The PSM Request and how we can move forward

Here is the exact language for the PSM Request in 3.5:

In case you need to access SAP Business ByDesign business content which is not yet released for consumption via the Public Solution Model (PSM), you can request this business content to be released. In order to do so:

• Create an incident from your SAP Business ByDesign System and use the prefix “PSM”
• Describe the use case of your solution, and what you are trying to achieve (what is the purpose of your development/solution)
• Describe the required business content / entities to be released in PSM, and why they are needed
• In case you require business content like fields of a business object from a UI screen, provide a screenshot of that UI screen and mark which UI elements shall be enabled for read-access and write access
• Add your contact information like email address and telephone number so that SAP can easily get back to you in case of question

Here are my comments on these points:

• Create an incident from your SAP Business ByDesign System and use the prefix “PSM”

No issue here

• Describe the use case of your solution, and what you are trying to achieve (what is the purpose of your development/solution)

SAP does not need to know the Use Case for a partner solution. This undermines the whole concept of partner development. And this is being asked by developers in India, who I would not expect to understand the Use Case anyway.

• Describe the required business content / entities to be released in PSM, and why they are needed

Again, describing your requirements is fine, but describing why they are needed is not. Partners have ideas that will become IP that SAP does not own. Why should we give away our idea to SAP?

• In case you require business content like fields of a business object from a UI screen, provide a screenshot of that UI screen and mark which UI elements shall be enabled for read-access and write access

No problem here

• Add your contact information like email address and telephone number so that SAP can easily get back to you in case of question

What? You have to have already done this to log an incident in the first place.

We were promised a change in 4.0, but as far as I know, all the above items are still requested.

What were we promised?

• 80% release of the PSM
• 3 day turnaround time on PSM Requests

What did we get?

• ____% release of the PSM

It’s definitely not 80%. I’d say maybe around 50-ish. And that’s just for read/write access to a BO. There is still very little offered in the realm of extensibility.

• _____ turnaround time on PSM Requests

The most recent information is that the PSM Request will be evaluated within 3-5 days. Then, if approved, it will eventually be bundled into a hotfix. This could take days, weeks, or months. Many of us have PSM requests that are aging like a fine Bordeaux.

We, the partners, and SAP have the same goal:

SELL ByD

There are many talented developers in this space now, and amazing things could be built if they were enabled.

My only feedback to SAP to address this PSM issue is to simply be more flexible and understanding. I also believe that SAP should be proactive in it’s PSM approach, dedicating resources to releasing objects and anchoring UI’s. There’s a lot more to be done after that, but let’s at least get to what was promised.

As Andreas Eissmann put it, we want to help SAP make ByD a no-brainier choice for SME’s in any industry. We don’t want to fight to make this happen.

So, how can we help, SAP?