BDC and SAP
SAP is well known for being an enterprise level product, and as people within the enterprise know integration at this kind of level is not an easy task. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, the Business Data Catalog and BDC Meta Man have made this a lot easier, however due to the web service interface that SAP provides, integration between MOSS 2007 and SAP is still a challenge.
Easy SAP and MOSS 2007 BDC Integration
With the use of Sitrion and BDC Meta Man integration between SAP and SharePoint is an easy task. Sitrion provide the necessary tools and building blocks to present SAP data to the Business Data Catalog via web service methods that the BDC requires.
Tools for the Job
The first place to start is with Sitrion's iQL Studio. You can model metadata-driven from within Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 that leverage SAP functionalities like BAPIs, RFCs, Queries and Workflows.
iQL Studio allows the developer to simply drag & drop SAP functionalities to a design surface and model an abstracted and documented Business Entity. Even testing of SAP functions (like SAP transaction SE37) is integrated into iQL's toolkit.
iQL also features composite methods that are able to execute calls against multiple SAP functions and also allow the usage of custom embedded .NET code.
Once an iQL Business is modelled it can be published with one single click to Microsoft's IIS as a pure .NET WebService! From here you can start using the BDC MetaMan and create powerful MOSS scenarios.
Business Data Catalog Integration
Once you have the necessary web services created for your SAP instance, let BDC Meta Man get to work and create the XML application definition file you need to import into SharePoint.
Once added to SharePoint you will then be able to use your SAP data in:
1, Out of the Box Web Parts
2, Lists and Document Libraries
3, Search
4, User Profile Data
5, Custom Solutions
Want more Information?
If you are an SAP user and want more information on how you can surface your data to Office SharePoint Server 2007 please do get in touch at sales@lightningtools.com. We will be happy to discuss your requirements further and arrange an online demo/presentation.