This is a must-have, comprehensive guide to SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII) that will teach you how to implement and configure SAP MII to fit your different manufacturing tasks and issues. With this book, you learn how to create composite applications that connect your business processes with your plant systems. And, once you know how to link your plant systems to generate comprehensive and accurate data, the authors show you how to use SAP MII tools to generate accurate reports and dashboards for analysis and real-time monitoring, leading to a more efficient and effective shop floor.

1 Administrating and Configuring SAP MII
Learn to how to set up, configure, and use the various components in SAP MII to help you develop general data reports for manufacturing integration and analytics.

2 Developing MII Composite Applications
Explore the SAP MII Workbench to develop content and create different types of data queries, business logic, and visualizations to manage and view plant data.

3 Managing Plant Floor Integration
Get an in-depth look at the integration aspects of SAP MII, including how to connect to manufacturing plant floor systems using data servers, and how to synchronize the plant floor with other parts of the enterprise.

4 Implementing SAP MII Composite Applications
Find out about the different implementation scenarios, including the solution architectures and best practices to follow for developing and implementing SAP MII.

5 Tips and Tricks Throughout
Discover the insider information you need for developing SAP MII composite applications through its model-based interface.

Highlights

• Data Connectors
• Data Queries
• Message Services
• Business Logic Services
• Display Templates and Animated Graphics
• Web Scripting and UI Integration
• Security
• System Configurations

About the Author(s)

Dipankar Saha works for IBM India on implementing SAP MII for various clients globally. He has written several technical blogs and articles on SAP MII, has over 7 years of IT experience, and is an SAP Certified Associate Enterprise Architect. Abesh Bhattacharjee has over 5 years of experience in the IT industry and a year on the manufacturing shop floor. He works with SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. And has authored several popular blogs and articles on SAP MII.

Table of Contents

1 ... SAP MII: A New Composition Platform for Manufacturing Integration and Analytics ... 29
... 1.1 ... SAP MII as a Manufacturing Integration Platform ... 29
... 1.2 ... SAP MII as a Manufacturing Intelligence Platform ... 32
... 1.3 ... Application Architecture of SAP MII ... 36
... 1.4 ... Summary ... 38

2 ... Administrating and Configuring SAP MII ... 39
... 2.1 ... User Management and WebAS Administration in SAP MII ... 39
... 2.2 ... System Management of SAP MII ... 45
... ... 2.2.1 ... System Administration ... 46
... ... 2.2.2 ... System Jobs ... 48
... ... 2.2.3 ... Scheduler ... 48
... ... 2.2.4 ... Schedule Editor ... 50
... ... 2.2.5 ... Active Sessions ... 53
... ... 2.2.6 ... Custom Attributes ... 53
... ... 2.2.7 ... Custom Attribute Mapping ... 55
... ... 2.2.8 ... Configurations ... 56
... ... 2.2.9 ... Projects ... 59
... ... 2.2.10 ... Custom Actions ... 60
... ... 2.2.11 ... PDF Fonts ... 62
... ... 2.2.12 ... JDBC Drivers ... 62
... ... 2.2.13 ... Applet Debugging ... 64
... 2.3 ... Security Services in SAP MII ... 64
... ... 2.3.1 ... System Security ... 65
... ... 2.3.2 ... Data Access ... 68
... 2.4 ... Summary ... 69

3 ... Managing Manufacturing Plant Floor Integration with SAP MII ... 71
... 3.1 ... Data Servers: Connecting to the Manufacturing Plant Floor ... 71
... ... 3.1.1 ... DataSource Connector ... 76
... ... 3.1.2 ... IDBC Connector ... 77
... ... 3.1.3 ... IP21OLEDB Connector ... 78
... ... 3.1.4 ... InSQL Connector ... 83
... ... 3.1.5 ... OLAP Connector ... 84
... ... 3.1.6 ... Open Connector ... 85
... ... 3.1.7 ... OLEDB Connector ... 89
... ... 3.1.8 ... Simulator Connector ... 90
... ... 3.1.9 ... Universal Data Connector ... 91
... ... 3.1.10 ... Virtual Connector ... 95
... ... 3.1.11 ... Xacute Connector ... 96
... 3.2 ... Message Services: Synchronizing the Manufacturing Plant Floor with the Enterprise ... 96
... ... 3.2.1 ... Configuring the Message Listeners ... 98
... ... 3.2.2 ... Configuring the Processing Rules for Messages ... 109
... ... 3.2.3 ... Using the Message Monitor ... 112
... ... 3.2.4 ... Configuring and Using the Message Cleanup Rules ... 116
... 3.3 ... Summary ... 118

4 ... Developing Composite Applications in SAP MII: The Basics ... 119
... 4.1 ... Using the SAP MII Workbench ... 119
... ... 4.1.1 ... Layout ... 120
... ... 4.1.2 ... Content Organization and Management ... 121
... ... 4.1.3 ... Important Menu Items and Functionality ... 123
... ... 4.1.4 ... SAP MII Content Security ... 124
... 4.2 ... Configuring Query Templates ... 126
... ... 4.2.1 ... Data Source Configuration ... 129
... ... 4.2.2 ... General Configuration ... 130
... ... 4.2.3 ... Date Range Configuration ... 133
... ... 4.2.4 ... Parameters Configuration ... 137
... ... 4.2.5 ... Transformation Configuration ... 137
... ... 4.2.6 ... Security Configuration ... 139
... 4.3 ... Types of Query Templates ... 139
... ... 4.3.1 ... OLAPQuery ... 139
... ... 4.3.2 ... SQLQuery ... 141
... ... 4.3.3 ... TagQuery ... 145
... ... 4.3.4 ... XacuteQuery ... 150
... 4.4 ... Summary ... 152

5 ... Display Templates: Let Your Data Speak ... 153
... 5.1 ... iGrid ... 154
... ... 5.1.1 ... iGrid Configuration Tabs ... 155
... ... 5.1.2 ... iGrid Subtypes ... 162
... 5.2 ... iTicker ... 166
... 5.3 ... iChart ... 168
... ... 5.3.1 ... iChart Configuration Tabs ... 168
... ... 5.3.2 ... iChart Subtypes ... 178
... 5.4 ... iSPCChart ... 191
... ... 5.4.1 ... iSPCChart Configuration Tabs ... 192
... ... 5.4.2 ... iSPCChart Subtypes ... 205
... ... 5.4.3 ... SPC Analysis Using iSPCChart ... 217
... 5.5 ... iBrowser ... 221
... 5.6 ... iCommand ... 225
... 5.7 ... iCalendar ... 228
... 5.8 ... Summary ... 229

6 ... Business Logic Transactions: Intelligence in Action ... 231
... 6.1 ... Introduction ... 231
... 6.2 ... Logic, Tracing, and Miscellaneous Functions ... 241
... ... 6.2.1 ... Logic Action Blocks ... 241
... ... 6.2.2 ... Miscellaneous Functions Action Blocks ... 252
... ... 6.2.3 ... Logging Action Blocks ... 256
... 6.3 ... Working with XML ... 260
... ... 6.3.1 ... SAP xMII XML Output Action Blocks ... 260
... ... 6.3.2 ... XML Functions Action Blocks ... 267
... ... 6.3.3 ... Reference Documents Action Blocks ... 284
... 6.4 ... Connecting to the Enterprise Systems ... 287
... ... 6.4.1 ... Creating an SAP Server Alias ... 287
... ... 6.4.2 ... SAP JCo Interface Action Blocks ... 289
... ... 6.4.3 ... SAP JRA Interface Action Blocks ... 293
... ... 6.4.4 ... SAP ERP System Interface Action Blocks ... 296
... ... 6.4.5 ... Using SSO in JCo Action Blocks ... 298
... ... 6.4.6 ... SAP XI Action Blocks ... 299
... ... 6.4.7 ... Web Service ... 302
... ... 6.4.8 ... Message Services Action Blocks ... 303
... ... 6.4.9 ... Manufacturing Dashboards Action Blocks ... 309
... 6.5 ... Managing the Plant Data ... 311
... ... 6.5.1 ... Data Queries Action Blocks ... 311
... ... 6.5.2 ... Queuing Action Blocks ... 314
... 6.6 ... Charts, Animated Objects, and SQC Analysis ... 317
... ... 6.6.1 ... Charts Action Blocks ... 317
... ... 6.6.2 ... Quality Action Blocks ... 319
... ... 6.6.3 ... Dynamic Graphics Action Blocks ... 322
... 6.7 ... Web, Email, and File Handling ... 324
... ... 6.7.1 ... Web Action Blocks ... 324
... ... 6.7.2 ... Email Action Blocks ... 328
... ... 6.7.3 ... PDF Action Blocks ... 331
... ... 6.7.4 ... File I/O Action Blocks ... 336
... 6.8 ... Executing BLS Transactions ... 340
... 6.9 ... Summary ... 342

7 ... Animated Objects: Making Dynamic Visualizations ... 343
... 7.1 ... Introduction ... 343
... 7.2 ... Configuring an Animated Object using the SAP MII Workbench ... 344
... ... 7.2.1 ... Select SVG Document ... 345
... ... 7.2.2 ... Properties ... 346
... ... 7.2.3 ... Calculated Properties ... 347
... ... 7.2.4 ... View SVG Document ... 348
... ... 7.2.5 ... Links ... 348
... ... 7.2.6 ... Preview ... 350
... ... 7.2.7 ... Description ... 350
... 7.3 ... Displaying Animated Objects ... 350

8 ... Web Scripting and Reports: Weaving It All Together ... 353
... 8.1 ... Web Scripting ... 353
... ... 8.1.1 ... Common Applet Methods ... 355
... ... 8.1.2 ... Common Applet Properties ... 358
... ... 8.1.3 ... Common Applet Events ... 358
... 8.2 ... SAP MII Reports ... 362
... 8.3 ... Customizing Content for Mobile Devices ... 364
... 8.4 ... SAP MII Scripting: Common Use Case Scenarios ... 364
... ... 8.4.1 ... Displaying Data ... 364
... ... 8.4.2 ... Creating/Changing Data ... 366
... ... 8.4.3 ... Displaying Charts ... 369
... ... 8.4.4 ... Using the iBrowser ... 371
... ... 8.4.5 ... Displaying Animated Objects ... 372
... 8.5 ... Localizing the Web Content ... 374
... 8.6 ... Enterprise Portal Integration: Make the Shop Floor Visible to the Enterprise ... 376
... ... 8.6.1 ... Using the SAP MII Portal ... 376
... ... 8.6.2 ... Using the SAP Enterprise Portal ... 379
... 8.7 ... Summary ... 381

9 ... Advanced Techniques for SAP MII Composite Application Development ... 383
... 9.1 ... Creating and Deploying a Custom Action Block ... 383
... 9.2 ... Using XPath Expressions in BLS Transactions ... 391
... 9.3 ... Creating Dynamic Queries Using JavaScript ... 396
... ... 9.3.1 ... Dynamically Specifying Selection Columns ... 397
... ... 9.3.2 ... Limiting Number of Rows of Data Returned ... 397
... ... 9.3.3 ... Filtering Data ... 398
... ... 9.3.4 ... Sorting Data ... 398
... 9.4 ... Executing a BAPI/RFC with a Table as an Input Parameter ... 398
... ... 9.4.1 ... Solution Overview ... 399
... ... 9.4.2 ... Solution Walkthrough ... 399
... ... 9.4.3 ... An Alternative Approach ... 403
... 9.5 ... Using Virtual Servers for Communication Between SAP MII Servers ... 404
... ... 9.5.1 ... Troubleshooting ... 407
... 9.6 ... Autobind and Session Variables in SAP MII ... 407
... ... 9.6.1 ... Example ... 408
... 9.7 ... Dynamic Data Exchange Between SAP MII Web Pages ... 411
... ... 9.7.1 ... Methods of Passing Variables Between Pages ... 412
... ... 9.7.2 ... SAP MII Session Variables ... 412
... ... 9.7.3 ... SAP MII Reports ... 413
... ... 9.7.4 ... Weaving It All Together ... 414
... 9.8 ... Implementing Role-Based Access to SAP MII Web Pages ... 417
... 9.9 ... SAP MII Services: The Power Behind SAP MII ... 418
... ... 9.9.1 ... Admin Service ... 419
... ... 9.9.2 ... Scheduler Service ... 421
... ... 9.9.3 ... SystemInfo Service ... 422
... 9.10 ... Summary ... 425

10 ... Implementing SAP MII Composite Applications ... 427
... 10.1 ... Specifying and Designing SAP MII Composite Applications ... 427
... ... 10.1.1 ... Collecting Information Using a Pre-Implementation Questionnaire ... 428
... ... 10.1.2 ... Specifying the SAP MII Implementation Requirements ... 429
... ... 10.1.3 ... Designing the SAP MII Implementation Solutions ... 430
... ... 10.1.4 ... Best Practices for Developing SAP MII Solutions ... 430
... 10.2 ... Solution Architecture of SAP MII Implementations ... 432
... ... 10.2.1 ... Implementation Architecture of SAP MII ... 434
... ... 10.2.2 ... Application Architecture of SAP MII Composite Applications ... 436
... 10.3 ... Troubleshooting of SAP MII Composite Applications ... 438
... 10.4 ... Implementing ISA-95/B2MML in SAP MII ... 440
... 10.5 ... Implementation Scenarios of SAP MII in Manufacturing Industries ... 443
... ... 10.5.1 ... Simpler User Interface and Enterprise Integration ... 444
... ... 10.5.2 ... Plant Systems Integration and Manufacturing Dashboards ... 445
... ... 10.5.3 ... Enterprise Services for the Manufacturing Plant Floor ... 445
... 10.6 ... Summary ... 446

A ... New Features in SAP MII 12.1 ... 449

B ... The Authors ... 451