Middleware Setup (Continued)

Defining Client Administration (SAP CRM)

Defining Logical System (SAP CRM)

Tools -> Administration -> User Maintenance -> Users

Transaction: SU01

Cross Connectivity

Define CRM Logical system in ECC and vice versa

SAP NetWeaver -> Application Server -> IDoc Interface/Application Link Enabling (ALE) -> Basic Settings -> Logical systems -> Define Logical System

Middleware Setup

Middleware Setup

Defining Client Administration (SAP ECC)

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Define Client Administration

Tools -->Administration -> Administration -> Client Administration ->Client Maintenance

Transaction SCC4   

Defining Client Administration (SAP ECC)

Defining Logical System

SAP NetWeaver ->Application Server ->IDoc Interface/Application Link Enabling (ALE) -> Basic Settings ->Logical systems -> Define Logical System

Creating a RFC User

Tools ->Administration -> User Maintenance -> Users

Transaction SU01

  

Correspondence of OLTP R/3 and CDB Tables

Correspondence of OLTP R/3 and CDB Tables

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Tables named as “XYZ” in the R/3 system are followed by a prefix “SMO” in the CDB. Hence they are called as “SMOXYZ”.  

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 Hence development class for CDB Service is “SMO”.  

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Some important development classes are: 

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SMOF (R/3 Adapter Service) 

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SMOG (CRM Middleware Repository Services) 

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SMOH (Replication and Realignment service)  

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 However, CDB tables do not have a 1:1 mapping with the R/3 tables. CDB tables are partly alike to the R/3 tables.

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 CDB Tables house the relevant R/3 data and might have some extra fields as well depending on the requirement.  

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 Data requirements for CDB can be industry specific (Consumer goods, pharmaceuticals etc. ) 

Examples of Data mapping

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 One typical example is OLTP R/3 table KNA1 + OLTP R/3 table KNVK == table SMOKNA1 on the CDB.  

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 Merging the two tables is necessary to be able, for example, to subdivide Business Partners in the pharmaceutical industry into institutions and persons.  

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 Other examples of SMO tables are:  

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 SMOADRC (has all addresses of all Business Partners) 

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 SMOBNKA (Master data bank)  

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How is the data mapped from OLTP R/3 to CRM?

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 CRM uses the concept of GUID (Globally Unique Identifiers) to map the data from OLTP R/3 system to CRM Middleware system and CRM Mobile components.  

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 Using GUIDs is typically advantageous in Mobile scenarios, though the difficulty faced is by the OLTP R/3 system which does not understand or records CRM keys (GUIDs). So lets understand what are GUIDs.  

What is a GUID?

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GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers) are system-generated technical keys. This serves as the primary keys for all tables in the CDB.  

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A GUID is generated by a special hashing algorithm using as input data certain OS (Operating system) information, the host computer information, the current system time and a randomly generated number.  

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GUIDs are technical key and are content free, which means that a GUID can be represented in various formats (in CRM, we use CHAR32 or RAW16).  

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It is globally unique in the sense that two GUIDs produced on any two computers (or even on the same one) at any time can never be the same. It remains active for a record for lifetime and is deleted only when the particular record is deleted.  

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Primary keys of all tables are called SFA<table name without the SMO prefix>, such as SFAKNA1, SFAMARA.  

Advantages of own key system (GUID) in Mobile Scenarios 

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Global Unique Identifiers (GUID) are unique in the world due to generation method 

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No number range intervals of R/3 keys are needed 

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GUID is a technical key and content free 

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Can be used to model relations between objects 

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This ensures consistency of data on a CDB even when the actual GUID is generated on the various distributed mobile databases (laptops, PDAs etc. ) and later synchronized with CDB.  

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Table Correspondence: CRM Online – CDB – OLTP R/3

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The main customer table on the OLTP R/3 system is the KNA1 table with the customer number (KUNNR) as the key field. The corresponding CDB table is the SMOKNA1 with the GUID (SFAKNA1) as the key. The field KUNNR is an ordinary table field. The main table for customers in CRM online is the BUT000 table with the key field PARTNER. The R/3 customer number is kept in the field CUSTOMER_NO in the table CRMM_BUT_CUSTNO. The link between this table BUT000 can be established via the field PARTNER_GUID. 

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Consolidated Database/Data Consolidation on the CRM Server

Consolidated Database

The customer can contact the organization through various means and the organization can in turn interact within it self and with its vendors through various means as well. Middleware acts as the central figure during such interactions.

All data coming from Mobile clients or CRM Service is saved on the CRM server.

Data is stored on a CDB i.e. Consolidated Database on the CRM Server.

Partial data is copied from R/3 server to CDB. The only exception to data save becomes evident in case of personal data.

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Data management for mobile clients is specially done in a consolidated Database (CDB) on the CRM Server. To ensure data consistency and synchronization, a copy of each object in the entire system (mobile system of distributed databases) is kept in CDB.

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However this does not mean that CDB also maintains a copy of all the objects in an R/3 database as well. Instead, only a part of the data is copied from the R/3 server to the CDB in order to enable the Mobile Sales Scenario. Also note that this replication of Mobile Sales data is a two way process which essentially means that some Mobile data is also replicated to the R/3 system for logical connection and business flow enabling between the two systems in a mobile sales/service scenario.

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Personal Data is an exception and a copy of personal data for a client is maintained only on one or more dedicated Mobile clients and is marked as private data.

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What is CDB?

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 The consolidated database or CDB is the logical overall database of the CRM Mobile. It is located on the CRM Server and contains all the data that is supposed to be distributed.

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 Contains some application data as well.

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 For “employees” in the field force, the CDB is divided into partial datasets in order to allow them to work independently. They do not work online on the overall database, but rather on the mobile sites (laptops) with local, geographically distributed datasets. The logical overall database is said to be fragmented in this case.

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CDB is divided into partial datasets in order to allow different employees to work independently. It is important that the partial datasets conform to the requirements of the employees in the field force. This means that each remote employee is given access only to the data for which he or she is responsible. The employee then manages “his/her” data (be it customers, contact persons, orders or appointments) on a local database.

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Generally speaking, there will be a degree of overlap between the various partial datasets into which the overall database is divided. The phrase “replicated data storage” implies that there may be several different employees in the same system, who are all responsible for managing a given item of data and who could make changes to it.

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Hence some special features are required to handle such a scenario where the same information content is maintained in more than one place. These have been listed in the next slide.

Features desired

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It must be possible to fragment the entire database down to the level of individual objects. Thus it must be possible, for example, to assign customer A to employee X, while making employee Y responsible for customer B.

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Data that is administered and maintained in several locations must be regularly exchanged and brought into line with the other affected locations, so that the datasets remain consistent. (automatic administration of redundancy; i.e. automatic maintenance of the look-up tables)

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Changes to the datasets on the local databases (for example through a change of responsibility) must be performed automatically (automatic fragmentation changes; that is Realignment.

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At any time it must be clear who is responsible for maintaining which data (transparency of fragmentation and replication).

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In order to provide the functionality, CRM Middleware offers a number of mechanisms, maintenance tables and fields.

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Access to the Consolidated Database

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 CDB is accessed via the CDB service. All BDocs for CRM Mobile are routed through CDB Service by the flow control.

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 CDB Service is the only service that has access to the CDB Database tables.

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CRM Server/Middleware & Data Flow Overview

CRM Server/Middleware

§CRM to OLTP System

-There is a Plug In on the R/3 acting as adapter counterpart

-Scheduled and automatic data transfer through RFC

§CRM to Other Systems (BW, APO etc)

-Transfer through adapters

The SAP R/3 System (one or several SAP R/3 Systems) serves as

•provider for customizing and business data (master data, transaction data)

•Receive business data for further execution (currently primarily with MySAP Financials and mySAP SCM for accounting and logistics execution)

The recent CRM releases can be standalone systems, which means that ECC is no longer mandatory for the execution of CRM-related tasks and we can use other logistic execution systems as well.

The data exchange via the CRM Middleware requires that Plug-Ins are installed on the SAP R/3 System.

Other systems connected to the CRM System may include:

•The SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) provides data analyses in the form of Solution Workbooks.

•Non-SAP ERP systems may serve as data sources and receivers for the CRM System.

•The SAP Adanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) offers additional functionality such as an availability check of ordered products.

§Has Basis System at its base hence

-It is Scalable

-Is platform independence

-Has full R/3 development environment

§Has standard Middleware capabilities

-Data Queuing and transport

-Replication and realignment

-Data exchange and mapping

§Contains the consolidated Data base

-Logical database in CRM

-Containing data for Mobile Scenario

The CRM Server is scalable since it is based on a SAP Web Application Server. It contains the CRM Server Applications, a part of the CRM Middleware and the Consolidated Database.

The SAP Web Application Server (formerly: SAP Basis System) provides SAP basis technology and the ABAP workbench as a development environment known to many application developers.

The CRM Middleware functionality includes:

Data queuing and transport.

Replication and realignment service, which ensures that Mobile Clients or external systems obtain the data they require.

Data exchange and mapping

The CRM Server disposes of the CRM database which also contains the Consolidated Database (CDB).

The CRM database is the central database for the CRM Server Applications.

The Consolidated Database (CDB) is used for data replication and realignment for the Mobile Clients. It is a logical database in the CRM database.

Data Flow Overview

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The message flow is controlled by flow control in a CRM server. (Flow control would be described in detail in the subsequent sessions). 

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The diagram above depicts the various messages that flow between a central CRM server and the other components in a system-landscape. 

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BDocs are Business Documents that are set of transaction statements which collectively represent a logical business object. This is the largest data packages that are handled within the CRM server. 

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BIW systems talk to the central CRM server with the use of Data extracts (from BIW to CRM via a BI query) or Excel workbooks (from CRM server to BIW server). 

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BDoc messages also play a role in data transfer between the CRM Server and the Mobile Clients, however, here the connections are established via Communication Stations. 

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All the other non-SAP components can be enabled to talk to the CRM online component (i.e. the CRM Server) either via a flat file transfer (simple text or excel files), or can have any other application enabling the link (like Web methods, EAI tools etc). 

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Detailed discussion on Web methods and other EAI tools is out of scope of this training.  

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Middleware Basics

Business Scenario

The customer can get in touch with the organization through various means: •Through Direct sales representative •Through Call Center representatives •Customers walking into Companies premise •Campaign/ Promotional activities
The organization can in turn interact within it self and with its vendors through various means as well. •EDI •Fax •ALE •Telephone
Middleware acts as the central figure during such interactions. It successfully fulfills an organizations requirement in the following areas and integrates the various ways in which the Business Partners can interact with the company.

•A typical CRM landscape has been depicted in this slide, where an actual CRM landscape instance might have all or some of the systems attached to the central CRM server.  •MySAP CRM provides your sales, customer service, and top management staff with immediate information on customer habits and market trends. MySAP.com was a name for all available SAP products around 2000-2001. “My” meant, that it is customizable, ".com" meant, that it's internet enabled. This application component for CRM has a central CRM server with various extensions to support different ways of accessing the system. •Internet components of CRM application component (or in other words the entire CRM functionality), enable internet selling via Web Shops and other similar features. Internet users then can get access to CRM server via internet and can place online orders for products or services.  •Mobile Clients (laptops, PDAs etc. ) can enable the mobile server linking with the CRM component. This typically enables the efficiency of field sales and service forces.  •Customers may use the phone, fax or email to reach the sales or service representatives using the integrated contact centre solutions.  •The CRM solution offers the following fully integrated connections:  •CRM as a central CRM Server  •SAP R/3 Backend (ECC) providing the ERP functions  •SAP BI system – the Business Intelligence solution  •SAP APO system as a global ATP (Availability-to-promise) check  •SAP Enterprise Portal – integrated access to all systems   

Middleware Overview

§CRM Middleware is the application component used for data exchange between CRM & other connected systems, like ECC(R/3),BW,Mobile devices §CRM server is built on the WAS (Erstwhile SAP R/3 Basis system) §R/3 OLTP system should contain plug ins for data exchange with CRM §Mobile clients are connected to CRM via the Communication Station §Main functions of CRM Middleware are: -Data exchange and mapping -Data queuing and transport -Replication and realignment 

CRM Server

Provides the entire CRM online functions on the basis of the SAP Web Application Server, including the key components of the CRM Middleware.

The CRM application data is validated and stored on the CRM Server. The CRM Middleware receives data from connected systems, validates it in the CRM Server and replicates it to determined recipients, for example, to laptop computers in a mobile scenario. CRM server provides the entire CRM online functions on the basis of the SAP Web Application Server, including the key components of the CRM Middleware.

The CRM application data is validated and stored on the CRM Server. The CRM Middleware receives data from connected systems, validates it in the CRM Server and replicates it to determined recipients, for example, to laptop computers in a mobile scenario.
Data such as business partners and activities can be exchanged between SAP CRM and the other systems present in landscape in both directions. The business partners and activities are provided to Groupware users as contacts and tasks or appointments and vice versa.

The connection to external systems and the Mobile Clients are established via software adapters. The adapters map and convert data to various formats.

The CRM System supports the handling of CRM business objects, like customers and prospects, activities and opportunities, products and product catalogs in a variety of CRM components like Internet Sales, Service Interaction Center, Telesales, Campaign Management and various others. Thoe CRM Server Applications exchange data with the Middleware Broker via the CRM adapter.

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