Mixed Company Integrating SAP-Third-Party Software - HB - Final

1
EDITORS NOTE
2
WALL-TO-WALL SAP
IS THE GOAL, BUT ITS
A HARD ONE TO KEEP
3
STRATEGIZE AND
AVOID SAP DATA
INTEGRATION FAILURES
4
TOOLS FOR INTEGRATING
SAP, NON-SAP SOFTWARE
ON THE RISE
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Mixed Company: Integrating
SAP, Third-Party Software
Companies that run the backbone of their business on SAP can
augment functionality with third-party software. But a blended
software environment requires hefty research and careful planning.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
2 MI XED COMPANY: I NTEGRATI NG SAP, THI RD- PARTY SOFTWARE
1
EDITORS
NOTE

Cutting Through the Fog
Companies face a mind-numbing series of verdicts on the software and other
technology they need to meet todays business demands and stay ahead ofor at
least keep up withthe competition. But nding the best tool for the task is not
the only consideration. Businesses, even ones committed to running SAP software,
must also weigh the pros and cons of having a mixed software environment.
In the rst article in this three-part guide on combining SAP and third-party
software, we examine some of the tradeoffs, including the cost of software inte-
gration versus mitigating factors like the growing ease of such projects.
The second article explores the tools and platforms that SAP
shops have at their disposal for integrating SAP and non-SAP software.
Lastly, we look at the challenge of integrating data between applications.
Perhaps the most surprising conclusion comes from independent SAP consultant
Ethan Jewett: Even in an all-SAP landscape, where the problem of spanning het-
erogeneous systems is mitigated, integration can still be a challenge. n
Todd Morrison
News and Site Editor, SearchSAP.com
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
Wall-to-Wall SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard One to Keep
Given the complexities of todays globally dispersed businesses, an all-SAP
software environment may be nearly impossible to have. Even so, large SAP shops
are often willing to forgo the specialized functionality of best of breed products
because of the cost and complexity of software integration.
At Harman, a Stamford, Conn., manufacturer of consumer-grade and profes-
sional electronics, the decision to use SAP or not boils down to which approach
best meets the business need.
The company has SAP as its ERP, manufacturing and logistics backbone but
employs offerings from Oracle, Ariba and others to handle everything from CRM
to e-commerce, according to Arun Kumar, Harmans director of enterprise archi-
tecture and compliance. While integration used to be a major obstacle, Kumar said
current SAP offerings, including the NetWeaver Process Orchestration middle-
ware, have simplied things. In fact, integration complexity no longer counts as a
factor in evaluating tradeoffs between products.
Five or six years ago, integration was a major headache, but these days, there
are various types of out-of-the-box integration, and as the products mature, in-
tegration becomes much easier, he said.
2
PLANNING
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
2
PLANNING
DEFINING THE CHALLENGE
Theres no doubting the heterogeneous nature of the modern IT landscape. Merg-
ers and acquisitions have left companies saddled with an array of enterprise sys-
tems and, increasingly, line-of-business or regional divisions are actively directing
their own IT decisions, choosing nonstandard human resources or customer re-
lationship management (CRM) platforms better suited to their needs.
Despite the inux of non-SAP software into SAP-dominated shops, the added
functionality of a third-party product does not always outweigh the hassles it
brings with it, according to Joshua Greenbaum, president of Enterprise Applica-
tions Consulting, based in Berkeley, Calif.
Integrating SAP and non-SAP systems is [no small challenge] given the con-
gurations and customizations, and depending on the industry, the additional,
nonstandard components to the data model, Greenbaum said.
As a result, companies often opt for their primary vendor when extending en-
terprise functionality to areas like CRM, supply chain management, talent man-
agement and even business intelligence. Thats because they dont want to bear
the burden of a different user experience, a different data model and a complex
integration challenge when the SAP option meets the bulk of their requirements.
Every IT decision for or against an IT vendor has a cost equation, and the big
question is how much will SAP meet the needs of my company and industry out
of the box, Greenbaum said.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
2
PLANNING
THE ACHES OF INTEGRATION
One of the biggest advantages of sticking with an all-SAP approach is having the
right set of skills and IT resources in-house or at the ready as a result of an existing
system integration, according to Sascha Wenninger, an SAP integration architect
who is setting up a new SAP consultancy.
While SAP CRM is a different animal from SAP ERP, the underlying application
server is the same, the user interface building blocks are consistent and many ar-
chitectural componentsfrom NetWeaver to the IDoc (Intermediate Document)
formatspan the portfolio of core SAP applications, Wenninger added.
I dont want to give the impression that an SAP guy knows how to do every-
thing with SAP, but there can be 80% overlap [between an SAP ERP and CRM
specialist], whereas if you go with Salesforce.com or [Microsoft] Dynamics, there
is zero overlap, he said.
Wenninger cited a recent client project to integrate SAP ERP with Salesforce
to illustrate his point. The client, which had integrated SAP CRM and ERP using
the standard CRM middleware, wanted to extend the environment, keeping CRM
as the system of record but doing things like creating invoices via Salesforce in
the cloud.
This literally turned into a multimillion-dollar project that took well over a
year just to get some basic integration that didnt even approach the standard SAP
integration with CRM, Wenninger said. There were also two totally different
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
2
PLANNING
ecosystemsyou have the SAP guys and the [Salesforce] guys, and neither has
experience in the others environment, which makes things difcult.
THE BEAUTY OF ONE
Having a single point of contact for support and integration assistance is another
benet of sticking with a primary vendor, as is the possibility of negotiating bet-
ter licensing terms. Simplicity of the IT environment itself should be factored in
when deciding between SAP and a third-party vendor, according to Luke Marson,
talent management architect at Denmark-based Gavdi Group, a consulting com-
pany specializing in human capital management. When you are running fewer
systems, youre not duplicating data across multiple systems, which is good for
data integrity, security and authorizations, Marson said.
Theoretically, with an all-SAP platform, SAP owns the integration burden,
having committed to delivering a certain amount of integration between systems
using a mix of direct connections, application programming interfaces and inte-
gration technologies. But industry observers caution that just because a product
comes from SAP doesnt mean integration is seamless, especially if it has come
into the family through an acquisition.
Even if it says SAP on the tin, it doesnt mean it nicely integrates with existing
stuff, Wenninger said. Under the covers, its a totally different product.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
2
PLANNING
AN SAP-ONLY CLUB? PROBABLY NOT
With so many advantages in a soup-to-nuts SAP deployment, why should compa-
nies risk going with a niche, third-party product and bear the pain of more com-
plex integration? Theres a range of compelling reasons, from having prior on-staff
knowledge of a particular application to enlisting multiple suppliers to prevent
vendor lock-inwhich can mean less negotiating power on price and being at the
vendors mercy when it comes to upgrade cycles and functionality.
Perhaps the most compelling reason, however, is the need for a specic set of
featuresperhaps industry-related capabilitiesor because the SAP offering just
doesnt stack up. Beth Stackpole
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise

Strategize and Avoid Data Integration Failures
Theres no shortage of ways SAP data integration projects can fail, as many
companies have discovered.
Take the example of a company thats moving invoice data from an ERP sys-
tem to a business intelligence (BI) reporting system to perform analysis on open
invoices and protability according to customer and product. Perhaps too much
data gets loaded, which doubles the values for some invoices. During the testing
process, the company nds that cancellations arent being handled correctly. Or
maybe it has discovered that a piece of the protability puzzle, like sales commis-
sions, is missing from the picture, and that data needs to be loaded from a separate
system to complete the analysis.
Its unlikely a company would see all these problems in a single extraction and
reporting project, but any one of them can crop up in software integration initia-
tives. Sometimes it seems like anything that can go wrong will go wrongso why
take chance with inadequate testing strategies?
SAP data integration projects, especially in data warehousing or BI, pose differ-
ent challenges when it comes to testing strategy than traditional application devel-
opment. For example, applications usually span very different systems, rendering
3
MANAGEMENT
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
3
MANAGEMENT
traditional unit testing tools unsuitable. Plus, integration projects are often con-
ceptualized differently than traditional programs are. The design is dened in
terms of examples of records of data and elds, rather than specic if-then logic.
This can cause difculties in applying traditional testing methodologies. While
the testing concepts used for traditional programs are almost always useful in
integration projects, we often need to rework them.
Even in an all-SAP landscape, where the problem of spanning heterogeneous
systems is mitigated, integration can still be a challenge. In a heterogeneous land-
scape, testing SAP data integrations becomes even more problematic because of
a lack of testing tools and differing system architectures.
TEST COVERAGE IN INTEGRATION PROJECTS
Test coverage is a metric identifying the percentage of a business process or code.
Missing test coverage can cause problems that are caught late in the development
process or not at all. Full test coverage means identifying all transaction types
that need to transfer through the integration code and writing tests for them. This
ensures that there are test cases for all types of transactions.
In an SAP data integration project for a global client, I worked on integrating
data from a large number of ERP systems into a single data warehouse. My team
worked with system managers to nd ways to test the integration points.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
1 0 MI XED COMPANY: I NTEGRATI NG SAP, THI RD- PARTY SOFTWARE
3
MANAGEMENT
During the project, the company introduced a new year-end nancial process,
along with new transaction types. But our team didnt identify the new process as
a test case because it was introduced late in our project, and cross-team communi-
cation channels broke down. The tests we designed caught bugs in other processes,
but the untested year-end process introduced a
major integration bug that made it through accep-
tance testing because our integration code wasnt
designed to handle the new types of transactions.
Ideally, each type of transaction that flows
through the integration code will be covered by
tests. For example, transactions might be general-
ledger postings for invoices, returns and manual
journals. Each type of posting may require different
logic in the integration code, so a lack of test cov-
erage means that bugs may slip through. To avoid
these problems, testers should identify the types
of transactions that will be moving through the integration code and develop tests
to cover all the types that are expected. Then check in regularly with the people
responsible for the data integration to make sure that no new and unexpected
transactions are introduced.
Testers should iden-
tify the types of
transactions that will
be moving through the
integration code and
develop tests to cover
all the types that are
expected.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
3
MANAGEMENT
TWO STRATEGIES FOR TESTING
Developers typically rst create applications using a small, representative subset
of data and then run the integration scenario with a full data set. Sometimes inte-
gration logic appears to work well on a subset of data, but it slows down immensely
or never nishes running when used with the full data set.
I use two strategies to avoid this problem: test full-size and realistic data sets.
If such a data set is not available, manufacture it, keeping in mind the issue of
coverage.
Test all requirements early and often. This is especially important with less
tangible requirements such as performance and usability.
When testing integrations, some testers look at the end result of processing
millions of records and break this result down using a few key dimensions such
as company, time period, account, product or customer. If all the dimensions fall
within a predened threshold of the expected valuefor example, 1% or 0.1%
then all is well.
Other testers look at individual records they know are important and verify
only if those records are correct.
I think of these two strategies as testing in the large and testing in the small.
Testing in the large looks at values aggregated across all transactions and veri-
es that the aggregate values are within an acceptable margin after the software
integration project has run. Testing in the small compares values on individual
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
3
MANAGEMENT
records before and after the record passes through the integration code to make
sure the result is as expected.
I thought it was enough to pursue both of these strategies separately until early
in my career when I worked with someone who combined them. My team found
that testing in the large turned up signicant issues we hadnt anticipated in the
small.
My colleague identied small problems in the test system at a high level and
then went through the data thoroughly until he found detailed reasons for each
discrepancy. As a result, we often found problems with the integration business
logic implemented in the test system. By the end of the project, these painstaking
sessions of drilling down into the numbers resulted in signicant improvements
in system quality.
BALANCING RISK AND REWARD
Incorporating different testing tactics also calls for balancing risk and reward. Dif-
ferent organizations and situations demand different appetites for risk. Sensitiv-
ity to the variables controlling the risk equation is important while developing a
testing strategy.
A project team cannot test everything. Testers need to balance the desire to
deliver a awless application against the budget, timeline and the teams ability to
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
3
MANAGEMENT
react to problems. Focus on the areas that are central to the applications value or
the ones hardest to x. The idea is to deliver as much value as possible and give
the team the chance to x any problems uncovered later in the project.
On a recent data warehouse software upgrade, the conversation about balanc-
ing risk and reward played out between different
people involved in the project. Based on outside
time constraints, the capabilities of the team and
support from the vendor, the team adopted an ag-
gressive timeline. This approach entailed higher
risk because there was less time for testing and
xing issues.
The team developed a testing strategy focusing
on central functions that the team could not easily
address by go-live. As a result, the team identied
issues and addressed them early. Although more
issues arose in relatively untested areas nearer the go-live, the team managed
these problems and delivered an upgrade much faster than had previously been
accomplished. Ethan Jewett
The idea is to deliver
as much value as
possible and give the
team the chance to
x any problems
uncovered later in
the project.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
Tools for Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP Software on the Rise
Although integration between SAP and non-SAP systems is a thorny
IT challenge, what used to be a landscape of limited options has blossomed into
a range of technology choices, as SAP continues to grow its ecosystem.
SAP has long offered software options for syncing up with non-SAP systems,
but many of the older technologiesSAPs early Web service architecture and tra-
ditional remote procedure call functionality, for instancehave been fairly arcane
for non-SAP specialists, according to John Appleby, who oversees consulting on
SAPs HANA in-memory database for Bluen Solutions, based in London.
Appleby said while the integration offerings have been optimized to import
data from third-party software into SAP, they are not as functional when extract-
ing data out of SAP for use in other platforms. If you look back even ve years
ago, SAP was a walled garden and if they continued to behave in that way, they
would have become irrelevant because of the big data explosion, Appleby said.
Today, we understand that trying to control integration too much is not pos-
sible, and [SAP has] moved away from the nirvana of trying to build one [integra-
tion platform] to rule the world to a world where open access to information is
more important than controlling data. That is hugely positive, Appleby added.
4
DEVELOPMENT
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
4
DEVELOPMENT
SAPs more open stance and a raft of new technologies, from next-generation
Web services and middleware to open standards, is prompting a sea change in
how SAP shops address integration, according to Michael Koch, a London-based
independent SAP development consultant who writes a blog called Pixelbase.
The pendulum is swinging towards more best of breed, but with a stable core,
he said, explaining that companies are sticking with SAP for core functionality
like CRM and nancials but integrating third-party technologies for what he calls
situational applications, including user-facing applications.
Because there are so many new devices, SAP simply cant provide the answers
and applications for everything, but it can give us the tools and APIs [application
programming interfaces] to use different development platforms that are more in
tune and tailored to what customers individually want, Koch said.
INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGIES
There are three primary integration technologies from SAP, according to consul-
tants specializing in integrating SAP and non-SAP software.
NetWeaver Process Orchestration is the behemoth in SAPs lineup, combin-
ing process management, process integration and business rules management
software to help companies create system-to-system integrations and seamless
business processes.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
4
DEVELOPMENT
SAP NetWeaver Gateway is an integration environment enabling connections
to SAP software from mobile devices, Web applications and social and collab-
orative platforms, while SAP BusinessObjects Data Services is a data integration
tool tuned primarily for batch data transfer and for extract, transform and load
processes.
NetWeaver Process Orchestration lends itself to heavily engineered integra-
tion between two systemsfor example, syncing data from an Oracle database
with data from an SAP database, Appleby said. In contrast, NetWeaver Gateway
is a better choice for integrating customer-facing applications that expose pricing
data to customers, for example. BusinessObjects Data Services, on the other hand,
makes the most sense when pushing data from point A to point B, especially in
the context of data warehouse applications, according to Appleby.
MAKING A MATCH
Along with SAPs own integration portfolio, there are a variety of third-party mid-
dleware, enterprise service bus and complex event processing (CEP) applications
that can help organizations take on the challenge of syncing up SAP and non-SAP
systems. Integration observers say there is no one-size-ts-all solution, but a
few factors can help guide the choice, including determine what level of integra-
tion is necessary. For example, some retail or nance applications require direct
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
4
DEVELOPMENT
integration with CEP software in order to access and use real-time data. Other
processes might get by with an asynchronous connection with a time lag between
updates, which could be addressed with standard middleware with ESB capabili-
ties, according to Joshua Greenbaum, president of
Enterprise Applications Consulting.
Other considerations that can help narrow the
eld of integration options include the types of
skill sets available in-house or from consulting
partners along with the system of record, Green-
baum said.
All companies deal with different levels of in-
tegration, and there isnt a product thats better at
any of these individual methods, Greenbaum said.
When you start moving into the asynchronous world, it boils down to what is
the system of record and where you have expertise, and you tend to go with a tool
that scores the highest on those two fronts.
Given the diversity of systems in a single organization, its likely that IT shops
will tap different integration technologies, according to Appleby.
Most shops will have one or more enterprise service bus products, maybe one
for the part of the enterprise thats primarily SAP and another for the part thats
IBM, Appleby said.
Some retail or nance
applications require
direct integration
with CEP software in
order to access and
use real-time data.
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
4
DEVELOPMENT
Its OK to have both and let them communicate with each other. Thats a lower
total cost of ownership than trying to standardize, Appleby said.
Whats needed is some kind of middleware standard, added Arun Kumar, direc-
tor of enterprise architecture and compliance and an SAP applications architect
for Harman, an electronics manufacturer.
Having a common integration architecturein Harmans case, NetWeaver
Process Orchestrationkeeps things simpler, he said, from easier licensing ar-
rangements to more effective resource planning as staffers can be trained on a
single technology.
Depending how many systems you have in your shop, you can end up with a
multitude of middleware and without standardization, you end up with a night-
mare, he said. Having a single solution makes internal resource planning easier
as well as makes it easier for us to outsource commoditized work. Beth Stackpole
Home
Editors Note
Wall-to-Wall
SAP Is the Goal,
but Its a Hard
One to Keep
Strategize
and Avoid SAP
Data Integration
Failures
Tools for
Integrating SAP,
Non-SAP
Software on
the Rise
ABOUT
THE
AUTHORS
BETH STACKPOLE has more than 25
years experience writing for a variety
of leading publications and websites,
including TechTarget websites, Comput-
erworld, CIO, eWeek, Managing Auto-
mation and Design News. Email her at
bstack@stackpolepartners.com.
ETHAN JEWETT is an independent con-
sultant and SAP Mentor. He focuses on
business intelligence, information man-
agement and performance management
and works with clients on data manage-
ment and performance management tools.
For more information, check out his blog.
Email him at esjewett@gmail.com.
Mixed Company: Integrating SAP, Third-Party
Software is a SearchSAP.com e-publication.
Scot Petersen | Editorial Director
Jason Sparapani | Managing Editor, E-Publications
Kerry Flood | Managing Editor
David Essex | Executive Editor
Todd Morrison | News and Site Editor
Linda Koury | Director of Online Design
Neva Maniscalco | Graphic Designer
Mike Bolduc | Publisher
mbolduc@techtarget.com
Ed Laplante | Director of Sales
elaplante@techtarget.com
TechTarget
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