Should SAP APO Be Connected to Non SAP ERP Systems

by Shaun Snapp on November 19, 2011

Background

I was recently contacted by a best of breed vendor which had one if its clients being told by SAP that they could connect APO to a non-SAP ERP system. I found this very strange. For years, SAP had been telling companies that integration was very difficult, and that is why it was better if companies bought APO which supposedly took the issues of integration out of the picture (which turned out not be true, as anyone who has configured and troubleshot the CIF would know). Up to this point APO has primarily been pitched on clients with SAP ERP. In fact, the book “Real Optimization with SAP APO,” describes one of the few cases where APO has been implemented without SAP ERP.

There were specific business requirements, however, and SAP made a joint offer with ILOG for a cartridge extending TP/VS with a routing optimizer. The company did not use the SAP R/3 ERP system, but kept the existing legacy system for business execution. An interface between this system and SAP APO was developed during the project uploading the consumption history and production inventories, and downloading the production plan and shipment (routes). - Real Optimization with SAP APO

Should APO Be Used Without SAP ERP (R/3)?

While any system can be connected to any system, SAP is extremely hard to integrate to. There are a number of reasons for this which I have documented in several posts, including this one.

http://www.scmfocus.com/sapprojectmanagement/2011/02/understanding-the-complexities-of-the-standard-sap-erp-to-apo-integration/

Secondly, SAP does not have a module which can compete with any of the best of breed solutions. APO, prospers, not because it is offering the best functionality, interface, data back-end or implement ability, but based upon its tie in with the SAP ERP system. Therefore, to implement APO without SAP ERP would mean the worst of all worlds. A non-best of breed solution with more difficult integration issues than any best of breed solution. I would very hard pressed to see how this would be a tantalizing prospect for companies. I think SAP knows this, and generally SAP does not spend sales effort in getting APO into non SAP accounts, the way that Oracle has had success with recently, so it was surprising to find out about an attempt by SAP to market itself this way. It makes little sense, but demonstrates that SAP wants to increase its revenues by any means necessary.

References

“Real Optimization with SAP APO,” Josef Kallrath and Thomas I. Maindl, Springer, 2006

 

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What Are SAP’s Vendor Integration Certifications Worth on Projects?

by Shaun Snapp on November 15, 2011

Background

Executives are very big on using software that is “certified” to work with SAP. Vendors are very keen to get certified, knowing that they mean so much to the decision makers in companies. At this date, its seems as if most vendors that I see have a certificate badge, like those listed above on their websites. However, interestingly, these certifications are meaningless. They do not actually mean much when it comes to implementation. All of the certifications are meaningless, but one is easily demonstrated as meaningless. This is the “Netweaver Certification.” While it sounds quite impressive, the problem with this certification is that Netweaver is not actually a product. Therefore to say that one is certified in a vendor in Netweaver means that you can connect to a product which is a marketing construct, not a product. More about Netweaver is described in the post below:

http://www.scmfocus.com/sapprojectmanagement/2010/07/netweaver-does-not-exist/

SAP walks away from any obligation to insert accurate information in its interface certifications. This is a quote from one their documents which was taken from a vendor’s site on the internet.

SAP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document. SAP does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this material. This document is provided without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non infringement. - SAP

What is Technically Done in a Certification

Each certification comes with a certificate that seems to imply that work was done in integrating the non-SAP system with the SAP system. However, the certification does not mean that an actual adapter was created. However, all that is required for most of the certifications is to get some data to show up in SAP ERP. There is no volume requirement and no requirement that that the interface be even close to comprehensive or bi-directional. It also does not take a complete workflow through the integration. Essentially, the certification means that some small subset of fields was taken from a flat file and put somewhere in SAP. This gets a vendor a certification and a badge for their site, however, is has very little meaning for the implementation. It means that the vendor has some familiarity with some SAP integration, but not enough to take an integrated solution live, and not really enough to even support an integrated demo.

This is why the language of the certificate itself is very high level. It describes the hardware the test was performed on, however, the certification does not test a working adapter that sends information in both direction in any real sense. Having read many of the certification design documents posted by vendors they actually describe very little about the work, and are mostly a series of graphics.

Conclusion

SAP integration certifications do not mean that a company has even a working prototype of an adapter for connecting their systems to SAP. This can be easily determined by asking for a demonstration of the integration that was created to be provided during the software selection phase. Secondly, from a policy perspective the existence of the certification program causes non-SAP vendors that want to sell into SAP accounts to modify their language and in essence “play nice” with SAP. Two major features of the certification program, which they share with the now defunct xApps program is to co-opt vendors into not criticizing SAP and to allow SAP to gain inside information as to how other applications work, for possible use in development of their own competing software. Therefore, the certification program is an important intelligence gathering tool, which also has anti-competitive implications. Good policy would disallow both the xApps program and the SAP integration certification program. No software company should recommend or otherwise certify or approve other software companies anymore than car companies should approve other car companies or banks approve other banks. It is a fundamentally anti-competitive activity.

 


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