With this practical guide, you’ll learn how to develop mappings, adapters, and proxies for SAP NetWeaver Process Integration. Each exercise includes detailed descriptions for all development and configuration objects (including monitoring), and then concludes with an integration example. The book is suitable for SAP NetWeaver PI beginners, and can also serve as a reference guide for experienced users.

Presentation from a Developer’s Perspective
Provides a detailed overview of the features and capabilities of SAP NetWeaver PI from a developer’s point of view.

Comprehensive Exercises
Explains mappings, adapters, and proxies using practical, hands-on development of components.

Concrete Activity Guidelines
Offers detailed tutorials with numerous programming examples to explain the implementation of all development and configuration objects.

Multilayer Scenario
Uses an integration example to explain the process of implementing a sales process (inquiry, quotation, ordering, and billing).

Presentation Across Releases
Provides an overview of all procurement processes, along with a list of the transactions in the SAP system.

Highlights

· System definition in the SLD
· Configuration of the local Integration Engine
· Adapter-specific system settings
· Configuration of objects, service interfaces, mappings, adapters, proxies
· Enterprise Services Repository, Services Registry, Runtime Workbench
· Design, configuration, process, monitoring
· RFC-to-file, file-to-IDoc, ABAP-proxy-to-SOAP, file-to-JDBC, BPM
· Advanced Adapter Engine, integrated configuration
· Enhanced receiver determination, XML validation
· Message packaging, mapping lookups

The Authors

Valentin Nicolescu, Burkhardt Funk, Peter Niemeyer, Matthias Heiler, Holger Wittges, Thomas Morandell, Florian Visintin, Benedikt Kleine Stegemann, and Harald Kienegger are SAP NetWeaver PI experts in the fields of training, consulting, and practice.

Table of Contents 

• ... Foreword ... 13
• ... Preface ... 17
• 1 ... Integrating Enterprise Information Systems ... 25
• 1.1 ... Basic Principles ... 25
• 1.1.1 ... Historical Development ... 26
• 1.1.2 ... Reasons for and Goals of Integrating IT Systems ... 28
• 1.1.3 ... Characteristics of Integration ... 29
• 1.2 ... Practical Integration Example ... 31
• 1.3 ... Integration Concepts and Technologies ... 35
• 1.3.1 ... Architectures ... 35
• 1.3.2 ... Integration Approaches ... 37
• 1.3.3 ... Technologies ... 41
• 1.4 ... EAI Platforms and Their Significance in Enterprises ... 44
• 1.5 ... Basics of BPM ... 46
• 1.6 ... Use of ARIS Business Architect and SAP Solution Manager ... 50
• 1.6.1 ... Concept ... 51
• 1.6.2 ... Bidirectional Integration ... 54
• 2 ... SAP NetWeaver PI ... 57
• 2.1 ... SAP NetWeaver PI as Part of SAP NetWeaver ... 57
• 2.1.1 ... Challenges of PI ... 58
• 2.1.2 ... SAP NetWeaver ... 63
• 2.1.3 ... SAP NetWeaver PI as a Central Infrastructure of SOAs ... 64
• 2.1.4 ... IT Practices ... 65
• 2.2 ... Functionality of SAP NetWeaver PI ... 68
• 2.2.1 ... Address Example ... 69
• 2.2.2 ... Classification of Messages ... 70
• 2.2.3 ... Steps for Implementing a Message Flow ... 75
• 2.3 ... Components ... 76
• 2.3.1 ... SLD ... 77
• 2.3.2 ... Enterprise Services Repository and Services Registry ... 79
• 2.3.3 ... Integration Directory ... 81
• 2.3.4 ... Runtime Workbench ... 83
• 2.3.5 ... SAP NetWeaver Administrator (NWA) ... 84
• 2.3.6 ... IS ... 85
• 2.4 ... Objects ... 93
• 2.4.1 ... Software Products in the Enterprise Services Repository ... 93
• 2.4.2 ... Service Interfaces and Mapping Objects in the Enterprise Services Repository ... 94
• 2.4.3 ... Configuration Objects in the Integration Directory ... 97
• 2.5 ... Advanced Concepts ... 99
• 2.5.1 ... Outside-In vs. Inside-Out ... 99
• 2.5.2 ... Communication Components ... 101
• 2.5.3 ... SAP NetWeaver PI Connectivity ... 102
• 2.5.4 ... Adapter ... 104
• 2.5.5 ... Quality of Service (QoS) ... 108
• 2.5.6 ... Message Queues ... 109
• 2.5.7 ... Mappings ... 111
• 2.6 ... New Concepts in SAP NetWeaver PI 7.1 ... 113
• 2.6.1 ... Local Processing on the AAE ... 113
• 2.6.2 ... Integrated Configuration ... 115
• 2.6.3 ... Enhanced (Dynamic) Receiver Determination ... 116
• 2.6.4 ... XML Validation ... 116
• 2.6.5 ... Interface Pattern: Communication Patterns between Sender and Receiver ... 119
• 2.6.6 ... Direct Communication ... 120
• 2.6.7 ... Web Service Reliable Messaging ... 122
• 2.6.8 ... Message Packaging ... 123
• 2.6.9 ... Mapping Lookups ... 125
• 3 ... Basic System Configuration ... 129
• 3.1 ... Prerequisites ... 129
• 3.2 ... Defining the Connected Systems in the SLD ... 131
• 3.2.1 ... Creating the Systems: Technical Systems ... 132
• 3.2.2 ... Creating the Systems: Business Systems ... 137
• 3.3 ... Integrating the SAP Systems with the SLD ... 140
• 3.3.1 ... Creating the RFC Connections ... 140
• 3.3.2 ... Configuring the SLD Integration ... 143
• 3.4 ... Configuring the Local IE ... 146
• 3.4.1 ... Defining the Role of the Business System ... 147
• 3.4.2 ... Defining and Activating Message Queues ... 150
• 3.4.3 ... Activating the XI Service ... 150
• 3.4.4 ... Establishing the Connection to the Integration Builder and the Runtime Workbench ... 152
• 3.5 ... Adapter-Specific System Settings ... 157
• 3.5.1 ... Checking the ABAP-Proxy Integration ... 158
• 3.5.2 ... Settings for Using the RFC Adapter ... 158
• 3.5.3 ... Settings for Using the IDoc Adapter ... 160
• 3.5.4 ... Adding ABAP Mappings to the Available Mappings (Optional) ... 164
• 3.5.5 ... Preparations for Using Alert Monitoring (Optional) ... 166
• 3.6 ... Course-Specific Preparations ... 168
• 3.6.1 ... Creating and Assigning the Software Product ... 170
• 3.6.2 ... Importing the Software Product in the Enterprise Services Repository and Setting it Up ... 175
• 4 ... Technical Exercises ... 183
• 4.1 ... Exercise 1: RFC-to-File ... 185
• 4.1.1 ... Basic Principles ... 185
• 4.1.2 ... Design ... 187
• 4.1.3 ... Configuration ... 201
• 4.1.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 210
• 4.1.5 ... Alternative Mapping: ABAP Mapping (Optional) ... 215
• 4.2 ... Exercise 2: File-to-IDoc ... 220
• 4.2.1 ... Basics ... 220
• 4.2.2 ... Design ... 223
• 4.2.3 ... Configuration ... 228
• 4.2.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 235
• 4.3 ... Exercise 3: ABAP-Proxy-to-Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) ... 238
• 4.3.1 ... Basics ... 239
• 4.3.2 ... Design ... 240
• 4.3.3 ... Configuration ... 250
• 4.3.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 253
• 4.4 ... Exercise 4: Business Process Management (BPM) ... 254
• 4.4.1 ... Basics ... 255
• 4.4.2 ... Design ... 256
• 4.4.3 ... Configuration ... 274
• 4.4.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 280
• 4.4.5 ... Extending the Exercise by Alert Monitoring (Optional) ... 284
• 4.5 ... Exercise 5: File-to-JDBC ... 290
• 4.5.1 ... Basics ... 290
• 4.5.2 ... Design ... 291
• 4.5.3 ... Configuration ... 295
• 4.5.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 300
• 4.5.5 ... Alternative Java Mapping (Optional) ... 300
• 4.6 ... More Adapters ... 307
• 4.6.1 ... Java Message Service (JMS) Adapter ... 307
• 4.6.2 ... SAP Business Connector (BC) Adapter ... 308
• 4.6.3 ... Plain HTTP Adapter ... 308
• 4.6.4 ... Java Proxy Generation ... 309
• 4.6.5 ... RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF) Adapter ... 309
• 4.6.6 ... CIDX Adapter ... 310
• 5 ... SARIDIS Case Study in Sales and Distribution (SD) ... 311
• 5.1 ... Creating the Query ... 314
• 5.1.1 ... Basic Principles ... 314
• 5.1.2 ... Design ... 317
• 5.1.3 ... Configuration ... 327
• 5.1.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 332
• 5.2 ... Submitting the Quotations ... 333
• 5.2.1 ... Basic Principles ... 334
• 5.2.2 ... Design ... 337
• 5.2.3 ... Configuration ... 358
• 5.2.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 367
• 5.3 ... Entering a Sales Order ... 371
• 5.3.1 ... Basic Principles ... 372
• 5.3.2 ... Design ... 373
• 5.3.3 ... Configuration ... 384
• 5.3.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 388
• 5.4 ... Delivering the Invoice ... 392
• 5.4.1 ... Basic Principles ... 392
• 5.4.2 ... Design ... 394
• 5.4.3 ... Configuration ... 397
• 5.4.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 401
• 5.5 ... Manual Decision on Queries ... 405
• 5.5.1 ... Basic Principles ... 406
• 5.5.2 ... Design ... 407
• 5.5.3 ... Configuration ... 414
• 5.5.4 ... Process and Monitoring ... 419
• 6 ... Enhancements and Outlook ... 423
• 6.1 ... Possible Enhancements to the Case Study ... 423
• 6.1.1 ... Extending the Breadth of the Case Study ... 423
• 6.1.2 ... Extending the Depth of the Case Study ... 428
• 6.2 ... Beer Distribution Game ... 429
• 6.2.1 ... Predefined Software Components ... 431
• 6.2.2 ... Design and Implementation ... 433
• 6.2.3 ... Options for Enhancement ... 434
• 6.3 ... SAP NetWeaver PI and SOA ... 435
• 6.4 ... Further Development of SAP NetWeaver PI ... 436
• 6.4.1 ... Development of SAP NetWeaver PI ... 437
• 6.4.2 ... Roadmap of the SOA Middleware ... 439
• 6.5 ... Summary ... 456
• ... Appendices ... 457
• A ... Exercise Materials ... 459
• A.1 ... Resources for Exercise 1 (RFC-to-File) ... 459
• A.2 ... Resources for Exercise 2 (File-to-IDoc) ... 463
• A.3 ... Resources for Exercise 3 (ABAP-Proxy-to-SOAP) ... 464
• A.4 ... Resources for Exercise 4 (BPM) ... 464
• A.5 ... Resources for Exercise 5 (File-to-JDBC) ... 465
• A.6 ... Resources for Step 1 of the Case Study (Request Creation) ... 468
• A.7 ... Resources for Step 2 of the Case Study (Quotation Process) ... 469
• A.8 ... Resources for Step 3 of the Case Study (Entering a Sales Order) ... 472
• A.9 ... Resources for Step 4 of the Case Study (Invoice Delivery) ... 474
• B ... Bibliography ... 479
• C ... The Authors ... 483
• ... Index ... 487