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AnetteAsmus
Advisor
Advisor
Our Q3 Webinar on October 13th again comprised a broad mix of integration key capabilities, designed to make cloud integration easy!

If you didn’t get the change to attend in person…

Or read my summary on what was covered in the session….


SAP TechEds are currently in full swing
, including a rich portfolio of integration sessions. Watch the Las Vegas and Bangalore replays – or take the chance to still attend in person in Barcelona!

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With the advent of cloud solutions the need for data and process integration is constantly on the rise and IT departments cannot always keep track. Our first webinar demo showcased how business users can do simple integrations on their own with in-built LOB application integrations (also known as Citizen Integration).
We used an SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer system to upload account data in Excel format to the Cloud for Customer Data Workbench – the upload step only involves a simple 1:1 mapping of fields that is done by the business user  - while HCI integration logic is working behind the scenes, unnoticed by the user!

Further details and pre-requirements are documented in the C4C online help or read Ranjan Pushkar’s step-by-step description on how to import e.g. contract information into C4C.

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We then moved on to the focus topic of the session which was around B2B integrations

First we showcased a new development that HCI teams contributed towards the supplier integration on the SAP Ariba Network: With the help of the new Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway suppliers that are using standards, other than Ariba's cXML standard, can now easily integrate with the ARIBA Network. An easy-to-use integration wizard guides users through a set of questions that help the tooling to automatically derive the transaction configurations.
A powerful transformation engine (powered by HANA Cloud Integration) handles all data transformations and validations behind the scenes.



* General availability of this feature is planned for end of November this year and in 2017 it is also planned to provide similar integration capabilities for the buyer-side integration for Ariba Apps and Network.

For everyone interested in Ariba’s integration strategy I also recommend to have a look at Ariba’s integration whitepaper.

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In the next feature demo my colleague Gunther Stuhec highlighted how customers can benefit also soon from a first set of B2B capabilities that will be shipped on the HANA Cloud Integration stack.

This will include:

- AS2 Adapter – Support of AS2 based communication in both directions

- UN/EDIFACT or ASC X.12 message types based on SAP’s XSD conventions (Venetian Blind+)

- EDI Splitter – Processes UN/EDIFACT or ASC X.12 interchanges and has several functions:

  • Extracts messages from interchanges (if required)

  • Validate messages according UN/EDIFACT or ASC X.12 message type structures (if required)

  • Generate functional acknowledgment (UN/EDIFACT CONTRL or ASC X.12 997) (if required)


-EDI to XML Converter – Converts UN/EDIFACT syntax (ISO 9735) or ASC X.12 syntax into XML syntax
- XML to EDI Converter – Converts XML syntax into UN/EDIFACT syntax (ISO 9735) or ASC X.12 syntax

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We concluded the sessions with a last demo piece showing how HCI messages can now also be monitored via the Solution Manager tooling. Since SAP Solution Manager tooling has a broad adoption in the SAP customer base (15.000 + customers are using the tooling for their day-to-day operations) – it was a natural step to also include HCI artifacts in the SolMan monitoring.

This native integration is available as of release SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP12/13 and higher and comprises the following SolMan features:

  • Interface and Connection Monitoring for HCI messages

  • Exception Management for HCI messages

  • Alert Inbox for HCI messages


With SAP Solution Manager 7.2 (just recently released on August 2016) there is a nice step-by-step configuration wizard in place; It starts with making the HCI tenant known the SolMan system and leads over to further configurations, like deciding on the metrics to be used, thresholds to be applied etc.
The configuration is done following this path in SolMan: ConfigurationManaged Systems Configurations → Cloud ServicesCloud Service Operations → Create Cloud Service

Further Details can be also found in this Wiki  → see section on Public Cloud Operations.

For those customers who do not have a Solution Manager system in use for their monitoring operations but rather use a thrid-party solution for their central landscape monitoring, we also offer a public ODATA API as of recently for e.g. Message Monitoring and Integration Content Monitoring,

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Again, there were some incoming Questions during the session that we promised to answer:
(Q) When will the 1608 version of the integration package SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer Integration with SAP S/4HANA be available on the content hub?
(A) For the 1608 release there was no update for that integration package. However there is a new 1610 release version available as of now.

(Q) Will the first B2B release of HCI also support  AS2, JDBC, JMS as connectivity options?
(A) The AS2 adapter is planned to be included in the first set of capabiliites, whereas JDBC and JMS are on our roadmap.

(Q) When will OFTP2 capabilties and VDA content be available?
(A) Both are on our future roadmap.

(Q) Is the EDI xml format compatible with the existing SEEBURGER schema?
(A) As far as HCI is concerned we will be compliant with the ISO 20.265 standard.

(Q) What is the roadmap for prepackaged integration content?
(A) For the B2B scenarios we will not offer 'classical' integration packages in the content hub as we do for A2A integrations. Still B2B content will build the backbone of the Integration Advisor tooling that will use intelligent algorithms to provide suggestions for the creation of mapping guidelines.
It is planned to make the Integration Advisor tooling available in the second half of 2017.

For an outlook on A2A integration content to be added to the content hub we kindly ask you to check the SAP Product Roadmaps of the respective application(s).

(Q) Any course on this new B2B capabilities available in the Open SAP Platform?
(A) Unfortunately not at this early stage. We are planning to do an update once the Integration Advisor tooling will be available in the second half of 2017.

(Q) Are the Process Orchestration EDI xsds and the HANA Cloud Integration xsds identical?
(A) Yes, we will take care that EDI specific xml schemas will be supported both on Process Orchestration and on HANA Cloud Integration.

(Q) Is the integration between SAP Solution Manager and HCI automated or any interface required to be built to establish the same? Or is it handled by SAP's operations team?
(A) No, there is no SAP Ops team involvement or interface handling required here. As of SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SP12/13 we offer the native HCI integration. The SolMan admin just needs to make the HCI tenant known to the SolMan system by following the configuration steps as described above.

(Q) Are there any plans regarding monitoring and reporting not using on-premise Solution Manager and/or Business Warehouse?
(A) SAP Solution Manager continues to be SAP's recommended system of choice for all lifecycle operations. Still for those customers who have other 3rd party systems in use HCI now offers a public ODATA API to access message and integration content monitoring information.
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