In my current project, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the Microsoft ERP Management Agent for SAP. As many already know, SAP is a huge applications and a common connected data source which in most (or some) cases acts as the authoritative source for HR related data. MIIS can be used to facilitate or broker identity data and identity management related tasks to and from this connected data source and to many others. In my opinion, MIIS and SAP integrate very well which I thought I’d write about how MIIS connects to SAP to synchronize identity data to and from the connector space. From here, I hope you can get a better understanding on how to integrate SAP into your existing MIIS environment.
Prior to the release of the ERP MA by Microsoft, MIIS developers connected to SAP systems by custom XMAs using the SAP .NET Connector. For example, Oxford Computer Group had developed a management agent for SAP which has been proven successfully in many environments way before the Microsoft ERP MA was even released. Regardless, here is how connectivity is accomplished using the ERP MA from Microsoft.
Before I start, the Microsoft ERP Management Agent can be downloaded from the following link or obtained within the ILM 2007 FR1 installation media.
Microsoft Enterprise Resource Planning Management Agent for SAP
The base requirements for this management agent are:
- Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 SP2 or ILM 2007
- The SAP .NET Connector 2.0
- Microsoft .NET Framework, version 1.1 or higher
In order to connect to SAP, you should first understand some concepts of SAP.
- BAPI (Business Application Programming Interface) – a function that performs a specific operation inside the SAP environment
- InfoTypes – structures used as parameters to BAPIs
- RFC (Remote Function Calls) – a method for accessing a BAPI from another computer via the network
- SAP Connector for Microsoft .NET 2.0 – a managed component from SAP that enables RFC to BAPIs in a SAP application server
It’s pretty late now, so in my next part I will write more details on how the SAP .NET Connector works and how it relates to MIIS and the ERP MA.
2 comments:
Where can we find additional management agents, say for IBM i-Series connections?
You have a few options to connect to an iSeries. First option, you can download the AS400 MA from MSDN, however you'll need an MSDN account. The second option is the use the iSeries .NET Provider to create a XMA to an iSeries.
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