At a time where the SCN website is due to have a clean face, SAP employee and SAP mentor Mark Finnern delights us, yet again, with a highly useful post titled “Top 25 SCN Blogs of all Time“. In case you have missed it, here is your opportunity to know which are the most popular SAP SCN weblogs, of all time. This ranking has been produced taking in consideration the number of user views, counted on the last 8 years. So these are the most viewed weblogs, which obviously reflect which SAP subjects users are more interested in.

Mark Finnern also adds a few observations that sustain this thorough list:

Wow there are some well known names and some surprises in the list, not the least the number one blog post by Steffen Weber. With 178K almost twice as many hits as the famous often updated originaly named XI FAQ post by Michal Krawczyk. Looks like the Excel Macro File referenced in Steffen’s blog post does come really handy. Congratulations Steffen for having written the most viewed post of the last 8 years.

I have to smile seeing that Michal’s XI/PI FAQ post is #2. I had long discussion with him why this kind of content should be moved to a wiki page so that everyone can improve it. His argument is that you need a curator, otherwise the quality isn’t there. Number of views he got is proofing his point, comments of certain links not working anymore can be counted for the wiki camp, but this is not the blog post to bring up that argument again, but to celebrate the top blog posts of SCN.

Thomas Jung can ad the title Master of SCN blogging to the long list of his career achievements, as 6 of his posts are in the top 25. I am always at awe seeing the beauty and quality of his posts. I remember the early beginnings when Brain McKellar nudged him after seeing his excellent BSP forum answers to post blogs. I am so glad he did oh and we miss Brian on SCN.

Love it that a Crystal Report post by Blair Wheadon is #5. It is a beautiful proof, that the BOBJ community has found a home on SCN. Being posted only 2 years ago in December 2009 it is also the youngest blog post on the list. Really amazing that it is on rank #5 already. Well done Blair.

Just wow that there are still 3 Roberto Negro posts in this top 25 list. He used to dominate the BW space, as it was called back in the mid 2000s. He moved on and is unfortunately not working in the SAP space anymore. Really bummed that he nver made it to a TechEd, or at least I don’t remember. I hope the hammock he once offered me is still standing somewhere in Italy waiting for me to relax in. Roberto we really miss you here, please come back.

Manfred Lutz and Ingo Hilgefort are the other two bloggers that have more than one post in the list. We have over 3000 SCNers who have written at least one post, To be in the top 25 is quite the achievement. Thank you all for putting the effort in.

Top 25 SCN Blogs of all Time

1. SAP NetWeaver Portal Reporting for Collaboration Rooms
This Blog describes how to create consolidated and ordered reports out of standard SAP NetWeaver Portal collaboration room raw data files.
Steffen Weber in Knowledge Management (KM), Standards, SAP NetWeaver Platform

2. XI/PI FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Exchange Infrastructure – Frequently Asked Questions
Michal_Krawczyk_PIXI in SAP Process Integration (PI)

3. Sending E-Mail from ABAP – Version 610 and Higher – BCS Interface
Yesterday I posted a weblog on how to send E-Mails from ABAP in releases <= 46D using the API functions. Today we are going to look at releases >= 610 and the BCS Interface.
Thomas Jung in ABAP, Application Server

4. Web Dynpro ABAP Demonstration Videos
Web Dynpro, with its strong graphical modeling environment, provides an interesting challenge for authors of all types of written materials on the subject. Often videos can fill that gap. This weblog describes several hours of newly released Web Dynpro ABAP videos.
Thomas Jung in ABAP, Beginner, Enterprise Portal (EP), Web Dynpro

5. Crystal Reports in Visual Studio 2010
An overview of how Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 customers will receive Crystal Reports.
Blair Wheadon in SAP Crystal Reports, Interoperability .NET

6. New Blog Series: ABAP Trial Version for Newbies
New Blog Series: ABAP Trial Version for Newbies With the new build of the SAP NetWeaver 2004s ABAP Trial Version (SP11), we in SAP NetWeaver Product Management are eager to introduce, through a series of blogs, SAP ABAP technology to those with limited ABAP experience.
Manfred Lutz in ABAP, Application Server, Beginner, Web Dynpro

7. BusinessObjects and SAP Part I
This is Part I of a series on BusinessObjects and SAP products.
Ingo Hilgefort in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Business Process Expert

8. How do you activate ABAP Proxies?
Have you got the error message “Unable to connect to the Integration Builder, when you are trying to create a ABAP PROXY from a R/3 system? This blog show the steps to be executed to make sure you are able to build ABAP Proxies.
vijaya kumari in SAP Process Integration (PI)

9. SAP NetWeaver 7.0 – Java and ABAP Trial Version on Linux – VMware Edition – Tips & Tricks
Here you find the required steps missed out in the official Documentation. How to get the Application Server running, install the License and connect from Windows.
Gregor Wolf in ABAP, SAP NetWeaver Platform

10. BSP a Developer’s Journal Part XIV – Consuming WebServices with ABAP
In this BSP Developer’s Journal we once again look at a technology that just does ride on the edge of the BSP environment. We look at how we can call WebServices with ABAP.
Thomas Jung in Business Server Pages, ABAP, Application Server

11. LOGISTIC COCKPIT DELTA MECHANISM – Episode one: V3 Update, the ‘serializer’
This is the first episode of a series (of three) concernig delta mechanism in the Logistic Cockpit for BW. Here you can find a short overview examining the conception and technical background of delta extraction related to logistic flows towards BW system by using the Serialized V3 Update.
Roberto Negro in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse

12. Basic ABAP OO eLearnings
I frequently receive requests for learning materials on basic ABAP Object Oriented concepts. In response I have created a 5 part eLearning series that is intended to be accessible to anyone just starting out with ABAP OO.
Thomas Jung in ABAP, Beginner, Business Server Pages, Web Dynpro

13. Troubleshoot the SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI Frontend Installation
This aim of this blog is to discuss how to configure your browser parameters as well as discuss how to install the latest SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI Frontend Components. Keep in mind that it is always best to keep your frontend patches up to do date. This article covers most of the issues I’ve seen when working with different browsers and frontend components specifically related to installation of frontend components.
Prakash Darji in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Enterprise Portal (EP)

14. LOGISTIC COCKPIT – WHEN YOU NEED MORE – First option: enhance it !
Through this weblog we will go on in our tour around the logistic data extraction world: after having familiarized with the data flows that the system can run for every available update methods in LBWE and before approaching all the other extraction mechanisms managed by SAP Business Warehouse, now it’s necessary facing this question: what’s happen if a standard logistic datasource (and its related information set) is not enough for our needs ?
Roberto Negro in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse

15. Web Dynpro ABAP exercises from TechEd 2007
For those who are looking to improve their Web Dynpro ABAP skills, here is the content of the hands-on session for Web Dynpro ABAP at TechEd 2007. Based on the ESM (Enterprise Sales Model), the exercises are structured so that the result of one task forms the foundation for the next exercise. The download contains all required objects, the ESM data generator, the example solutions, the templates, and the document ‘CD255 Developing User Interfaces with Web Dynpro ABAP’. All you need is a local installation of the latest ABAP Trial Version.
Manfred Lutz in ABAP, Application Server, Web Dynpro

16. Gravity – Collaborative Business Process Modelling within Google Wave
Gravity is a prototype developed by SAP Research in Brisbane, Australia and SAP NetWeaver Development providing real-time, cloud-based collaborative business process modelling within Google Wave. Google Wave is Google’s new real-time collaboration platform that combines features of e-mail, social networking, wikis and instant messaging in one integrated browser-based client.
Alexander Dreiling in Service-Oriented Architecture, Business Process Expert, Business Process Management, Business Process Modeling, Business Rules Management, Composition Environment (CE), Consumer Products, Insurance, Interoperability, SAP NetWeaver Platform, SAP Research, Enterprise Social Systems

17. Update Your ABAP Development Skills to SAP NetWeaver 7.0
If the title of this blog sounds familiar, then chances are good that you have attended session CD251 at one of the TechEds this year. Now find out how some of the core content of this TechEd Session has been made available as an Online SDN E-Learning.
Thomas Jung in ABAP, Service-Oriented Architecture, SAP Process Integration (PI), SAP TechEd, Web Dynpro

18. BusinessObjects and SAP – Installation and Configuration Part 1 of 4
In this blog series I am describing the steps that are required to install and configure the BusinessObjects solution on top of a SAP BI system (Part #1).
Ingo Hilgefort in Analytics, Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Community Day, ERP, SAP NetWeaver Platform, SAP TechEd

19. ABAP Proxies in XI(Client Proxy)
The other way of interfacing XI is through proxies. From WAS 6.20, proxy generation feature enables application systems to communicate with XI using proxies. Proxy generation enables you to create proxies in application systems. Proxies encapsulate the creation or parsing of XML messages and the communication with the relevant runtime components required to send or receive the messages.
Ravikumar Allampallam in SAP Process Integration (PI)

20. Generic Extraction via Function Module
Short overview about the extraction api, using custom defined function modules.
Siegfried Szameitat in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse

21. Aspirant to learn SAP XI…You won the Jackpot if you read this!-Part I
My inbox is flooding with many mails soliciting the direction to start their career into SAP XI. I am too lethargic to reply for everyone as it is a bit lengthy process to explicate it in a mail. You can ask me, Why am blogging so late? I told you already am lazy to pen lengthy stuff:)…But…One day I got a mail from an graduate student asking me to guide him…!!….Alas! Iam amazed and impressed with that mail….I guess SDN Community has accomplished its goal in global marketing and inspiring all sorts of people across the globe……Kuddos to SDN!…
Sravya Talanki in SAP Process Integration (PI)

22. LOGISTIC COCKPIT DELTA MECHANISM – Episode three: the new update methods
This third episode describes in detail all the elements required to help make an aware selection of the right new update method (after the serialized V3 update mechanism replacement) for the applications related to the Logistic Cockpit.
Roberto Negro in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse

23. Http* Errors in XI
There are many forum discussions about Http Errors. This blog is collective information about most common HTTP errors occurring during XI implementations and possible tips to solve the problems.
Krishna Moorthy P in SAP Process Integration (PI)

24. SAP’s definitive strategy for planning technologies moving forward: What’s the word on BPC, BI-IP and SRC?
This blog discuss SAP’s direction for planning products. It describes SAP’s official stance, and provides a bit more insight into Business Planning and Consolidation 7.0, version for SAP NetWeaver.
Ryan Leask in Analytics, Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Business Process Expert, Business Process Management, Business Process Modeling, Business Solutions, Enterprise Performance Management, SAP NetWeaver Platform

25. First steps to work with Change Request Management scenario
This blog describes how to create a test landscape to practice with the Charm scenario in Solution Manager 7.0 without creating interferences with real TMS landscapes. Also you will find tips and tricks for the common mistakes in the configuration of this scenario.
Dolores Correa in SAP Solution Manager

Many thanks again to Mark Finnern for this great contribution. Here is Mark’s career summary.

Mark Finnern is the Chief Community Evangelist of the SAP Community Network focusing on the SAP Mentor initiative. He is an SAP veteran, has implemented SAP FI/CO at many customers in Germany and the US. Was the co-inventor of the Pre-Configured Client (PCC), which at times was used by 90% of all US SAP customers to save implementation time. It evolved into SAP’s Best Practices and All-In-One offerings. He is the proud owner of a Traffic Monitoring System patent. Mark was the driving force behind community features of the SAP Community Network: Blogs, points recognition system, wiki, Community Day now Inside Track. Mark Finnern has a bachelor’s degree in Business oriented Computer Science from the Fachhochschule in Furtwangen Germany. He is also the founder and host of the Future Salon with its new tag line: Creating a world that works for all.

Source: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/27705

Jon Reed is widely known in the SAP community. Not only as a SAP mentor, but also as an independent analyst, blogger, tweeter and creator of (lots of) podcasts covering different SAP areas, with special focus on SAP trends and SAP careers. In 2010, Jon Reed embraced another new project, as Editor in Chief of The ERP Executive – Panaya’s Magazine for SAP Managers. Recently, Jon and partner-in-video-crime Dennis Howlett launched JD-OD.com – a video commentary web site for the on-demand enterprise. Jon is also an Enterprise Irregular (more on Jon Reed’s full profile).

As SAPLAB.org owner and blogger, I take this opportunity to thank Jon Reed for his availability to answer some questions and contribute, yet again, with rich content for the SAP community.

SAPLAB: Jon, it seems that you’re a natural entrepreneur and that your scope within the SAP world never stops growing. How did this all start?

JON REED: It first started as an SAP recruiter. Actually, I was a failed Lotus Notes recruiter. I became a recruiter because I felt I didn’t understand sales, it was the one area of small business management that I had not faced. I took a commission-only recruiting job with the chance to build a whole IT recruiting division. But: I really struggled for a while there. Eventually I discovered SAP and with some hard work and lots of luck, I put some people to work. I went on to build an ERP recruiting practice, but maybe the biggest thing, looking back now, is that I started publishing an email career newsletter for SAP professionals. There are a couple of lessons there: first, I had no idea about SAP when I started writing it, but was very determined. Second, I pursued the newsletter because it played to my journalistic strengths. Playing to your strengths is a key lesson for any entrepreneur. In 1996, I helped launch one of the first ERP web sites. Nowadays, we talk about the strategic importance of having great content. Back then it was just my determination to succeed and pay off my student loans.

SAPLAB: What SAP areas do you think are worth investing reading and learning in the short, medium and long term?

JON REED: Every SAP professional needs an area of focused expertise. Having said that, it’s important to understand the intersections between “transactional ERP” and “next generation ERP,” which I would classify as the long and difficult journey towards the “intelligent enterprise.” Companies still haven’t gotten enough value from their ERP investments, but I think it’s a fair argument that ERP tied into BI, in-memory, and strategic cloud and mobile extensions can help to bring that value. Understanding those trends is important. In particular, learning how to integrate technical-know how with an ability to solve business problems is essential for any SAP professional. I don’t care whether you’re a developer or a Financials consultant, that advice stands.

SAPLAB: You’ve written several posts referring what you call “SAP Hot Areas” or “SAP Hot Skills”, which we had the privilege to quote in SAPLAB.org in post “Are you SAP hot skilled?”. If you had to revisit these skills today, what would be your list of topics?

JON REED: I’m not sure that much has changed yet from those hot skills. Except perhaps even more BI. Having said that, two years from now we should see some VERY big differences, such as a demand for mobility, on-demand, BI (BusinessObjects) and in particular in-memory (HANA) related skills. However, many of these areas are still emerging (for example, NetWeaver Gateway and Sybase Unwired Platform 2.0 are both still in ramp-up), so we won’t see big job growth in these areas for a while. BI 4.0, the new Business Objects platform, should generate even more hiring in that SAP BW/BusinessObjects vein, but again, I see next year as a much bigger year for that as BI 4.0 is still in ramp-up also (though the GA is close).

SAPLAB: We keep receiving questions from readers regarding where to obtain high quality SAP certifications. Can you tell us a bit about the “certification five” and also your own view on certified SAP consultants VS non-certified SAP consultants?

JON REED: Well, there’s really only one form of certification in the SAP world, and that’s from SAP itself. Now, there are other training providers now offering “certification” if you pass their test at the end of a course, but SAP is still the gold standard for certification, nothing is really close. However, I would correct myself and say that SAP is the “bronze standard” because SAP’s own certification program is only a small part of what I believe it can be. My views on SAP certification are pretty widely known but in summary I don’t believe at this time SAP certification is a good differentiator for quality SAP consultants. Many of the best SAP consultants I know are either not certified or have expired certifications. You may have heard otherwise but that’s the fact. Field experience and “soft skills” are still way more important to SAP consulting success than being SAP certified. SAP is doing a nice job at the university level with certification. If you’re at that early level I strongly recommend the process-oriented TERP10 certification. I love what SAP did with TERP10 and I want to see that extended into more senior level courses. But aside from that, investment in SAP training and certification has to be considered in the context of an overall investment in your skills development that also includes books, trade shows, webinars, etc. People who think certification will land them an SAP job are naïve. The Certification Five, a group of five SAP Mentors of whom I am a part, formed because we believe passionately that SAP certification could eventually become that “gold standard” that provides a trusted benchmark for hiring managers and also a roadmap for all SAP professionals to aspire to. SAP Education has responded, and we’re moving ahead I with the formation of the Certification Influence Council – one of the C5’s core action items – which had its kickoff meeting this spring at SAPPHIRENOW. The CIC includes two members of the C5 (myself and Martin Gillet), as well as key customers, partners, and user group leaders (as well as SAP Education of course). We have had very good meetings so far but it must be said there is a very long way to go. The jury unfortunately is still out on where SAP certification is ultimately headed so I can only hope that we reach some consensus and move ahead aggressively. In particular I want to see the Master Level fully developed and re-instated to the three tiered SAP certification vision. I also want to see the Professional Level moved off of pure multiple choice to better validate field experience. Not everyone agrees with me but those are my views and I’m not backing down.

SAPLAB: What are your thoughts about SAP HANA?

JON REED: I have issued a couple of key podcasts on JonERP.com on this topic so I highly recommend checking them out as there is a lot to cover there. I love the vision of HANA because I think it has the potential to reduce the cost of ownership for SAP customers while providing a huge amount of increased business value. The long term vision of HANA might even mean the ultimate reunion of OLTP and OLAP systems for customers which could be extremely powerful. Even BW running on HANA could be a major step, and SAP says there could be some ramp-up there by the end of this year. Having said that, HANA concerns me because I believe that many in the marketplace have bought into the hype that HANA is ready now to have some huge impact. I’m sure SAP will be irritated that I say this, but I don’t believe HANA is ready yet to have that impact. I see it as an early stage product, not unlike the early releases of BW. I believe some harm may be caused by the overhyping of HANA versus the reality on the ground. For example, most people didn’t realize that almost every HANA customer featured in Hasso Plattner’s SAPPHIRENOW keynote was an early stage Proof of Concept (POC) customer, not a live productive use case. SAP has done an undeniably fantastic job creating buzz around HANA but now they need to find a way to deliver (or clarify the messaging into something more realistic) before they get a backlash from those who had huge expectations that HANA would do something right away. I’d like to see SAP talk a lot more about the practical use cases that are possible now. I was encouraged SAP did a podcast with me and some other Mentors to talk about exactly that. Right now there are indeed some interesting use cases for HANA that customers need to be more aware of, and I think that kind of talk is important, not just “game changing” hyperbole about what may someday be possible. I should say that I’m not alone here, I have talked with the leaders of many of the European user groups about this issue and they feel very similarly.

SAPLAB: We also have lots of beginners asking us for advice on where to obtain “proper” certified training in SAP. Some of them come to us disappointed with official training programs, looking for alternatives. I imagine this is a delicate topic to advise upon… You’d you like to like to comment?

JON REED: There is a wide variety of SAP training options out there. I do think SAP takes its SAP training seriously and they have worked hard to make it much more role-based, which is a practical improvement of some significant value. The big problem is that it’s not realistic for most people to take a couple weeks off for in-class training anymore. We need more flexible training models that include more on-demand learning, but also interactive on-demand that blends self-directed study with teacher interaction. SAP to its credit is well aware that on-demand is a big part of the future of training delivery, but there is quite a bit of work to do here. I think you have to be careful with your readers, and separate training and certification. If you want to be SAP certified, you should get that certification from SAP. That means likely you would take the class from SAP too, as you likely won’t pass the exam if you don’t take the training that is linked to the exam. I’d like to see SAP issue more exam preparation materials for experienced consultants. Other SAP training firms have started to provide their own “certification” as they say, but let’s be honest, these currently have limited market value beyond the pride you might feel for completion. As to the quality of training, I see it like anything else – you have to ask other customers and get references and then try to “buy smart” by investing in training that has worked out well for other students. I’m not going to recommend specific products here however.

SAPLAB: What advice would you give to an SAP beginner-to-be-consultant who’s overwhelmed by the SAP global dimension?

JON REED: Start small. Pick an area you are passionate about that seems to be in some demand in your region. Don’t pick an SAP specialty if you are not passionate about making a life becoming an expert in it. And cast a wide view, if you’re going to be an SAP programmer, for example, you should be passionate about development trends as a whole, not just with SAP.

SAPLAB: I have been enjoying a lot your new project JO-OD.com. How did the JO-OD.com project start? What was its main driver?

JON REED: Dennis Howlett approached me and said, “let’s do this,” and I said, pardon my language, “F*ck yeah!” For a few reasons. First, Dennis is a fantastic collaborator and a trusted friend. He’s also pretty darn good with video production and has taught me a lot there. I think he and I have some chemistry because while we agree on many things, we have our differences and have always been able to argue well and give each other a bit of a good-natured hard time in public and in private. This keeps us both honest and can make for some funny moments on video, like when I brought up StreamWork in our Sapphire Edge on Demand video and got an immediate visceral reaction from Dennis. Though Dennis is a well-known curmudgeon, I can be pretty grouchy as well. If one of us is over-excited about a technology the other can provide a corrective. That makes for a good banter I think. Obviously, the on-demand focus of the site matters, because “cloud” is a topic full of BS but also full of impact for today’s enterprise. There is much to dissect and many hype balloons to puncture. A main driver behind the project is that, first of all, video is a big part of the future of enterprise media. I continue to love podcasting and sharing the long-form conversations, but video is a different medium where more concise ideas can be vividly shared. The learning curve in video is steep but there is great opportunity to share moments that you can’t really capture any other way. Video coverage is particularly key at events. Dennis and I can set up a shoot quickly and grab a 15 minute video with a customer or executive and be on our way. Dennis and I both believe that too much of the video that is produced is, in a nutshell, vendor-sponsored crapola. We try to capture a more informal and honest discussion, and we think that’s where enterprise conversation needs to go – less spin, more unscripted moments. We’re really trying to emphasize customer views because that’s where the buck stops. As I see it, this kind of unfiltered content should help us make sense of the blazing speed of today’s tech developments, where a site like Google Plus can launch and have 10 million members in weeks. So far, JD-OD has been blowing out our video bandwidth limits each month, so maybe we are doing something right.

SAPLAB: Your website and blog is highly content driven and has been growing considerable in size. Any plans for the future?

JON REED: I don’t really plan things so much anymore, preferring to shoot from the hip based on what I see out there. I will say that the JonERP site will likely get a bit of a makeover in the next year to move to a more modern platform. My current platform is awfully fast and reliable but it’s time to move. I can tell you that my view on content creation has changed over time. Nowadays, I only do content that I think captures a freedom of expression on my part and also advances the conversation around a topic. So, I do less podcasts than I used to, for example, but I try to make each one a can’t-miss event for me as a participant and hopefully for the listener. Whatever media format I work in, video or what have you, I try to be consistent in that attempt to create something memorable. But: I don’t want to do it with cheap sensationalism. My style is what I call “ruthless fairness” and that’s not always a sexy as tearing people down, but that’s my style. I like to attack an issue from all sides and get into enough detail to hit on the nuances. For me, the details are where the real story is almost always buried. I realize that many people think that you can only do short podcasts because no one has any time to listen to something longer than five minutes, but I don’t agree. I don’t want to live in a world where no one can focus for longer than five minutes. So, I do the content that pleases me and helps me learn and hope that others will come along for the ride. I’m also proud of the third party product reviews I am doing with Amit Bendov on the ERP Executive site because I think there is a need for in-depth, independent product reviews of all the third party SAP solutions out there, and no one else is really doing them. I’m interested to see where that goes. Because so much of my content is a big production, I’ll continue to enjoy Twitter, and now Google Plus, as places where I can riff and share in quick bursts. One word of advice: while I’ll always have my own web site, you can’t hang out only on your own site anymore. You have to go where the conversation is and that’s a key mantra for anybody who wants to be an influencer these days, whatever that word means.

SAPLAB: Finally, what do you think of SAPLAB.org?

JON REED: I’m enjoying your site more and more because I think you are focusing more and more on creating original, unique content. That’s what it’s all about. There are a lot of “scraper sites” out there that are trying to make a name (or a cheap buck) by scraping and featuring bits of other people’s content. As a content creator I hate that stuff. Let’s face it, there are no shortcuts. I think you’re heading in the right direction with your current approach.

SAPLAB: Jon, thank you very much for your collaboration and contribute. Not only readers will get to know a little bit more about you, as we’re all lucky to read your thoughts towards the future on SAP.

JON REED: Thanks for the interesting questions. Have your readers contact me on Twitter if they have any questions that aren’t answered here.

It sometimes seems difficult to find your ways in the SAP neverending web of information. Anyone who works with SAP knows that a big part of their job is to constantly search and digest the best piece of information (ideally) they can find. These mostly originate from various sources and most of the times, in what refers to blogs, at least half of them are low quality.

Being that said, I’ve decided to write this post and reveal which are my top SAP fellow blogs, whom I follow and recommend that you visit.

1. SAP Community Network Blogs

SAP blogs are by far the most complete and extensive source of information. It also has the advantage of being supported by SAP and its contents managed and updated by SAP employees, SAP mentors and other credible SAP professionals. The downside to it is that you’ll need an SAP user in order to view it fully or be able to post comments.

Link: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs

2. SearchSAP

Owned by TechTarget, SearchSAP is a very complete website and blog with more than tutorials or how-to’s on SAP. It contains news, expert advice, technical tips and career guidance, latest applications as well as future ERP system plans with breaking news coverage from independent editors. I recommend this website and its rich content.

Link: http://searchsap.techtarget.com/

3. JonERP.com

Jon Reed’s blog is widely known and is a complete source that I recommend for any SAP professional. Jon actively blogs about several SAP emerging areas, SAP market trends, with a special focus on SAP career – Jon Reed’s blog has a special SAP Career Center page, designed for people wanting to know more about careers on SAP and how to enhance it. Jon also is consistently posting new podcasts and webcasts.

Link: http://www.jonerp.com

4. Pixelbase

Michael Koch is the driver of Pixelbase, which I recommend that you  follow and visit on a regular basis. Michael is an experienced independent consultant and he’s also a well known SAP Mentor. Pixelbase is the commercial face of Michael’s activity, however, you’ll find that there is much to learn from the blog, covering topics such as SAP Web Development (ITS, BSP, WebDynpro for ABAP), custom SAP Development (ABAP and ABAP OO), RIA (Adobe Flex), Interfaces (ALE, IDOCS, XML), SAP CRM development and Data Migration, as well as conference coverage, among others.

Link: http://www.pixelbase.co.uk/

5. Feeding the SAP EcoSystem

Peter Russo is the main blogger and webmaster of Feeding the SAP EcoSystem blog. Unlike others, this blog focuses more on SAP products and Peter includes his personal experiences in each post he writes. Benefiting from the fact that he appears to attend lots of SAP events, he also transmits these experiences to the blog, which are obviously enriching for any of us. It is ideal if you want to understand what’s going on in the SAP world and also where SAP is going in the future.

Link: http://www.feedingthesapecosystem.com

6. Blag’s Bag of Rants

Blag is Alvaro Tejada Galindo’s nickname on twitter (@blag),. Alvaro is a senior ABAP Consultant, SAP Mentor, Programming Geek, Blagbert/Programming books author. Alvaro is Peruvian and lives in Montreal, Canada. If you want technical, Blag’s blog is the place to go.

Link: http://blagrants.blogspot.com/

7. Friday Morning Report

The Friday Morning Report is owned and managed by Craig Cmehil, a well known SAP community evangelist that works for SAP AG as a Director for Social Media Relations. Hence, Craig is very active in his blogging, tweeting and moderating discussions over at the SCN website and blogs.

Link: http://fridaymorningreport.tv/

8. SAP WEB 2.0

This is an interesting blog that I also follow. It focuses in cloud computing solutions and 3 main areas:  Web 2.0 by SAP, Web 2.0 in SAP and Web 2.0 with SAP. It is worth taking a look!

Link: http://www.sapweb20.com/blog/

9. SAP Bloggers Corner

SAP Bloggers corner is intended to promote conversation about what SAP is doing in the market. The main attraction of this blog is the livestream feature, podcasts and broadcasts, published on a regular basis.

Link: http://sapbloggerscorner.com/

10. ERP Genie

I think this was the first SAP blog I visited, ever since I started in the SAP world. It is very rich in content covering SAP podcasts (from Jon Reed), Job  Board, Foruns, FAQs, whitepapers  and tutorials, etc.  You can also browse the blog based on your user/consultant profile, i.e., Functional or Technical. The blog also contains a very complete section on SAP General. It’s a really good starting point for anybody and definitely a blog that you want to come back.

Link: http://www.erpgenie.com/

Hope you liked this blog list; these are just a few of the ones I follow on a regular basis. What are your favourite blogs?

Following my first post “How to do a Support Package Stack Upgrade – Part 1“, on which I explained the basic concepts such as Support Packages and the OSS Notes, in this post I’ll explain the step by step process on how to achieve this somewhat complex and easy to fail operation.

As I said in part 1, preparation and organization play a critical part in this process. 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 very good idea, if you want to avoid losing any previous developments.

The Check List

An organized check list will help you with the whole Support Package upgrade. Here’s an example you can follow:

Preparation

• Confirm new Patches are available for upgrade (estimated 30 minutes);
• Download all the files in the support stack XX (estimated 30 minutes);
• Ensure system has already been validated for additional packs  (check with your teams for time estimate );
• Acquire passwords for: (estimated 15 minutes)
  • JSPM
  • SDM
  • Admin for client 000
  • J2EE admin
  • <sid>adm credentials
  • Config tool admin
  • File server and O.S. admin (might be necessary)
• Send system messages and lock all users beforehand (estimated 20 minutes);
• Ensure that J2EE administrator user is unlocked (estimated 5 minutes);
• Ensure that you have at least 10GB of available space in hard disk (estimated 2 minutes);
• Perform a backup of the EPS adn IN Kernel folder:
  • Usr\sap\trans\eps\in (estimated 5 minutes);
  • Usr\sap\<sid>\sys\exe\nuc (estimated 5 minutes);
  • Usr\sap\<sid>\sys\exe\run (estimated 5 minutes);
  • Usr\sap\<sid>\scs01\exe (estimated 5 minutes);
  • Usr\sap\<sid>\DVEBMGS00\exe (estimated 5 minutes);
• IF cluster fail CI over to DB (estimated 15 minutes);

Execution – ABAP

• Extract and move all the ABAP patch files into the right location (e.g. [drive]:\use\sap\trans\eps\in) (estimated 2 minutes);
• Perform SAINT/SPAM Update to patch XX (estimated 15 minutes);
• Import SAP_Basis patch XX using SPAM (estimated 45 minutes);
• Import SAP_ABA patch XX using SPAM (estimated 15 minutes);
• Import PI_Basis patch XX using SPAM (estimated 15 minutes);
• Import SAP_BW patch XX using SPAM (estimated 15 minutes);
• Import BI_CONT to patch XX using SPAM (estimated 30 minutes);
• Import ST_PI patch XX using SPAM (estimated 15 minutes);

Execution – JAVA

• Extract and move all the Java patch files into the right location (e.g. [drive]:\use\sap\trans\eps\in) (estimated 2 minutes);
• Logon as <sid>adm when deploying patches through JSPM;
• Perform JSPM update to patch XX (select single packs for this one) (estimated 15 minutes);
• Using JSPM, update all the components to patch XX (Select Support Package stack) (estimated 120 minutes);

Execution – Additional Patching

• Unpack Kernel archive and update it to latest patch (e.g. SP11 has patch 95) (estimated 15 minutes);
• Unpack IGS archive and update it to latest patch (e.g. SP11 has patch 7) (estimated 15 minutes);
• Confirm additional patches that need to be installed (estimated 15 minutes);
• Extract and move all the additional patch files into the right location (e.g. [drive]:\use\sap\trans\eps\in);
• Upgrade patch levels (estimated 250 minutes);
• Run SGEN (depends on server type) (estimated 300 – 400 minutes);

Post Processing

• Create SPAU Resolutions (estimated 2 minutes);
• SPAU Analysis (estimated 120 minutes);
• OSS Reapplication (estimated 80 minutes);
• Unlock Users (estimated 15 minutes);

Please note that the estimated times that I put here are assmunign that no unexpected errors occur. You know as well as I do that should something go wrong, these times can increase substantially. In my opinion, this is why it is so important to have a well organized Check List. Not only it will help you get an overview of all the tasks in hands and their sequence, but it will also help narrow down a potential error.

Please come back soon; on the next posts I will go into detail on how to perform a SAP system Support Package Stack Upgrade.

SAT is the new ABAP Runtime Analysis Tool of the SAP NetWeaver 7.0 EhP2 (successor of the SE30 transaction). This demo explores the SAT tools and shows how to use SAT for typical scenarios of ABAP runtime analysis, such as searching for performance bottlenecks, program flow analysis or memory consumption problems.

Watch the Demo (20 min)

Caffeine is a toolset that allows execution of the ABAP language on alternative runtimes outside of the ABAP server. As of today, it supports the execution of a subset of ABAP on the JVM (Java), Dalvik VM (Android), iOS (Objective C), and JavaScript. Its core design is centered around high performance, multi platform execution and multi threading.

Caffeine is at the moment a prototype project and proves the claims made. There is currently no relation to any current or future SAP product, but SAP is working on achieving this.

What’s it for?

Caffeine is a technology, not an application, and it can thus be applied to many use cases. Caffeine is not trying to enable the migration of existing ABAP code to other platforms, but is focusing on adding value to SAP’s On-Device, On-Demand, On-Premise strategy by making SAPs business programming language reach into spaces like mobile devices that our customer are looking to unlock and feed with information coming from the customers backend. Caffeine strives to help developers to build business applications that are better integrated from frontend to backend.

Download Full Paper

I ran into a curious post by Sergio Ferrari which allows us to calculate how many lines of ABAP code we have in our systems. More than a curiosity, this simple tool can help us determine if our system is too overloaded with custom code or not.

The author excluded ABAP generated by special frameworks, like Report writer, SAP Query, Web Dynpro, LSMW,  and so on. He opted to do the filtering by Source System, Owner and Package. The release covered by this tool is ECC 6.0 an the following are also out of scope of this tool:

• BSP’s
• Adobe Forms, Smartforms and SAPScript
• XSLT/Web Services

This utility was named ZSDN_simple_ABAP_SLOC_COUNT, and aims to be an an indicator. The author didn’t want to give it too much relevance, the idea is solely to be an useful tool and help us estimate the upgrade effort or to evaluate the amount of work allocated for each of our packages.

As a curiosity, the post also includes the following information, related to lines of code in known software systems:

• Windows XP:      45 million lines of code
• Windows Vista:  50 million lines of code
• Mac OS:              86 million lines of code
• SAP (ABAP):      238 million lines of ABAP

Copy the code from the textearea below and paste it in a new report in transaction code SE38.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*& Report  ZSDN_SIMPLE_ABAP_SLOC_COUNT
*& Author: Andrea Olivieri, Sergio Ferrari
*&         Techedge SpA
*& Version: 1.0  - 2009/01/20
*& Title   How many lines of custom ABAP code are inside your system?
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
REPORT  zsdn_simple_abap_sloc_count_n LINE-SIZE 255.

* Global Data Type [ GDT   ]
TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_repository,
         devclass  TYPE tadir-devclass,
         name      TYPE trdir-name,
         object    TYPE tadir-object,
         srcsystem TYPE tadir-srcsystem,
         author    TYPE tadir-author,
         subc      TYPE trdir-subc,
         sloc      TYPE i,
       END OF ty_repository.
DATA: l_repository TYPE ty_repository.
DATA: t_repository TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_repository.

* defining the selection-screen
TABLES: tadir.
SELECT-OPTIONS: xpack   FOR tadir-devclass,
                xobject FOR tadir-object,
                xauthor FOR tadir-obj_name.

INITIALIZATION.
  PERFORM init_select_options.

START-OF-SELECTION.
  PERFORM get_obj_set.
  PERFORM upd_obj_set_count_class_sloc.
  PERFORM count_prog_sloc.

END-OF-SELECTION.
  PERFORM alv.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  init_select_options
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       INCLUDE OBJECTS:  PROG, FUGR and CLAS
*       EXCLUDE PACKAGES: $TMP and from A to W
*       EXCLUDE USERS:    SAP, SAP*, DDIC
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM init_select_options.

* Include objects: PROG, FUGR and CLAS
  IF xobject[] IS INITIAL.
    xobject-sign   = 'I'. xobject-option = 'EQ'. xobject-low = 'PROG'.
APPEND xobject.
    xobject-sign   = 'I'. xobject-option = 'EQ'. xobject-low = 'FUGR'.
APPEND xobject.
    xobject-sign   = 'I'. xobject-option = 'EQ'. xobject-low = 'CLAS'.
APPEND xobject.
  ENDIF.

* Exclude packages: $TMP and from A to W
  IF xpack[] IS INITIAL.
    xpack-sign   = 'E'. xpack-option = 'BT'. xpack-low = 'A'. xpack-high
= 'WZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ'. APPEND xpack.
    xpack-sign   = 'E'. xpack-option = 'EQ'. xpack-low = '$TMP'. APPEND
xpack.
  ENDIF.

* Exclude objects belonging to users: SAP* and DDIC
  IF xauthor[] IS INITIAL.
    xauthor-sign   = 'E'. xauthor-option = 'EQ'.     xauthor-low =
'SAP'.  APPEND xauthor.
    xauthor-sign   = 'E'. xauthor-option = 'EQ'.     xauthor-low =
'SAP*'. APPEND xauthor.
    xauthor-sign   = 'E'. xauthor-option = 'EQ'.     xauthor-low =
'DDIC'. APPEND xauthor.
  ENDIF.
ENDFORM.                    "init_select_options

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  get_obj_set
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       Get from TADIR
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM get_obj_set.
  DATA: l_tadir TYPE tadir.

  SELECT * FROM tadir INTO l_tadir
           WHERE pgmid      EQ 'R3TR'
           AND   obj_name   IN xauthor
           AND   object     IN xobject
           AND   devclass   IN xpack
            AND srcsystem   NE 'SAP'
           AND   author     IN xauthor.               "#EC CI_SGLSELECT
    IF NOT l_tadir-obj_name CP '_______________________________*'.
      MOVE-CORRESPONDING l_tadir TO l_repository.
      l_repository-name     = l_tadir-obj_name.
      l_repository-devclass = l_tadir-devclass.
      APPEND l_repository TO t_repository.
    ENDIF.
  ENDSELECT.
*
  SORT t_repository BY devclass name.

ENDFORM.                    "get_obj_set

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  upd_obj_set_count_class_sloc
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       ...and Compute SLOC for CLAS
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM upd_obj_set_count_class_sloc.
  TYPE-POOLS: sedi.
  TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_irdir,
          name LIKE trdir-name,
          devc    LIKE tadir-devclass,
        END OF ty_irdir,
        BEGIN OF ty_itab,
          repname LIKE sy-repid,
          devc    LIKE tadir-devclass,
        END OF ty_itab,
        BEGIN OF ty_crdir,
          name LIKE trdir-name,
          subc LIKE trdir-subc,
          devc    LIKE tadir-devclass,
        END OF ty_crdir.

  DATA: save_tabix      TYPE sy-tabix,
        l_class         TYPE sobj_name,
        l_pgmid         TYPE pgmid,
        l_object        TYPE trobjtype,
        class_name      TYPE programm,
        class_pool_name TYPE programm,
        lclskey         TYPE seoclskey.
  DATA: sourceline      TYPE string.
  DATA: l_1st_char      TYPE c.

  DATA: l_irdir         TYPE ty_irdir,
        l_itab          TYPE ty_itab,
        l_itab1         TYPE ty_itab,
        l_crdir         TYPE ty_crdir.
  DATA: t_irdir TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_irdir,
        t_itab  TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_itab,
        t_itab1 TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_itab,
        t_crdir TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_crdir.

  DATA: l_sloc          TYPE i.

  LOOP AT t_repository INTO l_repository.
    save_tabix = sy-tabix.
    CASE l_repository-object.
      WHEN 'PROG'.
        SELECT SINGLE subc FROM trdir INTO l_repository-subc WHERE  name
= l_repository-name.
        IF sy-subrc = 0.
          MODIFY t_repository FROM l_repository INDEX save_tabix
TRANSPORTING subc .
        ENDIF.
      WHEN 'FUGR'.
        CONCATENATE 'SAPL' l_repository-name INTO l_irdir-name.
        l_irdir-devc = l_repository-devclass.
        APPEND l_irdir TO t_irdir.
        l_repository-name   = l_irdir-name.
        l_repository-object = 'PROG'.
        SELECT SINGLE subc FROM trdir INTO l_repository-subc WHERE  name
= l_repository-name.
        IF sy-subrc = 0.
          MODIFY t_repository FROM l_repository INDEX save_tabix
TRANSPORTING name object subc.
        ENDIF.
        CLEAR l_irdir.
      WHEN 'CLAS'.
        DATA source_new TYPE sedi_source.
        DATA l_inctype(5).

        class_name = l_repository-name.
        l_pgmid = 'R3TR'.
        l_object = l_repository-object.
        l_class = class_name.
        CALL FUNCTION 'SEO_CLASS_GET_CP_NAME'
          EXPORTING
            pgmid                 = l_pgmid
            object                = l_object
            obj_name              = l_class
          IMPORTING
            progname              = class_pool_name
          EXCEPTIONS
            no_class_or_interface = 1.

        IF sy-subrc = 0.
          SELECT SINGLE subc FROM trdir INTO l_repository-subc WHERE name
= class_pool_name.
        ENDIF.

        lclskey-clsname = cl_oo_classname_service=>get_clsname_by_include(
class_name ).

        CLEAR l_class.
        CONCATENATE l_repository-name '%' INTO l_class.

        SELECT name FROM  trdir INTO TABLE t_crdir WHERE  name  LIKE
l_class.
        IF NOT t_crdir[] IS INITIAL.
          LOOP AT t_crdir INTO l_crdir.
            l_inctype = l_crdir-name+30(5) .
            REFRESH source_new.
            CALL FUNCTION 'SEO_CLASS_GET_INCLUDE_SOURCE'
              EXPORTING
                clskey                       = lclskey
                inctype                      = l_inctype
              IMPORTING
                source_expanded              = source_new
              EXCEPTIONS
                _internal_class_not_existing = 1
                not_existing                 = 2
                OTHERS                       = 3.
            CHECK sy-subrc = 0.

*           Compute SLOC !
            LOOP AT source_new INTO sourceline.
              l_1st_char = sourceline.
              IF    sourceline IS INITIAL
                 OR l_1st_char = '*'.
                DELETE source_new INDEX sy-tabix.
              ENDIF.
            ENDLOOP.
            l_sloc = LINES( source_new ).
            ADD l_sloc TO l_repository-sloc.
          ENDLOOP.
          MODIFY t_repository FROM l_repository INDEX save_tabix
TRANSPORTING sloc subc.
        ENDIF.
      WHEN OTHERS. CONTINUE.
    ENDCASE.

  ENDLOOP.

  IF t_irdir[] IS NOT INITIAL.
    LOOP AT t_irdir INTO l_irdir.
      REFRESH t_itab1.
      CALL FUNCTION 'GET_INCLUDES'
        EXPORTING
          progname = l_irdir-name
        TABLES
          incltab  = t_itab1.

*     append lines of t_itab1 to itab.
      LOOP AT t_itab1 INTO l_itab1.
        l_itab-repname = l_itab1-repname.
        l_itab-devc    = l_irdir-devc.    "Sometimes it's false
        APPEND l_itab TO t_itab.
        CLEAR l_itab.
      ENDLOOP.
    ENDLOOP.
  ENDIF.

  DATA: l_trdir TYPE trdir.

  LOOP AT t_itab INTO l_itab.
    SELECT SINGLE * FROM  trdir INTO l_trdir
           WHERE  name  = l_itab-repname
            AND    cnam  NOT LIKE 'SAP%'
            AND    cnam  <> 'DDIC'.
    CHECK sy-subrc = 0.

    MOVE-CORRESPONDING l_trdir TO l_repository.
    l_repository-devclass = l_itab-devc.
    l_repository-object   = 'PROG'.
    APPEND l_repository TO t_repository.

  ENDLOOP.

  SORT t_repository BY name object devclass.
  DELETE ADJACENT DUPLICATES FROM t_repository COMPARING name object
devclass.

ENDFORM.                    "upd_obj_set_count_class_sloc
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  count_prog_sloc
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       text
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM count_prog_sloc.
  DATA: l_prog     TYPE c LENGTH 30.
  DATA: isource    TYPE TABLE OF string.
  DATA: l_1st_char TYPE c.

  LOOP AT t_repository INTO l_repository WHERE object = 'PROG'.
*   Compute SLOC !
    l_prog = l_repository-name.
    READ REPORT l_prog INTO isource.
    DATA: l_source_line TYPE string.
    LOOP AT isource INTO l_source_line.
      l_1st_char = l_source_line.
      IF    l_source_line IS INITIAL     "Empty
         OR l_1st_char = '*'.            "Comment
        DELETE isource INDEX sy-tabix.
      ENDIF.
    ENDLOOP.
    l_repository-sloc = LINES( isource ).

*   Update SLOC into t_repository
    READ TABLE t_repository WITH TABLE KEY name     = l_repository-name
                                       devclass = l_repository-devclass
                                       object   = l_repository-object
                                       srcsystem = l_repository-srcsystem
                                       author    = l_repository-author
                                       subc      = l_repository-subc
                        TRANSPORTING NO FIELDS.
    IF sy-subrc = 0.
      MODIFY t_repository FROM l_repository INDEX sy-tabix TRANSPORTING
sloc.
    ENDIF.
  ENDLOOP.
ENDFORM.                    "count_prog_sloc

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  alv
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       text
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM alv.
  DATA: gr_table     TYPE REF TO cl_salv_table,
        gr_display   TYPE REF TO cl_salv_display_settings,
        gr_functions TYPE REF TO cl_salv_functions,
        gr_sorts     TYPE REF TO cl_salv_sorts,
        gr_agg       TYPE REF TO cl_salv_aggregations.
  TRY.
*     Create ALV table
      cl_salv_table=>factory( IMPORTING r_salv_table = gr_table CHANGING
t_table = t_repository ).
*     Set zebra layout
      gr_display = gr_table->get_display_settings( ).
      gr_display->set_striped_pattern( cl_salv_display_settings=>true ).
*     Display all standard function
      gr_functions = gr_table->get_functions( ).
      gr_functions->set_all( abap_true ).
*     Sort
      gr_sorts = gr_table->get_sorts( ).
      gr_sorts->add_sort( columnname = 'DEVCLASS' subtotal = abap_true ).
      gr_sorts->add_sort( columnname = 'NAME'     subtotal = abap_false ).
*     Totals
      gr_agg = gr_table->get_aggregations( ).
      gr_agg->add_aggregation( 'SLOC' ).
*     Display table
      gr_table->display( ).
    CATCH cx_salv_msg.
      WRITE: / 'Exception CX_SALV_MSG'.
    CATCH cx_salv_not_found.
      WRITE: / 'Exception CX_SALV_NOT_FOUND'.
    CATCH cx_salv_data_error.
      WRITE: / 'Exception CX_SALV_DATA_ERROR'.
    CATCH cx_salv_existing.
      WRITE: / 'Exception CX_SALV_EXISTING'.
  ENDTRY.
ENDFORM.                    "alv

Additional links and resources:

• Source lines of code (wikipedia)

SAP enhancement packages represent a new software delivery strategy that allows system administrators to get upgrades for SAP ECC 6.0 (ERP 2005) without having to fully upgrade the existing release. With the introduction of enhancement packages, SAP has changed the methodology for implementing new functionalities.

1 – SAP enhancement packages strategy

SAP enhancement packages  for ECC 6.0 include functional and technical enhancements, industry specific enhancements, uniformizations and simplifications. To browse through the available changes included in each SAP enhacement package, please go to http://service .sap.com/erp-ehp. Enterprise Services (ES) bundles are also now delivered with enhancement packages. Each one of these bundles  include a set of enterprise services to support end-to-end business processes (e.g. Order Product) across the SAP Business Suite. To learn which ES bundles are available please go to the Enterprise Services Wiki.

New SAP enhancement packages include the entire content and functionality of previous versions. SAP will continue to provide Support Packages for ECC 6.0, contaning legal changes and corrections, on a regular basis and during the defined maintenance period. SAP has also planned to deliver enhancement packages to other SAP applications like CRM or SCM.

2 – Must know before installation

There are two major features which differentiate SAP enhancement packages from older technologies:

Selective installation of software components: each enhancement package will contain the new versions of existing software components. Only the funcionality you want to use will be updated.
Selective activation of new functionality: new funcionality must be explicitly switched on and activated.

2.1 – Selective Installation

SAP enhancement packages allows updates to parts of the ECC system. It is now possible to update the ECC server or the Web AS. New HCM features are updated via the EA-HR component on the ECC server. The whole procedure is now more automated and controled by the Solution Manager – Maintenance Optimizer.

As part of the ongoing development of the Netweaver platform, SAP leverages the Enhancement and Switch Framework to enable new functionality. Ths installation of enhancement packages has no effect on the underlying layer of the SAP Netweaver platorm.

The installation process is detached from activation, which means that we can now provide the more recent functionality in the system as well as continue with the regular maintenance activities. To maximize performance and reduce effort, SAP enhancement packages should be applied in a queue, together with any necessary Support Packages. Note that after an enhancement package is installed and activated, it won’t be possible to revert this. SAP recommends that customers should have a Sandbox system to perform pretesting of new functionality, upgrades and patches.

3 – Installation

Effortwise, the system administration folks can look at enhacement packages as support packages. As explained above, both should be included in one queue. There are, however, some dependencies that need to be higlighted – SAP Solution Manager Maintenance Optimizer will treat them automatically. The following tools are used for installation, depending on the type of software component:

• ABAP software components are installed using SAINT;
• Java software components are installed using JPSM;
• Portal Content and Business Packages are installed using JPSM;
• PI content is uploaded from the Integration Repository;
• BI content is applied as common Support packages.

3.1 – Prerequisites

• To use the Maintenance Optimizer, it is necessary to have the SAP Solution Manager aligned to the highest support package level in your system landscape. More information on the SAP Solution Manager at help.sap.com (SAP Solutions -> SAP Solution Manager);
• Make sure that the latest versions of SPAM and SAINT are updated in your systems;
• Read SAP note 1052522 to know in detail which Support Packages are required to install enhancement package 2;
• Note that software components included in SAP enhancement package 2 for SAP ECC 6.0 contain new developments as well as corrections. So by looking at the system after applying the enhancement packages, there will be some software components in version 600 (with SP level 10) as well as software components in versopn 602 (with SP level 0 which contain equivalent correction to SP level 10 of the same component in version 600);

3.2 – Select the Software Components

Select the software components which correspond to the business functions needed.

• More on SAP enhancement package 2 in SAP Note 1052470
• More on SAP enhancement package 3 in SAP Note 1083576.

3.3 – Identify and download SAP enhancement packages using SAP Solution Manager Maintenance Optimizer

Create a new maintenance transaction for upgrading your system with SAP enhancement package 2 for ECC 6.0. A guided procedure is used to lead the user through the initial upgrade process. Select all the systems which will be affected by the upgrade. Afterwards, select the Technical Usages to apply for the systems. The SAP Solution Manager will automatically calculate all the necessary Support Packages and new software components needed for the chosen technical usages.

• Read more about the SAP Solution Manager Maintenance Optimizer at service.sap.com/solman-mopz.

3.4 – Update ABAP software components using SAINT

SAP reccomends importing the SAP enhancement package and required support packages in one import queue. It might be necessary to adjust modifications after applying an update or support package. This can be done at once if you use a single queue.

• More on SAINT at help.sap.com (SAP Netweaver > SAP Netweaver 7.0 > “Access the SAP Netweaver Library”)

3.5 – Update Java Components and Portal Content using JSPM

You can use the document result of the SAP Solution Manager Maintenance Optimizer in the JSPM tool, to create a single import queue.

• More on JSPM at help.sap.com (SAP Netweaver > SAP Netweaver 7.0 > “Access the SAP Netweaver Library”)

3.6 – Update PI Content

The PI or ESR-Content corresponding to the PI version in use must be installed.

• More information on PI Content in chapter 2 of the eSOA Master Guide.

3.7 – Update Library

The more detailed application documentation will be installed on the server, through the chosen business functions. This means that only the relevant SAP library will be updated, according to the components you have updated.

• More on SAP Library at SAP Note 1066110.

4 – Additional Links and Resources

• SAP Enhancement Master Guide
• Enterprise SOA Master Guide
• SAP Service Marketplace
• Standard test case templates
• Introducing SAP enhancement packages for SAP ERP
• SAP Enhancement Packages for Business Suite and SAP NetWeaver
• Survival Tips for the EHP Installer for SAP ERP

4.1 – Support Package Stack Equivalence Level

Note – to check installed Enhancement Packages in a system and their level, use transaction code SPAM.

Alvaro Tejada Galindo, also known as @Blag is a Senior ABAP Consultant from Lima – Perú. He started learning programming at the age of 20. He started with Visual Basic 6.0 and C++ and he also learned some Pascal, Euphoria and Java. In the past 10 years, Alvaro has been involved in ABAP development, also learn scripting languages like Ruby and PHP.

In this post, similarly to what he did back in 2007, 2008 and 2009, @Blag compiled a list of what he considered the best and most useful SDN posts in 2010. Let me also take this opportunity to thank @Blag for his contribution, it is really very useful besides it’s what I consider rich content.

Ranting

• The Grinch who stole the Questions - Julius Bussche
• Geek’s Dictionary: What is the Walldorf Kiss of Death? – Thorsten Franz
• Kiss of Death for Web Dynpro Java – The Follow-Up Questions – Thorsten Franz
• Can we reinvent the grey haired ABAPer? – John Moy
• Should SDN be used for cross-blogging? – Michael Nicholls
• “Request-A-Blog” from a SAP Mentor – Richard Hirsch
• Goodbye Simplicity, Hello Obfuscation – &SAP_EDIT – Chris Paine
• A Blogger’s Carol – Jim Spath

WebDynpro

• Silverlight Islands in Web Dynpro Java 7.20 – Yariv Zur
• Wave Islands in Webdynpro ABAP – Uwe Fetzer
• Web Dynpro ABAP: Display tiff images – Elvez
• ABAP Class using Singleton pattern – used in WDA Enhancements. – ashish shah
• Web Dynpro Forms using HCM Processes and Forms – Brad Pokroy
• The death of Web Dypro Java has been greatly exaggerated… – Wolfgang Hilpert
• Technology Stability in a World of Constant Change – Michael Bechauf
• WebDynpro UIs – Usable? - Pete Lagana

Beyond SAP

• Are there SAP user groups in Latin America? – Jim Spath
• Meet the Mentors – Alvaro Tejada Galindo
• Ode to Marilyn Pratt: Honoring the Advocate on Ada Lovelace Day – Moya Watson
• Twenty Four ^2 – Jim Spath
• Consuming ABAP Webservices in Flex – Neil Gardiner
• SAP Mentors setting the tone for consulting? – Dennis Howlett
• I too want to become a famous blogger – Muthu Ranganathan
• SAP SDN Blog Reader for iPad, iPhone and Android devices – Helmut Tammen

SAP Developer Network

• SAP Mentor Monday: Highlights 2009 from SAP Mentors – Mark Finnern
• Turning a new page… – Craig Cmehil
• My UNOFFICIAL underground SCN promo fan video – Chris Solomon
• Meet David Branan Community Support Angel – Marilyn Pratt
• Powered by YOU: SCN By The Numbers – Mark Yolton
• Congratulations to the current Topic Leaders (2009-2010) – Laure Cetin

Business Server Pages

• Single Sign On to BSP pages – Holger Bruchelt

Emerging Technologies

• smartJSON – Lightweight JSON Library For ABAP – Wiktor Nyckowski
• iPhone App for searching HELP.SAP.COM – John Moy
• Mobile Augmented Reality in SAP – Ivan Femia
• SAP River, Gateway and more at Innovative Community Day Bangalore – Dipankar Saha

Community Projects

• unofficial Timeline of SAP – Sergio Ferrari
• Community Project ZGEOCODE – Gregor Wolf

Business Process Expert

• Want Fries With That? – Martin Lang

Widgets

• SAP Mentor Directory 2010 – Anil Bavaraju

Beginners

• Web Dynpro ABAP on TV for beginner (Hello World) – Holger Stumm
• Video: Why & How To Blog on SAP Community Network? – Natascha Thomson
• Growing in your SAP Career – Somnath Manna
• Asking Good Questions in the Forums to get Good Answers – Rob Burbank

ABAP

• ABAPdoc v2 – Onno Bagijn
• Macros – Good or Evil? – Gerd Rother
• Twibap: the ABAP Twitter API – Uwe Fetzer
• The ABAP Workbench and the Test-Driven Development Cycle in EHP1 - Stephen Pfeiffer
• xlsx2abap – Read and edit your Excel files from ABAP – Ivan Femia
• Enterprise Geeks to planet earth: “Houston, we have a problem” – Dennis Howlett
• Against All Odds – Programming of Communicating (S)ALV Grid Controls – Uwe Schieferstein
• Re-learn ABAP: Transition from Procedural to OO ABAP – Eric
• Calling a function module is now FM Droid – Raúl Vides Mosquera Pumaricra
• abap2xlsx – I’m no longer a baby, I grow up and now I’m a fully featured tool – Ivan Femia
• Just When You Thought You Knew Everything about ABAP Date Calculations… – Rob Burbank
• Calling a function module (abap code) – Raúl Vides Mosquera Pumaricra
• ABAP Trial Version 7.02 available in SCN! – Horst Keller
• ABAP Testing and Troubleshooting Tools – Which Features Are In Which Releases? – Olga Dolinskaja
• ABAP Debugger Scripting: Basics – Stephen Pfeiffer
• ABAP Debugger Scripting: Advanced – Stephen Pfeiffer

Carreer Center

• Nuke that code, let us start over – Vijay Vijayasankar

Standards

• SCRUM as example for new approaches in application development – Marcel Salein

SAP Education

• How do you know the consultant you get is the consultant you interviewed? – Kevin Wilson
• SAP Certification: The Certification 5 Report – Dennis Howlett
• SAP Communities, SAP Mentors, what’s in it for me ? How to convince my boss to
  let me access it ? (SAP Inside Track debriefing & Invitation to TechEd Networking Sessions) – Martin Gillet

SAP SAPPHIRE

• Where will you be ? – Abesh Bhattacharjee
• Blue Shirt Brigade aka SAP Mentors at #SAPPHIRENOW #ASUG2010 – Mark Finnern
• Sapphire Now 2010 in Orlando – My First Sapphire – Simon To
• My Sapphire experience @Orlando and the people who made it special : Part – 1 – Abesh Bhattacharjee
• My Sapphire experience @Orlando and the people who made it special : Part – 2 – Abesh Bhattacharjee

Higher Education

• SAP Mentors, Certification Five geek out with Bill McDermott – Dennis Howlett
• I would get SAP certified if…. – Vijay Vijayasankar

CRM

• Create your own BOL Object – Harel Gilor

SAP TechEd

• Why I want to go to TechEd – Chris Paine
• #nataschatoteched: An SAP Mentors case study – Ted Sapountzis
• Zen and the Art of Community – David Hull
• Life After Demo Jam – Matt Harding
• SAPTechEd in Vegas…Win, lose, or draw? – Susan Keohan

Community Day

• A Scrapbook of SAP Inside Track Vancouver – Jason Cao
• We made it! SAP Inside Track Istanbul – Abdulbasit Gulsen
• SAP Inside Track Sydney, Australia 2011 – Graham Robinson

Service-Orientes Architecture

• Semantics of Web Services – Tobias Trapp

Business Intelligence

• The BW – HANA Relationship – Thomas Zurek

Mobile

• SAP’s Mobile Strategy: Really? – John Appleby
• Caffeine – ABAP to Go – The Motivation – Daniel Vocke
• Android and RESTFul web service instead of SOAP – Michael Hardenbol
• Mobile apps or HTML? – Tobias Hofmann

Open Source

• Barcodes in SAP with the Barcode Writer in Pure Postscript. – Robert Russell
• Call a function module in the ABAP Editor: Stop Crying – Start Laughing. – Andrea Olivieri

Analytics

• What does SAP mean by “In-Memory”? – Ethan Jewett

SAP xApps

• Release : SAP MII Backuper v 1.0 – Abesh Bhattacharjee

Code Exchange

• Creating your own project on Code Exchange – Rui Nogueira

SAP Business Workflow

• What not to WF – Susan Keohan
• Santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight… – Susan Keohan

Source: blag’s SDN weblog

Well I can say that this is a long awaited SAP launch and that will provide help to many users worldwide. If you’re like me, at a certain point in your SAP career, you felt the need to have your own SAP sandbox. Being for professional purposes or for your own personal skillset build, an SAP sandbox system is always handy and you can’t well perform this kind of experiments on your client development system.

Up until now, there weren’t many (viable) available solutions. There are some companies that provide you a paid service for you to have your own SAP system/client but usually expensive for most of us.

This month Learning on Demand by SAP launched a new service called SAP Sandbox onDemand, which consists of an SAP ECC 6.0 system with sufficient basic data, such as customer and vendor master data, to enable substantial experimentation.

Using this system, users can access the core ERP functionality of modules such as FI and CO, SD, HR and MM and can write and test ABAP code and modify SAP Netweaver settings and configurations. This offering will provide interested individuals with the ability to reinforce their existing SAP ERP knowledge and skills through experimentation in a live but safe environment. It will also enable you to clarify areas of ambiguity in your knowledge or to test new functionality that they may be considering for an existing or new client.

Given that the SAP Sandbox onDemand is accessed via an SAP WebGUI, there is no need to install any client-side software on your PC, so you can start using the system immediately after receiving your access details.

Comparing with other and existing offers, SAP Sandbox onDemand has a fair price in my perspective: US$80 for 30 days access.

Click here for more info and start playing now!

Hi everybody. As Web Dynpro evolves, so does ABAP programmers’ interest over it. I keep receiving emails from professionals that want to start hands-on towards ABAP Web Dynpro but, mainly due to day-to-day engagement on their projects, they can’t start and end up delaying it.

My suggestion is whenever you have 30 minutes, start from the Basics and build your knowledge starting from here. In this post I include links to 7 basic tutorials and explanations, linking to SDN files, hoping they will help anyone wanting to start on ABAP Web Dynpro.

1 – Create a Simple Web Dynpro Application

In this step-by-step tutorial you will create a simple Web Dynpro component, which consists of one view. For the view, you will create a view context, which is linked to a table element on the view layout and which contains the data from table SFLIGHT. This table will be displayed in the browser at runtime. Furthermore, you will create a Web Dynpro application for this simple Web Dynpro component, which can be run in the browser.

Author(s): SAP AG

2 – BAPI Usage

This exercise demonstrates the usage of BAPIs and how to implement a view with input fields and a result table.

Author(s): SAP AG

3 – Navigation

This tutorial demonstrates how easy it is to navigate between different views of the same Web Dynpro Application. It is shown by extending tutorial Web Dynpro for ABAP – BAPI Usage with additional view in order to display a message in the case that no flights are available for a particular start and destination combination. Of course, you will be able to return back to search for a new combination.

Author(s): SAP AG

4 – Display Bookings for Selected Flights

In this tutorial, the BAPINAV component from Web Dynpro for ABAP – BAPI Navigation tutorial will be further enhanced to display a list of bookings for a selected flight. The context which contains the flights information will be enhanced with a sub node for the corresponding bookings. We will also show how the booking information is retrieved in a so called supply function and the context node bound to a new table UI element in the Main View.

Author(s): SAP AG

5 – Component and Application Configuration

In Tutorial 3 you enhanced the Web Dynpro flight sample with a navigation to a separate view including a message for the case where no flights are found for a given search query. But some of your customers might prefer the former solution where the empty result table is displayed instead of jumping to a new view.

One possibility would be to have two slightly different Web Dynpro components. But it would obviously be better to have just one Web Dynpro component which can be configured somehow to behave in one or the other way. You can imagine that a real life application can have several such switches or parameters to steer the behavior of such a flexible application.

Therefore, Web Dynpro provides several techniques, such as configuration, personalization, or customization, in order to modify the UI or the navigation path of a delivered Web Dynpro application or component at the customer’s site.

This tutorial shows how to implement such a configuration for this simple example with two different possibilities to handle the case of no found flights.

Author(s): SAP AG

6 – Component Usage

Prerequistes are Tutorial 3 – Navigation and Tutorial 4 – Display a list of bookings for a selected flight.
Just to review back Tutorial 4, we created a context Flight_List which contains the flight information and it was advanced with sub-node BOOKINGS for the corresponding bookings. Automatically, the booking information was retrived in a new table (using supply function) which shows a list of bookings for a selected flight.

Author(s): SAP AG

7 – Column Coloring in ALV

The article aims to help the professionals who have only ABAP knowledge and passion to develop their Web Dynpro knowledge in ABAP. This article provides the knowledge for understanding ALV in Web dynpro and coloring a column in ALV.

Author(s): J.Jayanthi

Imagine that you’re working configuring a certain SAP module, touching several tables and configuration spots. Sometimes it might happen that someone else is maintaining the same table that you need access. This standard Function Module could be useful in these cases, since you might not know an alternative way to contact the user locking the table or other SAP object. Since the system will display who is locking the table, you will know for whom to send the message.

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.