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Former Member
OBN! What is it?      From SAP NetWeaver ’04 onwards, SAP EP 6.0 introduced an important function which runs on  unification Services. This is called “Object-Based Navigation/OBN”.       OBN is a very simple and structured method of navigation to the various back-end systems  (applications) which need to be unified with the Portal. OBN is based on “Business Objects  (BO) “and “Operations” which are tied to the BO’s.      One of the key advantages of using this method is that the OBN forms a layer between the  Backend Application and Portal Content. Thus it is possible to dynamically change the iView  which will be the Navigation target without changing the underlying back-end application as  the ABAP developer just needs to know which BO and Operation he needs to call from his  application.  Sounds Cool, can I have a step by step procedure please? (Of course with Screen shots!) Ok without wasting much time on information which can be quickly gathered from the knowledge  saga (http://help.sap.com) let me provide you with a step by step procedure that can be used  to integrate a backend application to the portal via the OBN. Step 1: Navigate to Content Administration->Portal Content, right click on the folder  “Business Objects” and select “Import Business Objects”. Step 2: In the Business Object Editor fill in the BO name, Id and the System Alias from which  you need to call this BO and click “Add”. Click Save” and then “Close” to close the BO Editor. Step3: The created BO will now appear under the folder “Business Objects’. Right click and  Open the Object so that the” Operation” could be added to the BO. Step 4: Click the button “Add” and key in the Operation Name and Id. Specify the “Priority” if multiple iViews are to be linked to the same Operation. Based on the priority specified the corresponding iView will be called depending on the Role to which the iView is attached to. The value of the Priority field must be of type integer and higher the integer value, the higher the priority of the operation.  Step 5: Navigate to the iView that will display the backend application and select the “Object-Based Navigation” display. This iView has to be linked to the created BO via the Operation. Step 6: With the iView still Open in the Content Area, select the Operation, right Click and click “Add Operation to iView”. Step 7: The Operation has been successfully linked to the iView. Save and Close the iView. Once this is done, the BO name and the Operation should be provided to the Backend Application which will then complete the Unification. That was easy! Anything else?Well, some points to be noted are:- •     Only those iView which are assigned to a User via a Role can be called. •     The iView must only be available to the role and not visible in the Navigation. •     A BO can have multiple Operations attached to it. •     If an Operation is attached to multiple iViews, then when a  user with multiple roles logs on, the choice of iView that is called upon depends on the priority.
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