#76: BDC, Cloud Integration, Brain Theft
In this issue:
You Got Cloud On Your Business Data
On February 13 2025, the entire ecosystem tuned in to watch a bunch of very important SAP executives announce SAP Business Data Cloud. All the keywords and phrases we've come to know and love showed up. Someone should go through SAP marketing materials and count the occurrences of "seamlessly", "harmonize", and "mission-critical data".
What makes me chuckle is the name of the thing - Business Data Cloud. Could there be any three less specific words in today's software landscape? In the spirit of helpfulness, Claude and I offer these catchy marketing phrases to clear up the picture.
"SAP Business Data Cloud: It's exactly what you think it is. Unless you're thinking of something else."
"SAP Business Data Cloud: It's like regular data, but business. Also, cloud."
"SAP Business Data Cloud: We put the 'business' in 'data cloud.' And also the 'data' in 'business cloud.' And to top it off, we put the 'cloud' in 'business data'."
And maybe use our suggestions for diversifying product editions?
"SAP Business Data Cloud Starter Pack: One (1) business, one (1) data, and one (1) cloud."
"SAP Business Data Cloud Professional Edition: Now with 20% more business."
"SAP Business Data Cloud Integration Suite for SAP Business Data Cloud: How else would you integrate Business Data Cloud with your cloud business data?"
I'll be here by my phone, waiting for Christian to call. He's got my number. PM
SAP Cloud Integration Goodies
These days you can’t swing a laptop without hearing something about SAP and integration. Integrating SAP ERP with… well, everything has been a long-standing subject and bane of some SAP consultants’ existence but also the bread and butter of others. And SAP integration solutions give SAP BTP a run for its money in the contest for the most renamed product. What began as SAP XI (Exchange Infrastructure) became PI (Process Integration), then PO (Process Orchestration). Then things got murky for a moment (because “PO” apparently means “butt” in German and we can’t have that) right in time for SAP Integration Suite to swoop in as its successor. And to keep everyone on their toes, Integration Suite now includes (among others) the thing called SAP Cloud Integration. Phew…
Regardless of the product, all this integration stuff involves special development-like activities. And like any development, it needs to be created, tested, and only then moved to Production. But while ABAPers enjoy the convenience of the SAP transport system, in the 'Cloud,' things get a bit more complicated.
That’s where helpful SAP professionals like Will Ludgate come in. Will has been posting a series of excellent articles about Cloud Integration on LinkedIn. The two-part piece about moving code to production (here is part 1 and part 2) caught my attention, but there is much more (check out Will’s profile).
Valentine’s Day might be over, but any day is a good day to show our appreciation for the authors like Will. Give it a read and smash that Like button! JP
The Lion, The Witch and the SAP Documents
The other day I was searching for enhancement options in the EWM putaway strategy. A quick Google search surfaced a recent question on SAP Community. Unlike circa 2009 “solved it myself” material, this one had an actual answer from an SAP-flaired account. The answer was “are you looking for information? Here ya go!” Bloop, a link to the PDF file.
In SAP world, stumbling upon a PDF document is the equivalent of finding the four-leaf clover. These files typically have the juiciest, most useful technical details that you won’t simply find online or in SAP Help.
Naturally, seeing such an answer made me jump like The SNL Target Lady: “WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?!!” And, just as this issue was going to press, I got the treasure map. Behold, readers! There is a page for SAP EWM where the PDF how-to guides are hiding behind a link. Are there similar pages for other subjects? Oh yes—there’s the 'all products' page.
These pages might not be new to the functional folks who focus on one product and know where the goodies are. But to the developers who deal with a multitude of subjects, this might as well be Narnia behind the fur coats in dusty SAP Help wardrobe.
All these pages and documents are public and are hiding in what to SAP folks must seem like plain view. But they’re actually not that easy to discover if you don’t know exactly where to look. I’ve asked several very smart developers and none of them knew this SAP Narnia existed. The truth is, we don’t even usually go to SAP Help, we just google.
And I bet there are even more documents floating about, linked in SAP Notes and whatnot. It’s one of those items I’d shout out from the rooftops but instead we barely hear about. It looks like we need a guide to find the guides. JP
Brain Theft, But In A Good Way
We just finished recording our latest Show and Tell video, featuring Vadim Klimov. Vadim occupies a level of nerdery all his own when it comes to tooling for SAP Integration Suite. (Don't miss Vadim's previous Show and Tell, either!) We are privileged to have folks share their expertise with us. Timo Elliott, Björn Schulz, Holger Bruchelt, and Lars Hvam Petersen have all opened their screens up for inspection.
But you know what's more important than seeing the screens? More important than going out to open source projects they show us? It's that during the active session, they are sharing their thoughts. The paths that lead to the innovations, the process that leads to the awesomeness…that's the secret goodness they're showing us.
Early in my career, I got to share a desk with an amazing developer. It seemed like there was no problem he couldn't instantly smash. But after about six weeks of working beside him, I figured out that reading his code wasn't going to get me anywhere. I had to read his process. And when I figured out how to emulate that, I leveled up.
That's the core of our Show and Tell idea. If you want to be as awesome as someone, don't study their work. Study how they work. PM
ABAPer Waking Up After 10 Years In a Coma
Hey bro, glad you made it! Welcome back. You missed a bit there but let me fill you in real quick. Remember Hasso talking about HANA database? So, that’s kind of a big deal right now.
There is a new ERP version called S/4HANA. Cloud? Yeah, so there is a legit SaaS ERP called S/4HANA Public Cloud. Is there a non-SaaS one? For sure, it’s called S/4HANA… Cloud. Private edition. Many customers are still on ECC though, so you’ll fit right in, no worries.
Do you remember WM module? Well, that’s replaced by new one, EWM. Do you know what it uses? RF screens! Hahahaha! I know, right? And SAP Script? Still exists! Hahaha!
And you slept through two different ABAP models, the latest one is called ABAP RAP. No, wait, ABAP Cloud? I don’t know anymore. Doesn’t matter though, everything gets renamed every year. So, check this out, ABAPers are doing OData development now. What’s OData? Well, do you remember SQL? Yeah, so someone looked at it and was like “I want that but change all the syntax and make it run on the web”.
What else… Oh, there is SAP BTP. SAP Cloud Platform? HANA Cloud Platform? Doesn’t ring a bell? Well, it’s due for a new name anyway. Then there is RPA. No wait, that’s now SAP Build. One of them. And CDS views and EML. And bro, wait till you find out about AI! Bro?.. Nurse!!! JP
It Might Be Real
I've covered some AI-taking-jobs related stories over the past couple years (and one on how to fight back). This time, the Wall Street Journal runs a piece speculating that IT unemployment writ large is affected by AI. IT unemployment stands at 5.7% versus the overall rate of 4%. Compare that to a September report of 6% versus 4.2%, and it seems clear that something is going on.
Victor Janulaitis is the one making the AI connection in the article. He says that right now the jobs being cut are "routine and mundane, such as reporting, clerical administration", but that employers are also "looking at reducing the number of programmers, system designers" as they investigate AI further. Some are taking a strategy of simply not hiring new workers - calling it "cost avoidance".
Like it or not, fellow nerds, the people writing the checks are looking for ways to reduce costs. You may object that that's always been true - but this is different. AI can't currently replace a whole human, but the list of tasks it can automate grows by the day. Will our nerdy jobs bend and shift to accommodate? PM
Watch the corresponding Nerdletter Talk on our YouTube channel. It was a fun conversation, not to be missed!
OMG, the new Show&Tell episode just dropped on YouTube! SAP Integration expert Vadim Klimov returns for a sequel to his Advanced Event Mesh hit. Check out the video description for additional content shared by Vadim. This is like… Narnia without a wardrobe. And nothing like Gladiator II.
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