Santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight…

To start off, let me assure you that I have not been naughty – and anyone who tells you differently should say that to my face.  I have definitely fallen on the ‘nice’ side of Santa’s list.  So just in case my letter to the North Pole gets lost in the mail, let me write my Christmas list here (because you better know that Santa keeps an eye on everyone on SAP Community Network!).

1) End my dual development hell

Yes, we are in the midst of implementing a new solution, and meanwhile, must also support our Production environments.  This means that I (and all the other developers) have to identify the problem and reproduce the bug in two (at least) environments.  Then we have to code and test in those same development environments.  When your changes can impact data dictionary objects, workflow templates, task containers, BOR Objects – all this dual development can be hell.  Or, if this is ‘to-be’ functionality, develop it only in the new environment, and ensure that there are no burrs sticking to older objects.  Yes, the development in dual environments is a pain, but even worse is the testing and validation in dual environments.  So even though it’s the holiday season, I am feeling a bit stressed out.

2)  Put SAP Workflow Architects out of their misery

And I don’t mean to euthanize us.  Really, I don’t.   Those of us who have been doing SAP Workflow development and administration for a few years can attest: there are few things worse than having to use the SAPScript editor for ensuring that you get the right information – in the right format – to your users.   On my very first workflow project I remember being surprised by the number of requests for more, better, prettier information.  I thought that simply putting the requisition number and dollar amount in the workitem description was enough.  Silly me!  But then again, that requires a trip in the ‘Way Back’ machine to remember what it was like then.  You can see for yourself by clicking here. These days, customers want to know a lot more about the workitem that they may (or may not) want to process – and with a minimum of clicks, we can do this in the workitem description.  But the editor!  And lack of formatting choices?  Let’s face it, if you have not struggled with embedding a long URL into the workitem description, or formatting a table of items (when there is variable font sizing) you just haven’t lived.    And the SAP Community Forums bear me out on this. 

I suppose one other area in which SAP Workflow Architects are suffering is the BOR editor.  Many of the more ‘classy’ developers out there will no doubt snort at this, but some of us are engaged in supporting applications (even SAP-delivered ones) that rely heavily on the Business Object Repository (and that’s not anything related to BOBJ, folks).  And let’s face it, when you see that the ‘real’ ABAP editor has snazzy stuff – such as the completion of key words – it’s like being the only kid left on the block who has only sticks and dirt to play with, while everyone else is playing with Wii, PS3, and XBOX Kinect.  It stinks.  No matter how great sticks and dirt are.  Thank you Thomas Weiss for this blog, What Is New in ABAP Language, ABAP Workbench, and Enhancement Framework With SAP NetWeaver 7.0 EhP2

By the way, a better BOR editor has been discussed in both the Worldwide Workflow Survey, and the independently run SAP Business Workflow group on LinkedIn.  Check out some of the discussions here.

3)  Make is easier for me (and my customers) to set up substitutions, across SAP Systems

Nothing takes the cheer out of holiday cheer like the myriad phone calls and emails related to substitutions that will no doubt crop up for Workflow Administrators around the world over the next few weeks.  It’s bad enough to be almost the only person in the office, while others are sunning themselves on tropical beaches, to find out that everyone boarded their flights without designating their substitutes is just plain mean.  Hey, maybe that’s something we could get TSA on? 

4) And lest you think this blog is all about ME…

There are so many people who need so much.  Truly, I can do without any little gifts (or big ones, for that matter).  I really don’t need more stuff to find a place for (Thank you George Carlin).   So consider going to FirstGiving – you can easily locate a charity that is near and dear to your heart.  Or perhaps my favorite, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières will get their stockings stuffed. 

And finally, peace on earth to you, my friends on SAP Community Network.