Alloy software by IBM and SAP

Technical white paperMarch 2009

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 2

Table of Contents

2 Introduction to Alloy software

by IBM and SAP

4 How Alloy works

5 A practical example

6 Requirements for deployment

7 Software

7 Skill set

8 Example project plan

9 Deployment options in

enterprise environments

9 Proof-of-concept deployments

9 Enterprise deployments

10 Scalability

10 Single sign-on and

user mapping

12 Brief technical overview

of the solution

13 Advanced Customization

14 Customization

scenario example

15 Conclusion

Introduction to Alloy software by IBM and SAP

Alloy TM software by IBM and SAP is a solution that presents information and

data from SAP applications in the context of what millions of business users

are familiar with – the IBM Lotus® Notes® collaboration software user interface.

Business users need easy, consistent access to people, processes and

information to improve their productivity. With Alloy, they can easily access

SAP software and information from within the Lotus Notes environment,

both online and offline. Since these users work in the familiar Lotus Notes

environment, training is minimized, which helps speed adoption. As a result,

organizations can make business users more productive, improve decision

making and increase compliance with corporate policies.

Alloy 1.0 software provides access to selected business process functions and

data from SAP applications through Lotus Notes:

•Reportsmanagement– Users can personalize, schedule and access reports

from SAP Business Suite applications via Lotus Notes while maintaining

data security. Reports can be shared with coworkers without violating security

rules, and can be viewed both online and offline.

•Leaveandtravelmanagement– Enables users to approve and submit leave and

travel requests from the familiar Lotus Notes environment. Permits the view-

ing of contextual information to make approval decisions. Leave and travel

requests are processed according to approval guidelines in SAP ERP, ensuring

optimum cost-effectiveness and compliance with corporate policies.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 3

•Workflowdecisionmanagement– In addition to out-of-the-box Leave and

Travel Management, Alloy software allows an organization to bring decision

steps from other SAP business processes into Lotus Notes. For example, an

organization can expose decision steps in processes such as recruitment,

hiring, purchases, etc., in the Lotus Notes client.

Alloy is also customizable. To make process decisions, business users need

access to contextual information to improve decision making. For example,

to approve a travel request, a manager needs to know the current travel

policy and how much money is left in the travel budget. Alloy software

allows organizations to display the customized contextual information from

SAP applications in the Lotus Notes.

Customization can be done using standard tools like Lotus Notes Designer,

LotusScript® and the workbench for the SAP ABAPTM programming language.

The contextual information can be displayed in the Lotus Notes sidebar as

any HTML element like graph, table, text or link.

Alloy also takes advantage of the offline and collaborative capabilities inherent

in Lotus Notes and Domino.® For example, existing reports can be viewed while

not connected to the network, and new reports can be scheduled. Approvals

that have been downloaded can also be processed. The next time the computer

is connected to the network, it is synchronized with the SAP Business Suite.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 4

HowAlloyworks

Alloy establishes a gateway service between SAP software (e.g., SAP Business

Suite or SAP NetWeaver BW) and an IBM Lotus Domino® server. The service

is enabled by two add-ons: the SAP Alloy Add-On and the IBM Lotus Domino

Alloy Add-On. Also, a small set of plug-ins is provisioned to the Lotus Notes

client – these plug-ins handle some Alloy metadata for performance improve-

ments as well as a central Alloy sidebar component. Any message from the

SAP systems to Lotus Notes travels through the gateway using Web services

and XML.

IBM LotusNotes client

IBM LotusDomino

mail servers

SAPNetWeaverBusiness

Warehouse

SAPBusiness

SuiteIBM Lotus

Domino server

SAP NetWeaver ® Application Server

(J2EE)

Alloy software by IBM and SAP

SAP Alloyadd-on

IBM Lotus NotesAlloy add-on

Fig. 1: Alloy architectural diagram

Unlike previous integration approaches, Alloy is driven through metadata.

This enables better performance and flexibility. SAP configurations are auto-

matically reflected from the SAP Business Suite in Lotus Notes. For example,

when a report definition on the SAP side is changed, the business user gets

the latest report parameters on the Lotus Notes side.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 5

Apracticalexample

Fig. 2: Alloy process example

Figure 2 is an example of an approval for a leave request. In this case, the SAP

workflow reaches an approval step where a manager has to make a decision.

This work item triggers an event for the SAP Alloy Add-On software that con-

verts the object and sends it via a Web services call to the IBM Lotus Domino

Alloy Add-On. The object gets converted to a Lotus Notes document by the

IBM Lotus Domino Alloy Add-On and is sent via e-mail to the user’s inbox.

The Lotus Notes document appears as a form that incorporates data from the

SAP Business Suite needed by the manager to make a decision. In addition,

there is a Lotus Notes sidebar panel that can be customized to display fur-

ther contextual information from SAP applications and other sources that the

manager might need. For example, the sidebar can display the team calendar

so that the manager can know who else is on leave and if there are important

projects coming due during the time the employee has requested leave.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 6

When the manager makes an approval decision, a message is sent back

to the IBM Lotus Domino Alloy Add-On, which then converts the message

to a Web services call to the SAP Alloy Add-On software. The SAP Alloy

Add-On, in turn, transfers the changes to the SAP Business Suite and

advances the workflow.

Requirementsfordeployment

This section focuses on prerequisites for deploying Alloy in your environment.

It lists the required software versions on both the SAP and IBM side, an

overview of the skill set for running Alloy and an example project plan.

The following tables describe the planned requirements. Since these are

subject to change, please verify through the standard channels such as the

SAP Service Marketplace before making commitments.

Software Version

IBMLotusNotesClient Release 8.02

IBMDominoServer Release 8.02

SAPERP SAP ERP 6.0 SPS 14 running on NetWeaver 7.0 SPS 17

with the Enterprise Service Architecture (ESA) Add-On:

ECC-SE 602 or higher

SAPBW(optional) SAP NetWeaver BW (Business Warehouse) 3.5 – SP 23 or

SAP NetWeaver BW (Business Warehouse) 7.0 – SPS 17

AlloyServerSoftware •SAPAlloyAdd-On1.0runningonNetWeaver7.0SPS17

Java and

•IBMLotusDominoAlloyAdd-On1.0runningonan8.02

DominoServer

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 7

Software

The operating systems of the SAP Business Suite software and the IBM

Domino Mail Servers are not restricted, but the Alloy software requires

the following:

Software Version

IBMLotusNotesClient •MSWindowsXP(Professionaleditions)or

•MSWindowsVista(Business,Enterpriseeditions)

IBMLotusDomino •MSWindows2003Server(32bit)

Alloy Add-On (Standard,Enterprise)withDominoServerinstalled

SAP Alloy Add-On AllNetWeaver7.0Javastackplatformconstellations.

Forexample:

•AIX®withMaxDBor

•IBMzLinuxwithIBMDB2® or

•MSWindowsX86_64withMSSQLor

•MSWindowsX86_64withMaxDBor

•AIXwithOracle9.2

Skillset

This table is a rough guide to requisite skills required to deploy Alloy.

Skill Description

SAPERPAdministration Toperformregularadministrationtaskslike

roleassignments.

SAPJ2EEAdministration TheSAPAlloyAdd-OnrunsonaWebAS7server,

whichrequiresthetypicaladministrationtasksaswell

asinstallationoftheAdd-On.

SAPReporting AlloyallowsreportstoberequestedfromLotusNotes –

Customization(optional) therefore,somecustomizationandadministrationtasks

arerequiredtoexposeareportasareporttemplate

tobusinessusersusingLotusNotes.

SAPWorkflow ThegenericworkflowpatternofAlloyisabletohandle

Customization(optional) anySAPdecisionworkflowinLotusNotes.Toexposea

workflowinLotusNotes,asetofconfigurationandoptional

customizationstepsarerequired.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 8

Exampleprojectplan

This plan provides a high-level outline of a typical Alloy deployment project

and should be treated as a guideline only. Depending on the deployment

scenario in an enterprise environment, additional steps will be required.

Alloy example project plan

Planning •PreparescopingdocumentanddefineAlloyimplementationscenarios

•Taskassignment,teamsetupandavailabilitytimeline

•Projectkick-offmeetingforbusinessandIT

•Validationofsystemlandscapereadiness

•DefineplannedAlloysystemlandscape

Project •ConfigureSAMLonWebASandsetupnamemappingonDomino

preparation and •FinalvalidationofAlloysystemlandscapereadiness

blueprinting •Finalvalidationoftestend-userclientreadiness

•Documentlandscapeandanyinformationrequiredforinstallation

Realization •InstallationofAlloyservercomponents(Domino)

•ConfigurationofauthenticationforuseinAlloy

•SetupofAlloycomponents

•ConfigurationofAlloyscenariosintheSAPsoftware

•Executionoflandscapevalidationchecks

•RolloutofAlloyclientcomponents

Final preparation •Scenariotesting

•Post-projectreview

Customization •Definitionofnewprocessesandrequirementblueprint

and creation of •Implementationofnewprocesses

new scenarios •Testingofnewfunctionality

•Productionofnewfunctionality

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 9

Deploymentoptionsinenterpriseenvironments

This section focuses on two common deployment models: a single deployment

in a proof-of-concept (POC) environment and an enterprise-wide deployment

in a large-enterprise IT landscape with distributed Domino servers and various

SAP systems.

Proof-of-conceptdeployments

In the case of a POC deployment, the requirements are relatively simple and

provide an initial test environment that is easy to install and maintain.

Server OS Software

SAPERP6.0 Anysupported •SAPERP6.0withappropriateservicepacklevel

(seetheRequirementsfordeploymentsection

on page 6)

•SAPWebAS7.0withSAPAlloyAdd-On

IBMLotus Windows •IBMLotusDomino8.02withIBMLotus

Domino8.02 DominoAlloyAdd-On

Enterprisedeployments

Real-life deployment in an enterprise environment is more structured, to

enable enterprise-standard change management. Alloy has to interact with

existing servers for both the SAP and Domino environment.

The deployment in this case should be similar to the POC scenario above,

with the major exception that the Domino mail server is not on the same

machine as the Domino server hosting Alloy. The server hosting IBM Lotus

Domino Alloy Add-On should be registered in the Domino environment

and be able to route mail to the existing Lotus Notes domains in the IT envi-

ronment. It is also a good idea to consider replication of the Lotus Notes

metadata application to several servers if the environment is widely spread.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 10

In general, it is a good idea to put the Domino server with Alloy Add-On next

to the SAP J2EE server that hosts the SAP Alloy Add-On, which should be

located in the same network as the SAP Business Suite. For high-security

deployments where SAP systems are protected by a special firewall and many

security restrictions apply, a WebAS and Domino server can be installed inside

the firewall and the SAP work items sent via encrypted Lotus Notes channels

to a Domino server outside the firewall.

For production deployments, consider installing the following two pieces

of the Alloy solution on two separate machines for better performance.

Server OS Software

SAPWebAS Windows SAPWebAS7withSAPAlloyAdd-On

(Java)

Alloy Domino Windows LotusDomino8.02serverhostingasetofmail

server usersandIBMLotusDominoAlloyAdd-On

The SAP business software that is connected to Lotus Notes via the Alloy

solution needs to be on the appropriate service pack level as well.

Scalability

Scalability of the project is an important consideration. From an architectural

perspective, scalability is supported through existing technologies. The sys-

tems are built so that using standard server technologies, like an HTTP load

balancer, can distribute the load between the systems either to several Domino

servers or to WebAS servers. This provides a basic architecture that can grow

with an expanding deployment of Alloy in the enterprise.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 11

Singlesign-onandusermapping

One of the basic capabilities of Alloy is single sign-on (SSO) between Lotus

Notes and SAP software. The solution is based on an open standard called

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), which allows systems to interact

and exchange credentials.

When the user issues a request to SAP, the work item travels as an e-mail

signed by the user. The IBM Lotus Domino Alloy Add-On server validates

the signature and requests an SAP logon ticket on behalf of the user with a

SAML request. The SAP WebAS server receives this request and calls back

to the IBM Lotus Domino Alloy Add-On server to validate the request.

On a positive response the SAP WebAS server returns an SAP logon ticket

to the Domino server, which is then used to authenticate the user who

initiated the call to the SAP system.

This mechanism requires a mapping of user names between the two systems.

Since the system is standards-based, a variety of solutions can be used to

do the mapping. The suggested way is to maintain the SAP user name in the

person document in the Domino directory. The field that is used for this

purpose is configurable. The default is an entry in the Fullname Field of the

form “sapid = C12345.”

The synchronization between the SAP directory and the Domino directory

can be readily performed by IBM Tivoli® Directory Integrator, which is

included with the IBM Domino server software.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 12

Brieftechnicaloverviewofthesolution

Within Alloy, the information flow is mostly asynchronous. This means that

if a user requests a report or a leave, the item is sent and there is no immedi-

ate response from the system. Technically, SAP schedules a job that runs the

request and sends the response back as soon as it is available.

For example, for an approval work item, once the item reaches the SAP WebAS

server, it is converted into XML data, which is sent via the SOAP protocol to

the Domino server. On the Lotus Notes side, regular mail routing functionality

transfers the work item to the end user’s mailbox.

When the user opens the SAP work item in his/her mailbox, an event is sent

to the Lotus Notes sidebar which triggers the lookup of the appropriate side-

bar fragment for the SAP type. Also, the sidebar element is currently the only

case where a synchronous call might happen back to the SAP system as it can

initiate data lookup requests or a request to render data as a chart. In this

case, the suggested behavior (configured through customization; see next page)

is to have the sidebar call a component on either the Domino server or another

Web server via HTTP that interacts with the SAP Business Suite and returns

the data as HTML, so the client can render it directly. One example of this

kind of interaction is a Google Chart component.

At the point when the user takes an action on the SAP work item, a mail

message is generated that is sent back to the Domino server via standard

mail routing capabilities. Once it reaches the mail-in application on the

Domino server, an agent reads the content from the mail and transforms it

into a Web services call to the appropriate WS endpoint on the WebAS server.

The Alloy server processes the XML information and sends the response to

the SAP software.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 13

Advancedcustomization

Alloy leverages existing technologies where applicable and meaningful, which

makes the most of existing skill sets.

System Main development pattern (all optional)

Dominoserver Inbound/outboundapplications

•LotusScript

•Javaagents

LotusNotes LotusNotesapplications

•LotusNotesdesignelements(suchasforms,views,andagents)

Sidebar

•HTML

Customization can be done almost completely with existing tools from

SAP and IBM or public domain tools such as HTML editors.

Customization of the full solution can be done on various levels of the

SAP and IBM software.

Customization

SAP SAP Business Workflow

•Newgenericdecisionworkflows/exposureofexistingdecisionstep

•Moreinformationincludedinworkitemcontainer

•Data-enrichmentinterfacesforcertaininformation,suchas

travelbudgets

IBM •HandlingofadditionalSAPItems(BoundItemType)

•RenderingofWorkflowContainer(exposedasLotusNotesfields/

XMLdata)incustomLotusNotesform

Client components •AdditionalfieldsinLotusNotesforms

•Customizedsidebar

•Additionallinksinthesidebar

•IntegrationwithadditionalITsystemsvialinks

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 14

Customizationscenarioexample

A typical customization example is the exposure of an existing SAP Business

Workflow from SAP to a Lotus Notes client through Alloy – in this case the

approval of Material Master in SAP. This description outlines the process, at

a high level, and represents only a small sample of the extensibility possible

with Alloy.

Step 1: Connect workflow to SAP Alloy Add-On

To enable the workflow item to be routed through the Alloy infrastructure,

the workflow needs to be configured to use a specific set of capabilities

that are available in the system after the setup of Alloy. With this very simple

configuration step an event is sent to the SAP Alloy Add-On once a work item

for an Alloy user requires a decision. This event triggers a Web services call

from the SAP system to the Domino server that creates the work item on the

IBM side. The required configuration is the addition of a BoundItemType to

the decision step of the workflow.

Step 2: Customize handling on the Domino server

The inbound proxy of Alloy on the Domino server receives the work item and

transfers the item into a Lotus Notes document. Through a configuration step

stored in the Alloy configuration database, the SAP BoundItemType included

in the Lotus Notes document is used to assign a specific Lotus Notes form

to this document. Because the workflow pattern on the IBM side is built

as generically as possible there should be no need to make any changes on

the IBM side. But if specific handling of the item is necessary – for example,

enrichment of the document or customized user-interface design – a Domino

developer can create LotusScript code to allow the item’s use in a special

Lotus Notes view or form. This code can also change the address the item

will be sent to (for example, a central application) or associate the item with a

newly created Lotus Notes form that allows better handling of the work item.

Alloy software by IBM and SAPPage 15

Step 3: Create sidebar for workflow

As each work item is associated with a specific sidebar fragment, the

process requires a new sidebar design, which is basically a small HTML

file. A developer creates this new HTML fragment either from scratch or

by using an existing one as a starting point. Because the Lotus Notes client

has the means to replace HTML strings while rendering the content, a very

flexible sidebar can be built that references both static and dynamic data

fragments – even from a server – to show real-time information to the user.

Conclusion

Alloy is a highly effective and flexible means of improving worker productivity

at enterprises where SAP software is deployed, by providing SAP functionality

directly to Lotus Notes users – thus enabling them to integrate SAP workflows

into their normal routine simply and easily. By leveraging existing, familiar user

software, adoption by workers is dramatically simplified. The Alloy messaging

architecture is straightforward and efficient, providing ease of deployment,

transparent integration and scalability, with no impact on the performance of

either SAP or Lotus Notes.

Findoutmore

If you would like to learn more about Alloy and its potential benefits,

please visit:

ibm.com/software/lotus/alloy,www.sap.com/alloy

or contact your local IBM or SAP representative.

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009

IBM Corporation 1 New Orchard Road Armonk, NY 10504 U.S.A.

Produced in the United States of America March 2009 All Rights Reserved

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