The New SAP Sourcing and CLM DOCX Generation Service

[harsh_satsangi]

The New SAP Sourcing & CLM DOCX Generation service

(SAP Sourcing & CLM 7.0 SP5)

Introduction

As we all know that SAP Sourcing & CLM can use the Microsoft .NET-based WordService to generate structured clause documents, collection variables documents and contract document templates. The Microsoft .NET-based WordService requires setup of an additional Windows server. Due to this overhead and additional TCO SAP Sourcing & CLM now with SAP Sourcing & CLM 7.0 SP5* also supports WordService based on JAVA technology. This new wordservice is called SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service. The does not require an additional Windows server.

Customers must enable SAP Sourcing for either the .NET service or the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service, not for both services.

Comparison between .NET service and SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service

Microsoft .NET-based WordService	New SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service
Higher TCO	Lower TCO
Requires setup of an additional Windows server	No additional server required
Supports .doc & .docx format	Supports only MS 2007 .docx format
Available in all 7.0 and 9.0 versions	Available from SAP Sourcing & CLM 7.0 SP 5 onwards*

Enabling SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service

To use the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service, you must first convert all legacy contract clauses, collection variables documents, and contract document templates to .docx and .dotx formats. Therefore, you must have the .NET WordService enabled in order to convert these document types. After the conversion, disable .NET WordService.

NOTE

Customers new to SAP Sourcing & CLM, and those who have not yet configured WordService, should set up the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service.

We also recommend that customers with SAP Sourcing & CLM already installed and WordService already configured should update directly to the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service as well. However, these customers may instead update Microsoft .NET WordService to the latest version.

Steps involved for enabling SAP Sourcing DOCX generation service.

a)    Take a backup of your whole database

b)    Log on as a member of the administrator group. Make sure WordService is enabled. Select Setup->System Properties. Select Contractgen.wordservice.enabled.

If contractgen.wordservice.enabled is not listed, create the property by clicking New, and add it. Then, if the DB Importer is run with the system context, set this property in the system portal. Select Edit. In the Value field, type TRUE, and select Save.

c)    Convert .DOC and .DOT files to .DOCX and .DOTX respectively: With new SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation service, CLM supports only .docx and .dotx formats. Convert the legacy .doc and .dot files to .docx and .dotx respectively with the conversion script provided in DB Importer.  Find DB Importer on the Sourcing server, in the Sourcing bin subdirectory.

Invoke the DB Importer tool. For Linux servers, invoke dbimport.sh. For Windows servers, invoke dbimport.bat. On the Setup tab, select the fcieso.jar file. Navigate to the com/sap/eso/odp/install/scripts/upgrade directory, and select the convert_doc_to_docx.xml script file. Run the upgrade script, convert_doc_to_docx. This script converts all the existing contract .doc and .dot files to .docx and .dotx respectively.

d)    After testing the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service thoroughly, and checking your documents, disable WordService. Select Setup->System Properties. Select Contractgen.wordservice.enabled . Select Edit. In the Value field type FALSE, and select Save. Setting the FALSE value to this system property will automatically enable new word service

NOTE

Customers new to SAP Sourcing, and those who have not yet configured WordService, should set up the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service.

We recommend also that customers with SAP Sourcing already installed and WordService already configured should update directly to the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service as well. However, these customers may instead update Microsoft .NET WordService to the latest version.

The SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service generates and works with documents only in .docx or .dotx formats. For example, you cannot upload .doc or .dot files to the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service. Therefore, to use the SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service, you must convert your legacy .doc and .dot files to .docx and .dotx formats.

* Enabling SAP Sourcing DOCX Generation Service on the SAP Sourcing & CLM 9.0 and its various SP’s is still in development.