Announcing Graph in SAP Integration Suite

[stephanie_lewellen]

Graph is a new and innovative capability of API Management, part of the SAP Integration Suite. Extending traditional API Management, Graph enables you to expose all your business data in the form of a semantically connected data graph, accessed via a single unified and powerful API.

 

Enterprise landscapes continue to expand in scale and complexity. Each additional system, SaaS, or micro-service introduces new protocols, data models, connectivity, and security conventions. Real-world problems often span multiple lines of business, services, and APIs.

Consequently, even the most experienced developers struggle to understand all the technologies and interfaces involved. Developing new business-extending client applications requires an ever-growing range of expertise and skills. The phenomenal adoption of low-code tools by nonprofessional developers further increases the gap.

Enterprises use API Management to partially address this gap: APIs can be renamed, authentication can be streamlined, APIs can be protected against unauthorized access or threats. But this doesn't address the deeper problem: separate, disconnected APIs from different data sources and systems.

 

The integration of a new and more advanced release of SAP Graph into API Management was announced at SAP TechEd 2022. Graph in SAP Integration Suite is now available for a limited time as a closed beta program, and includes the following new functions:

• A configuration UI to create business data graphs - an extension of the new Integration Suite configuration UI


• The ability to extend the out-of-the-box Graph data model


• Graph Navigator (enterprise edition) - a tool to explore and try out queries on your own configured business data graphs


• GraphQL support (in addition to OData v4)

Additionally, we are happy to share that general availability for the Graph capability in SAP Integration Suite is now planned for Q2-2023, as seen in SAP Road Map Explorer.

Create business data graphs using the Graph user interface in SAP Integration Suite

 

Explore your own configured business data graphs using Graph Navigator (enterprise edition)

 

Explore your data using GraphQL

[David_Davis]

Hi Stephanie,

Thank you for the wonderful blog. What is the main difference between SAP Graph and APIM. In what case do we use Graph? Is it true that SAP Graph is a technology used to build and manage APIs for accessing data within SAP applications, while API management refers to the broader practice of managing APIs across an organization including SAP and non-SAP.

The Integration Suite Premium edition customers will have this offering or do we need to purchase separate license?

[Chaim_Bendelac]

Hi,

Thanks for your interest!

The Graph functionality is a feature of API Management; you can use it in conjunction with the other features, or you can use Graph as an "unmanaged" API within your API Management setup. Graph focuses on creating a data abstraction of your landscape, in the form of a navigatable data Graph. You can combine its use with other policies.

From the functionality of API Management, the data graph is one API. Data graphs of course automatically show up in the AP IBusiness Hub Enterprise catalog, and can easily be explored by the developers of your organization.

Graph is in beta, these days, but when it becomes Generally Available (GA), it will be part of Integration Suite, and will not require a separate license.

--

Chaim

 

[David_Davis]

Thank you. It cleared my question.

[dineshghanta]

chaimbendelac Will this be conencted to Signavio as well so that we can map data to processes in the future?

[simonpolovina1]

That would be useful, along with the possibilities for SAP Graph connected to Data or Knowledge Graph visualisation tools 👌🏼

[Hiren]

Can we refer to process models which are already existing in organizational within Different palftorms outside BTP?

[Chaim_Bendelac]

Hi,

If those visualization tools take an API (like GraphQL) as an input, then that would indeed be very cool! Particularly if the business data is highly connected. To create a data graph of a typical SAP S/4 HANA system, we had to add around 4000 "edges" to turn its data into a graph.

But to stay realistic, our data graphs reflect corporate business data, which is typically welll-behaved "structured" data - we are not claiming the introduction of a full multi-dimensional "knowledge graph"...

--

Chaim

 

[wope]

Hi stephanie.lewellen and chaimbendelac

Am I correct to understand that this is bringing the capability of a layered API approach? I'm thinking of the 'API Led Connectivity' story where we have System, Process and Experience layers.

Many thanks,
Wouter

[PierreCol]

I was involved in promoting semantic web / linked enterprise data more than 10 years ago, when working for a French startup named Antidot.

Here is the white paper I wrote on this topic in... 2012:

Linked Enterprise Data - Principles, uses and benefits

I am very happy seeing SAP involved in this area with SAP Graph!

[pboulicaut]

what effort is required to Sap SuccessFactors customer to take benefit of SAP Graph API ?

which level of integration is required ? does standard connectors exists or customer have to development adhoc integrations ?

[marc_vornetran]

Hello pboulicaut,

It requires little effort to connect SAP SuccessFactors to Graph. All systems with out-of-the-box OData APIs can be easily connected.

See our general guide here:
Set Up Connectivity to SAP SuccessFactors

If a customer is using an on-premise SuccessFactors system a connection can be established using the Cloud Connector.

[Keerthana]

Hi stephanie.lewellen and chaimbendelac ,

If i create an API combining two API's in SAP Graph, does it mean that, it will be calling these two API's and fetch the latest values when i call a Graph API.

How will it effect the performance?

Thanks & Regards,
Keerthana