Today many large and medium size
organizations use SAP system to manage their business for achieving real time
insight and enabling operational excellence around business processes.
SAP has changed the business
dimensions, taking it to new heights like never before. Business processes have
become more streamlined and fully integrated. But SAP never intended their
software to manage the content of these processes. As a consequence, in
many companies, disconnected silos of unstructured information continue to pile
up for each organizational function. These companies face major challenges in the
areas of document management, access issues and workflow automation.
For example,
- Management of unstructured content (documents) like Invoices, the delivery receipts for purchases, sales proposals, contracts etc.
- Automated document management process.
- Improving the efficiency and reducing the cost by replacing the Paper based documents.
- Manage the corporate retention policies.
- Provide document access from other front-end systems like portals to non-ERP users.
- Integrated document approval workflow.
As most organizations look towards
bridging this gap and improve upon accessibility and management of
unstructured information, Oracle WebCenter Content offers a great deal of
flexibility and power to enhance an integrated ERP solution with a
centralized document repository.
The integration of Oracle WebCenter
Content and SAP can help to address above challenges in an integrated
enterprise landscape. This solution will also lay the foundation for
a content management strategy that further leverage's your SAP investment. This
Oracle WCC connector for SAP offers an end-to-end approach for linking
unstructured content in Oracle WCC with transactions in SAP.
Connector Overview
The Oracle SAP connector integrates Oracle Webcenter
Content system, with the SAP system, using the SAP ArchiveLink Specifications
4.5. It enables SAP business
applications to process, and archive documents generated within SAP. With this
interface, following documents can be archived and managed
·
Outgoing SAP documents
(documents that were created by the SAP system, such as purchase orders,
invoices, reminder letters, and delivery notes)
·
Incoming documents of
all types (scanned paper documents, faxes, and electronic documents)
·
Print lists (generated
by SAP system reports)
·
SAP data archiving
files
·
Other documents created
by the SAP system or users in different SAP modules and applications.
SAP ArchiveLink
SAP
ArchiveLink is a component of the SAP system, to link external storage systems such
as Oracle WCC content management systems to SAP. It refers to a cross-application
interface that provides SAP business applications with content management and archive
functionality. The interface facilitates process-driven management of business documents.
The
SAP ArchiveLink performs the following
·
Processes incoming
documents before, during, and after archiving
·
Links incoming
documents to transactions in a SAP system
·
Links incoming
documents to work items that are routed and processed, using SAP
·
Business workflow
·
Archives SAP-generated
outgoing documents.
· Retrieves documents
linked to a transaction in an SAP application from Oracle WCC and displays the
documents
The
following table contains examples of the types of documents that are SAP ArchiveLink
enabled.
SAP
Module
|
Original Documents
|
SAP-Generated Documents
|
Financial Accounting (FI)
|
·
Credit Memo
·
Invoice
·
Payment
|
·
Line Item Journal
·
Full Audit Trail
·
Classic Audit Trail
·
Document Journal
|
Human
Resources (HR)
Applications
|
·
Contracts and related
·
Correspondence
·
Photo of Employee
·
Regulatory documents
·
Certificates
|
·
No documents are generated.
|
Materials
Management
(MM)
|
·
Credit Memo
·
Invoice
|
·
LIFO valuation report
·
Outline Agreement
·
Purchase Order
·
Schedule Line
·
Master Material
|
Sales
and Distribution
(SD)
|
·
Complaint
·
Contract
·
Delivery Note
·
Delivery Schedule
·
Order
·
Schedule Agreement
·
Inquiry
|
·
Complaint
·
Contract
·
Credit Memo
·
Delivery Note
·
Delivery Schedule
·
Order Confirmation
·
Quotation
·
Schedule Agreement
·
Inquiry
·
Invoice
|
Workflow (WF)
|
Any document
|
Any document
|
Architecture Overview
The Oracle SAP connector is based on SAP ArchiveLink 4.5 HTTP Content Server interface.
It adheres to the SAP guidelines for using general industry standard
such as HTTP to establish communication with external storage system (content
servers).
Servers and documents are addressed using URLs. Data is transferred in
the Request-Body or in the Response-Body. The URL specifies the function to be
executed on a document.
Listed below are some of the architecture highlights of the connector
• Built over HTTP as an interface to integrate ORACLE
CMS (UCM) and SAP
• Supports all the functionality of the SAP
ArchiveLink 4.5
• Supports all Oracle CMS (WCC) functionalities
• Easy Configuration setup in SAP for using Oracle
CMS
• Loosely coupled Design
• Real time synchronization
• Document and Access protection managed by R/3
system.
• Complete data exchange
• Easy to extend for SAP Imaging needs
Process Flow
The
interface implements various functions exposed by the ArchiveLink interface to associate
any content/document with a transaction in SAP. Each request to Oracle WCC from
SAP is addressed over http request which determines the necessary action and
metadata. The content in the request is encrypted as per SAP definition. The
overall process remains consistent for the different operations executed from
SAP for fetch, create, delete and update content in Oracle WCC.
The
diagram below depicts a typical process flow from SAP to Oracle WCC.
Source and
Target Applications and Versions
Source System
|
Version
|
Target System
|
Version
|
SAP-ERP
|
Archive Link 4.5
|
Oracle WCC
|
11.1.1.7.0
|
Security
Access
protection and document security in this end to end scenario is managed by SAP
R/3 system.
Security
is based on the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). SAP sends an HTTP request as a
URL to Oracle WCC. The URL contains the type of request (for example: Info and
parameters of the request, such as the ContRep and docId). To avoid URL
tampering, SAP can append the signed Message Digest to the URL, which is known
as secKey.
The
following parameters are always signed in the secKey:
contRep
|
Content
repository
|
accessMode
|
Access
mode
|
authId
|
Client ID
|
expiration
|
Expiry
time (UTC)
|
SAP
sends this URL to the J2EE Server, which verifies the URL using the public key.
This public key is sent by SAP during initial configuration of the archive and
stored by content Server in a keystore file.
The
security check is extended from the ArchiveLink interface and is independent of
the Oracle WCC security
While
creating a document, SAP can also specify for what access modes this security check
has to be performed by content server. Security check is performed for create, read,
delete, and update access modes. For example: SAP instructs content Server,
that delete should be protected (such as, the URL with delete request for this
document has to be signed) while read does not have to be protected.
For
documents where SAP does not explicitly specify the access modes that should be
protected at the creation time, WCC Server provides configurable default
document protection values. The SAP user does not have to be concerned with
these settings or with the process of signing a URL for archive requests.
Deployment and Configuration
Connector Deployment
The
Oracle SAP connector can be deployed on any J2EE compliant application server. The
connector is a java application that contains a set of Java Classes hence can
be deployed on J2EE Application Servers as a java application. The adapter once
deployed needs to be configured as the default CMS on SAP. The section below
will describe the SAP configuration details.
The
description and the values for the new archive (Oracle WCC) as listed in the
table below:
Field
|
Description
|
Value
|
Content Rep.
|
Refers to the name of archive (can be
one alphabetical character plus one alphanumeric character or two
alphanumeric characters).
|
Although the screen allows the user
to
enter more than two characters, SAP
ArchiveLink can only work with two
character identifiers.
|
Description
|
Refers to the content repository
Description
|
A general description about the
archive mentioned in Content Rep. field.
|
Document Area
|
Specifies the document area to link
with content repository.
|
Select from the dropdown box. Choose
ArchiveLink
|
Storage type
|
Refers to the Archive type.
|
Choose HTTP content server from
the drop down box. For other values, the screen changes.
|
Protocol
|
Refers to the protocol.
|
Enter the Name of the SAP ArchiveLink
protocol.
|
Version no.
|
Refers to the SAP ArchiveLink version
to be used.
|
Enter ‘‘0046’.
|
HTTP server
|
Refers to the HTTP server address.
|
Enter the domain of the web server
under which Oracle WCC connector runs.
Note: Do not enter http:// or
any path information.
The domain could also be the IP
address or the IP alias of the web server machine.
|
Port Number
|
Refers to the HTTP port number on
which the connector is running.
|
Provide the port number of the
respective application server.
|
SSL Port Number
|
Refers to the HTTPS port number on
which the Oracle WCC connector is running.
|
Provide the HTTPS port number of the
respective application server.
|
HTTP Script
|
Refers to the program, which will
listen to the Http request from the SAP.
|
This value is xyz/dispatcher where
xyz denotes the application name provided during Oracle WCC connector
deployment.
|
Phys. Path
|
Refers to the complete path of a
directory in which SAP ArchiveLink can store files temporarily or for
exchange with Oracle WCC.
The path must end with a (\) in
Windows, or (/) in UNIX, because the actual file name is concatenated to this
path value.
|
Provide the directory path of SAP
ArchiveLink.
|
OutputDevice
|
Refers to the Archiving Device.
|
Specify an archive-specific archive
device, overriding the default archive device ARCH.
|
Business Benefits
The
ability to integrate unstructured content assets with SAP business objects can
lead to significant gains in terms of optimized processes and reduced errors,
especially when combined with Oracle imaging and scanning, which ensures easy
access to supporting financial content (e.g., scanned invoices, customer correspondence,
contracts) during a SAP Finance process, drastically increasing time to
payment.
The
Oracle WCC connector for SAP connects best of two worlds. Oracle’s Content
Management Solutions for SAP enable you extracts more return-on-investment
(ROI) from your original SAP investment while maximizing your Oracle Content investment.
Some of the key benefits of this integration allows
·
User’s immediate access
to WCC-controlled unstructured content.
· Leverage the
capabilities of Oracle WCC (Archiving, Retention, Workflow etc.) for
structuring enterprise content.
·
Easy document retrieval
in SAP
·
Increased Availability
/ Accessibility
·
Content/Document access
for both SAP and non-ERP users
·
Automation of document
management process
·
Document access for
other front end systems like portals
·
Integrated document
approval workflow
·
Increased operation
efficiency
·
Increased Data Accuracy
Could you tell me offline more about the Oracle SAP Connector (SAPCONN) for WCC, please? For me it is not clear, what technology is used and how do I get this connector. Please contact me via E-Mail volkerlinz1980@googlemail.com or volker.linz@oracle.com
ReplyDeleteHello, could you please share some details on the connector and its availability?
ReplyDeleteSure !! could you please share your email id details & also if possible your requirement.
DeleteHello, could you please share some details on the connector and its availability?
DeleteI am having the same requirement to be configured.
Hi, could you send me a URL reference from Oracle about this SAP Connector? I didn´t find any reference about it in Oracle website. Thanks !
ReplyDeleteHi ,could you please send me the some details about the connector.
ReplyDeleteHi Rahul, what additional details would you like to know about this connector.
DeleteHi, could you please share any reference for this connector implementation with WCC and how can i get this connector via email haytham.gamal@hotmail.com or
ReplyDeletehaytham.gamal2@gmail.com
Thanks in advance,
Hi
ReplyDeleteDo you know either this connector and the solution is compatible with SAP S4HANA version 1709?
Regards,
Adi
Hi Amit/Nilesh,
ReplyDeleteCould you please share connector details to me as well?
Email-Id: shivam.jaiswal2275@gmail.com
Thanks,
Shivam
Hi, could you send me a URL reference from Oracle about this SAP Connector? I didn´t find any reference about it in Oracle website. Thanks !
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteCould you please share connector details to me as well?
tonigt@hotmail.com
Thanks,
Toni
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