It’s conference time again! This is the fifth consecutive year that my team and I will be attending TechEd and it has been a wonderful experience each time. TechEd has never disappointed us and has been becoming better as time progresses. I am sure SAP, ASUG, SDN & BPX have done and will do everything possible to ensure the best show possible.
Few weeks back, I was at the Technology tour stop @ Palo Alto – I should say that it has been impeccably organized – great content, great speakers. The sessions covered variety of topics like “ESA – adoption, strategy, roadmap etc”, "Integrating with Open Source, Java and Microsoft. NET Support" , "Collaboration through the SDN & BPX Communities" – overall a must attend if it happens in your area. Joining SAP in this effort is ASUG, which has consistently provided user-driven content at many events. Not to forget the community itself (SDN and BPX), I think finally the results are showing up in terms of participation, education and networking.
While ESA and NetWeaver will continue to dominate any SAP conference / events for the next few years, one thing very clear from the tech tour is that SAP is very serious about the SDN and BPX communities. They are working very hard towards the community day. I had a chance to meet Paul Kurchina, Mark Finnern and Mark Yolton – trust me, all three of them asked me and many attendees the same questions – what would you like to see at the community day? How can we improve the community day? Goes without saying, the best minds are working to put the best show – Don’t miss it! As for me, TechEd is my opportunity to meet up with my BITI team & fellow ASUG volunteers. I always hear that SDN team is lotta fun to hangout with, but I can guarantee BITI parties hard!
I am also glad to mention that my community day session (Value Added Progression – from ABAP to SAP NetWeaver Technologies) got approved – Thanks to the selection committee! This session provides insight to a successful progression for ABAP and legacy systems developers to newer technologies. It is very useful for developers to learn about this transition, for IT directors and managers to maximize the potential of their current resource pools, and for system managers and IT decision-makers to get an idea about how effectively and efficiently new technologies can be adopted. I have presented the same session at last year’s TechEd and got good reviews. This year’s session will include many tips and tricks.
Now, to the most exciting part and I hope this gets approved – On behalf of my team @ SMART, we have submitted an entry for the Demo Jam. The theme of our presentation is “Enhance usability and increase user productivity”. At SMART Modular, our goal is to create simple, usable applications that require very less training and not much maintenance. At the same time, we would like to empower users with information at their finger tips. If the session gets approved, we will show you 4 applications that provide users with information instantly, without going through multiple systems. 4 applications in 6 minutes! To prove that with the right tools and architecture, you can access anything on SAP instantly. Above all, remember it’s a customer session and not a sales pitch – meaning what we would show is 100% possible to do for any customer. Without revealing much (has to be a surprise, right?) I would like to give few hints on these applications.
Application – 1: Imagine a situation where users have to login to different systems to access different pieces of data. For e.g. Login to ERP for Purchase Orders, SCM for product view / planning data, SCM-ICH for PO commits, Access Enforcer for IT ticket status, BW for history on purchases. Even if you have a portal with SSO to all these systems (which we already have), it would still be cumbersome for any user to retrieve this data. Our first application does all this and more.
Application – 2: This is an improvement to the BI information broadcasting. As you know in broadcasting, users can receive an email either at a predefined schedule or upon change in data. But there would be users who would like to get an email, with relevant data, only ON DEMAND. The second application is about On Demand reporting using enterprise portals & BI.
Application – 3: Yet another variation to the BI information broadcasting. This one is more intended for field personnel (like Sales and Engg teams) to get access to data instantly.
Application – 4: In all the above mentioned scenarios, you would still need a user to run these reports or use the functionality – but what if information comes to you without the click of a button? Meaning it always shows up and you can view it if you would like to. Just like a streamer…The fourth application will probably be the highlight of the entire presentation.
As you may notice, all these applications drive usability and achieve significant business benefits like Increased User Satisfaction, Increased Productivity, Reduced level of training and support costs etc. Let’s hope the session gets approved.
For those attending TechEd for the first time, I will follow up with a ‘Do’s and Don’t Blog’ very soon – I can share with you my way of making the most out of the conference.
Bye for now…
Srini
