What is the future of SAP EP?

[Former Member]

Hi All

I want to know the future of SAP EP.Why because,now i am working in JAVA(JSP and JSF) from one year.As well as am trying to enter into EP.So,for that i want to know the significance of EP and what are the extra technologies whch i need to learn?

[junwu]

if ep is the only point for you to enter sap area, please go with it.

if not, choose other.

ep provide no core business function.

[Former Member]

Dear Vagdevi,

I totaly disagree with John Wu.

With due respect I find that his answer does not tell you the whole truth. 

It is true that EP does not provide core business functions. 

But that doesn't make it less important. 

Besides, it is not the goal of EP to be considered or to provide core business function. 

It all depends on what type of client, what type of information and how critical is it for that customer. 

For example, there are some clients that have EP with a couple of users, while others have a EP that have thousands and thousands of users, while accessing multiple data sources (SAP and non-SAP), on a global international scale, providing different levels of access to diferent types of users, integrating workflow processes to approve critical documents, while showing that information translated in different languages. And it doesn't stop here. 

As you can see, it suddenly becomes clear that the EP can provide more than core business functions. It becomes VITAL for a company. 

And this is why I like so much working with SAP EP. 

And I've been doing that for more than 10 years. 

I'm certified on SAP Portals and still today I continue to learn more. 

The fact that you can integrate a lot of core processes and technologies makes the EP complex but fascinating at the same time. 

From a pure development and technological perpective, there's room enough for you to learn a lot of skils. And you will need them if you want to be a good EP consultant. I'm talking about: JAVA, ABAP, Webdynpro, BSP, Worflow, System administration, authorizations, etc...

What I'm trying to tell you is that it's never enough. You always need to learn more and more. 

What is the future of EP ?

I have no idea. 

But one thing I do know, SAP is not going to abandon EP. 

What would be of those clients with huge EP systems ?

Nevertheless I think EP will continue to evolve and change. Maybe steer away from Java, who knows ?

Finally, if you do want to start investing on EP, there's plenty of work for good consultants. 

I can tell you that in Europe there's plenty of Job offers for EP consultants.  It' a hot market. Don't know if it is the same where you live though. 

But nevertheless I would recomend you to start using a EP to "play" with. You know java already, so start developing some portal components and creating your first PCD objects. 

Good Luck on your journey!!

Kind Regards

/Ricardo Quintas

[junwu]

yes, for some company ep may be important,

but we are talking about general situation.

go with abap, you are more likely to touch the core and get your "desired" reward.

in mostl case company implement core business first, ep usually comes to the picture at late stage if have to, sometimes even no place for ep.

From a certain point of view, EP is only to do some UI level stuff, what do you think how important it will be?

[gautam_singh]

Dear Vagdevi,

If you are really looking for a challenging opportunity to further your career in the Technology Integration platform with a SAP NetWeaver Technology, then welcome to SAP NetWeaver Portal.

Significance of EP:

Integration with Technical Systems (SAP and/or non SAP)

Understanding and Implementing WYSIWYG

Managing the System High Performance

Thanks

Gautam Singh

[Qualiture]

A properly executed SAP EP implementation is all about integration (whether it's SAP, non-SAP, workflows, processes, etc) so the end user has a most unified and least errorprone experience.

Reducing it to 'some UI level stuff' doesn't serve EP very well...

Robin van het Hof

[Former Member]

yes,  for some company ep may be important,
> but we are talking about general situation.
> go with abap, you are more likely to touch the core and get your "desired" reward.
> in mostl case company implement core business first, ep usually comes to the picture at late stage if have to, sometimes even no place for ep.
> From a certain point of view, EP is only to do some UI level stuff, what do you think how important it will be?

Dear John Wu,

Again, I don't fully agree with your statement.

Reducing EP to be "only to do some UI level stuff" is missleading and incorrect, to say the least.

Any person that knows a little bit about EP can quickly confirm other areas where EP is a very important tool:

- integration with Worfklow (UWL)

- integration with KM (Knowledge Management)

- integration with crawler and taxonomy (Trex Search Engine)

- and I could continue...

I also think that it is fairly obvious that there is a trend (and SAP is clearly following that trend) to

have the information on the cloud and easily accessible over the internet.

The information will be ubiquitous.

It is already, as a matter of fact.

And there's no way to avoid this.

What does this mean to EP ?:

- it means that it will evolve

- perhaps will be replaced by other "clients" (NWBC for example)

- EP will need to aggregate more and more data sources (Social networking, BI, etc....)

I don't look at SAP technologies as: this one is better or more important than the other.

Everything is related.

Everything is integrated.

And EP is one of the most important integration tools.

EP has bright future ahead.

Perhaps it will change completely as a tool.

Perhaps it will no be named EP any more.

Perhaps it will be totally revamped and modularized into different apps.

Who knows ?

But there will always be the need for a tool like EP.

A tool that will render a web front-end to the user.

A tool that integrates business processes on the web and, yes, for the "UI level stuff" as well.

;o)

Regarding the "desired" reward.

What do you mean with "desired" ??

If it is related with the kick you have by working with a tool that combines

all different technologies and development languages, then EP is definitely for you.

With EP you will always need to learn new stuff.

ABAP, Webdynpro, etc....

If on the other hand, "desired" reward means the salary you bring home or the fulfilling career you might expect.

Then, EP is also for you.

As I said before, there's plenty of job offers for good EP consultants.

Besides, working with EP forces you to be in touch with other areas more on the functional side as well.

For example: ESS/MSS.

It is true that EP is not the first component to be installed on a company.

It is also true that a lot of companies don't have EP installed.

So what ?

That was not the initial question neither.

The question was: "What is the future of EP ?".

If Vagdevimallaaa is asking that question and feels motivated to enter EP world.

Then, by all means - Go ahead!!

I hope this interesting debate can inform him and motivate him as well

Kind Regards

/Ricardo Quintas

[junwu]

With EnH5, ESS/MSS goes to ABAP

BW report may go to BO family....

usually that two points are the big factor of making EP implementation required......

Business byDesgin, the first cloud solution, has no EP. It did have EP in initial version, but now it is gone.

ABAP can handle Web requirement very well, no help needed from EP.

[Qualiture]

Ricardo, I agree, and btw you sum it up quite nicely

If EP would just be a means for ESS/MSS and BW, then I would have left the EP industry long ago... No, Enterprise Portal is indeed not about 'handling web' but about (seamless) integration, cooperation, security, etc, and is therefore not determined by technological choices. Yes it runs on Java stack, but that shouldn't you stop from integrating .NET, PHP (or whatever applications you might have) into your portal with fully functional portal eventing, navigation, etc.

I would say EP is continuously evolving, and is not to be phased out anytime soon

[junwu]

we are on the same boat, i do hope ep will have a bright future.

[Former Member]

Dear Robin,

"amen" to that too.

I think this post is now diverging into what I would classify as the "Down at the pub with some beers" type of post.

I mean, this topic would now surely benefit more, if we would all be chatting around this matter, with some beers to top it up.

Just typing is no fun sometimes.

;o)

Regards

/Ricardo Quintas

[Former Member]

Dear All,

Thanks for useful information.Could you send some useful links regarding EP.So that i am able to go into depth of EP.

[Former Member]

Dear Vagdevimallaaa

There's plenty of stuff to search for in SDN.

Recently there was a similar thread.

You can check it here:

[/thread/2040526 [original link is broken];

But for a really good starting point I would recommend the SAP Portal Wiki here

[http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/EP/SAP+Portal]

Again, as my first recommendation this would be a suggested "path"

- install (or rent) yourself a SAP Portal

- try to understand its main components: PCD, Users, Themes, Systems, Logs

- start by creating some simple PCD objects iViews, Pages, Worksets, Roles

- create a new Portal Theme

- get yourself acquainted with the transport mechanism for the Portal (the EPA files)

And then for the development part:

- create your first Portal Component (PAR file). This is pure JAVA

- use JSP with SAP HTMLB (HTML for Business)

- now create some WD4J (Webdynpro for JAVA) - you need JAVA skills for this

- now create some WD4A (Webdynpro for ABAP) - you need ABAP skills for this

- now create some BSP (Business Server Pages) - you need ABAP skills for this

- create a transactions iVIew (ITS)

Kind Regards

/Ricardo Quintas

[Former Member]

got an idea