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

Related posts:

1. 10 SAP Blogs you must follow
2. SAPLAB Version 2.0 is on-line!
3. Best SAP SDN Blog Posts from 2010

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?

Related posts:

1. SAPLAB Version 2.0 is on-line!
2. Best SAP SDN Blog Posts from 2010
3. Best of SAP Sites Directory

Following a very successful post I wrote on October 2009, I’ve decided to insist on a FAQ post format, since it seems to interest readers for being direct and straight to the point information. I’ve also collected some of the questions I received through SAPLAB, directly sent by people having questions or doubts on Portal related matters.

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!

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It gives me great pleasure to announce that today I’m releasing version 2.0 of the SAPLAB.org blog. Since the beginning of this project, roughly and more seriously about 2 years ago, I tried as much as possible to update the blog with useful and practical information around several SAP subjects. While doing this, I always tried to add my own personal flavor and experience to it, without, obviously, compromising any client sensible information.

The result and feedback has been good and now I’ve decided to raise this project to a new level. Besides the new look and feel, which is now more web 2.0 friendly, new functionalities will come and also more posts in the following weeks. Please be aware and keep visiting the blog! Please click here to subscribe the newsletter, which will bring updates to your e-mail.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all returning visitors, as well as new visitors landing in SAPLAB. Please take your time to browse through the blog and don’t forget to leave your comments. It’s what gives life to this project!

Sincerely, kind regards.

Antonio Caldas

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There are several ways to bring data to Manager Self-Services (MSS) that serve any business purpose. You can use the out-of-the-box services that are shipped with the MSS business package. You can start tweaking the configuration or you can also create new services from scratch that are tailored to your business needs.  In most cases the given opportunities to tweak a configuration are not sufficient or simply not available and applications totally built from scratch are often not covered by the budgets available. But sometimes you can find both in one single tool – the generic iView. This simple service allows you to compile data in a tailored way, feed MSS and make managers happy.

Now I mentioned it – generic iView. What is that? A generic iView is a service that allows you  to display data that has been compiled by a SAP query on the SAP Netweaver Portal. The vehicle for the data generation is the  SAP Query tool. Application champions in SAP HR are probably already familiar with this powerful tool that is already available in the SAP R3 box. You don’t need to buy it. The same applies to the generic iView. It’s for free, you just need to use it.

Now we arrived at the point were you are probably raising the question – how can I use it, what do I need to get it done? In the following section I will try to provide you with a proper answer and a clear how-to guide.

First of all you need to know the basic components of this tool.  Basically you need to take care about three essential steps:

1. Create a custom variant for the generic iView service
2. Create or define SAP queries that suit your business need
3. Prepare the portal content and attach it to MSS

Before we start we need to check the pre-requisites – basically the authorizations you have on your SAP system. In order to perform the steps mentioned above you need at least the following authorizations:

ERP System (or Backend): Adequate profile to work with SAP query and read HR data.

Portal: Content Administrator and Self-Service Administrator roles.

Now you are well prepared to continue.  Please follow the instructions below:

• Log in to your SAP portal.
• Go to Self-Service Administrator > Portal Content > Content provided by SAP > srvconfig
• Go to folder com.sap.pct.erp.srvconfig.mss > Generic iView > FPM Applications

• Right mouse click on Generic iView Test Application and press Copy




• Go to your customer name space on the portal content directory and Paste as Deltalink (very important)
• Right mouse click on the pasted application and select Change ID
• Enter a new name, ID and prefix for the application (very important)
• Save your changes
• Go to folder com.sap.pct.erp.srvconfig.mss > Generic iView > FPM Views




• Repeat steps 4. and 5. for all view objects
• Go to folder com.sap.pct.erp.srvconfig.mss > Team Viewer > FPM Views
• Repeat steps 4. and 5. for all view objects

Now the first Part of the endeavor “generic iView” has been accomplished. More to come in the near future. I hope you will come back and follow up on this hopefully interesting article.

About the author

Christian Popa (cristego) is a SAP HCM, Self-Services (XSS) and Netweaver Portal Expert, having several years of experience in Global IT and SAP Projects. Click here to view Christian’s full profile.

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Recently I’ve found a Wiki in SDN which I think has a great potential. First of all, you need to have a clear notion of the Wiki Concept. According to Wikipedia:

A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems.

Most wikis serve a specific purpose, and off topic material is promptly removed by the user community. Such is the case of the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept all sorts of content without rigid rules as to how the content should be organized.

Being that said, there are numerous wikis sitting in SDN. And since ESS is a very hot topic, it is a good idea to highlight this one.

The “ESS Initial Steps” wiki was originally created by Stuart Campbell. The beauty of the wikis is that any interested user can edit the information on it, obviously with the objective of enriching it or completing it further. Note that for SAP SDN wikis you’ll need to have a valid SAP issued user to be able to edit and save the information in the wikis.

The “ESS Initial Steps” wiki intends to provide a hands-on initial contact with the ESS implementation. It starts of listing the core components information, links/urls to the SAP Help pages, the ESS architecture, the ESS Homepage Framework concept, and so on.

If you’re involved in Employee Self-Services and Portal projects, go along and visit this wiki. You can think about contributing and improving it.

Here’s the link:
http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ERPHCM/Initial+Steps+in+ESS

Note: you should also read SAP Note 1007341 – SAP ERP 2004/2005 – supported ESS/MSS system landscapes.

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When you work with SAP Enterprise Portal, sometimes it’s useful to use the System Trace tool, enabled by the ERP system. Typically, Portal applications use backend function modules (or BAPIs) for which they make constant execution calls via RFC (Remote Function Call). So, if you’re facing a problem with a Portal application, independent if it a standard ESS or MSS application or your own custom one, learn how to check which function modules are being executed, among other customizable information. Using this procedure will help you isolate an error and help you understand what happens in the “backstage” of portal applications.

1. Enter transaction code ST01.

2. Click on “Analysis” to access the options for the Trace Analysis program.

3. Configure the necessary parameters. In the example below, the trace records selected to be captured where “Kernel Functions” and “RFC Calls”. Tip: this procedure is also useful to perform Authorization Checks. In this case, we should only select “Authorization Check” from the Trace Records option list.

4. Go to the front-end and browse to the immediate point before you need to start capturing the trace records. This is important because as soon as you activate the trace, all actions will be stored in the log record. In the example, user would click in the standard Manager Self-Service Universal Worklist application

5. As soon as you have your browsing aligned in the front-end side, go back to ST01 and click on execute. Return to the Portal and click on the Universal Worklist link.

6. In ST01, click on “Analysis” to view the results. The result list will show something like the screenshot below. Notice that I’ve highlighted the standard function modules that were executed (SWN_UWL_GET_WORK and SYSTEM_RESET_RFC):

7. By double-clicking the Function Modules, you’ll be able to dig deeper and view more detailed information:

7. When you finish your analysis, don’t forget to switch off the trace analysis program. This is important because when the trace is active it will be gathering information at all times, which is a resource consuming operation:

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Displaying the employee photo in ESS is definitely turning into a FAQ. I’ve seen lots and lots of people asking in forums about this, and how they can achieve displaying the employee’s photo via ESS. Providing that you have at least the Employee Self-Service 60.2 Business Package (for ERP 2004), it shouldn’t be hard for you to get there though some simple custiomizing. Look into the steps below and please, get back to me in case something doesn’t go as you expect.

1. Enter transaction code OANR and create a “Number Range” for SAP Archive Link;

2. For this process, additional authorization will be required for authorization object S_NUMBER = 03 ARCHIVELNK;

3. In “Intervals”, create a number range 01 from 0000000001 to 9999999999 without the external number flag. It is likely that this range already exists;

4. To assign the Documents Class, enter transaction code OAC2 and maintain table TOAVE. Create an entry with Document type HRICOLFOTO with document class JPG;

5. Set all three columns here to minuses and do not set the flag in the check box;

6. Now you must create a Content Repository with a storage type FILE archive. Enter transaction code OAC0.

7. Swap from Display to Change, select an entry and choose Copy. In alternative, you can just hit Create and fill in the following fields:

• Choose a two character name – can use Zx (where x is a number) if you need to use a customer namespace;
• Choose the relevant description;
• Set DocArea to be ‘Archive Link’;
• Storage type – set to R/3 Database;
• Protocol – leave blank;
• Choose Version no. 0046 (or the latest one available);
• Contents table – set this to SDOKCONT1;
• Basic Path – c:\ (this should be set to where the photos are stored);
• Archive Path – c:\ (this is the path from where the photos are to be retrieved);
• Output Device – leave blank.

8. Enter the path name where the photos are to be loaded from (this is for loading purposes only). When the photos are linked into the SAP system, SAP will take a ‘copy’ and store it in his own repository. The path may only need to be entered to ‘Arch.path’ and all the other entries;

9. Activate the Content Server Interface by maintaining the corresponding Basis service – transaction code SICF;

10. Create a user profile – with sufficient authorizations to carry out the processes which are done by the system in the background. Ideally this should be a background system user. Using your own user ID will trigger a warning that you are using a dialogue user account. If you use your own user ID, change it as soon as you have tested the configuration. Once you have finished the project, the chances are that your user account will be deleted from the system which will subsequently stop this service from working. Also, don’t forget to document every step of your configurations, including screenshots, passwords and authorization profiles;

11. Double-click on “content server” in the left hand tree structure, under default_host > sap > bc > content server;

12. Click on the refresh icon and make sure that the service is activated (black instead of gray). If it is activated, the writing should also be in bold;

13. Enter transaction code  OAC3 and check which content repository (Archive) is linked to document type HRICOLFOTO in object type PREL.

14. Set the ‘Content Repository’ field to the one you set up in the step above. Note the Ret.per. field is the retention period for the photo in MONTHS (the default is 833 years and 3 months);

Linking a photo to a personnel number

15. Enter transaction code OAAD and click on “Store and Assign”;

16. Enter business object PREL, document type HRICOLPHOTO and click on Create;

17. Enter the Personnel Number of the employee you want to link the photo to. Choose the infotype that you wish the photo to be displayed on (I’ve tested with Infotype 0002 but should);

18. Click on Continue;

19. Enter the path and filename of the photo. The dropdown will allow you to navigate to the appropriate directory;

20. The system will notify you that the Stored document is created successfully. If an error 401 appears, regarding missing authorizations, redo the above step. It is known to happen the first time you try to load the photo (SAP:-));

Displaying photos

21. You can now display your linked photos.

22. From any Infotype in PA30, you achieve this by selecting the employee in Display or Maintain Data and selecting Menu item ‘Extras’, display all facsimilies:

• Access transaction code SM30 and maintain table T588J;
• Note that Header structure per infotype and Header modifier activities describe which header is to be shown at the top of each infotype. The Passport photo option determines whether HRICOLFOTO or HRIEMPFOTO is used. Choosing either option is acceptable as long as all your other settings relate to that entry as well;
• Add an entry for PERNR with Filed Type ‘PIC’. Column 75 puts the picture on the right hand side. The IT column is used to decide where to take the ‘Field Name’ value from. For the PERNR attribute, all infotypes have this field;
• Before closing, GENERATE the screen header again;

23. In PA30, you can double click on the picture in the Infotype. This will bring up a bigger version of it;

24. As soon as the above configurations are done, ESS users can now update their own data, using the Who’s Who application;

25. Managers will also be able to view the employee’s photo in the MSS application Team: Employee Information.

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