1. Register an app for SharePoint API Access in Azure Active Directory

• Logon to your Azure Portal using your SharePoint online credentials
  
• Navigate to Azure Active Directory and select App Registrations
  
• Click New Registration to create an OAuth application

• In the application registration prompt, enter an application name e.g. SharePointOAuthApp
  
• Select the supported account types

Enter the redirect URL for SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors:  https://auth.cloudelements.io/oauth

2. Configure the registered application’s SharePoint API permissions

The registered application by default has only User.Read permission from Microsoft Graph APIs, so you need to add in permission to access SharePoint REST APIs.

• Select API permissions tab and then click on Add a permission to add permissions for SharePoint REST APIs.

• Select SharePoint to add in the API permissions for SharePoint

In SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors, access to the API is via the signed-in user.

• Select Delegated Permissions for accessing APIs as signed-in user

• Select permissions shown below, then click Add permissions

Some of the selected permissions require administrator consent 

• After the permission is selected, click on Grant admin access 

The permission may take some time to updated as shown in the warning, so wait for few minutes before selecting the Grant admin consent option.

• Select Yes if you are prompted to confirm the administrator consent

When successful, the status will change to Granted for your user.

3. Generate certificates and secrets for your registered app

For connecting to your SharePoint Online account from SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors, an OAuth secret and client ID are required.

• Select Certificates & secrets tab, click on New client secret.

• Enter a description for your OAuth secret and add

• Note! Copy and save the generated client secret. You need to provide the secret in order to create the SharePoint connector instance from SAP Open Connectors, and it cannot be retrieved later.

• To get your OAuth Client ID , select Overview tab, copy the Application (client) ID value.

4. Create a SharePoint Open Connector instance in SAP BTP Integration Suite

• In the SAP BTP navigate to Integration Suite
  
• Select Extend Non-SAP Connectivity. If this option is not visible, click  Manage Capabilities and enable Open Connectors capability.

• Select the Connectors tab
  
• Hover over the SharePoint connector and select Authenticate to connect to your own SharePoint account.

• In the connection wizard, enter a name for your connector instance
  
• Enter your SharePoint Site Address in the format {your_sharepoint_domain}.sharepoint.com
  
• In API Key enter your copied OAuth Client ID
  
• In the API Secret dialog enter your copied OAuth secret
  
• Select Show Optional Fields.

• Enable graph authentication to prompt user authentication (this corresponds with the delegated scoped defined on Azure)
  
• Select Create Instance

You may be prompted to enter your SharePoint user credentials if you are not already logged into your SharePoint account

• Trust your app

After successfully creating your authenticated connection to your SharePoint account, you can test it

• Choose Test in the API docs

• Select GET /files to read files from your SharePoint sites

• Click on Try it Out

• Insert the file path for a valid file in the folder (no sub folders) and choose execute

(Note:- If your site contains spaces, then in the Subsite field enter the site name without spaces.)

Once the test has run successfully, the updated file should be available for download.

5. Establish a connection to your SharePoint Open Connector in Datasphere

• Enter your SAP BTP Subaccount Region

The BTP region can be found within the Account Explorer page in the BTP Cockpit

• Enter your Organization Secret
  
• Enter your User Secret

For the Organizational and User secrets, after creating the instance to the app you need, make any type of API request, for example “GET”

The authorization String will contain the necessary detail as well.

6. In Datasphere, create a dataflow to read your SharePoint directory

• Create a dataflow to read your SharePoint directory and post the data into a local table
  
• Create a fact view to transform your data as required
  
• Create an analytical model for external consumption

7. In SAC create your story using your SharePoint-based Datasphere model

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SAP Cloud Identity Services (CIS) is a robust suite of tools designed to manage identity and access across the SAP ecosystem. This blog explores how CIS integrates with SAP SuccessFactors, focusing on hybrid integration patterns that enable seamless user authentication and identity provisioning in complex enterprise landscapes.

There are three primary flavors to integrating

1. Standard Integration (Recommended)
   
2. Proxy Integration using CIS(external IDP as authentication provider)
   
3. Hybrid Integration using CIS (external IDP or both external IDP and CIS as authentication provider) without SF being the source of user records to CIS

SAP SuccessFactors with SAP Cloud Identity Services:

Option 1: Integration Between SAP SuccessFactors and SAP CIS (Standard)

This is the most recommended method, fully aligned with SAP’s best practices for managing user identities. It involves the following steps:

1. Integrate SAP SuccessFactors with Identity Authentication: Run the upgrade job in the SAP SuccessFactors Upgrade Center to enable features and establish trust between SF and CIS.
   
2. Confirm that user sync is set up in Identity Provisioning in SAP Cloud Identity Services: Set up sync jobs with Identity Provisioning. Ensure that the user that is configured in the Identity Provisioning
   
3. Review the default configurations: Review the default configuration of the Identity Authentication service to determine if it meets your requirements or if additional configuration is required.
   
4. Additional configuration optional features:Configuration options in Identity Authentication include: Password policy settings, Single sign-on (SSO) etc
   
5. Activate Identity Authentication (IAS): Turn on the Identity Authentication service

This ensures standardized, low-effort configuration and a consistent integration experience.

Option 2: Using SAP CIS as a Proxy (Standard)

Many enterprises already use external identity providers (e.g., Azure AD, Okta) and want to continue doing so while adopting SAP applications.

By integrating the external IdP with CIS, organizations can:

• Maintain centralized identity governance.
  
• Enable secure authentication across SAP SuccessFactors, SAC, and Joule.

In this approach CIS acts as a proxy and user authentication is taken care by the external Identity provider like Entra, OKTA, etc. CIS may/may not have user records in its internal store (based on your requirements). Federation can be used if user records exist. Synching user records in CIS unlock features like SAC and future innovations such as SAP Joule, as they’re a key prerequisite for access. Ideal for customers wanting minimal disruption to existing identity infrastructure while gaining access to SAP’s innovation roadmap.

Option 3: Hybrid Integration — Using SAP CIS as a Proxy Without Standard SF User Sync.

Further details in this blog primarily focuses on this hybrid model.

Key Characteristics:

• SAP SuccessFactors is not the user provisioning source.
  
• CIS can act as a proxy or both proxy and IDP
  
• User profile data is synced to CIS from a different /external source to enable:
  
  • Access to services like SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and SAP Joule
    
  • Federated authentication via external IdPs

This method provides the flexibility to maintain external Identity manager to keep managing users in an enterprise while using SAP CIS to enabling access to SAP applications and to access new features and innovations.

Understanding Standard Integration Behavior

SAP’s standard SF-to-CIS integration includes two background jobs(in case if SAC exist):

Job 1: User Sync from SuccessFactors to IAS

• Reads user data from SF.
  
• Creates users in CIS.
  
• Generates a Global User ID, and store it in personKeyNav/GlobalUserId in SF.
  
• Populates CustomAttribute1 if the user has SAC access permissions.

Job 2: Sync to SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)

• Reads user data from SF and syncs only users with access to embedded analytics to SAC
  
• Prevents SAC user creation for ineligible accounts.

Adapting the Integration for an External Data Source

If you’re not syncing users from SAP SF (i.e., using an external Data source like Identity manager), the standard jobs need to be customized to use IAS as the source and SAC as the target. It is very important to make sure that only users who have permission to embedded analytics should be synched to SAC. This step can be done either inside the cync job or can be taken care at source level (making sure to populate the custom attribute only if user has permission to access SAC)

To configure this job, you can modify the existing target or create a new one. If creating a new target, an SAP support ticket is required to set credentials (OAuth token URL, Client ID, and Secret).

Step-by-Step: Hybrid Integration with External Source

1. Integrate SAP SuccessFactors with Identity Authentication: Run the upgrade job in the SAP SuccessFactors Upgrade Center to enable features and establish trust between SF and CIS.
   
2. Review the default configurations: Review the default configuration of the Identity Authentication service to determine if it meets your requirements or if additional configuration is required.
   
3. Create Admin User for SCIM Access: Use SCIM APIs to push user records from the external system.
   
4. Retain Global User ID (Optional): If needed, set the Global User ID in CIS to a unique external ID or let the system generate one. This Global User Id needs to be updated in SF at (personKeyNav/GlobalUserId).
   
5. Sync to SAC
   Run a custom job (IAS → SAC) to:
   
   • Check SAC access rights.
     
   • Create users accordingly.

Addressing Common Technical Challenges in Hybrid Integration

1: Managing Different Subject Name Identifiers (SNI) Across Applications

In hybrid, multi-application environments, it’s common for login identifiers to vary across systems. SAP CIS supports multiple Subject Name Identifiers (SNI) per application, allowing flexibility. For scenarios where CIS login name is taken by another application as the identifier and it doesn’t have the same value as username in SF then any other field supported field can be used for SNI.

For SAP SuccessFactors (SF), it’s essential to ensure that the runtime value of the SNI must align with the SF username field to enable proper user identification.

Note: Expression-based SNI mapping is supported, but functionality is currently limited. Use with caution and review configuration thoroughly before implementation

2: Can SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) Work Without a Direct Sync from SF to CIS?

Yes, Though it is recommended to sync it from SF SAC does not require a direct user synchronization from SF. However, there’s a critical requirement to enable user access:

Ensure CustomAttribute1 is correctly populated, as it is used to determine analytics access. Regardless of the data source, this attribute must be synced to SAC via CIS.

3: Can CustomAttribute1 Be Replaced with Another Attribute?

Absolutely. CustomAttribute1 is just a label. In SAP CIS, custom attributes are internally stored as an array, offering flexibility in how they’re used.

If you choose to use a different custom attribute:

• Ensure the transformation logic is updated accordingly, to confirm that consuming applications (e.g., SAC) are configured to read the new attribute.
• Update the SNI mapping to reference the correct custom attribute.

4: Connecting Multiple SF Tenants to a Single CIS Tenant (with SAC for Each SF)

While technically possible, connecting multiple SuccessFactors tenants to the same CIS tenant, each with its own SAC instance, but it is not recommended. This setup introduces significant complexity in Managing user states across tenants.

Conclusion

Integrating SAP SuccessFactors with SAP Cloud Identity Services offers flexibility, security, and alignment with SAP’s innovation roadmap. Whether through standard integration or a hybrid identity landscape using external IdPs, these methods empower organizations to centralize access control, reduce redundancy, and prepare for emerging technologies like SAP Joule.

The post Integrating SAP CIS with SAP SuccessFactors: A Guide to Standard and Hybrid Integration appeared first on ERP Q&A.

The integration allows you to integrate the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud with the application SAP Project Intelligence Network. With this integration, you connect with project owners, engineering service providers, contractors, subcontractors, and building material suppliers on a single BIM collaboration platform to eliminate waste and rework and increase productivity with the SAP Project Intelligence Network application.

• Cloud deployment
• Single repository of construction information
• Shared digital twin that supports open BIM standards
• Source of reusable operations information

Process Steps:

1. Configuration in S/4HANA Cloud
2. Configuration in SAP Cloud Integration
3. Configuration in SAP BTP Cockpit

A. Configuration in S/4HANA Cloud

Step 1: Go to maintain communication user and create one communication user named as COPIN.

Step 2: Create one Communication system.

Step 3: Enter the host name and port no. Host name as S/4HC api url and port as 443.

Step 4: Add the new communication user in the inbound user.

Step 5: Create communication arrangement (SAP_COM_0308) and add the communication system into it.

B. Configuration in SAP Cloud Integration

Step 1: Go to Cloud Integration and click on Monitor –> Security material.

Step 2: Deploy the communication user details as S4H_CPI

Step 3: Copy this package from Discover tab and then come in the design tab.

Step 4: Click on Actions-> Configure.

Step 5: Provide S/4Hana cloud url in the oDataBaseUrl and provide the S4 deployed credential name in credential part.

Step 6: In More section,

ApplicationBse URL : <S/4Hana Cloud url> + /ui#EnterpriseProject-maintain&/C_PPM_ProjectControlTP(ProjectUUID=guid'%projectUUID%',IsActiveEntity=true)

ApplicationBaseUrlCustomerProjects : : <S/4Hana Cloud url> +  /ui#CustomerProject-maintainCustomerProject&/Display/ProjEngagementsSet/%project%/?tab=infoTab

ApplicationBaseUrlInternalProjects : <S/4Hana Cloud url> +  /ui#InternalProject-createInternalProject&/Display/ProjEngagementsSet/%project%/?tab=infoTab

Save and deploy the package

Step 7: Go to monitor –> Manage integration Content.

Step 8: Filter the i-flow name and take the endpoint url.

C. Configuration in SAP BTP Cockpit

Step 1:Go to CF BTP account and create one subscription for “ SAP S/4HANA C4P, CoPM – Demo “ Service.

Step 2: Create instance of the service “SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Project Collaboration Demo” and create service key.

Step 3: Assign the roles to the user to access the pin tenant.

Step 4: Go to destinations and create one destination.

Name: <suitable name>

URL : <CPI end point url>

User: <p user details / Client key>

Password: <p user password/ Client Secret>

In Additional Properties,

copin.int.display_name : <suitable name>

copin.int.object: ProjectPlan

Now, save the destination and do check connection.

So, finally we have completed the integration setup.

The post Technical Setup guide for the Co-PIN Integration between SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Cloud for Projects, Project Collaboration Service appeared first on ERP Q&A.

Qualitative Metrics Definition and Data Collection App

You can create qualitative metrics and collect textual information for a selected time period according to the configured period granularity. The system supports defining narrative, semi-narrative, and Boolean reference types and mapping data points according to the disclosure requirements of the reporting standard version at the metric level.

Afterward, you can use the new “Manage ESG Qualitative Data” App to collect data for qualitative metrics. By selecting the metric ID and report period, disclosure information relevant to a data point can be added for the period selected.

Enhanced Metric Configuration

New fields are added to the Metric Configuration to allow a more detailed configuration and reporting: ”Reporting Standard Version”, “Disclosure Requirement”,” Disclosure References”. Multiple selection of disclosure references is possible and the content for mapping to cover ESRS and EU Taxonomy is included. You can extend this content to add other standards.

In Q1 2025, SCT introduces the ability to define custom metrics with up to five dimensions for deeper drill-down and analysis, improving extensibility and reducing the need to recreate metrics for each new dimension. This enhancement is supported by a new public Read OData API, enabling secure access to standard custom metrics data—including additional dimension breakdowns—without requiring recalculation outside of SCT. Customers can configure and maintain these metrics in the Manage Metrics app, which includes classification fields (such as Reporting Standard Version and Disclosure Reference) for better alignment with frameworks like European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and EU Taxonomy. Once configured, these custom metrics can be consumed in the new Analyze ESG Data app, other SAC integrations, or third-party tools using the updated APIs. By streamlining metric definitions and exposing key metadata (for example, metric formulas, units of measure, and leading hierarchies), SCT empowers users to leverage more accurate and granular sustainability insights that support regulatory compliance and organizational reporting needs.

Expanded SAC Live Connectivity Enhances ESG Reporting

In November 2024, SCT expanded its SAC Live Connectivity feature to support all 12 Data Provider Interfaces (DPIs), significantly enhancing the integration between SAP Sustainability Control Tower and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). Initially launched in Q2 2024 with support for GHG Emissions, this expansion now includes comprehensive connectivity for Emissions, Energy, Resource Use, Water, Waste, Land, People, Injury, Corruption Incidents, Prosperity, and General Measures. This development allows customers with SAC licenses to seamlessly access and visualize their sustainability data in real-time without the need for data replication. By exposing custom fields and enabling live connectivity across all DPIs, users can create dynamic and detailed dashboards tailored to their specific ESG reporting needs. Additionally, a new outbound API, SustainabilityCustomMetricsData, is now available in the Custom Metrics category on SAP Business Accelerator Hub, allowing users to retrieve data for standard custom metrics, including drill-down dimensions. This enhancement not only improves the flexibility and reach of sustainability reporting in alignment with ESRS but also streamlines the data integration process, empowering organizations to make more informed and timely decisions based on accurate and up-to-date ESG metrics.

Instance-based Authorizations

We’re excited to introduce instance-based authorizations in SAP Sustainability Control Tower, which enables administrators to restrict user access to specific sustainability metrics and measures. By leveraging SAP Cloud Identity Services, you can restrict visibility to particular business objects – such as metric actuals or measure actuals – and further narrow access by business location, legal entity, or organizational unit. This means each user only sees data relevant to them in apps like Manage ESG Data, Our Ambitions, the Emissions Dashboard, and the Analyze ESG Data app. Importantly, instance-based authorization augments rather than replaces existing SAP BTP roles and role collections, offering an additional layer of control for safeguarding sensitive ESG information. Getting started requires a subscription to SAP Cloud Identity Services, establishing trust, and then configuring or customizing authorization policies to align with your security and compliance needs. To learn more about these steps and see example policies, check out our updated documentation and discover how to determine who can view what within your sustainability landscape.

Introducing the New Analyze ESG Data App

As of February 2025, SCT has launched the Analyze ESG Data app, designed to replace the existing KPI tiles on the landing page and enhance how customers and partners interact with their ESG metrics. The new app provides robust filtering options, allowing users to select up to six time periods – by year, quarter, or month – and view their data in greater detail. Additionally, users can filter KPI tiles based on organizational hierarchies such as business location, reporting line, and legal entity. The app also offers flexible clustering and grouping of KPI tiles by subject matter (e.g., water, energy, waste), reporting frameworks (like ESRS or EU Taxonomy), through custom user-defined groups. Personalization features enable customers to save custom views with their chosen KPI tiles and apply authorization settings to ensure secure access. These updates aim to provide a more organized and tailored experience for tracking and managing ESG performance through the Analyze ESG Data app, now accessible in the SCT launchpad under the “Analytics and Steering” section.

Customizable AI Templates

In the Generate ESG Reports with AI app, you can now copy existing SAP-provided report templates and toggle individual sections on or off, as well as change the sectioning of the template structure. You can also see the status of an SAP-delivered template and get updates when available.

Planned Features

• ESG reports with AI: You will be able to edit the generated content in-app before downloading the reports.
  
• Fiscal Period Support: You can soon integrate fiscal year and period configurations in S/4HANA Cloud into SAP Sustainability Control Tower. Integrations will allow you to upload data for the activated fiscal year variant and the defined fiscal periods.
  
• New supported languages: Italian and Turkish will be added to the supported languages at the end of Q1-2025.

The post SAP Sustainability Control Tower: Q1 2025 Updates & Highlights appeared first on ERP Q&A.

The purpose of the Data Monitor is to consume the financial data of each consolidation unit and perform various tasks before the financial data is consolidated at a consolidated group level. All the Data Monitor tasks are predefined and ready to use.

Each task must be configured and sequenced in the order of execution in the process. You’ll open the period and execute the tasks on the consolidation units. After the task is successfully executed, you need to block the task and move to the next task. However, data collection tasks and manual posting tasks can be blocked even without being executed.

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to configure the Data Monitor in SAP S/4HANA Finance and all the tasks that can be run from the monitor, how to assign them to a standard task group, and how to assign the task group to a dimension.

The table below lists all the tasks that the Data Monitor can have.

All the tasks to be executed in the Data Monitor needs to be assigned to a task group. The following are initial activities you need to perform while configuring the Data Monitor:

• Check the predefined task groups, and create one if necessary.
  
• Assign the tasks to a task group.
  
• Identify the tasks that need to be blocked after execution.
  
• Identify the tasks that are potential milestones.
  
• Determine the predecessor for each task.4

Because tasks are sets of processes that are required to be executed successfully to prepare for and perform consolidations, you’ll encounter tasks in both the Data Monitor and the Consolidation Monitor.

Let’s start by defining a task. To do so, execute Transaction CXE9N, and go to Data Collection for Consolidation > Define Task to see the screen shown in the figure below. By default, the screen contains a list of standard Data Monitor tasks, but you can always add a new task by selecting the New Entries button, which is highlighted in the figure. Select a Task, Task category, Short Text, and Medium Text, and then click the Save button.

When you’ve defined all the tasks, move on to the next step in which you assign tasks to task groups.

The next figure shows the predelivered task groups for the Data Monitor and the Consolidation Monitor, which contain the tasks that need to be executed before you perform consolidations. In this post, we’ll describe S10: Standard Data monitor. You can also create a new Task group and assign the tasks per your requirements. To access predefined task groups, execute Transaction CXE9N, select Configuration for Consolidation Processing, and then select Define Task Group. S10 contains all the tasks that you’ll perform in the Data Monitor.

Next, go to Task groups > Assign tasks to task group, as shown in the following figure, which shows the assignment of tasks to a task group. A task group can’t exist without tasks (in this case, we’re using the standard content delivered by SAP). All the tasks are assigned to the standard Data Monitor task group (S10), which means you can now proceed with the next steps in the configuration.

Let’s look into the details of the task settings for a deeper understanding of the Data Monitor tasks:

• Task and Short Text: These fields provide the basic details of a task. The preceding example uses SAP-delivered tasks, but you can create custom tasks and assign them to your task group.
  
• Block auto: Checking this box blocks any task automatically after it’s successfully executed; however, a task can also be blocked explicitly from the Data Monitor.
  
• Milestone: This setting stops the consolidation process, which is very helpful especially during the automated execution of Data Monitor tasks. When you select a task as a Milestone task, you’re instructing the system to stop the process after that task is executed. Data collection and manual postings are default milestone tasks.
  
• Position: Checking this box indicates the position of certain tasks in the Data Monitor based on their numeric values in ascending order.
  
• Last task, DM: This is a mandatory task in the Data Monitor that indicates the last task to be executed in the Data Monitor in order to execute the Consolidation Monitor without any errors.

Click Save when you’re done.

You can also create a custom task group per the requirement by selecting the New Entries button in the Change View “Assign tasks to task group”: Overview screen. To access it, execute Transaction CXE9N, select Configuration for Consolidation Processing, and enter the Task, Short Text, Block auto., Milestone, Position, and Last Task, DM, as shown here.

When a new task group is created, you need to assign it to a consolidation dimension. Assignment of task groups is version dependent by default, and it also signifies the period in which a task is effective. The period category gives you the ability to control when a task can be used. The Data Monitor task group and Consolidation Monitor task group contain the corresponding task groups that are used in the Data Monitor and Consolidation Monitor for a version. The next figure shows the details of the assignment. To access the screen, execute Transaction CXE9N, open Configuration For Consolidation Processing, and select Assign Task Group To Dimension.

To assign the Data Monitor task group to the dimension for this example, you enter“S10” in the Data mon. task group field. After the task group is assigned to a consolidation dimension, you also need to define period categories per your requirements. Below demonstrates a predefined scenario.

Period categories allow you to assign task groups to the dimensions in different periods. Depending on your requirements, you can group the periods in a fiscal year using period categories. Furthermore, period categories give you the ability to use different data entry profiles in different periods for entering data reported by consolidation units. You can create your own period categories for each period, quarter year, half year, and year end, or per your requirements.

To access Period Categories, execute Transaction CXE9N, open Data Collection for Consolidation, and select Define Period Categories. In the figure above, the period categories are defined for year-end, quarter-end, and period-end consolidations. You can also create additional period categories by clicking the New Entries button and entering the following fields (right side):

• Period Type: Group accounting periods that have the same data collection requirements for consolidations.
  
• Description: Enter a text description of the period type/period category.
  
• Formula: Enter the period values here in which a period type is used.

Click Save when you’re done.

In the final figure, the predecessor tasks and task sequencing are shown, which acts as a checklist during the close process. Execution of a task isn’t dependent on its preceeding task; however, the preceeding tasks must be executed and blocked so that a task can run successfully. After all the tasks are executed and blocked, the Data Monitor execution is complete.

To assign the preceeding tasks, execute Transaction CXE9N, open Configuration for Consolidation Processing, and select Assign tasks to task group to see all the tasks that you’ve assigned to the Data Monitor. These tasks can be arranged per your requirements by selecting a task and clicking on Specify preceding tasks to select the task that you want to be the predecessor of the selected task.

The post How to Configure the Data Monitor in SAP S/4HANA appeared first on ERP Q&A.

Skybuffer AI, built on the robust SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), is the latest and most advanced version of our Conversational AI development, a journey we embarked on in 2018. Our solution now addresses a wide range of AI needs, from Conversational AI to cutting-edge Generative AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

Initially integrating SAP Conversational AI, Skybuffer has been keenly tracking SAP’s strategic AI roadmap. In developing the Skybuffer AI technological environment, our goal has been to ensure our product is compatible with SAP’s cutting-edge AI technologies while offering seamless transition support.

Challenge

Back in 2018, SAP introduced the Conversational AI tool, revolutionizing the way businesses build AI assistants and chatbots. Many innovative companies seized this opportunity, integrating Conversational AI into their business processes and using these chatbots in their B2B, B2E and even B2C scenarios.

However, as SAP’s AI strategy evolved, the decision was made to sunset SAP Conversational AI. Many companies are keen to protect their investments and retain their Conversational AI-based developments. These systems have been meticulously crafted and are being used productively, making it essential to find a balance between adopting new SAP AI technologies and maintaining the value of their existing solutions.

The challenge lies in balancing the transition to new technologies while maintaining the productivity and value of the existing SAP Conversational AI solutions.

Solution

Skybuffer AI, a robust all-in-one AI mastering tool, offers a seamless transition mechanism for any SAP CAI chatbot to our new universal AI platform available on SAP BTP. With just one click, you can migrate your SAP CAI chatbot to Skybuffer AI deployed into your SAP BTP instance. Here’s a quick overview of the steps to transition your bot to Skybuffer AI on SAP BTP in just 5-10 minutes.

Step 1: Export the chatbot from your SAP CAI using SAP standard functionality.

Step 2: Call the Skybuffer AI API secured by the oAuth2 protocol pointing to the Skybuffer AI application deployed on your SAP BTP account and feed exported from SAP CAI bot files.

Step 3: Voila, your built on SAP CAI AI assistant (bot) is now available in AI Model Configuration application at Skybuffer AI Launchpad

Step 4: Now you can Train and Deploy AI models via simple and intuitive Fiori applications of Skybuffer AI.

Step 5: Make basic channel settings within the Communication Channels application from Skybuffer AI Launchpad.

Step 6. Your new level AI Model is now operational within Skybuffer AI. Use Web Chat Preview function to test your webchat-based AI Model at once.

Outcome

The development based on SAP Conversational AI is secure and ready for further enhancement within the user-friendly Skybuffer AI solution. This solution seamlessly integrates all the cutting-edge SAP Business AI capabilities of SAP BTP, empowering your business to be more innovative and future-ready.

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Guiding pillars to SAP’s Business AI strategy

At SAP, we believe AI should be accessible and ethical way to all stakeholders so that they can benefit from it by improving their productivity and driving higher value-based business outcomes. Hence, SAP delivers the following AI framework that makes AI relevant and accessible to diverse roles in organizations:

This means, you are not required to make huge investments in tech teams for developing AI scenarios on a pure AI platform from scratch. SAP delivers AI scenarios readily into critical business processes that can be configured, activated, and triggered on demand.

SAP Business AI for Oil Gas & Energy

AI is revolutionizing the Oil Gas & Energy industry by unlocking efficiencies across its value chain. From initial exploration activities all the way through to the end user, it is inspiring new ways to approach exploration, development, production, transportation, refining, and sales.

Gen AI has the potential to optimize the refinery processes, from crude oil distillation to product blending and yield optimization, predictive maintenance of equipment and machinery, risk management, and real-time monitoring of operations.

This is the opportunity and whitespace we are focusing in the program for SAP Business AI for Industries for Oil Gas & Energy.

“SAP’s Business AI in Industries uses computational and generative AI technologies to solve industry-specific business problems, leveraging data from across customers enterprise.

It is offered as an embedded cloud native capability OR combined with SAP and Partner business themes, we support our customers embrace AI in a sustainable and value-focused way to keep their edge as an intelligent enterprise.”

SAP already offers many AI-powered use cases across business functions; these are referred to as “Basic AI” and are complementary capabilities as part of the base SAP Cloud Application like Ariba or SuccessFactors.

We continue further adding an impressive list of scenarios across the value chain that are/ will be delivered to our RISE customers.

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In SAP Business Application Studio, you are provided with one or more dev spaces. A dev space is a development environment with all the tools, capabilities, and resources needed for developing your application. Each type of application requires a different development environment. Based on the type of application that you choose to build you’re provided with a different set of tools. You can add additional tools to supplement the application with additional extensions for the scenarios.

• In today’s fast-changing business world, companies need to be quick, innovative, and efficient.
• That’s why they’re using advanced digital tools like SAP Business Application Studio (BAS) to make their operations smoother and speed up how they develop apps company-wide.
• SAP Business Application Studio is a cloud-based development environment offered by SAP for creating business applications.
• It provides a range of tools and services tailored for SAP developers to build Fiori apps, SAPUI5 applications, and business logic using ABAP, Node.js, and more.
• It simplifies development by offering pre-configured environments and supports collaboration among developers.
• The core feature of SAP Business Application Studio is its “dev spaces,” which are like isolated virtual machines in the cloud.
• These dev spaces come with specific tools and runtimes for different business scenarios, such as SAP Fiori, SAP S/4HANA extensions, and Workflow.
• This setup saves time in setting up the development environment and allows developers to efficiently develop, test, build, and run their solutions.
• In SAP Business Application Studio, developers work in dev spaces, each providing a development environment tailored to the type of application being built.
• These environments can be customized with additional tools and extensions as needed.
• Developers can test their applications within the dev space itself, simulating a local development experience.
• SAP Business Application Studio also offers various tools specifically designed for developing business applications in the SAP ecosystem.
• These tools cover the entire development cycle, from project creation to testing and deployment.
• The platform supports popular browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge for a seamless development experience.
• SAP BAS is a development environment built on Eclipse Theia, which resembles the Visual Studio Code interface.
• It requires a SAP license for productive use and offers different Flavors tailored for various development tasks.
• For example, if you’re developing a SAPUI5 or Fiori app, you would choose the SAP Fiori flavour, while for CAPM app development, you’d select the SAP CAPM flavour.
• You can enhance BAS by enabling different packages like SAP Workflow Package, CDS Viewer, and HANA Development Packages, which allow you to work on different types of projects and handle various file types.
• BAS operates within a virtual container running on an Ubuntu-based OS architecture.
• While developers don’t have root access to the operating system, they can still install additional packages and modules required for their projects using the Terminal.

Benefits of SAP Business Application Studio

• Ready-to-use Environment: It offers a ready-to-go setup specifically designed for building SAP applications.
• Central Management: You can manage everything centrally, including tools, access to systems, and company policies.
• Tailored Productivity Tools: The tools provided are customized for developing SAP applications, making the process smoother.
• Guided Learning: It provides guidance to help developers learn SAP technologies quickly and efficiently.
• Opinionated Technologies: You can build applications using preferred SAP technologies and best practices.
• Consistent Experience: Regardless of the SAP development technology you’re using, the experience remains consistent.
• Simplified Complexity: Instead of focusing on technical details, it simplifies development by describing logical components of applications.
• Integration: Easily integrates with existing SAP solutions, systems, and services.
• Access to Extensions: You can easily access additional tools and extensions compatible with Visual Studio Code.
• Full Support: It comes with comprehensive support from SAP for all enterprise needs.

BAS Architecture

Subscribe to the Service from the service marketplace for SAP Business Application Studio.

Step 1: Log into SAP BTP Trial

1. Visit https://account.hanatrial.ondemand.com and sign in to your SAP BTP cockpit.
   
2. You may need to agree to the legal terms. Simply check the box and click Accept.

Step 2: Check Cloud Foundry Enablement.

1. To verify Cloud Foundry enablement, click “Go to Your Trial Account” to access the list of available trial subaccount.

2. Choose the subaccount you wish to use for this tutorial.

3. On the overview page, ensure that Cloud Foundry is enabled.

4. If Cloud Foundry isn’t enabled, click on the “Enable Cloud Foundry” button.

Step 3: Add the SAP Business Application Studio Subscription to the Subaccount.

1. To add the SAP Business Application Studio subscription to the subaccount, follow these steps: Click “Enter Your Trial Account” to access the Cloud Foundry environment.

2. Choose the tile corresponding to the subaccount where you wish to enable the SAP Business Application Studio subscription.

When you create an SAP BTP Trial account, a trial subaccount is automatically created.

3. Navigate to the Service Marketplace by clicking on it in the navigation area.

4. Click on “Create” to initiate the wizard for subscribing to SAP Business Application Studio.

5. In the wizard, ensure that “SAP Business Application Studio” is chosen in the Service field and “trial” is selected in the Plan field.

6. Click on “Create” to subscribe to SAP Business Application Studio.

7. A “Creation in Progress” popup will appear. Click on “View Subscription” to see the SAP Business Application Studio subscription in the Instances and Subscriptions page.

8. Launch SAP Business Application Studio.

Open SAP Business Application Studio and select “Go to Application.”

Overall, BAS offers benefits such as a ready-to-use environment, central management, tailored productivity tools, guided learning, opinionated technologies, consistent experience, simplified complexity, integration with existing SAP solutions, access to extensions, and comprehensive support from SAP for all enterprise needs.

The post Exploring SAP Business Application Studio appeared first on ERP Q&A.

With the latest SAP BTP ABAP 2208 release the RAP framework now supports OData streams. It is now possible to enable your RAP application to maintain and handle Large Objects(LOBs).This feature provides end users an option to upload external files of different file formats such as PDF, XLSX, binary file format and other types hence allowing media handling.

In this Blog we will explore how to upload and handle Large Object such as PDF or Binary files without the need to extend the RAP application in BAS.

Large objects are modeled by means of the following fields:

• Attachment
• Mimetype
• Filename

The field Attachment contains the LOB itself in a RAWSTRING format and is technically bound to the field Mimetype and Filename using semantics annotation.

Mimetype represents the content type of the attachment uploaded and the values for the fields Mimetype and Filename are derived from the field Attachment by the RAP framework based on the maintained CDS annotations. No attachment can exist without its mimetype and vice versa.

For example, when a PDF is uploaded the Mimetype field will be derived and populated with ‘APPLICATION/PDF’.

To try this feature out I have built a simple RAP application to upload files directly using RAP Framework.

Database Table

A Database table was built as per code snippet below.

The field attachment has a data type of RAWSTRING. In BTP ABAP environment you cannot use RAWSTRING domain directly so create a custom domain with data type as RAWSTRING and Length as ‘0’ . This is important as length being ‘0’ would indicate that the RAWSTRING has No length restriction and can accommodate file of larger size. ZMIMETYPE and ZFILENAME are both of type Character and length 128.

@EndUserText.label : 'Invoice Table'
@AbapCatalog.enhancement.category : #NOT_EXTENSIBLE
@AbapCatalog.tableCategory : #TRANSPARENT
@AbapCatalog.deliveryClass : #A
@AbapCatalog.dataMaintenance : #RESTRICTED
define table zinvoicetable {
  key client            : abap.clnt not null;
  key invoice           : ebeln not null;
  comments              : char30;
  attachment            : zattachment;
  mimetype              : zmimetype;
  filename              : zfilename;
  local_created_by      : abp_creation_user;
  local_created_at      : abp_creation_tstmpl;
  local_last_changed_by : abp_locinst_lastchange_user;
  local_last_changed_at : abp_locinst_lastchange_tstmpl;
  last_changed_at       : abp_lastchange_tstmpl;

}

Interface View

CDS annotation @Semantics.largeObject technically binds the MimeType and Filename to the Attachment.

The annotation contentDispositionPreference can be used to define whether, depending on the browser settings, the file attachment is either displayed in the browser (setting #INLINE) or downloaded when selected (option #ATTACHMENT).

Annotation @Semantics.largeObject.acceptableMimeTypes can be used to restrict the Media types which can be uploaded. The validation and Error handling on upload of unsupported media type is handled by the RAP framework.

CDS annotation @Semantics.mimeType: true was used to define the field MimeType as such.

@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #NOT_REQUIRED
@EndUserText.label: 'Invoice Table'
define root view entity ZI_INVOICETABLE
  as select from zinvoicetable
{
  key invoice               as Invoice,
      comments              as Comments,
      @Semantics.largeObject:
      { mimeType: 'MimeType',
      fileName: 'Filename',
      contentDispositionPreference: #INLINE }
      attachment            as Attachment,
      @Semantics.mimeType: true
      mimetype              as MimeType,
      filename              as Filename,
      @Semantics.user.createdBy: true
      local_created_by      as LocalCreatedBy,
      @Semantics.systemDateTime.createdAt: true
      local_created_at      as LocalCreatedAt,
      @Semantics.user.lastChangedBy: true
      local_last_changed_by as LocalLastChangedBy,
      //local ETag field --> OData ETag
      @Semantics.systemDateTime.localInstanceLastChangedAt: true
      local_last_changed_at as LocalLastChangedAt,

      //total ETag field
      @Semantics.systemDateTime.lastChangedAt: true
      last_changed_at       as LastChangedAt
}

Consumption View

@EndUserText.label: 'Invvoice Table'
@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #NOT_REQUIRED
@Metadata.allowExtensions: true
define root view entity ZC_INVOICE_TABLE
  provider contract transactional_query
  as projection on ZI_INVOICETABLE
{
  key Invoice,
      Comments,
      Attachment,
      MimeType,
      Filename,
      LocalLastChangedAt
}

Metadata Extension

From an UI perspective the User only needs to interact with the Attachment and hence Mimetype and Filename is hidden.

@Metadata.layer: #CORE
@UI: { headerInfo: {
typeName: 'Invoice',
typeNamePlural: 'Invoices',
title: { type: #STANDARD, value: 'Invoice' },
         description: { type: #STANDARD, value: 'Invoice' } },
         presentationVariant: [{
         sortOrder: [{ by: 'Invoice', direction: #ASC }],
         visualizations: [{type: #AS_LINEITEM}] }] }
annotate entity ZC_INVOICE_TABLE with
{
  @UI.facet: [    {
                label: 'General Information',
                id: 'GeneralInfo',
                type: #COLLECTION,
                position: 10
                },
                     { id:            'Invoicedet',
                    purpose:       #STANDARD,
                    type:          #IDENTIFICATION_REFERENCE,
                    label:         'Invoice Details',
                    parentId: 'GeneralInfo',
                    position:      10 },
                  {
                      id: 'Upload',
                      purpose: #STANDARD,
                      type: #FIELDGROUP_REFERENCE,
                      parentId: 'GeneralInfo',
                      label: 'Upload Invoice',
                      position: 20,
                      targetQualifier: 'Upload'
                  } ]

  @UI: { lineItem:       [ { position: 10, importance: #HIGH , label: 'Invoice Number'} ] ,
          identification: [ { position: 10 , label: 'Invoice Number' } ] }
  Invoice;
  @UI: { lineItem:       [ { position: 20, importance: #HIGH , label: 'Comments'} ] ,
           identification: [ { position: 20 , label: 'Comments' } ] }
  Comments;
  @UI:
  { fieldGroup:     [ { position: 50, qualifier: 'Upload' , label: 'Attachment'} ]}
  Attachment;

  @UI.hidden: true
  MimeType;

  @UI.hidden: true
  Filename;

}

I have created a managed Behavior definition with Draft and Created a Service definition and Service binding to expose this as a V4 UI .

managed implementation in class zbp_i_invoicetable unique;
strict ( 2 );
with draft;

define behavior for ZI_INVOICETABLE alias Invoice
persistent table ZINVOICETABLE
draft table zinvoicetdraft
lock master
total etag LocalLastChangedAt
authorization master ( instance )
etag master LastChangedAt
{

 // administrative fields: read only
  field ( readonly ) LastChangedAt, LocalLastChangedBy, LocalLastChangedAt , LocalCreatedBy ,
                      LocalCreatedAt;

  create;
  update;
  delete;

  draft action Edit ;
  draft action Activate;
  draft action Discard;
  draft action Resume;

  draft determine action Prepare ;
}

Once the OData is published through service binding, we can preview the application.

You can click on create to Create a new Instance.

On “Upload File” the File Open Dialog comes up to select the file from Presentation Server .

Once the File is uploaded the Hyperlink can be used to access the file and based on annotation contentDispositionPreference the file would either open in a new window or downloaded when selected.

Once the Instance is saved we can see the new file encoded in RAWSTRING format along with its Mimetype and Name saved in the database.

In Conclusion, with the Support of OData streams, we can now handle LOBs directly using RAP framework, this really caters to a lot of missing features for which extensions were needed before. The above application is a very simple example of how this feature can be used.

The post Streams in RAP: Uploading PDF, Excel and Other Files in RAP Application appeared first on ERP Q&A.

What is DATASPHERE?

SAP Datasphere, the next generation of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, is a comprehensive data service that enables every data professional to deliver seamless and scalable access to mission-critical business data.

Whenever there is a requirement to have data transferred from various external systems to the Datasphere though it has its own connection paradigm if there is already a SAP Cloud Integration connected to all the external systems in the enterprise landscape then rather creating new connection to Datasphere from those its always better to have Cloud Integration connected with Datasphere. This way no need for duplicate connections and also the overall monitoring capabilities gets enhanced.

What is SAP CI(BTP-IS)?

Cloud Integration(BTP-IS) is a set of services and tools provided by SAP on its cloud-based Business Technology Platform (BTP) to enable integration between different systems, applications, and data sources. The key benefit of CI(BTP IS) is that it enables organizations to quickly and easily integrate their systems, data, and applications without the need for extensive coding or custom development. This helps to streamline business processes, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency.

How Datasphere can be integrated?

SAP Datasphere can be integrated with wide range of sources, both on premise and cloud of SAP and Non-SAP sources and tools. Based on the native connection types which are already available in SAP Datasphere like Generic JDBC, Generic SFTP, Generic ODATA and various others can be used to be connected with external world. Some of the common use cases would be like below.

S4H > Datasphere – Connection with DP Agent (SAP S/4HANA On-Premise)
SAC -> Datasphere – Connection of Type: Cloud Data Integration
Datasphere -> SAC – Direct Data Live Connection
Datasphere -> IBP – IBP connection

How CI integrates with Datasphere?

The integration between CI and Datasphere can be done in multiple ways like below.

1. CI can load the data directly in Datasphere using JDBC protocol.

2. CI can consume the exposed OData V4 service from Datasphere.

3. CI can make use of the open connector on BTP IS if the open connector connection is activated in Datasphere.

Note: Among the possible integrations with Datasphere, OData and Open Connector methods are already explained but the easiest and most traditional method of JDBC was not clearly explained anywhere.

Integration of SAP CI(BTP IS) with Datasphere through JDBC

Prerequisites:

1. SAP BTP IS Tenant Access with required CI roles.

2. SAP Datasphere Access with required “Data Catalog User, DW Viewer, DW Modeler, Data Catalog Administrator” roles.

3. SFTP access to read the test file.

Step-1: Create a new space in Datasphere space management.

If you have the required access then you create the space or else you can connect with the Basis team.

If basis team is creating the space make sure you are also the member of this space without which you cannot view the space also for the Database schema/user/password/hostname/port details with the permission to open the underlying Database explorer.

Step-2: Create a new Database user in the created space.

After the space is created then the schema and the database user details to be created with the required Read, Read(HDI) and Write permissions.

Space Schema: “Space_Schema”

Database Username: “Space_Schema#User_Name”

Open SQL Schema: “Space_Schema#User_Name”

Hostname: “<<Hostname>>.hanacloud.ondemand.com”

Password: “Password”

Port: 443

Step-3: Create the table in the SAP HANA Database Explorer.

Create the table as per your required columns, datatypes and length.

Step-4: Create the JDBC Data Source in Manage JDBC Material of Integration Suite.

For creating the JDBC Data Source use all the parameters from the Step-2 like User and password.

The Database type should be selected as “ SAP HANA Cloud “

And for JDBC URL follow the format as

<<Hostname>>.hanacloud.ondemand.com:443/?encrypt=true&validateCertificate=true

Deploy the JDBC Data source successfully.

Step-5: Create the new IFLOW to send the data from CI to Datasphere.

Here for the demo purpose the source is selected as a SFTP file but as per the business requirement it can be anything.

There can be multiple steps as per the requirement but the main target structure should be using the JDBC XML Format as below.

<root>

<insert_statement>

<dbTableName action="INSERT">

<table>DEMO</table>

<access>

<FIRSTNAME>FAROOQ</FIRSTNAME>

<LASTNAME>AHMED</LASTNAME>

<DESIGNATION>ARCHITECT</DESIGNATION>

</access>

</dbTableName>

</insert_statement>

</root>

The tablename which was created in the HANA Cloud database should be provided in the Message Mapping as below

The JDBC Data source which was created in step-4 should be provided in the JDBC Receiver channel as below

Deploy the IFLOW successfully after configuring the SFTP channel with the required parameters.

Step-6: Validate the Data received from CI in Datasphere.

All the data processed from CI to Datasphere will be available in the HANA DB table as below

To make the data visible in the Datasphere application the table should be given a Graphical View in the Data Builder.

Once the local view of the table is deployed then the entire data present will be displayed in the Datasphere for further reporting/analytics.

The post Integration of SAP CI(BTP IS) with Datasphere appeared first on ERP Q&A.