Unit 1: SAP NetWeaver – Motivation and Strategy
SAPNW
Figure 18: Improved Integration and Flexibility with Enterprise Services Architecture
An enterprise service does not focus on detailed functions, but rather on a complete, industry-specific process. For example, you could use an enterprise service to process an ordering transaction. From a business perspective, an enterprise service may represent various actions in various systems. For example, to: ·
Check the financial status of the customer
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Send a confirmation to the customer
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Check material requirements
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Order material, if required
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Schedule an order in production
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...
The enterprise service comprises all of the individual actions and therefore provides context-based business process logic. The contextual nature of an enterprise service is crucial because the individual functions in a purchase order handling service in the automotive industry will differ from those in a similar service in the media sector, for example. However, if you have decided on a context-specific definition of the “purchase order handling” service, all providers of the service can implement the service in their system, which means the systems will ultimately become interchangeable, as long as the process does not change at company level. The individual steps within an enterprise service can then be processed using Web services. How does a Web service differ from an enterprise service?
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2005/Q4