Process Integration
Purpose
SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI) is used as follows:
● The architecture of SAP NetWeaver PI 7.1 is based on an established architecture for realizing cross-system business processes, and is the same as in lower releases (SAP NetWeaver 7.0 usage type Process Integration and SAP XI 3.0 as part of SAP NetWeaver 2004).
● SAP NetWeaver PI 7.1 plays an important role in supporting an enterprise service-oriented architecture (Enterprise SOA). The focus is on the service-based integration of applications.
SAP NetWeaver PI is based on general standards so as to enable 3rd-party systems to be integrated. At the center of SAP NetWeaver PI is an XML-based communication that uses HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). Irrespective of the scenario used, the application-specific contents are transferred in messages in user-defined XML (eXtensible Markup Language) from the sender to the receiver either via the Integration Server, or directly between the systems involved.
The following figure gives an overview of the key capabilities of SAP NetWeaver Process Integration:
SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1 enables the integration of the applications of the following communication parties:
● B2B Party: Any business partners that want to integrate their application with other applications outside their own system landscape. Scenarios that require industry standards are supported as well as any scenarios that are not sufficient for a specific industry standard.
● SAP: Applications that run on SAP systems. This includes the processing of events by using the BAM infrastructure.
● 3rd-Party Application: Applications from 3rd-party providers within one system landscape, for example database or file-system-based.
● 3rd-Party Middleware: Middleware systems from 3rd-party providers that are required for the integration of applications within a company and across company-boundaries.
SAP NetWeaver PI also supports internal company scenarios and cross-company scenarios. It enables you to connect systems from different vendors (non-SAP and SAP) in different versions and implemented in different programming languages (Java, ABAP, and so on) to each other. Like the rest of the SAP NetWeaver platform, SAP NetWeaver PI is based on an open architecture uses open standards (in particular those from the XML and Java environments) and offers those services that are essential in a heterogeneous and complex system landscape.
In this documentation, a collaborative process is a process in the business world that requires cross-system implementation. Note that this term does not describe any concrete objects of this implementation.
Features
SAP NetWeaver PI supports the following key capabilities:
● The Enterprise Services Repository & Registry comprising:
○ The Enterprise Services Repository (ES Repository) with metadata for the modeling and specification of applications to enable top-down development of service-based applications. Using the ES Repository, you can store all the necessary information for the integration of applications, for example interfaces, data types, and mapping programs, in a central location.
○ The Services Registry for registering, locating, and consuming services based on UDDI 3.0.
● Functions for the design, configuration, and execution of integration processes (process automation) for the stateful exchange of messages on the Integration Server. The integration process editor in the ES Repository supports BPEL4WS 1.1 and WS-BPEL 2.0.
● The BAM infrastructure for handling events from application systems in integration processes, for example to realize a monitor for milestones.
● The Service Bus in SAP NetWeaver Process Integration essentially covers all the functions that are necessary for exchanging messages in a heterogeneous system landscape.
○ The most important part of the Service Bus is the Integration Server which, using various different options, enables applications to exchange messages with each other. The Integration Server forwards the messages from a sender to the receiver or receivers. By separating the communication parties and using additional integration services (mapping, routing, service orchestration), the Integration Server can support the integration of the most different applications. By using a mapping program, you can execute a transformation on an inbound message that the Integration Server receives at runtime and thereby cover the requirements of different receivers of the message. You can also enable the receiver to be determined dynamically at runtime by using information from the message payload (dynamic routing).
○ Connectivity functions to enable different sender and receiver protocols to be used. The Integration Server works together with the Advanced Adapter Engine for this. The Advanced Adapter Engine is closely linked to inbound and outbound processing in the Integration Server and it can run either centrally on the Integration Server or decentrally in the relevant application system (to optimize performance).
○ Functions for the reliable processing of messages and for the support of different quality of services by means of queues. To guarantee the consistency of data, SAP NetWeaver PI uses the quality of services Exactly Once (EO) and Exactly Once In Order (EOIO), and also supports the quality of service Best-Effort (BE).
○ Within SAP NetWeaver Process Integration, the most notable standards supported are the following: Web Services Reliable Messaging (WS-RM), Web Services Security (WS Security), Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI).
The functions of the Service Bus cannot be assigned to a component; they are instead supported by the functions of different components. Customers can simply use those parts of the Service Bus that they require.
● The Infrastructure Services of SAP NetWeaver Application Server (ABAP and Java) on which SAP NetWeaver PI applications run. The JEE5 standard of SAP NetWeaver AS Java is supported for all Java-based applications of SAP NetWeaver PI. Compared to previous releases, this standard is easier to install and requires less memory. The infrastructure services cover the requirements of the software lifecycle, security, user administration, scalability, high-availability, archiving, configuration, monitoring, and administration.
Areas of SAP NetWeaver PI in Detail
Foundation Information
Area |
Description |
Overview of new features and changes for release SAP NetWeaver PI 7.1. |
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Central took for the design of collaborative process (modeling and specification). All the basic functions of the ES Builder are described in this section. |
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Central tool for configuration of collaborative process. All the basic functions of the Integration Builder are described in this section. |
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Organization of design objects in the Enterprise Services Repository |
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Underlying information for the development of application-to-application and business-to-business processes using the Integration Server. |
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Underlying information for service-oriented development with the focus on the use of services independently of the Integration Server. |
Release Notes for
Usage Type PIModeling and Specification (Enterprise Services Repository)
Area |
Description |
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Modeling application according to principles of an enterprise service-oriented architecture (Enterprise SOA). |
Modeling collaborative processes at the application component level. In contrast to modeling with process component architecture models, the modeling of Process Integration scenarios is restricted to modeling aspects required for message exchange. |
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Depending on the modeling you specify in the detail the required interfaces, message type, and data types in the ES Repository. |
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The ES Builder supports the definition of additional design objects with which you can use additional integration logic that is provided by the Integration Server (for example, mappings of integration processes). This integration logic is not available for a point-to-point-communication. |
Configuration
Area |
Description |
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Description of the technical sender and receiver options (and how to identify them) using communication parties, services, communication components and communication channels. |
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Description at a logical level of which communication component a message is to be sent to. The communication components can be a business system, an integration process, or a service for a B2B communication. |
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Assignment of a receiver interface to a sender interface. You also register whether mapping programs are to be executed from the Enterprise Services Repository for this interface pair, and if so, which mapping programs. |
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In a collaboration agreement you define which communication channel to use to process messages for a particular combination of senders and receivers. |
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Grouping of all configuration objects by the scenario in which they are required. You can apply Process Integration scenarios from the Enterprise Services Repository for a configuration scenario in the Integration Directory. |
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With the integrated configuration you can execute the complete configuration for message flow very simply and efficiently. You can only use this form of configuration to set up communication scenarios where the message is only to be transferred within an Adapter Engine from a sender to a receiver adapter. |
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With the integration directory programming interface you can access and work on the contents of the Integration Directory with self-made programs. |
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Central runtime component of the Integration Server for receiving, processing, and forwarding messages. |
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Runtime component for proxy communication between the Integration Server and application systems based on SAP Web AS. |
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Runtime components that use adapters to connect external systems and R/3 systems to the Integration Server by means of RFC calls. |
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Functions for monitoring the involved SAP NetWeaver PI components, the message processing by one or more components, and the performance of message processing. |
Additional Tools (Optional)
Tool |
Use |
SAP Enterprise Modeling Applications by IDS Scheer |
Adds functions to SAP NetWeaver for graphically modeling processes at various levels. At the highest level (Process Architecture Model), the process architecture of a company is built from a purely business perspective, that is, without technical details. |
Adds functions for converting data to and from XML to SAP NetWeaver. It can process unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data. The Conversion Agent can be called using an adapter module in the Adapter Framework of SAP PI. You can find SAP Conversion Agent by Informatica in the SAP Software Distribution Center on SAP Service Marketplace at service.sap.com/swdc. |