From PCD to KM and finally to PD

The Content in the Portal Catalog easily accessible in Knowledge Management and the same accessed on a Windows Explorer !!

This is a reality and only makes content management more accessible...
The above picture shows a description of how content in the portal catalog can be easily accessible as documents in Knowledge Management. But the interesting fact is that documents can now be handled easily on a windows explorer using the Portal Drive.
Knowledge Management is so much fun working with the Windows explorer. gone are those days when it took several minutes just to copy and move documents around the KM Content.Its so much faster and easy to work with the drive and makes the KM a server rather that using this as a client.
Below are some screen prints captured on my laptop for using the Portal Drive...





























Yes !! that is my cool Matrix desktop and the white oval is the symbol for the Portal drive that can be installed from the service marketplace link PDrive4400_5-10003555.ZIP
The matrix path to find this zip file is shown below:

Support Packages and Patches >SAP Netweaver >SAP NETWEAVER >SAP NETWEAVER 7.0> Entry by Component > Frontend

In the above picture the " synchronization " is the coolest part of this software. If you work offline or online the documents that are edited on the explorer are automatically synchronized in Knolwledge Management. You can also manually synchronize documents by clicking the synchronize now button.....

Visual Composer for Dummies part -1

Lets consider the below scenario:





































Yes !! Its possible using Visual Composer ...learn more

Portal Drive - An easy way to access documents

Check this Video

Do the Evolution

We know how human beings evolved ....



















I guess its important to keep a track of how SAP is evolving ???

UNCAR a CAR file ...

This blog is related to one of the requirements from the GRC team who wanted to UNCAR a CAR file for the installation of the Compliance Calibrator which had a CAR file. here we go..

How to UNCAR a CAR or UNSAR a SAR file.

SAPCAR is an application which can unzip the CAR files

Search for the location where the SAPCAR.exe is located.

Place the SAR or CAR files in this folder.

SAPCAR is an application which can unzip the CAR files.
To do this:
1. Start CMD (Dos Console)
2. Place the CAR file and SAPCAR file in the same directory
3. In your dos console navigate to the above folder
4. Run command: SAPCAR -xvf "*.sar" or SAPCAR -xvf JIDE19_0-10002804.sar

This will extract the CAR file, then go into the extracted dir and run setup file.

You can then deploy them by the SDM tool of Netweaver or use the JSPM to deploy it to the J2ee server.

Thank You SAP !!

A special thanks to the editors of SDN for picking my blog to be published on the homepage of the BPX Community. I will try my best to post as many blogs as possible and help people in this insane challenging field of SAP Netweaver.

Someone must react immediately!

The concept of delivering highly important critical information has always been a key part in any project.
Alert Management helps prevent delays in the processing of critical situations, because the time between discovering and responding to such situations is reduced considerably.

Just like 6Sigma has the DMAIC and the DMADV rules I would like to define it by calling it DDA rule.



















DDA rule: Define-Detect-Analyze


Define: Alerts are defined in the alert category using transaction ALRTCATDEF.


Detect: Alerts are detected by defining the the key metrics which affect the daily business. Business Objects in the Business object repository have events which can be defined in the Alert Category and notified to the users via the Portal, Email or even SMS. For example, Purchase Order which is a business object when specified in the alert category with the event “cancelled” is notified immediately in the Portal, email or SMS.


Analyze: The optional subsequent activities in the Alert Categories provide innovative means of solving critical Issues in the system. A URL which contains the roadmap for the solution can be linked to solve the Alert displayed on the Portal. The Portal Solution has an option of displaying a link to the Business Object which directly takes you to the respective transaction n SAP to solve the issue. Other Innovative solutions can be used, for example providing the amazon.com link as a solution when the books in the inventory fall below a specified threshold.
Critical scenarios:
> Insufficient system resources, system administration (mySAP Technology, CCMS)
> Delivery problems for an important order (mySAP SCM)
> Drastic decline in revenue (mySAP BI)
> An important customer terminating a contract. (mySAP CRM)
> An unplanned stoppage in production occurs, such as may be caused by machine damage or there being an insufficient number of employees (production alert)
> The free capacity on your SAP system's database is running low (technical alert).
> Incoming purchase orders, out of stock situations, and ASN past due.
These detective Controls will trigger an alert notification which will be displayed in the Portal and also via e-mail, fax, or even SMS. The key importance is the fact that Business users need not log into their systems every time to inspect for errors.

The Alerts from an Alert Management System can be received by the following ways:
In the Universal Work List (UWL of the Enterprise Portal) as of SAP Netweaver ’04
In an application that accesses the alerts using an API
In your email inbox
In the Alert Inbox. The Alert Inbox is an application based on Business Server Pages (BSP),
which can be called using the transaction ALRTINBOX or the corresponding URL
(http ://:/sap/bc/bsp/sap/alertinbox)

However there are concerns most business users raise and that involves crowding of emails and unable to track the alerts that are received in their inbox. Several times employees leave the firm and some important past alerts are passed away in your exchange server. I’ve heard some folks telling me that the perfect way to organize or store all the alerts is to involve the UWL as this is stored in the Portal and one way or the other they can always be retrieved.

Graphical Description of Portal BI Connectivity

The communication always starts with the Portal talking to the AS ABAP and then AS ABAP communicates with AS JAVA and the AS JAVA communicates with AS ABAP if necessary. The AS JAVA then communicates with BEx tools to execute the template or report back on the Portal. Follow these steps to analyze your current situation and based on that, research on these Notes to fix your connectivity issues: 989525,573284, 917950, 937697, 944370, and 916090.


Note 1: Run Report RSPOR_SETUP which will give a complete story of the connections between the Portal and the AS ABAP. Also create a SAP Transaction iView and test the connectivity.
Note 2: Note 989525 > open WAD > Validate on server function > if no error occurs, then the java connection with the WAD is working fine!
Note 3: run the RS_TEMPLATE_MAINTAIN_70 and a notepad with text should appear. If an empty WordPad appears the JAVA and ABAP are not communicating.

The Concept of SSO

SSO logon ticket Theory

Just for starters the AS ABAP (BI) system as of Feb 1st 2008 is on SP 13 patch 15 and the Portal 7.0 is on SPS13. The latest GUI patch is Patch #5 and the BEx Tools patch is Patch #3.


Rule #1: When a user logs in to the Portal a non –persistent HTTP cookie is generated which holds the SAPlogonticket in the user’s browser. In order to accept this cookie in the browser the internet options settings has to welcome this cookie to sit in the browser. You ask me how to do it?? The answer is below. 'Tools' --> 'Internet Options --> 'Privacy' menu option.


Rule #2: The backend needs to accept the logon ticket from the Portal and for that acceptance the profile parameters of the Instance has to be maintained as follows: login/accept_sso2_ticket= 1 login/create_sso2_ticket= 2 (recommended) or 1. Icm/host needs its name full.
Login to AS-ABAP -> Start T-code RZ10 -> Menu: Utilities -> Import profiles -> Of all active servers Profile: -> Select: Default -> Mark: Extended Maintenance -> Change .Add the both parameter -> Save and Activate the profile -> Restart the system.


Rule #3: To enable the Internet browser accept the SSO2 cookie, you must enter a fully qualified host name in accordance with Notes 434918 and 654982.


Rule #4: The SAPSECULIB / SAPCRYPTOLIB have to be set accordingly.


Rule #5: Transaction STRUST In this transaction, you define which systems are meant to accept logon tickets. This is necessary, for example, if you want to access data from one system of a BW application to another application of another system, without having to log on again.


Rule # 6: A configuration test can be done to ensure that the SSO works on your AS ABAP. Follow the below steps:SAP delivers the sso2test.htm BSP application.You can use this application to check whether an SSO2 cookie can be created.Start Transaction SE80 > ‘SYSTEM’ BSP application > Pages with flow logic > Right-click sso2test.htm > Test > Follow the instructions on the screen.























Rule # 7: You can also execute the following JavaScript command from the address bar of your Internet browser to check whether an SSO2 cookie currently exists: javascript: alert (document. cookie) As a result, all current cookies are issued in an alert box. If an SSO2 cookie exists, an entry would have to exist that begins with 'MYSAPSSO2=....'If you cannot display an SSO2 cookie despite this information, check the logon as described in Note 495911 and if necessary, open a message under the component BC-SEC-SSF


Rule# 8: When exporting certificate from the AS-ABAP (BI) system, the system PSE must be properly configured. To do this Start transaction STRUSTSSO2, if the System PSE does not have a green status, right mouse-click on System PSE, click on Create, accept initial values. Save the changes. If you have problems refer SAP note no. 662340.


Rule#9: When configuring the Webdynpro Jco destination connectivity the configuration of SLD your system is pointing (local or central) should work properly.Logon to the Web Dynpro Welcome page http://host:port/webdynpro/welcome/Welcome.jspand then go to Content Administrator -> Check SLD Connection -> Test Connection.The relevant connection settings will be brought out before. Make sure they are correct. The test result is listed on the bottom of the page.If the test fails, verify and adjust the SLD settings in the visual admin:1. Go to sld data supplier -> tab Run time -> tab(bottom) http settings,adjust all the parameters.2. Go to sld data supplier -> tab Run time -> tab (bottom) CIM Client Generation Settingsadjust all the parameters.3. Go to configuration adapter -> CTC -> Property sheet System Properties,adjust all the SLD relevant settings.4. Retest.


Rule #10: The AS ABAP (BI) system has to be registered in the SLD. If it is not registered in the SLD logon to the SLD: http ://:/sld. (Your configured SLD (central or local SLD))Please check in Home -> Technical Systems -> select type ABAP. This should have configuration of your ABAP (BI) system.If it is missing, logon to your ABAP (BI) system -> goto transaction RZ70. Fill in the SLD bridge: gateway info -> Activate -> Start data collection.If a error message like "ABAP backend doesn't exist in the SLD" pops up while running the template installer, there could be different possibilities for this error. Starting SP14 more detailed error sources will be popped up. For lower SPS the exact reason of the error can be found in the default trace file.

Rule #11:

The SAP SS02 cookie is a major part of the EP SSO environment. As such, it is
useful to be able to view the contents to assist in problem resolution.

Check for SSO cookies
Use a URL : http://portalserver:port/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/SSOSupport.default

Rule # 12:
Start transaction SA3 8
Enter RSPFPAR as the Program Name and hit Execute (F8 1 , and
Logon to the SAP System/Client using SAPgui
Execute (F8) on the next screen.
Search for the string login/ using the Search icon.
The parameter should be set as follows:
login/accept-sso2-ticket = 1
If the parameters are not set correctly, they must be changed using
transaction RZ10, whcih requires an SAP system restart.

Rule #13: When configuring the connectivity between the AS-ABAP (BI) and AS-JAVA system, a "Logon Group" must be provided for the user input. Login to AS-ABAP -> Start T-code SMLG -> Create -> Enter Logon Group name (e.g. PUBLIC) and select an Instance -> Copy -> Save

Make sure that the user has authorizations for function group SYST in the SAP Web Application Server ABAP part of your SAP NetWeaver BI system

Rule #14:
Activate the BEx services in the AS ABAP (BI) system: T-code: SICF. Default host / sap / bw -> Mark "bw": Right-Click -> Activate Service -> Press "Y" to activate the whole tree
Additional Notes:
EXECUTION: In the user input part (UI) please specify the application server host name of both Java and backend (ABAP) system with the full domain name in case there is only one field for host (later releases). It should look like "server.company.com". In newer releases (with patch) there are two fields for host and domain separately. In this case please specify host (without the domain name) and domain (without the host name) respectively.
CENTRAL SLD: If you use a central SLD please make sure that the user (including it's appropriate authorization) that you provide for setting up WD JCo destinations exist on both, BI System and central SLD, as well.
TEST WD JCo DESTINATIONS: If you want to check the WD JCo Destinations (http://:/index.html -> Web Dynpro -> Content Administrator -> Maintain Jco Destinations -> In the detailed navigation: System defined Content: BI_METADATA / BI_MODELDATA / WD_ALV_METADATA_DEST /WD_ALV_MODELDATA_DEST) with the "Test" button, make sure that the user with which you login to the Content Administrator page(e.g. j2ee_admin), has the RFC authorization on ABAP side (Role: SAP_BC_JSF_COMMUNICATION, Profile: S_BW_RFC and S_BI-WX_RFCA). Otherwise the test will fail, because SSO is used.


Related Information:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_webas620/helpdata/en/17/ f8973814eb481fe10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm
http://service.sap.com/security