How SAP NetWeaver Components Enable The SAP Environmental Functionalities?
SAP NetWeaver released its most current version 7.5 in the year 2015 that is integrated with the SAP Cloud Platform and SAP HANA. The most interesting capabilities or better to use word functionalities of SAP NetWeaver include the enabling of evolving technologies. These technologies include advanced analytics, big data, mobile services, and the internet of things (IoT).
Before beginning with anything, let us rewind with the introduction of SAP. SAP stands for Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing. It is a type of software that helps organizations with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). It was founded in the year 1972 and have a number of fully integrated modules that virtually covers a lot of business management modules. It helps the organizations to processes from HR to inventory to finance to production planning to customers and sales. Exactly after 25 years, SAP came with its Top Tier software SAP NetWeaver in the year 1997 which is actually acquired in the year 2001. After working on the codes and modules, the SAP NetWeaver first version was released in 2004.
Now the question here is what exactly SAP NetWeaver is and how it works? It is basically a technology platform that helps organizations to work on their business processes by integrating the data and other elements. Together all these elements form an SAP environment to work on the data. What SAP NetWeaver here does works on the technical aspect of the environment and manages all the SAP application landscapes.
Coming to the application type, it is an open application server platform. The developers, administrators, and consultants of SAP use this. Talking about the complexity, it is highly complex as it involves a large number of business applications. All these elements and applications in the SAP landscape communicate with each other. These business applications like human capital management (HCM), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and finance are bound to each other in business and need to communicate inside as well as outside the SAP business suite environment with each other as well as other applications.
Here comes the important part of SAP NetWeaver which works on complexity management and also on managing the integrated costs of the overall system along with SAP environment, applications, and services.
The components involved as a collection of SAP module in SAP NetWeaver allows the organizations to work on every problem individually as well as specifically. It has specific features and functions to work on each problem individually in the SAP environment.
In short, SAP NetWeaver’s most common use is to help the organizations and developers in developing applications, connecting all the users, arrange the processes, and manage data, systems, and security.
The SAP NetWeaver components are pretty cool to offer immense varieties and functions that enable the SAP environmental functionalities. Following are some SAP NetWeaver components:
SAP Business Information Warehouse
This warehouse works as a business intelligence platform to provide business tools for data warehouse functions and interpret the data by analyzing to provide the business application data.
SAP Business Intelligence
This component works on providing analytical and reporting tools for business data.
SAP Enterprise Portal
This tool or simply component allows the organization to have access to applications with single access points. Not only applications but data and services are also easily developed with these single access points.
SAP Exchange Infrastructure
The exchange infrastructure is one of the greatest components that allows the organization to share and exchange the data within and external to the internal SAP environment of the organization and external systems.
SAP Knowledge Warehouse
Isn’t the name enough to understand this? This warehouse is used to store all the data and knowledge specifically enterprise-based to handle and set up the manuals, training materials, and documentation.
SAP Master Data Management
SAP NetWeaver offers a centralized repository that helps the organization to manage and combine the master data into the repository collected from various sources.
SAP NetWeaver Process Integration
Now, this is an interesting one. This component allows organizations to integrate different processes of business running differently on various systems. This is an effective tool in the case of the company acquiring or merger process.
Let us understand how these components as a part of SAP NetWeaver Architecture works efficiently for businesses. The SAP NetWeaver is a technology stack foundation. All the organizations willing to develop are using this as an Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP). The Application Server of SAP NetWeaver is used for all the components offered by SAP NetWeaver to be built on. These components are enterprise Edition and are written either on Java Platform or in ABAP.