Integrating SAP and Low-Code Plaforms
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The document provides an architectural analysis on integrating low-code platforms with SAP environments, emphasizing that deployment strategies are influenced by architectural considerations. It offers a scenario involving a beer manufacturing company needing to streamline customer order placements while highlighting various integration complexities with SAP APIs. Additionally, it outlines challenges such as the necessity for experienced developers, authentication, licensing implications, and multiple integration methods available for effective data flow management.
Integrating SAP and Low-Code Plaforms
- 1. Agile Business Technology SAP and Low-Code Platforms An architectural analysis with example scenario
- 2. 1. 2. 3. SAP & Low-Code platforms SAP API Options Visit our Knowledge Base. Table of Contents
- 3. The integration approach for deploying a Low-Code platform within an SAP environment is dependent on key architectural considerations. Most Low- Code vendors typically cite Gartner's bi-modal IT architectural approach and recommend that: Low-Code platforms are deployed for customer facing components, that require rapid change capabilities SAP and back-office systems are layered and left “as is” in what Gartner calls “Mode 1” management – to accommodate the longer and more controlled change cycles associated with traditional IT environments The implementation reality is however not that simple as core API changes are frequently required to be cascaded down the entire IT stack – Enterprise architects need to decide how “deep” the Low-Code solutions will penetrate into their “systems of record” architecture. SAP & Low-Code platforms
- 4. Sample scenario to provide context It is useful to consider a specific example to highlight some of the challenges that usually present themselves. Let's consider a beer manufacturing company that wants to allow existing customers to create ‘internet’ or B2B orders. The objective of this approach is to provide a better user experience for customers and reduce the workload on your existing call centre. Now consider the data flows required for the new customer journey: 1. We need to link web registrations with existing SAP customers 2. A product catalog is required with associated stock levels (including Available To Promise number) 3. Orders need to be captured with accurate pricing (incl. current trade promotions) (The above is an extreme simplification of the actual data flows and integration that would be required and ignores elements such as credit availability, interaction history, delivery addresses, shipping notifications, bill-to-parties, delivery scheduling etc. We are also assuming that SAP CRM has not been implemented and that we are integrating directly with the core SAP ERP system).
- 5. Calling the APIs SAP provides APIs for these core data elements, and it should therefore just be a matter of calling the relevant Business API (BAPI), right? Exactly how you call (invoke) this API is covered in a later section, but let’s consider one of the simplest API calls that are available - retrieval of customer detail from the SAP Customer Master records. Interesting - in order to read a customers’ details you need to know which sales organisation (an configurable enterprise structuring within SAP's Sales and Distribution Module) i.e. you require additional master data and an associated algorithm so that the correct information can be retrieved for the customer placing the order. Additionally, extracting information about the customer's address and potential delivery addresses for orders would require more BAPI calls – again not difficult but an integration pattern is emerging, a number of sequential calls need to be made to interrogate all the relevant master data for each customer.
- 6. Expecting your Low-Code consultant to know how to construct these calls would be challenging. At this point customers typically resort to one of the following options to solve this multi-request challenge: 1. A custom API is created on SAP, which retrieves all the relevant information in one logical unit of work. This requires an SAP ABAP developer - here all the fields you require are specified and built for you. This could take the form of enhancing a SAP standard call, or creating a completely new function. 2. A technical wrapper is created in the Low-Code solution which performs all of the API calls and just exposes the relevant customer information as required. 3. A middleware solution is implemented (either via SAP Process Orchestration Engine or an existing ESB layer) as most SAP customers would have some kind of middleware solution running within their landscape. Typically the implementation of this would require some of the ABAP code as per (1) above. Options 1 & 3 above would be implemented in your SAP system and follow a typical change control approach to migrate through from development to testing to production (Gartner Mode 1 approach). Creating sales orders is even more complicated When creating the actual sales orders in the SAP ERP system, the SAP BAPIs start becoming even more complicated, and the issue of having to pre- populate master data (which is typically a selection parameters within the UI) from SAP becomes even more onerous. Details such as: Distribution Channels, Divisions, Sales Order Types, Sold-to-parties, Ship-to-parties, material numbers, plants, item categories would all need to be populated correctly in order to successfully create a sales order in the SAP ERP system. The end result is that you would in all likelihood still require an experienced SAP ABAP developer to assist as the integration requirements are likely going to be developed in your existing SAP solution making rapid changes a challenge – very much counter to the promises and objectives of Low-Code solutions.
- 7. Other factors to consider Some other considerations to be aware of when implementing Low-Code solutions in combination with SAP are: 1. Authentication – how to handle SAP authentication, using an interface user can reduce trace-ability and introduce security risks. 2. SAP Licensing – depending on how you integrate e.g. in real time, could make you liable for additional SAP software license fees. 3. Stateful sessions – does your integration pattern require you to keep state across the various integration steps? 4. Entity Modelling– should you synchronise data into your entity model of the Low-Code platform (this may be needed for offline operations or used to avoid having to do synchronous calls into the back-end ERP system)
- 8. What options are available for calling the SAP ERP APIs externally? In broad terms the following integration options are available for integrating with an SAP ERP system: 1. .Net Connector which exposes your API via the Microsoft .NET platform – solutions such as Outsystems use this framework for extracting metadata from SAP and provides the framework for calling via the RFC layer. 2. SAP Java Connector (Jco) which allows bi-directional communication between SAP and other systems catering for communication using Java language to invoke RFC calls to back-end SAP systems. 3. Web Services – can be published directly from the SAP ERP system and are typically consumed via SOAP. 4. Intermediate Documents – IDoc's are a messaging framework for bi- directional communication between SAP systems, there are more than 500 different IDoc types and is analogous to an EDI solution. 5. Using SAP NetWeaver PO (Process Orchestration) which can invoke standard or custom APIs that have been defined via proxies on your ERP system. SAP provides an Enterprise Service Repository (ESR) which needs to be configured across your SAP landscape for use. 6. Using the SAP NetWeaver Gateway, which uses the OData standard to expose REST services from the ERP system. SAP uses this framework extensively for providing its latest UI framework called Fiori. 7. Custom built HTTP adapters which use the ABAP Internet Communication Framework (ICF) for communicating via HTTP (typically via REST) SAP API Options An overview of integration mechanisms
- 9. 8. 3rd Party SAP Add-On tools such as Neptune or Enosix, which provide integration frameworks and simplification tools. 9. HANA Cloud Integration (HCI) could technically be used to create data flows between your Low-Code cloud solution and the cloud based HANA solutions. 10. SAP API Management, a white labelled Apigee solution for building external integration to the SAP ERP backend Selecting the most appropriate option will depend on your Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) strategy, which Low-Code platform you chose, skills availability and cost guidelines.
- 10. Visit our Knowledge Base. Visit our online Low-Code Knowledge Base for more information of architecture, strategy and code platforms vendors. CLICK HERE