Introducing: Monthly Call To Discuss SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture Challenges

************************** Update – 4th March 2016 *********************************

Invitation: #SAPSysArchs – SAP S/4 Hana Preparing Your SAP Landscape and Moving to S/4 Hana Architecture Call – Wednesda…

***************************** Update – 10th February 2016 ****************************

Invitation: #SAPSysArchs – SAP Fiori & SAP Portal Architecture Call – Wednesday 17th February 17:00 CET

***************************** Update – 12th January 2016 *****************************

. Following the significant interest expressed at TechEd [which Martin Steinberg blogged here

System Architecture sessions at #SAPtd Barcelona ]

     . The first call will be Wednesday 20th January 2016 – 21:00CET

          #SAPSysArchs – SAP Gateway Architecture Call – Wednesday 20th January 21:00 CET

          . please add this to your diary – the call details and agenda will be published in due course

     . The subject will be SAP GateWay – from the Basis Architecture / Infrastructure perspective, eg

          . Local or Central GateWay

          . Multiple GateWays and Fiori Launchpad

          . Single point of entry Url and Portal integration

     . If you have Basis Architecture/Infrastructure questions for the SAP GateWay please add them to the

     comments for inclusion in the call

     . Subsequently a shared location will be provided for submitting subjects and questions

     in a more anonymous way enabling avoidance of disclosing company sensitive information

     . Any questions please add to the comments

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In this the next chapter of the journey to drive engagement and contribution on the SCN in the area of SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture together with other members of the community Martin Steinberg and Christian Braukmueller  we are going to run a monthly call to discuss SAP Basis/Infrastructure Challenges affecting members of the community.

Here’s the thing, the SCN is wonderful, it is a door to a world where people are 24/7 sharing insights to the latest and greatest coming out of SAP, the new technologies, trends, methodologies, tools, possibilities, approaches and this is wonderful.

However, there are a lot of people at a lot of companies who despite their interest in the new strategies and directions, are simply trying to do the best they can for their companies within the confines of their business, be it budget, technology, appetite for risk etc.

The Monthly Call To Discuss SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture Challenges is about answering the questions and challenges affecting ordinary SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architects at ordinary companies, the approach which will be evolved over time will be based initially around the following template:

. A blog will be published each month ahead of the Call and inviting members of the  community to

submit challenges they are working on as a case point for discussion and debate in the Monthly Call

. The blog will also give the date of that month’s Call

. Subsequently, the panel will pick from the submissions cases to be discussed and debated

. In the Call, the panel will discuss a challenge submitted by a member of the community and give

their suggestions on how to solve the challenge, and then lead into an open debate in the Call to

debate and discuss the challenge and approaches to solving it

. For the call, as much as possible we plan to invite subject matter experts from SAP and the

SAP Mentors Community to bring expert feedback to the discussions

. This is the outline, the format will evolve in time as we all understand what works the best

What Kind Of Challenges Submissions Are We Looking For ?

     . We are looking for your real SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture Challenges which you are having

       to solve in your Role at your Company,for example, and the list can be huge, but these are some hints

          . Basically the kind of SAP Basis  Infrastructure/Architecture challenges that we face in our companies..

          . How many SLD’s should I have, should my SLD be on my PI ?

          . How should I upgrade my SAP systems, the whole landscape every year or cherry

          pick certain components to upgrade, which onesand why ?

          . How do I prepare my SAP Landscape for a migration roadmap to Hana how do

          I ready my SAP Landscape ?

          . How many ERP systems should I have in my SAP Landscape, how can I consolidate to

          One ERP or One Instance ?

          . How can I consolidate my SAP Landscape ?

          . How to support Custom Java Developments in SAP what infrastructure is needed ?

          . How to improve the performance across my SAP systems ?

          . How to setup BPM what is the minimal and maximal approach ?

          . How to integrate this system to that system, should I put PI in the middle ?

To make this work, and to make it fun and valuable, we want you to submit your SAP Basis/Infrastructure Challenges which are on your desks and where you are interested to hear the perspectives of others. Imagine all of the questions above and more, and let’s add a twist, I want to solve those questions on a small budget, what to do ? Alternatively, I want to solve those questions, and I have funding available to make strategic long term investments, what to do ?

And this is the point with SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture as I pointed out here The New SCN SAP NetWeaver Architecture Category – An Introduction there is no right or wrong answer, because every company has different pressures, timewise and financially and these are the key pressures which influence the decisions of Basis Architects.

And this I the great thing, there is no right or wrong answer, there are better and less better approaches based upon the conditions and pressures in the circumstances, but every situation and company is unique.

One of the big wins of the Monthly Call To Discuss SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture Challenges will be, it is a learning opportunity for everybody, everybody who attends the call will gain, if you will have read the blog leading to that month’s call you’ll be familiar with the subjects which are going to be discussed and after the call you will have either:

. learned something new

. extended your knowledge

. confirmed that what you know is correct

So that’s the plan.

The first call is being planned for Wednesday 20th January 2016 at 21:00 CET

The call will be in the format of SAP Adobe Connect, url will be published later.

In the meantime, Christian Braukmueller has already held an Infrastructure Architecture Session at Teched in Las Vegas introducing the subject and plan and discussing with attendees the kinds of issues and challenges they are facing which they’d like to discuss, these are some of the items which came up:

     . CI layout question and kernel

     . Transports question

     . Application Server Layout and Resource consumption

     . Memory management

     . Scale up scale out

we can see, this is the point, in the ordinary companies, the questions are less S4Hana and more, how do I run what I have the best way ?

Both Christian Braukmueller and Martin Steinberg  will be at Teched Barcelona and running sessions to further introduce the subject of the Monthly Call and to invite subjects for discussion in the first call.

The Barcelona Sessions will be at these times:

     . Christian Braukmueller

     . Martin Steinberg
             

Another Teched Barcelona session for people interested in Architecture driven by Marlo Simon  – EXP27099    Architecting your Path to Cloud Adoption and Innovation    Tuesday, November 10, 2015  04:00 PM-04:30 PM   Lounge 7

And another very useful Teched Barcelona session for Basis/Infrastructure Architects, hosted by Tom Cenens  it’s the sesson on  SAP Solution Manager 7.2 architecture and migration to SAP HANA at SAP TechED Barcelona    – EXP28842 takes place at SAP TechED Barcelona on Tuesday, 17:30 – 18:00 CET Lounge 7, Showfloor

If you’re at Teched Barcelona and interested to join this movement to bring SAP Basis/Infrastructure Architecture challenges to the front and discuss real world challenges with others and find and share solutions then make a point of visiting Christian or Martin or Marlo or Tom.

All comments and feedback is welcome here in the blog comments section as well as open discussion of challenges you’re facing for submission for the first call on Tuesday 24th November at 21:00 CET.

Looking forward,

Andy.

p.s. Don’t forget, here on the SCN we have the SAP NetWeaver Architecture Category where architectural questions can also be posted – over here…  The New SCN SAP NetWeaver Architecture Category – An Introduction so if you have a challenge and you’re impatient like me and can’t wait for the monthly call then post the question in the discussion forum or as a blog in the Architect Category