Integrate Unstructured

Data with SAP NetWeaver

Using Transformation
Technology from Itemfield
Paul Medaille, SAP Labs

Ronen Schwartz, Itemfield Corporation

Itemfield Conversion Agent and SAP
NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure
and Itemfield Conversion Agent

Demo

Summary / Q&A
Itemfield Conversion Agent and SAP
NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure
and Itemfield Conversion Agent

Demo

Summary / Q&A
 Itemfield Product Overview

Itemfield (IF) offers the ContentMaster Studio (CMS) that allows you to
implement/generate conversion procedures
Supported data formats
Unstructured (ASCII reports, Flat File, HTML, MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, etc.)
Semi structured (AL3, Cobol Copybook, HIPAA, Swift, EDI-X12, EDI-Fact, etc.)

e.g. SAP J2EE

Design Runtime
Time

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 SAP NetWeaver Technology Stack

SAP NetWeaver SAP NetWeaver:

PEOPLE INTEGRATION SAPs Application &
Multi channel access Integration Platform
Portal Collaboration
Suite
Composite Application Framework

INFORMATION INTEGRATION Base functionality of

Bus. Intelligence Knowledge Mgmt Itemfield conversion

Life Cycle Mgmt

Master Data Mgmt engine is extracted to
J2EE library
PROCESS INTEGRATION
Integration
Broker
Business
Process Mgmt
Itemfield conversion
library can be used
APPLICATION PLATFORM by any SAP
J2EE ABAP NetWeaver
DB and OS Abstraction component

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 SAP NetWeaver Runtime Integration

Usage of Itemfield CMS SAP J2EE

+ Itemfield native lib
+ Itemfield J2EE lib Application,
SAP NetWeaver Component
Independent from SAP
NetWeaver components

Usable by any application

Itemfield J2EE lib
Wrapper for Java or ABAP
possible
Itemfield native lib (DLL/.sl)

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Benefits for SAP NetWeaver in General

1. Customers use SAP NetWeaver as dev platform

(ejb, servlet, )
Use of the Itemfield library for their dev projects

2. Other SAP NetWeaver components

May use the Itemfield library directly or
Develop plug-in on top of it like IF XI AF module

Advantage:
Same architecture for all SAP NetWeaver components
Same GUI for conversions for all SAP NetWeaver components
Reuse of the same conversion across SAP NetWeaver

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

Itemfield Conversion Agent and SAP
NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure
and Itemfield Conversion Agent

Demo

Summary / Q&A
 SAP XI Mission

SAP XI is an integration platform

for SAP and non-SAP applications
for A2A and B2B scenarios
for a Service Oriented Architecture
for cross-component Business Process Management

SAP XI

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 SAP XI Component Overview

Shared Collaboration Execution of Collaborative

Knowledge Business Processes

Integration Builder Central Monitoring

SAP
Systems

Integration Repository (IR) 3rd Party

Integration Systems
& Server
3rd Party
(IS) Middleware
Integration Directory (ID) Component
Marketplace/
Business
Partner

System Landscape Directory (SLD)

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 SAP XI Connectivity / Adapters

Execute Collaborative Business Processes Adapter framework

based on J2EE
Central Monitoring Connector
ensures collaboration reliability Architecture (JCA)
Integration Server SAP Adapters work as
Business Process Engine
Systems plug-ins to the
Adapter Framework
Integration Engine Marketplace/
Business
Central Adapter Engine Partner
Itemfield J2EE library
can be called from a
Resource

Adapter Framework Partner module within any

Adapter

Messaging Connectivity
Queuing Kit adapter that runs on
Security Handling
SAP XI adapter
Application framework
Techn.System
File/DB/JMS

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 SAP NetWeaver PI Integration

Usage of Itemfield CMS

SAP J2EE
+ Itemfield native lib
+ Itemfield J2EE lib SAP XI Adapter Framework
+ Itemfield XI AF

Adapter

Adapter
module IF AF
Module
SAP XI specific
IF conversions can be used in any
channel, by any adapter type
Additionally: Same conversion can Itemfield J2EE lib
be reused SAP NetWeaver wide
Installation: Itemfield native lib (DLL/.sl)
Outside J2EE: Install.exe for IF
CMS, IF native lib, IF file repository
Inside J2EE: SDA with SAP
NetWeaver library,
another SDA for IF XI AF Module

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Integrating NetWeaver Content With Itemfield

1. Use the Itemfield

ContentMaster
interface to design the
data transformation.
Start with a sample
document and map to
the target schema.

2. The transformation rules are

stored in the Itemfield
Transformation Repository.

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Integrating NetWeaver Content With Itemfield

3. Configure the Communication Channel in the Integration

Directory to use the Itemfield XI Adapter Module, and
specify the transformation to use.

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Integrating NetWeaver Content With Itemfield

4. At runtime, the SAP 5. The Itemfield J2EE library

NetWeaver XI Itemfield J2EE lib calls the Itemfield native
Adapter imports the library, which applies the
source document transformation rules from
and calls the the Transformation
Itemfield J2EE Itemfield native lib Repository, and hands the
library. (DLL/.sl) transformed document
back to the SAP
NetWeaver XI Adapter.

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Possible further SAP NetWeaver
Repository Integration

Usage of Itemfield CMS SAP J2EE

+ Itemfield native lib
+ Itemfield J2EE lib Application,
+ Itemfield XI AF NetWeaver Component
module
+ SAP ESI/XI ESI/XI
Repository Repository
Integration of
Itemfield
Itemfield J2EE lib
Get rid of IFs file based repository

Leverage the SAP ESI/XI

Itemfield native lib (DLL/.sl)
Repository advantages

Separate content shipment

becomes optional

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 License Model

Limited OEM plus Resell of Itemfield Conversion

Solution
Itemfield solution sold and delivered through SAP
Technical support for Itemfield solution via SAP Support Portal

OEM
All SAP NetWeaver customers will get:
Access to IF CMS, IF native lib, IF J2EE lib, IF XI AF module for unlimited
testing purposes
Access to all industry standards supplied with IF CMS as templates;
templates may be modified by customers
Limited rights for production use: Up to 20 MB message volume per month
Customers interested in unlimited usage: See reseller agreement below

Resell
Resell of Itemfield conversion solution as conversion agent
Terms are similar to 3rd party adapters for the use with SAP NetWeaver
Volume based pricing

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Benefits for Customers

1. Process Word docs via SAP XI

Standard SAP XI AF based adapter, e. g. mail or SOAP, +
IF XI AF module
Advantages:
Small footprint solution to convert unstructured data to XML
Higher flexibility with IF CMS Modeling
Re-use of the same conversion in other SAP NetWeaver
components

2. Or in general:
Customers create their non-XML to XML conversion
And use SAP adapters for the transport

3. Similar known use cases:

ASCII reports, Cobol Copybook, Flat File, HTML, MS Excel,
PDF

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Itemfield Conversions vs. 3rd Party Adapters

Itemfield conversions
Bi-directional conversion of unstructured & semi structured formats
Examples: Cobol Copybook, Flat File, HTML, MS Word, MS Excel, PDF
Transport via SAP adapters
ItemfieldAF module can be used by any SAP adapter within SAP XI AF
Examples: File / FTP, JDBC, Mail, SOAP
SAP NetWeaver wide use
Itemfield base functionality extracted to J2EE library

3rd Party Adapters (iWay, Seeburger)

Bi-directional conversion betw. XML and format of connected system
Examples: CICS, EDI, IMS, Peoplesoft, Siebel, Swift
Transport
Conversion of SAP XI protocol to specific wire protocol of connected
application / system and vice versa
SAP NetWeaver wide use
Examples: SAP XI, SAP EP

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Possible further SAP ESI/XI Repository Integration

1. IF CMS performs client operations

Browse
Read
Write
Activate
via an SAP XI-specific access module

2. Visualize IF conversions object info (name, type,

version, date, but not: the conversion itself)

3. Reference IF conversions in channel configuration

(input help)

4. Propagate IF conversion via cache updates

(Development g Test g Production)

5. IF AF module calls SAP XI AF CPA API to access

conversion
SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #
Itemfield Conversion Agent and SAP
NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure
and Itemfield Conversion Agent

Demo

Summary / Q&A
 Demo

Demo

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Designing Conversions with Itemfield CMS

Source
Pane with XML
Sample Schema for
Document Definition
of XML
Output

Parser for
Definition of
Transformation
s

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 SAP XI Integration Directory

Selection
of
Adapter
Type

Adapter
Specific
Settings

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Integration of Itemfield Conversions in SAP XI

Itemfield
Adapter
Module

Transformation
Name
PDF2XML

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Deployment of Itemfield Conversions

Use of SAP
Software
Deployment
Manager (SDM)
for deployment.

Software Delivery
Archives (SDA) can
contain software
components of
different types
(e.g. applications,
libraries).

Detailed version
information and
dependencies to
other components
simplify program
management.

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

Itemfield Conversion Agent and SAP
NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure
and Itemfield Conversion Agent

Demo

Summary / Q&A
 Summary

Itemfield conversions allow bi-directional transformation

of unstructured and semi-structured data formats
Examples: Cobol Copybook, Flat File, HTML, MS Word, PDF

Itemfield conversions available to all SAP NetWeaver

components and SAP applications via J2EE library
Same GUI for conversions across SAP NetWeaver

Itemfield Adapter Framework Module available for

usage by any SAP adapter within SAP XI AF
Transport of converted documents via SAP XI adapters

Combined OEM plus Resell of Itemfield Solution

Delivery, support, maintenance directly through SAP

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Further Information

Public Web
www.sap.com
NetWeaver Developers Guide: www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/developersguide.sdn
SAP Developer Network: www.sdn.sap.com SAP Exchange Infrastructure
SAP Customer Services Network: www.sap.com/services/

SAP Service Marketplace

http://service.sap.com/XI
SAP XI in Detail Connectivity Connectivity SAP XI 3.0 Itemfield

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #

 Questions?

Q&A

SAP AG 2005, Title of Presentation / Speaker Name / #