- Note: SAP NetWeaver 2004s was renamed SAP NetWeaver 7.0 in April 2007. mySAP ERP 2005 was renamed to SAP ERP 6.0 too! (Blog updated accordingly!)
So SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) is finally out in the open in unrestricted shipment (as of the 6th of June 2006). After a joint Ramp-up with SAP ERP 6.0 (2005), we are finally happy to make the software available to everyone. I can assume that you have a lot of questions about this release, and I hope this weblog will be a good introduction to this latest release. Just remember there are SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) highlight pages on SDN and the official SAP NetWeaver product homepage on the SAP Service Marketplace (http://service.sap.com/netweaver)
So what is SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s)?
First of the all I have to explain what the little ‘s’ is all about? Well, the primary focus of the new features and deltas delivered in the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release are focused on the specific needs of the mySAP Business Suite applications. Therefore it is not considered a major SAP NetWeaver release but a minor special ‘s’uite release – specific suite features made to the SAP NetWeaver ’04 release. Don’t stop reading here… some of the new features and deltas are quite major when viewed alone and you can definitely leverage nearly all the features in your own SAP NetWeaver implementations.
When is SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) supported until? SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) is supported under the 5-1-2 maintenance model so the end of mainstream maintenance is scheduled for March 31, 2011
Update: Mainstream Maintenance has been extended for SAP NetWeaver. Extension of mainstream maintenance to the end of March 2013. Extended maintenance will be offered from 2013 to March 31, 2016
How do I get SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s)? There are a couple of ways to get the SAP NetWeaver 2004s software. First of all it should be clear that it is not automatically shipped to customers, it has to be ordered. You can order SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) install or upgrade software from your SAP Account Executive or from the SAP Service Marketplace (downloadable from there too if you have such a contract!). In addition all the SAP NetWeaver 2004s software will automatically ship with software kits for the latest mySAP business suite applications (SAP ERP 6.0(2005), SAP CRM 2005, etc). Finally if you purchase SAP xApps based on SAP NetWeaver 2004s, you will get the software that way too! All the SAP NetWeaver software shipped in the next months will be based on SR1 so you’ll start with have some reduced patching benefits. For some SAP Customers, you will end up with many copies of SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (2004s) in the near future! Maybe time to consider using the CD recycling option that the kits offer! 🙂
What are the major changes in SAP NetWeaver 2004s? There are three main groupings of what’s new:
1. New Concepts:
For a minor release the concept changes in SAP NetWeaver 2004s are quite radical and will take some thought, head scratching, and in all honesty, some time to get your head around. There is more information the concepts uploaded to the SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) page on SDN. ‘No More Components’ Yes! The component view of SAP NetWeaver has gone as of the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release. SAP will no longer use components to segregate SAP NetWeaver functionality, or use it for Sales licensing view, the installation view, or the implementation view. The removing of the components completes the roadmap of delivering a single SAP NetWeaver platform at SAP. This has been a little controversial when covered in a prior weblog. I have seen the classic 5 phases of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance) expressed directly or indirectly but unfortunately they are gone and there’s not much we can do about it … Change is always a challenge for everyone (SAP included) and it is good, in my opinion, that SAP introduces such radical changes in a minor release but I digress. So this leads to the what has replaced them topic:
Functionality and Implementation view:
The introduction of the IT Practice and IT Scenario concept. This is a very easy to understand concept for assigning the features and functions with the tasks that IT actually do. You will see that SDN is already changing in this direction with their IT Practice and IT Scenario pages: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/itpractices IT Scenarios are further broken down into manageable and implementation units call IT Scenario variants. You can see a holistic view of all delivered IT Scenarios from the SAP NetWeaver technology map
Installation view:
With SAP NetWeaver 2004s we install and deploy parts or all of SAP NetWeaver based on installable units. There are 3 installable units used in SAP NetWeaver or applications based on SAP NetWeaver 2004s onwards – they are technical ‘Usage types’, ‘Standalone Engines’ and ‘clients’. You can probably guess that ‘Usage types’ are the largest units you can install and represent large building blocks that can then be used to implement IT Scenario variants. For more information on the installable units, please consult the SAP NetWeaver 2004s Master guide located in the SAP Service Marketplace (https://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=01100035870000626763&_SCENARIO=01100035870000000202&)
Sales licensing view:
You will see SAP NetWeaver platform licensing, engine licensing, and user licensing. I’m not a expert in this area so I would suggest you contact your SAP NetWeaver Account Executive or SAP VAR for more information.
2. Platform for first shipments of Enterprise services:
SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) is the platform powering the first Enterprise Services that SAP is shipping in Q3 2006. This basically means that SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) provides the core technology for delivery, enablement, and consumption of Enterprise Services. Enterprise Services(ES) are the key building blocks for implementation of SAP’s vision of Enterprise SOA. I will not dive into this topic further as there is ample knowledge on SDN already on ES and even hosted systems to preview and play with the services (if you can’t wait for the SAP Discovery System for Enterprise SOA)
3. New features and deltas to existing functionality:
Now we get to the most interesting part of the new release. What does it do? In this section I will give an outline of the major changes and links to other weblogs from other colleagues on their specific IT Scenarios. Remember there is more detailed information in PDF on the SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) page on SDN. Further very detailed information is available in the online help for SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) – just remember that there are no more components and therefore the release notes are organized by IT Scenario! Don’t say you were not warned! 🙂
Major changes: Even though SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s) is billed as a minor release, there are a number of areas where there are significant new features and deltas. Please note that some (not all!) of the features are back-ported to SAP NetWeaver ’04 (these are highlighted in the documents on the SDN page above):
BI Capabilities:
- Enhanced query, analysis, and reporting with integration of the BEx frontend into Portal capabilities. Exciting additional new features include the BI Kit for SAP Visual Composer and the new Excel features such as drag and drop. This is definitely not your old BEx from the 3.x days!
- A new integrated business planning feature has been delivered. This new feature is seamlessly integrated with exist data warehouse objects and query tools.
- Enhanced Enterprise Data Warehousing features include new objects for modeling and implementing EDW layers, the new administration cockpit for managing the data flows in your EDW, and lastly the new BI Accelerator feature enables ridiculously fast and high performance analytics
Portal capabilities:
- A new feature called Federated portal networks enables you to manage distributed portals as a single local unit. This feature is a godsend for those who will have multiple installations of the Portal capabilities of SAP NetWeaver and most likely on differing releases.
- External facing portals enable you to reuse your existing SAP NetWeaver based portal investments for delivering extranets and servicing occasional low touch users.
Development capabilities:
- Web Dynpro for ABAP. Yes, by popular request the previously available WebDynpro for Java feature has been delivered on the ABAP stack. So if you have major ABAP investments, you can now deliver WebDynpro applications with minimal investments in J2EE.
- There is a new “Switch Framework” feature delivered that helps to deliver support for multiple industry solutions in a system faster – nearly all the IS solutions are available for SAP ERP 6.0(2005) from the day it was released. In addition this gives the developer access to more business functions via the ‘Enhancement Framework’.
As I mentioned previously, my colleagues have written weblogs on the new features and deltas in their respective IT Scenarios.
You can find them as follows (if one is missing – it is coming soon!)
IT Practice: User Productivity Enablement
Running an Enterprise Portal: /people/jana.richter/blog/2006/05/30/highlights-in-sap-netweaver-2004s-150-running-an-enterprise-portal
SAP NetWeaver Collaboration News: SAP NetWeaver Collaboration News
Take a butcher’s at business task management in NW04s and before: Take a butcher’s at business task management in NW04s and before
Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management: Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management
IT Practice: Data Unification
What is the IT Scenario ‘Enterprise Data Warehousing’ about?: What is the IT Scenario ‘Enterprise Data Warehousing’ about?
IT Practice: Business Information Management
Business Planning and Analytical Services: Business Planning and Analytical Services
What is the IT Scenario ‘Enterprise Data Warehousing’ about?: What is the IT Scenario ‘Enterprise Data Warehousing’ about?
Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management: Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management
IT Practice: Business Event Management
Take a butcher’s at business task management in NW04s and before: Take a butcher’s at business task management in NW04s and before
IT Practice: End to End Process Integration
Enabling Application to Application Processes: https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/cs/junior/view/wlg/3738
Take a butcher’s at business task management in NW04s and before: Take a butcher’s at business task management in NW04s and before
IT Practice: Custom Development What is the IT scenario “Developing, Configuring and Adapting Applications” about?: What is the IT scenario “Developing, Configuring and Adapting Applications” about?
IT Practice: Unified Life Cycle Management
IT Scenario ‘Software Life-Cycle Management’: New Capabilities with SAP NetWeaver 2004s: IT Scenario ‘Software Life-Cycle Management’: New Capabilities with SAP NetWeaver 2004s
IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations: IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations
IT Practice: Consolidation
IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations: IT Scenario: SAP NetWeaver Operations
What is the IT Scenario ‘Enterprise Data Warehousing’ about?: What is the IT Scenario ‘Enterprise Data Warehousing’ about?
Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management: Latest News on Enterprise Knowledge Management
And so there you have it, a somewhat brief introduction to what’s new with SAP NetWeaver 7.0(2004s).
I hope this weblog was worthwhile and enjoy the 7.0 release.
is ERP2005 generally available as of june 6 too??
regards,
anton
Yes, mySAP ERP 2005 shipped on the same day (6/6/06).
Cheers,
Mike.
Thanks for excellent blog, reading this could be considered as the first step of NW2004S journey.
I needed to know from licensing point of view is xApps integral part of NW2004s & I don’t need to buy it separately?
Also what about Visual composer Tool license?
thanks again.
regards
Vikash
SAP xApps and Partner/ISV xApps are licensed seperately to SAP NetWeaver.
The core SAP Visual Composer is included in the SAP NetWeaver Developer license.
Cheers,
Mike.
Nice weblog which clearly explains the new SAP Product.
Netweaver2004s is surely a big treat for ABAP developers of the World..
Cheers,
Abdul Hakim
Great blog, nice friendly and easy-to-understand overview of NW2004s. Thick with meaty content and links to even more. Thanks.
Mark Y.
I’m trying to also find a product compatibility chart to determine –
If our freshly upgraded to ECC 5.0 / ERP2004 environment would be happy co-existing with a brand new deployment of CRM2005 and NW2004s BI?
Regards
Doreen
I’m not aware of a application compatibility chart or matrix but it is a good idea.
From a SAP NetWeaver perspective, SAP NetWeaver 2004s is compatible with mySAP ERP 2004 (when connecting SAP NetWeaver systems to mySAP ERP 2004). All the content available with SAP NetWeaver ’04 should be available with the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release.
However, you cannot upgrade the embedded underlying SAP NetWeaver technology of mySAP ERP 2004 to the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release (i.e. upgrade the underlying SAP NetWeaver Application Server to 2004s).
I hope this helps,
Mike.
Cheers. Bernhard
from all what I understood from SAP and the whole
IT Industry is SOA the next paradigma for IT
architeure.
On SAPhire SAP put the message on the market
that ERP2005 is the first service enabeled ERP
suite.
I’m fine up to here, but one sentence in your
blog make me thinking.
[…]
SAP NetWeaver 2004s is the platform powering the first Enterprise Services that SAP is shipping in Q3 2006.
[…]
Why is this important part of ERP2005 shipped
after the ramp-up? Or is ERP2005 ERP2006?
Regards & Thanks,
Guido
The point I was making (or at least trying to 😉 ) was that the first enterprise services content is shipped in Q3. This content is based on mySAP business suite applications (2005 release) AND the SAP NetWeaver technology layer. There are 300+ mySAP ERP 2005 based enterprise services and 200+ based on the other mySAP business suite applications – all powered by the SAP NetWeaver 2004s release.
You can preview the mySAP ERP enterprise services in the Enterprise SOA section of SDN.
I hope this answers your questions.
Cheers,
Mike.
Is it just content (or context if you want) or core?
Regards & Thanks,
Guido
The Enterprise Services are business content for the SAP NetWeaver 2004s platform and service enablement in the mySAP business suite applications (2005 edition releases).
Cheers,
Mike.
We are planning a technical upgrade to NW04s BI, Portal and XI in September. For BI – we are trying to find the best approach to rollout the new front-end tools without causing issues with our current 3.5 applications until we convert those in a follow-on project. Our users cross-applications and my concern is by rolling out the front-end users will “accidentally” convert queries, etc. to the new version before we do a formal migration. Any insight you can provide on best practice for this?
Thanks! Michelle Rademacher – Sr. Staff Consultant General Mills Inc.
For upgrading the BI capabilities to SAP NetWeaver 2004s, it is possible to use the existing SAP NetWeaver BI 3.5 queries like they were in were in the past. If you modify existing or create new queries or web applications you will have to use the new frontend services and then the queries will be “converted” to the 2004s versions.
There is a good FAQ available on the functionality at :
SDN: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/docs?rid=/webcontent/uuid/2e7ca56a-0901-0010-93bf-914c0848438f
SMP: Service.sap.com/BIFAQ
In addition I could also check the SDN forums as there is a lot of good posts and advice.
I hope this helps,
Mike.
Excellent summary and a great starting point.
regards
Srinivas
– SAP NetWeaver 2004s
————> MySAP Business Suit
——————-> MySAP ERP
——————-> MySAP CRM
——————-> MySAP PLM
——————-> MySAP SCM
——————-> MySAP SRM
——————-> MySAP BI (Nw04s BI) ???
OR is ?
– SAP NetWeaver 2004s
——> SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure
——> SAP Business Intelligence (Nw04s BI) ??
——> SAP Enterprise Portal
——> SAP Exchange Infrastructure
——> SAP Web Application Server
——> SAP Master Data Management
——> SAP Mobile Infrastructure
Thank you, i am try understand new model the concepts for the new Nw2004s vs Nw2004s BI vs MySAP.
🙂
WAS 7.0 where is now ?
Adobe Document Services is included in Nw04s BI ?
What is new in the EP 7.0 ?
How know when is necesary install only JAVA or ABAP NetWeveaver 2004, or when is necesary JAVA and ABAP in Nw04s ?
Thank you.
Thank you.
There are not components delivered with the core SAP NetWeaver 2004s release. Please check this blog for an explanation: /people/michael.eacrett/blog/2006/06/17/obituary-for-sap-netweaver-components-2003-150-2005
So there is not SAP Web AS or EP anymore – of course all the technology that was in these components is still there and in the SAP NetWeaver 2004s. You can still install a SAP NetWeaver 2004s system and use if only as an Enterprise Portal or as ABAP development environment or you can do both in the same system. Adobe document Service is delivered with SAP NetWeaver, to use it you are required to activate certain usage types to enable the functionality. This is covered in the SAP NetWeaver 2004s master guide.
Do you have to install ABAP and JAVA? The SAP NetWeaver functionality you require dictates what you have to install. If the functionality requires only an ABAP based stack then only ABAP has to be installed – the same for JAVA. Of course you may find that some functionality might require both. Again the SAP NetWeaver 2004s master guide will help you here.
I hope this helps,
Mike.