaver Administrator » Problem Management » Logs & Traces » Log Configuration).
• Switch to ‘Trace Locations’.
• Select the node ‘com.sap.glx’ and/or ‘com.sap.bpem’.
• Set the trace level to ‘Debug’ or ‘Info’.
• Select ‘Apply to sub-nodes’.

10. How to start a process out of Web Dynpro?

Once a process is deployed it exposes itself as a web service (so called ‘web service provisioning’). Thus you could import this web service model into the Web Dynpro project and execute it like any other web service. As a result a new process instance will be started off with each successful web service request.

More information on https://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwce711/helpdata/en/62/a6d7ac03994e0796c6b949c8952547/frameset.htm

No related posts found

Bruce Silver’s latest white paper on SAP NetWeaver BPM explains “SAP’s place in the BPM landscape and describes its new offering in that arena”.  This paper highlights the challenge on how to provide end-to-end business processes that go beyond organizational and geographical boundaries.

SAP is perhaps the world’s leading supplier of process automation technology – over half of the world’s business transactions, involving 12 Million users in 120 countries, touch one of 140,000 SAP systems – but is only now making a full entry into the BPM arena. The applications in SAP’s Business Suite, such as ERP and CRM, already automate the majority of its customers’ core process logic, and in doing so deliver both efficiency and standardization. But BPM is just as much about business-IT alignment, linking strategy to execution and governance to business integration, as it is about process automation. SAP recognizes this, and its approach to BPM must harmonize these new dimensions with its customers’ substantial existing investment in process automation via the SAP Business Suite. In that sense, the company’s BPM strategy differs from that of a pureplay BPM technology vendor or a SOA middleware supplier. SAP offers a set of mutually reinforcing BPM building blocks that leverage existing customer investment while providing a unification roadmap for the future.

Originally code-named “Galaxy,” SAP NetWeaver BPM includes the following main components:

• Process Composer, a BPMN-based modeling and executable design tool, part of the NetWeaver Composition Environment
• Process Server, the JEE-based runtime execution engine. Unlike the orchestration engines of some of SAP’s competitors, SAP’s process server is BPMN-native, so that flow semantics are not lost in translation between modeling and execution. Avoiding the notorious “roundtripping problem” is critical to business-IT alignment.
• Process Desk, the process runtime user environment within the NetWeaver Portal supporting dynamic role-based views.

White paper’s main topics include:

• What is BPM? (linking strategy & execution)
• Standardize, Integrate, Innovate
• Role of the Business Process Expert (BPX)
• Core and Edge Processes
• Understanding the Core Processes
• Extending and Integrating
• Composing Edge Processes
• BPM in the NetWeaver Platform
• A Closer Look at NetWeaver BPM
• Modeling

Click here to download the full white paper

Additional links and resources

• Bruce Silver’s BPMN Article Series