Welcome back to the next blog in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2-tier ERP blog series.
In this blog, let’s take a look at integration aspects in a 2-tier deployment model
Integration is a core topic for a 2-tier deployment. To re-iterate, we assume the following in 2-tier deployment
The Integration approach we take for S/4HANA Cloud is more or less the same in case of 2-tier deployment.
The integration technologies we would want to leverage for 2-tier would be as shown below:
We can broadly categorize it into
SAP to SAP integration
The SAP-SAP integration can leverage SAP Cloud Connector and SAP Cloud to SAP Cloud products can leverage pre-packaged SAP delivered integration. (not to mention pre-packaged integration content available even for SAP OnPremise solutions from S/4HANA Cloud)
For detailed list of all available SAP pre-packaged integration, refer to:
https://cloudintegration.hana.ondemand.com/#/shell/discover
The SAP Cloud connector is available currently to connect on-demand applications in SAP Cloud Platform and existing on-premise systems. I would imagine the same concept being extended to connect S/4HANA Cloud with existing on-premise systems.
Some examples of pre-packaged integration I would like to quote, delivered in 1705 are:
We discussed the above usecases in-detail in our 2-tier finance blog.
SAP to non-SAP (3rd party) or custom integration
In case of SAP to non-SAP or 3rd party or custom integration, I see the following options
Whitelisted APIs
In 1705, SAP has released ~60 whitelisted APIs, each with many operations. You can check out the available APIs under https://api.sap.com
For more details on how to find APIs and extension point refer to the blog here.
CDS Views
CDS Views provide a semantically rich data model representation with support for extensibility for customers. CDS views can also be used to read data models from S/4HANA Cloud for which there are no whitelisted APIs available.
How to do it – Its simple:
Step 1: Create a custom CDS view from existing delivered CDS view
Step 2: enable oData option for this custom CDS view
Step 3: Create a custom communication scenario
Step 4: Create communication user with appropriate roles and authorization
Step 5: User and communication scenarios are combined in the communication arrangement
Step 6: Consume the oData service.
Electronic Data Interchange
EDIs needs to be handled using the SAP Cloud Platform Integration middleware to build your integration flows and mappings. This will enable consumption of existing EDIs for communication with OnPremise HQ systems. You still need a whitelisted API on S/4HANA Cloud to make them talk with each other.
A classic case for this is a Purchase Order created in a subsidiary running S/4HANA Cloud , resulting in a Sales Order inbound created on HQ leveraging EDIs. This needs to be orchestrated on SAP Cloud Platform.
SAP ARIBA also delivers predefined EDI formats based on ARIBA Cloud Integration Gateway powered by SAP Cloud Platform Integration.
Stay tuned for the next blog in this series; more topics to be follow in this series like Master Data handling, Analytics approaches etc..
For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:
Follow us via @SAP and #S/4HANA or connect with me via srivatsan.santhanam
In this blog, let’s take a look at integration aspects in a 2-tier deployment model
Integration is a core topic for a 2-tier deployment. To re-iterate, we assume the following in 2-tier deployment
- Subsidiaries shall run S/4HANA Cloud
- Headquarters can run SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA OnPremise or any ERP
The Integration approach we take for S/4HANA Cloud is more or less the same in case of 2-tier deployment.
The integration technologies we would want to leverage for 2-tier would be as shown below:
We can broadly categorize it into
- SAP to SAP integration
- SAP to non-SAP (3rd party) or custom integration
SAP to SAP integration
The SAP-SAP integration can leverage SAP Cloud Connector and SAP Cloud to SAP Cloud products can leverage pre-packaged SAP delivered integration. (not to mention pre-packaged integration content available even for SAP OnPremise solutions from S/4HANA Cloud)
For detailed list of all available SAP pre-packaged integration, refer to:
https://cloudintegration.hana.ondemand.com/#/shell/discover
The SAP Cloud connector is available currently to connect on-demand applications in SAP Cloud Platform and existing on-premise systems. I would imagine the same concept being extended to connect S/4HANA Cloud with existing on-premise systems.
Some examples of pre-packaged integration I would like to quote, delivered in 1705 are:
- SAP BW Activation for SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation (Scope Item : 1VG)
This scope item delivers capabilities to activate SAP Business Warehouse for use with SAP BusinessObjects Planning Consolidation with SAP S/4HANA Cloud as a data source. A very useful 2-tier usecase.
- Cloud Consolidation for SAP S/4HANA (Scope Item: 1SG)
This scope item provides statutory financial consolidation capabilities for SAP S/4 HANA Cloud customers, with options to bring in external data with product validations to ensure data integrity for group consolidation scenarios.
We discussed the above usecases in-detail in our 2-tier finance blog.
SAP to non-SAP (3rd party) or custom integration
In case of SAP to non-SAP or 3rd party or custom integration, I see the following options
- Whitelisted APIs
- CDS views
- EDIs
Whitelisted APIs
In 1705, SAP has released ~60 whitelisted APIs, each with many operations. You can check out the available APIs under https://api.sap.com
For more details on how to find APIs and extension point refer to the blog here.
CDS Views
CDS Views provide a semantically rich data model representation with support for extensibility for customers. CDS views can also be used to read data models from S/4HANA Cloud for which there are no whitelisted APIs available.
How to do it – Its simple:
Step 1: Create a custom CDS view from existing delivered CDS view
Step 2: enable oData option for this custom CDS view
Step 3: Create a custom communication scenario
Step 4: Create communication user with appropriate roles and authorization
Step 5: User and communication scenarios are combined in the communication arrangement
Step 6: Consume the oData service.
Electronic Data Interchange
EDIs needs to be handled using the SAP Cloud Platform Integration middleware to build your integration flows and mappings. This will enable consumption of existing EDIs for communication with OnPremise HQ systems. You still need a whitelisted API on S/4HANA Cloud to make them talk with each other.
A classic case for this is a Purchase Order created in a subsidiary running S/4HANA Cloud , resulting in a Sales Order inbound created on HQ leveraging EDIs. This needs to be orchestrated on SAP Cloud Platform.
SAP ARIBA also delivers predefined EDI formats based on ARIBA Cloud Integration Gateway powered by SAP Cloud Platform Integration.
Stay tuned for the next blog in this series; more topics to be follow in this series like Master Data handling, Analytics approaches etc..
For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:
- S/4HANA cloud release information: http://www.sap.com/s4-cloudrelease
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud use case series
- Best practices for all the cloud editions here
- S/4HANA Cloud 2-Tier ERP series: The Collection here
Follow us via @SAP and #S/4HANA or connect with me via srivatsan.santhanam
- SAP Managed Tags:
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