In the case that an organization develops custom business scenarios on top of Duet Enterprise foundation, an essential step is to implement it through to the organizations SAP production environment. Duet Enterprise relies herefore on the standard CTS+ transport mechanism.
Design time - prepare the custom business scenario
It is best practice to include all of the Duet Enterprise services for one scenario within an own isolated and recognizable namespace in the Gateway system. Each scenario will then be recognizable, and not per accident mingled with deliverables of another Duet Enterprise scenario. To achieve this, you create per business scenario an own Software Component in SLD, and use that to create in ESR an own Software Component Version and namespace.Steps:
- Open SLD, and create a new Software Component
- Open ESR, and create a new Software Component Version via import of the newly created Software Component
- Create a namespace in the newly created Software Component Version
- Copy the Basic DataTypes from SAP IW TNG to the new Software Component Version and namespace
- Copy the Fault Message from SAP IW TNG to the new Software Component Version and namespace
- Activate the resulting changelist(s) in ESR
- Logon to Gateway system, transaction SE80; and create a Package
- Logon to Gateway system, transaction SProxy; and create + activate proxies for the Basic DataTypes, ExchangeFaultData and ExchangeLogData in the newly created Package.
With this, the preparation phase is completed. You now have an own business scenario container for all services that will be developed for the scenario.
That is, within the Dev environment. The same container must be created on the counterpart Gateway system into Test, QA and Production environments to implement the custom scenario in these environments. To facilitate this, all of the design time preparation steps performed on the Gateway system are recorded in a CTS+ Transport Workbench request: Create Package (step 7), and Create + Activate Proxies (step 8).
Note that it is not needed to also implement or repeat the SLD and ESR steps into the Test, QA and Production landscapes. For Duet Enterprise design time, the SLD and ESR only have a role in the design time phase; in the development environment. Once the service proxy objects for ESR content are generated (basic / standard ones, and the custom developed), there is no dependency on ESR content. The transport therefore only consists of the service definition(s) and the proxy objects that are part of them.
Design time - create the service definitions for the custom business scenario
Per service this consists of the 2 familiar actions: create and map a Gateway DataModel, and next generate the service definition + BDC Model for this Gateway DataModel (GSDO Type).Steps:
- Logon to Gateway system, transaction SE80; and create a new Gateway DataModel; make sure not to select OData channel (Duet Enterprise 1.0 and SharePoint 2010 do not support OData consumption; this will change with Duet Enterprise 2.0 and SharePoint 2013). The system enforces you to include the creation of the Gateway DataModel in a Workbench request. The advice is to not include it in the same Workbench request from the preparation step, but instead use an own Workbench request for the design time deliverables. As result you have the implementation of the Package including the generic basic DataTypes + FaultMessage separated from the implementation of the specific scenario entities. It is typical in a custom realization project that you incremently build new versions of an own service definition, and if a previous version already transported you must be able to replace that while preserving the Package.
- Map 1 of more operations in the Gateway DataModel; e.g. Query and Read
- Generate the Gateway DataModel; the system enforces you to include the generation and creation of SAP entities within a Customizing request.
- Open transaction BDC Browser; if this is the first service definition for the custom business scenario, create a new Business Scenario. Otherwise you may opt to include the 2nd, 3rd and so on service definition all within the same Business scenario. I advice this as best practice, you then end up with a single Duet Enterprise Business Scenario that contains the entire set of Service Definitions developed for it. In case you create a new Business Scenario, it is again enforced by the system to include it within a customizing request. You can select the same as earlier created for the Gateway Model generation(s).
- Select the Business Scenario, and Create BDC Model for GSDO Type; select the Gateway Model earlier created. Also here the system enforces to include within a customizing request.
- [Optional] Open transaction SProxy, select the generated service interface and test its correct working for the diverse methods in the interface (e.g. Find, Read, Create, )
- [Optional] Open SOAMANAGER on Gateway system, browse to Business Scenario Configuration. Select your Business Scenario, and export + save into a local XML file.
Implementaton time - transport the custom business scenario
When the custom realization has progressed or is even completed in the Gateway system of the SAP Development environment, next is to propagate it within the SAP landscape.Steps:
- Logon to Gateway system of SAP Dev environment, transaction SE03 or SE10; and release all the Workbench and Customizing requests that are related to the custom Duet Enterprise Business Scenario
- Logon to Gateway system of the transport target environment (SAP Test or QA environment), and open Transport Management System (TMS). Import the released Workbench and Customizing requests from the Development environment.
- Activate each of the requests. Make sure to do this in the correct logical order: first package, next the business scenario including service definitions.
- Logon to Gateway system of the transport target environment, transaction BDC Browser. Validate that the Business Scenario(s) is/are present. Also validate that for each of the imported service definitions, there is no end point yet.
- Release and activate all of the imported service definitions in SOAMANAGER. Browse to Business Scenario Configuration, and import the Business_Scenario XML file that is exported in the Development environment. If the Business Scenario already exists here from a previous import, first delete it. Or otherwise you can also explicitly associate new service definitions within a/the Business Scenario, and assign a profile. After activation of the service definitions, validate in transaction BDC Browser that for each of the service definitions now an end point is available.
- [Optional] Open transaction SProxy, select the imported service interface and test its correct working for the diverse methods in the interface (e.g. Find, Read, Create, )
- Transaction BDC Browser, select the imported Business Scenario and click on Export Business Scenario. Hand over the exported SharePoint BDC Model(s) to import within the SharePoint BCS Service Application of the implementation environment.
- [Optional] In SharePoint webapplication, create an ExternalList for one of the imported External Content Types. Validate that you can retrieve SAP data via Duet Enterprise and SAP Gateway using one of the transported / imported Gateway Service Definitions.
