SAP Application Interface Framework, popularly known as AIF, is a solution that enables you to create, deploy, monitor and manage all your application interfaces in one place. You have a message monitor that will provide you an overview of all the relevant interfaces and the messages that are being processed in your responsible areas. One of the biggest advantages you have as a business user is that you can correct errors, for example as a business user, improving the efficiency of error handling. You can separate the technical and business aspects of monitoring interfaces, saving a lot of time for business users in areas where they can react and ensure that business is not interrupted. This results in financial savings for the business as well.
In this blog, let us take an in-depth look into specifically the cloud version of SAP Application Interface Framework.
The first question that you might have as soon as you start reading this blog is how SAP Application Interface Framework is relevant in the context of SAP S/4 HANA Cloud. Although you might not see AIF mentioned in the user interface, it is working in the background to provide message monitoring and error handling capabilities in SAP S/4 HANA Cloud.
If you’ve seen the application dashboard of SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, you will be familiar with this section of apps under the header: Message Monitoring.
Although it is not indicated in the UI, SAP Application Interface Framework is the component that powers these three apps. You might have guessed this if you have used the on-premise edition of SAP S/4 HANA or SAP AIF as an add-on. There are significant similarities in the functionality offered by the Message Dashboard app and the message monitoring application in SAP S/4 HANA on premise or SAP AIF Add-On. Similarly, you can notice similarities in the other two apps as well. This is because all these apps are powered by SAP AIF. The goal is to provide you the same monitoring and error handling capabilities in the cloud suite to simplify your message monitoring and error handling needs.
Message monitoring and error handling on S/4 HANA Cloud is extremely simple, thanks to the pre-delivered content that is available as a part of S/4 HANA Cloud. This will ensure that you do not have to spend any effort on ensuring that you develop interfaces. This is because you will receive interfaces that already have monitoring built into them. You can access the Message Dashboard application and your interfaces are ready for monitoring. A prerequisite is that you should use the interfaces that have message monitoring enabled, but you can easily figure this out by using the documentation of the content delivered.
Another significant advantage is that you do not have to buy additional license for using SAP Application Interface Framework on SAP S/4 HANA Cloud. By default, you get the three apps mentioned above with your SAP S/4 HANA Cloud apps collection. You will also save the effort required to setup and customize SAP AIF for initial usage. AIF components are a part of the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud stack.
The S/4 HANA Cloud edition offers a collection of applications that you can use to implement your business scenarios. Many of these apps are powered by SAP’s Fiori technology. The AIF apps are grouped under the Message Monitoring section. We offer three apps:
Using these three apps, you can monitor interfaces, manipulate messages and configure recipient assignment to users.
Message Dashboard: This app offers you a consolidated view of all the messages that are passing through your interfaces that support monitoring. The app allows you to fix errors and download the message payload to get an idea of the structure to make better decisions while handling errors. You can restart or cancel messages based on how you want to handle the messages that are stuck in processing. You can also change the payload, if required, to ensure that the message is successfully processed. In addition, if there is a dependency on any of the other apps in the S/4 HANA Cloud catalogue that impact your messages, the dashboard app offers forward navigation where you can navigate to the required app with a single click. Please note that some of these features are enabled only if the interface developers have configured it in the interfaces that are delivered to you.
Configure Value Mapping: The value mapping offers you the ability to configure value mapping for your interfaces. You can map a single external value to multiple external values or one internal value. You also have the option of defining validity periods in case the mappings are time-bound. Let’s consider an example where you should match the data you have to an existing template from your business partner. Value mapping can help you configure that, where you can match the fields from your template to your business partner’s.
Assign Recipients to Users: For the administrator, the Assign Recipients to Users enables you to find and add users to pre-defined recipients easily. You can also define if a technical user can see messages that are in process or that are only in error state, and basically control which messages are shown or hidden from specific users. You can also control the type of log messages that are displayed to the user in the message dashboard, giving you a fine level of control over the monitoring view for each user.
In the coming days, you can expect more features to be added to the apps available in the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud catalogue. You can also expect enhancements in the usability and look and feel of the apps, powered by SAP Fiori UI technology. For more details on what to expect from SAP AIF on SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, check out the roadmap blog: New Product Roadmap for SAP Application Interface Framework (AIF) Available.
If you want to learn more about AIF, check out my detailed blogs on AIF Overview and AIF on-premise.
In this blog, let us take an in-depth look into specifically the cloud version of SAP Application Interface Framework.
SAP AIF in S/4 HANA Cloud?
The first question that you might have as soon as you start reading this blog is how SAP Application Interface Framework is relevant in the context of SAP S/4 HANA Cloud. Although you might not see AIF mentioned in the user interface, it is working in the background to provide message monitoring and error handling capabilities in SAP S/4 HANA Cloud.
If you’ve seen the application dashboard of SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, you will be familiar with this section of apps under the header: Message Monitoring.
Although it is not indicated in the UI, SAP Application Interface Framework is the component that powers these three apps. You might have guessed this if you have used the on-premise edition of SAP S/4 HANA or SAP AIF as an add-on. There are significant similarities in the functionality offered by the Message Dashboard app and the message monitoring application in SAP S/4 HANA on premise or SAP AIF Add-On. Similarly, you can notice similarities in the other two apps as well. This is because all these apps are powered by SAP AIF. The goal is to provide you the same monitoring and error handling capabilities in the cloud suite to simplify your message monitoring and error handling needs.
Value Proposition and Availability
Message monitoring and error handling on S/4 HANA Cloud is extremely simple, thanks to the pre-delivered content that is available as a part of S/4 HANA Cloud. This will ensure that you do not have to spend any effort on ensuring that you develop interfaces. This is because you will receive interfaces that already have monitoring built into them. You can access the Message Dashboard application and your interfaces are ready for monitoring. A prerequisite is that you should use the interfaces that have message monitoring enabled, but you can easily figure this out by using the documentation of the content delivered.
Another significant advantage is that you do not have to buy additional license for using SAP Application Interface Framework on SAP S/4 HANA Cloud. By default, you get the three apps mentioned above with your SAP S/4 HANA Cloud apps collection. You will also save the effort required to setup and customize SAP AIF for initial usage. AIF components are a part of the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud stack.
Feature Scope Description
The S/4 HANA Cloud edition offers a collection of applications that you can use to implement your business scenarios. Many of these apps are powered by SAP’s Fiori technology. The AIF apps are grouped under the Message Monitoring section. We offer three apps:
- Message Dashboard for business users
- Configure Value Mapping for business users
- Assign Recipients to Users for administrators
Using these three apps, you can monitor interfaces, manipulate messages and configure recipient assignment to users.
Message Dashboard: This app offers you a consolidated view of all the messages that are passing through your interfaces that support monitoring. The app allows you to fix errors and download the message payload to get an idea of the structure to make better decisions while handling errors. You can restart or cancel messages based on how you want to handle the messages that are stuck in processing. You can also change the payload, if required, to ensure that the message is successfully processed. In addition, if there is a dependency on any of the other apps in the S/4 HANA Cloud catalogue that impact your messages, the dashboard app offers forward navigation where you can navigate to the required app with a single click. Please note that some of these features are enabled only if the interface developers have configured it in the interfaces that are delivered to you.
Configure Value Mapping: The value mapping offers you the ability to configure value mapping for your interfaces. You can map a single external value to multiple external values or one internal value. You also have the option of defining validity periods in case the mappings are time-bound. Let’s consider an example where you should match the data you have to an existing template from your business partner. Value mapping can help you configure that, where you can match the fields from your template to your business partner’s.
Assign Recipients to Users: For the administrator, the Assign Recipients to Users enables you to find and add users to pre-defined recipients easily. You can also define if a technical user can see messages that are in process or that are only in error state, and basically control which messages are shown or hidden from specific users. You can also control the type of log messages that are displayed to the user in the message dashboard, giving you a fine level of control over the monitoring view for each user.
What to Expect from AIF in S/4 HANA Cloud in the Coming Days?
In the coming days, you can expect more features to be added to the apps available in the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud catalogue. You can also expect enhancements in the usability and look and feel of the apps, powered by SAP Fiori UI technology. For more details on what to expect from SAP AIF on SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, check out the roadmap blog: New Product Roadmap for SAP Application Interface Framework (AIF) Available.
If you want to learn more about AIF, check out my detailed blogs on AIF Overview and AIF on-premise.
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