SAP Enterprise Services Architecture
Encyclopedia
SAP Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture (Enterprise SOA) has been defined by SAP
as "an open architecture for adaptive business solutions". Enterprise SOA is enabled by the SAP NetWeaver platform, and builds on the benefits of Web services. SAP has positioned Enterprise SOA to deliver the benefits offered by service-oriented architecture
, including enabling both flexibility and business efficiency. SAP state that Enterprise SOA provides companies with a "cost-effective blueprint for composing innovative new applications by extending existing systems, while maintaining a level of flexibility that makes future process changes cost-effective"
.
SAP have committed to "building new SAP applications purely in a service-oriented
way".
The recently announced SAP Business By Design product is also based on Enterprise SOA principles.
SAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
as "an open architecture for adaptive business solutions". Enterprise SOA is enabled by the SAP NetWeaver platform, and builds on the benefits of Web services. SAP has positioned Enterprise SOA to deliver the benefits offered by service-oriented architecture
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
, including enabling both flexibility and business efficiency. SAP state that Enterprise SOA provides companies with a "cost-effective blueprint for composing innovative new applications by extending existing systems, while maintaining a level of flexibility that makes future process changes cost-effective"
.
Key principles of Enterprise SOA
The five key principles of Enterprise SOA are:- AbstractionAbstraction (computer science)In computer science, abstraction is the process by which data and programs are defined with a representation similar to its pictorial meaning as rooted in the more complex realm of human life and language with their higher need of summarization and categorization , while hiding away the...
— hiding technical details that can be confusing - ModularityModularity (programming)Modular programming is a software design technique that increases the extent to which software is composed of separate, interchangeable components called modules by breaking down program functions into modules, each of which accomplishes one function and contains everything necessary to accomplish...
— breaking down complexity and creation of "reusable pieces" - Standardized connectivity — enabling flexible composition of services to form processesProcess architectureDualistic Petri nets are a process-class variant of Petri nets.Like Petri nets in general and many related formalisms and notations, they are used to describe and analyze process architecture.-Process Modeling with dPNs :...
- Loose couplingLoose couplingIn computing and systems design a loosely coupled system is one where each of its components has, or makes use of, little or no knowledge of the definitions of other separate components. The notion was introduced into organizational studies by Karl Weick...
— allowing for separate evolution of the various components without breaking any points of integration - Incremental design — enabling changes to composition and configuration without affecting the internals of components, and vice versa
SAP Solutions that currently use Enterprise SOA
- mySAP CRM
- mySAP ERPMySAP ERPThe SAP ERP application is an integrated enterprise resource planning software manufactured by SAP AG that targets business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors...
- mySAP SRM
SAP have committed to "building new SAP applications purely in a service-oriented
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
way".
The recently announced SAP Business By Design product is also based on Enterprise SOA principles.
Composition of Enterprise SOA
Enterprise SOA is not a product in itself. However, principles of Enterprise SOA are being increasingly applied in SAP technology and software, such as:- SAP NetWeaver, which provides the technical foundation for implementing an Enterprise Services Architecture.
- SAP xAppsXAppsxApp , is a collective term applied to software products built following the SAP xApps convention and running on a SAP NetWeaver application server. Including a range of software products from SAP AG, solutions by SAP partners and customer made composite applications...
, the next generation of SAP applications, utilising multiple application components and built mainly by model-driven composition and configuration. - In new releases of the SAP Business Suite, where more principles of Enterprise SOA will be applied.
How Enterprise SOA is related to SAP NetWeaver
SAP NetWeaver is the open integration and application platform for all SAP applications and solutions. It provides a technical foundation for implementing an Enterprise Services Architecture by providing common:- Service descriptions based on Web services standards (e.g. WSDLWeb Services Description LanguageThe Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...
) - Development process for all types of remote interfaces, including process integration, user interface, application-to-application (A2A), B2B, etc.
- Web services-based runtime infrastructure
- Enterprise service bus for communication, transaction handling, debugging, tracing, message integrity etc.