Pipelines for SAP Integration Suite made easy

[DG]

I saw the first post on the Pipelines in March 2024.  

Initially, I thought it was just a workaround for not being able to generate iFlows based on the ICOs as we do in our tool. I did have many conversations with the SAP team around the pipeline, customers and partners. I did get to see that the solution did indeed solve some of the problems customers were facing.

Last week I hosted a LinkedIn Live where I showed my take on running pipelines what it is and how to work with them.

I created a simple package for getting started that shared how you can create your first iFlow and run a pipeline.

Migration to it

The first demo example was created by using some iFlows migrated by Figaf and then modified to support Process Direct. It was not ideal iFlows and not something that could scale. And required manual work.

We therefore set out to build a way to for customers to migrate into a fully functioning version of the pipeline including XSLT in partner directory.

It was not a small task and required quite a bit of resources and building on top of our existing solution. I would way that the resulting migration is quite good. And we need both to create an UI (incl versioning for Partner Directory) and change the creation of all the artifacts needed.

The migration process is just as smooth as for all other migrations with the Figaf tool. However, it requires a bit more work to ensure it works because it requires more objects.

Note: For each ICO you need to specify a prefix for all the objects. If you use Interface numbers this will be a good place to add them. This will make it a bit easier to monitor all the messages.

You will need to enter your Sender name and the Interface name that should be used in the partner process.

For the Inbound Interface you should of cause consider it it should be generated or if you use the generic ie, IDOC interface.

The Outbound interfaces look like the following

 

You can see the XSLTs created by clicking on the document icon.

If you make changes to the settings you can regenerate names and you often also need to check the migration. Once you are satisfied you just click migrate. And all artifacts are created and deployed if you select it. 

You can see the end-to-end video here.

We have many improvements to the process but please share what you think could be improved.

Partner Directory Management

One of the key components for running the Pipelines is the Partner Directory. It has only APIs and no UI, which limits its usability. There is a Chrome extension that gives you a little overview of your entries, but it does not give any details. We have, therefore, decided to add a full UI for it in the Figaf tool.

You can see all parameters both String but also binary where you can edit most of parameters. We support all other types of objects also. 

For XSLT you can even use our XSLT editor to check if the artifacts works with some of your input messages. It just reduces the effort with a large part.

Testing

You should be able to test the integration if you perform the migration. It is now possible to test the messages on pipelines but it is rather complex.  

We currently have a few stories in our backlog that needs to be released in 2406. You will be able to take your SAP PI/PO messages and run them on the pipeline steps. Then you will be able to check if they work as expected. Just like when you migrate normal iFlows and test them with Figaf. You should also be able to migrate the test cases even is you dont use Figaf for the migration.

Roadmap 

We are not done working with the pipelines concept works better and where we can see Figaf can add value.

• Transport of Partner Directory content. That way you can approve the changes and use our virtual environments where you reuse the dev tenant also for QA/test.

• Testing as started above

We are looking for user feedback on how to improve the migration process. 

Try it out

You can explore Figaf's way of running migrations from our Free Migration Edition you can find in SAP store or on our website on migration edition. With the Partner Directory UI it becomes easier for you to operate it.