extending sap applications to blackberry wireless devices sap... · sap mobile technologies ... sap...

© 2006 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

www.blackberry.com

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry Wireless Devices

Understanding the Opportunities and Development Options

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry Wireless Devices 1


www.blackberry.com

Contents

Contents..........................................................................................................................1

Introduction .....................................................................................................................3

Audience......................................................................................................................3

Purpose .......................................................................................................................3

Understanding the Opportunity ....................................................................................3

Overview of BlackBerry and SAP Technologies ..............................................................5

Overview of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution and Wireless Application Development5

Introduction to BlackBerry ........................................................................................................ 5

BlackBerry Wireless Devices ................................................................................................... 5

BlackBerry Enterprise Server ................................................................................................... 6

BlackBerry Mobile Data System (BlackBerry MDS)................................................................. 6

Overview of SAP Applications and Infrastructure .........................................................8

Introduction to SAP .................................................................................................................. 8

SAP Applications and Modules ................................................................................................ 8

SAP Infrastructure and Developer Tools.................................................................................. 8

SAP Mobile Technologies ........................................................................................................ 9

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry: Understanding the Options ........................10

Introduction to Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry .........................................10

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry Using a Browser-Based Model ................10

SAP Mobile Sales Online for BlackBerry ............................................................................... 11

SAP Web Dynpro ................................................................................................................... 11

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer......................................................................................... 13

SAP Portal Development Kit and iViews................................................................................ 13

SAP Business Explorer (BEx) Web Application Designer ..................................................... 14

SAP ABAP Workbench and Web Dynpro for ABAP .............................................................. 16

Third Party Web Development Tools ..................................................................................... 17

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry Using a Rich-Client Model .......................18

BlackBerry Java Development Environment.......................................................................... 18

BlackBerry MDS Studio and SAP Web Services ................................................................... 22

Leveraging the BlackBerry and SAP Partner Communities ........................................27

Working with SAP SI and ISV Partners.................................................................................. 27

Working with BlackBerry SI and ISV Partners ....................................................................... 27

Summary.......................................................................................................................29

Additional Resources ....................................................................................................30



www.blackberry.com

BlackBerry Enterprise Solution components ..............................................................30

SAP Mobile Developer Tools and Applications...........................................................30

BlackBerry Developer tools ........................................................................................30

Third Party Applications available for BlackBerry .......................................................30



www.blackberry.com

Introduction

Audience

This document is intended for existing SAP® customers, ISV partners and Systems Integrators who are interested in gaining a better understanding of how to access SAP applications on BlackBerry® wireless devices. It is written for SAP developers, analysts and system architects and assumes a general knowledge of SAP applications and developer tools. However, it does not assume any previous knowledge of BlackBerry or wireless application development.

Purpose

The goal of this document is to help you understand what the current options are for mobilizing SAP applications to BlackBerry devices using various SAP modules including Business Intelligence (BI), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resources (HR), Finance and Supply Chain Management (SCM). It will focus on helping you understand what developer tools are available from both Research In Motion (RIM), creators of the BlackBerry solution and SAP to help you build custom applications for BlackBerry devices. Both browser-based and rich-client development approaches will be discussed along with tips and best practices for building optimized applications for BlackBerry. All of the various development approaches presented in this document can leverage the BlackBerry Enterprise Server™ for secure connectivity from the BlackBerry device to the corporate intranet, so the emphasis is placed on developing effective user-friendly applications rather than managing wireless data connections and security.

Understanding the Opportunity

Many large organizations rely on SAP technology and applications to manage their critical business processes, such as sales force automation, supply chain management, financial planning and employee human resource management. Traditionally, the majority of these applications have been designed for use on a desktop computer or personal laptop with a large screen size and a reliable high-speed connection over a local area network (LAN). However, many organizations are now deploying wireless handheld devices such as BlackBerry to provide their employees with seamless access to corporate email, calendaring and other applications virtually anywhere, anytime. And with recent advancements in device processing power and wireless network bandwidth, there is now a great opportunity to extend these existing SAP applications and processes to BlackBerry devices to improve access to information and streamline business processes.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution™ provides a unique opportunity to mobilize SAP applications quickly, securely and at a low cost to develop and deploy. You can provide your users or customers with seamless remote access to SAP applications to view important information or reports, submit data from the field or receive notifications and alerts. Some common examples of how organizations are extending SAP applications to BlackBerry include:

• Delivering BI reports and analytics to mobile executives for immediate viewing

• Enabling remote access to workflow and approvals from HR and Finance, such as time and expense management or purchase order approvals

• Providing remote access to customer information including orders, shipments and opportunities

• Providing remote access to SCM information such as inventory, exception alerts and reports

By mobilizing these types of applications, organizations are starting to realize a variety of benefits including reduced costs, increased competitiveness, new revenue opportunities and increased productivity.



www.blackberry.com

To better understand how to deliver these types of applications to BlackBerry, it is important to first understand how the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution works and how it can enable seamless and secure wireless access to your SAP applications. It is also important to understand what SAP’s products are for custom application development and which of these are relevant to BlackBerry.



www.blackberry.com

Overview of BlackBerry and SAP Technologies

Overview of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution and Wireless Application Development

Introduction to BlackBerry

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, developed by Research In Motion (RIM), is a wireless solution for organizations that are looking to empower their mobile employees with wireless access to corporate data and applications. The solution consists of handheld devices, seamless wireless network connectivity, secure access to the corporate intranet, handheld management tools and wireless application development tools. Central to the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution are the following three components:

• BlackBerry Wireless Devices

• BlackBerry Enterprise Server

• BlackBerry Mobile Data System™ (BlackBerry MDS™).

The following diagram illustrates the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution architecture and components:

BlackBerry Enterprise Solution Architecture

BlackBerry Wireless Devices provide users with an optimized handheld device for wireless voice and data applications. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server provides the underlying secure connectivity that enables BlackBerry devices to connect to the intranet, as well as the core integration with the corporate email and Personal Information Management (PIM) solution. The BlackBerry Mobile Data System (BlackBerry MDS) represents the additional components and tools that enable you to build and deploy custom applications for BlackBerry beyond email and PIM.

BlackBerry Wireless Devices

BlackBerry devices operate on a variety of wireless networks worldwide, including GSM™/GPRS/EDGE, CDMA 1xRTT/EvDO, iDEN™ and Mobitex® wide-area wireless networks as well as 802.11 local-area wireless networks. They provide the user with a core set of wireless



www.blackberry.com

applications including email, contact list, calendar, tasks, web browser and phone. There are many different models of the BlackBerry device with the main differences being the network that they operate on, screen size and resolution, amount of available memory, and so on. However, it is important to understand that all BlackBerry device models support the same sets of applications and the same core operating environment for running custom applications, independent of the network operator or network type.

For delivering new applications and content to your end-users, BlackBerry devices include an integrated web browser that supports rendering of standard HTML and WML web pages. BlackBerry devices also include a Java-based runtime environment that supports the Java™ Micro Edition (Java ME) MIDP 2.0 standard for developing custom rich-client applications. These topics will be discussed in more detail during the following discussion on the BlackBerry Mobile Data System.

For more detailed information on the different BlackBerry device models, please refer to the following site: http://www.blackberry.com/products/handhelds/

BlackBerry Enterprise Server

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server is installed behind the corporate firewall to provide a secure wireless gateway for all BlackBerry devices in the organization to access corporate email and Personal Information Management (PIM) data. Currently it supports Microsoft® Exchange®, IBM® Lotus® Domino® and Novell® GroupWise® messaging and collaboration platforms. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server also provides the following key features:

• Data encryption and compression

• Handheld management and monitoring utilities

• Simplified application provisioning and policy control

• Integration with corporate Instant Messaging solutions including Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Live Communication Server (LCS) and Novell Groupwise Messenger

To enable the device’s web browser and custom wireless applications to access resources behind the firewall, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server also includes the BlackBerry MDS Services. This component will be discussed in more detail during the following discussion on the BlackBerry Mobile Data System.

For more detailed information on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, please refer to the following site: http://www.blackberry.com/products/enterprisesolution/

BlackBerry Mobile Data System (BlackBerry MDS)

The BlackBerry MDS represents the various developer tools, runtime environments and connection services that enable developers to build and deploy custom enterprise applications for BlackBerry. These components enable you to develop custom applications that leverage the unique features of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry devices. BlackBerry MDS consists of the following main components:

• BlackBerry Browser on the BlackBerry device for browser-based applications

• BlackBerry Java Development Environment toolkit and Java Virtual Machine on the BlackBerry device for custom rich-client Java applications

• BlackBerry MDS Studio™ toolkit and BlackBerry MDS Runtime™ on the BlackBerry device for custom rich-client applications developed using a drag-and-drop methodology



www.blackberry.com

• BlackBerry MDS Services on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server for proxying HTTP, TCP/IP and SOAP requests from the BlackBerry Browser and custom applications developed with the BlackBerry JDE and BlackBerry MDS Studio

The following diagram illustrates the various components of the BlackBerry Mobile Data System and the architecture for accessing data and applications on corporate application servers such as SAP:

BlackBerry Mobile Data System

The BlackBerry Browser is included on all BlackBerry devices and supports rendering of standard HTML and WML content. The browser can be a simple way to access corporate data on the intranet without requiring much or any custom development. BlackBerry MDS Services is the component on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server behind the firewall that manages the HTTP requests for the BlackBerry Browser, enabling users to easily access intranet-based web content, such as SAP web pages.

The BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE) provides all of the tools necessary to build custom Java applications for BlackBerry devices. Java applications can provide their own custom user interface and local data storage model, and run locally on the BlackBerry device within the BlackBerry Java Virtual Machine. With more advanced features, Java applications can also tightly integrate with the existing email, PIM and phone applications as well as Bluetooth®-enabled peripheral devices such as GPS receivers, barcode scanners, signature capture pens and printers. BlackBerry MDS Services is the component on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server behind the firewall that manages the HTTP or TCP/IP requests from custom Java applications, enabling custom applications to easily access intranet-based applications and servers.

BlackBerry MDS Studio is a unique Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment that enables developers to build custom rich-client applications for BlackBerry using a drag-and-drop methodology. Applications can be designed visually using the Eclipse-based IDE, meaning developers do not have to learn Java ME to build rich-client applications for BlackBerry. For connecting to SAP and other enterprise applications, BlackBerry MDS Studio supports the use of web services protocols, including WSDL, SOAP, XML, and UDDI. BlackBerry MDS Services is the component on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server behind the firewall that manages the web services connections between the handheld application and SAP (or other enterprise application), enabling custom applications to easily access intranet-based web services.

For more detailed information on the BlackBerry Mobile Data System, please refer to the following site: http://www.blackberry.com/products/software/mds/



www.blackberry.com

Overview of SAP Applications and Infrastructure

Introduction to SAP

SAP is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite that manages a variety of business processes and data management tasks within large organizations. It has traditionally been a LAN-based application suite enabling employees to enter and view corporate data from terminals or desktops. SAP has recently evolved their product offering to include a core application server, dynamic runtime environment and custom integration tools, enabling remote access to a variety of enterprise applications (including SAP and non-SAP applications) from a variety of clients including browsers and wireless handhelds. Though each SAP implementation is customized to the unique needs of each organization, there is a common set of core applications, developer tools and infrastructure that most SAP developers and customers are now familiar with.

SAP Applications and Modules

Following is a list of some of the main SAP applications and modules that are most relevant when it comes to delivering wireless applications:

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): HR, Finance, Operations

• Supply Chain Management (SCM): Inventory Management, Procurement, etc.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Account Management, Order Entry and Tracking, Sales Reporting, etc.

• Intelligence (BI): Reporting and Analytics

Some of these applications, such as ERP and SCM, have been available for a number of years in legacy SAP versions such as SAP R/3. Other applications, such as CRM and BI, have been integrated into more recent versions of SAP.

SAP Infrastructure and Developer Tools

SAP infrastructure and developer tools are the fundamental building blocks that enable enterprise developers to customize their SAP applications. The roles and scope of the SAP infrastructure has changed substantially over the last ten years. In 1997, SAP first introduced the Internet Transaction Server (ITS) which added the ability to create web-based interfaces into SAP R/3 applications. In 2000, they introduced the mySAP Business Suite with their first enterprise portal framework and in 2003 they launched the SAP NetWeaver platform which provides a number of key components under a common framework, including:

• SAP Web Application Server (Web AS)

• SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI)

• SAP Enterprise Portal and Portal Development Kit (PDK)

• SAP Business Information (BI) Warehouse and Web Application Designer

• SAP Developer Studio with Visual Composer and Web Dynpro

• SAP Mobile Infrastructure

With NetWeaver and Web AS, SAP was now in a position to provide an extensible framework that supports interoperability with .NET and Java Application Servers, as well as a platform for delivering enterprise web services. This was a very important step in creating a platform that could enable developers to easily customize and extend applications to a variety of disparate clients including mobile devices like BlackBerry. In 2005, SAP took another step forward in



www.blackberry.com

introducing their new Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA) platform. With ESA, SAP intends to deliver a broad set of application-independent enterprise services interfaces to make it easier and quicker for developers to build new custom applications and processes on top of their SAP applications and data.

SAP Mobile Technologies

With NetWeaver and Web AS, SAP introduced a series of tailored products and developer tools to enable mobile devices to easily interact with SAP applications. Though these mobile technologies are not always necessary to build mobile applications, they can greatly simplify their development and management. For the most part, the SAP mobile technologies are categorized under three main segments:

• SAP Mobile Infrastructure

• SAP Mobile Web Dynpro

• SAP Mobile Applications

SAP Mobile Infrastructure (MI) provides a framework for developing and deploying “disconnected” mobile applications that target laptops and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s). SAP MI includes a local client that is installed on the mobile device, which manages the offline caching of data and transactions and the subsequent synchronization of data with the SAP back-end. With SAP MI, users can interact with SAP applications while they are mobile and synchronize their data at a later time when they re-connect to the network. Today, SAP MI does not support BlackBerry devices. Therefore, this document will not discuss using SAP MI.

SAP Web Dynpro (WDP), a component of SAP Developer Studio, provides a rich set of GUI-based development tools for publishing SAP applications and data to a web-based front-end for access from desktop browsers. WDP provides a common development toolkit for building web front-ends for a variety of back-end SAP applications including BI, CRM, SCM, and ERP. WDP also enables the development of custom web interfaces for access from web browsers on mobile devices including BlackBerry. With Mobile Web Dynpro, developers can use these same tools to publish web pages that will be optimized for rendering on BlackBerry. Web-based applications built with Mobile WDP are often referred to as “Mobile Online Applications”.

SAP Mobile Applications represents a set of pre-built applications that SAP has already developed using their own MI and Mobile WDP toolkits. The first SAP Mobile Application for BlackBerry is SAP Mobile Sales Online (MSOn). MSOn provides a pre-built web-based interface into SAP myCRM that is optimized for the BlackBerry device. MSOn was developed by SAP using Mobile WDP and provides a standard set of CRM functions to BlackBerry users. For more information on MSOn, please refer to the section on Extending Applications to BlackBerry Using a Browser-Based Model.

For more detailed information on SAP Mobile Technologies, please refer to the SAP SDN Mobile site at: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/mi.



www.blackberry.com

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry: Understanding the Options

Introduction to Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry

There are various options for extending SAP applications to BlackBerry using either a browser-based or rich-client approach. Because the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution provides each user with a secure wireless connection to their corporate intranet, you can focus on building effective mobile applications rather than worrying about how to establish a connection through the firewall or how to secure your data.

Developers can leverage the integrated web development tools from SAP to create web-based interfaces into their applications that are optimized for BlackBerry devices. Alternatively, developers can build custom rich-client applications for BlackBerry using the BlackBerry developer tools and connect these to SAP applications using standard Internet protocols such as HTTP and SOAP. This section will provide a brief overview of the various developer tools available from SAP, Research In Motion and other third party vendors that can be used to create mobile applications for BlackBerry.

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry Using a Browser-Based Model

There are various developer tools available for publishing custom web-based interfaces into SAP applications. Once a web-based application has been published on the intranet, BlackBerry users can use the BlackBerry Browser to access these pages securely via the BlackBerry MDS Services. Following is a diagram that illustrates the connectivity model for accessing web-based content on the intranet from a BlackBerry device:

BlackBerry Browser: Connectivity Model

The specific tools that a developer may use to publish the web-based content will depend on which SAP applications they are using and the version(s) of the SAP applications and infrastructure that they are running. Many of these existing tools can be used to publish optimized web-based applications that can be accessed from BlackBerry devices with little or no additional skill set required. This approach can provide a fast and easy way to start building custom applications for BlackBerry devices. Some of the main web-based developer tools available from SAP today include:

• SAP Web Dynpro



www.blackberry.com

• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer

• SAP Portal Development Kit (PDK) and iViews

• SAP Business Explorer (BEx) Web Application Designer

• SAP ABAP Workbench and Web Dynpro for ABAP

• Third Party Web Development Tools

At the time of writing this document, SAP has also delivered the following SAP Mobile Applications for BlackBerry that leverage web-based technology:

• SAP Mobile Sales Online (MSOn) for BlackBerry

Following is a brief summary of each of these applications and developer tools along with an overview of how (or if) they can be used to publish web-based applications that can be accessed from a BlackBerry device.

SAP Mobile Sales Online for BlackBerry

Mobile Sales Online (MSOn) is a mobile extension to SAP CRM that is based on Mobile Web Dynpro. It targets executives, sales and account managers and provides online access to common CRM applications and analytics. Functionalities include account, activity, task, sales order, contract and opportunity management, CRM Analytics reports and more. MSOn provides a number of applications that are available out-of-the-box, but also supports customization using Mobile Web Dynpro to meet the unique needs of a specific CRM implementation.

Using Mobile Sales Online with BlackBerry

MSOn is currently available for customers running SAP myCRM v3.0 or higher and requires Web AS v6.4 or higher. MSOn supports all BlackBerry devices running v3.6 or higher of the BlackBerry handheld software. MSOn software is available for SAP customers from the SAP Service Marketplace. Following are some BlackBerry device screen shots that illustrate the look and feel of MSOn for BlackBerry:

MSOn – Account Management MSOn – Opportunity Management MSOn – Order Management

For more information on MSOn for BlackBerry, please refer to the SAP SDN Mobile site at: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/mi

SAP Web Dynpro

Web Dynpro (WDP) is the SAP development environment within NetWeaver Developer Studio for creating web-based user interfaces for business applications. It provides a model-driven approach that reduces the amount of manual coding required and uses visual tools to design and reuse UI components. WDP applications can contain content from various SAP applications



www.blackberry.com

including ERP, CRM, SCM and BI. It is also possible to create WDP applications that import data from external data sources and applications. Following is a screen shot of SAP Web Dynpro:

SAP Web Dynpro IDE

When a WDP application is developed, a platform-independent meta-data model is created and published to the WDP Runtime running within Web AS. When a user’s web browser requests the content from Web AS, the WDP Runtime detects what type of browser is requesting the content and optimizes the layout and formatting of the web page accordingly. Mobile WDP enhances the WDP Runtime by adding device recognition and rendering support for browsers on mobile devices including BlackBerry and other mobile devices.

Using Web Dynpro with BlackBerry

Because the WDP Runtime has integrated device recognition and rendering support for BlackBerry devices, it offers the most intuitive and reliable framework for publishing web-based SAP applications for BlackBerry. When a user requests a WDP web page using the web browser on the BlackBerry device, the WDP Runtime running on Web AS will detect that the user is on a BlackBerry and will automatically optimize the page for rendering on the small screen size. It does this by generating web pages that contain only simple, well-formed WML content that is known to work well on all BlackBerry device models. It also limits the number of results that are displayed when accessing dynamic data sets from the back-end application. Tabular data is presented in smaller table sizes that fit on the BlackBerry screen and standard URL links are presented within the page body for accessing more information that is typically displayed in hidden “trays” or “tabs” in a desktop browser. Following are some BlackBerry device screen shots that illustrate the look and feel of Mobile WDP applications on BlackBerry:

Logical Display of Web Dynpro Application

Direct Navigation to Data Definition

Graphical View Design

Graphical Application Implementation



www.blackberry.com

Mobile WDP – Approval Form Mobile WDP – Table with Images

When building applications with WDP, the WDP Runtime and Web AS are doing the hard work of optimizing the content for BlackBerry devices so that you don’t have to worry about doing a lot of customization and testing yourself. The WDP Runtime has been tested with a variety of BlackBerry device models and supports connections established via all versions of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server that support the BlackBerry Mobile Data System.

For more information on Web Dynpro, please refer to: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/webdynpro

For more information on Mobile Web Dynpro, please refer to the SAP SDN Mobile site at: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/mi

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer

Visual Composer is a visual design tool that targets Business Analysts as well as SAP developers. It allows you to create model-based business applications and workflow using simple drag-and-drop services without any manual coding required. Visual Composer can be used to build web-based applications that can be integrated with SAP Portal, Business Intelligence and Analytics. Because Visual Composer is designed for simplicity and high-level process modeling, it does not provide the same level of flexibility and customization as Web Dynpro.

Using Visual Composer with BlackBerry

At the time of writing this document, Visual Composer does not support building content for mobile devices. Content that is generated by Visual Studio is typically designed for viewing in a desktop portal interface and cannot be viewed on the BlackBerry or other mobile device.

SAP Portal Development Kit and iViews

SAP Portal Development Kit (PDK) and NetWeaver Developer Studio can be used to create iViews, which are small windows (or “portlets”) that are displayed within an SAP enterprise portal. iViews typically contain content from SAP applications, though it is possible to create iViews that import data from external data sources and applications as well. In a typical desktop scenario, administrators and end-users can customize their portal content by choosing different iViews to display within a portal page. In addition, you can also develop content for portals using other technologies including Web Dynpro, Visual Composer and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Portals and iViews are typically developed for rendering on a desktop web browser and SAP does not currently provide any specific tools for publishing portal content to mobile devices.



www.blackberry.com

Using SAP Portal Development Kit and iViews with BlackBerry

At the time of writing this document, the SAP Portal Development Kit does not support building content for mobile devices. The SAP portal architecture and Portal Runtime engine are designed to generate rich content that takes advantage of the large screen size of a desktop computer. Content running through the Portal Runtime engine will not display on a BlackBerry or other mobile device.

However, it is possible to use other development tools, such as Web Dynpro, to create content for enterprise portals. In this case, it may be possible to access the same Web Dynpro application directly from the BlackBerry Browser without going through the Portal Runtime engine. For more information on using Web Dynpro to publish content to BlackBerry, please refer to the preceding section on SAP Web Dynpro.

SAP Business Explorer (BEx) Web Application Designer

The BEx Web Application Designer (WAD) is a development tool for creating web applications for viewing content from SAP Business Warehouse (BW) or SAP Business Intelligence (BI). Using WAD, you can create rich HTML pages that contain tables, charts, graphs, or simple text-based information. Though WAD has traditionally been used to create rich BW reports for viewing on a desktop web browser, it is also possible to customize your reports for optimal viewing on other clients such BlackBerry devices. Following is a screen shot of the SAP BEx Web Application Designer:

SAP Business Explorer Web Application Designer

WAD provides the ability to create web templates, which allow you to customize the look and feel of your BW reports. The web template is an HTML document that is used to define the structure and attributes of a web application. By customizing this web template, you can control how much data is presented in your web application and how the information is laid out on the page. This type of customization is critical to ensuring that your BW reports can be viewed effectively on the small screen of a BlackBerry device.

Using SAP BEx Web Application Designer with BlackBerry

Some versions of SAP Business Explorer and Business Warehouse include inherent mobile device recognition through a feature referred to as BEx Mobile Intelligence. This component will automatically detect when a mobile device is attempting to access a page that has been



www.blackberry.com

published using WAD, and will generate a simplified version of the page. For handheld devices running Pocket Internet Explorer, BEx Mobile Intelligence will generate simplified HTML content without style sheets and with limited JavaScript. For BlackBerry devices and other handhelds that support WAP/WML, BEx Mobile Intelligence will generate text-only WML content by default. In some cases, this approach may be sufficient and offers a simple way to access business reports generated by WAD from a BlackBerry device with no additional development effort. Typically it is worth-while to test this scenario to see if the default content generated by BEx Mobile Intelligence meets your needs. After testing your existing page on the BlackBerry device, you may want to update your web template to customize the data and layout to provide a better experience for your mobile users.

It is also possible to use WAD to deliver richer HTML content to your BlackBerry users to enable them to view colorful graphs, charts and full tabular data. This can often provide a better experience for mobile users who have BlackBerry devices with color screens. To do this, you must force the WAD application to return HTML content to the BlackBerry instead of the default WML, but at the same time you must ensure that the HTML that is generated will work well in the BlackBerry web browser. To force WAD to return HTML content, you can append some special parameters to the end of the URL that the BlackBerry device uses to access the WAD application. To optimize the HTML content, you can customize the attributes in the web template and style sheets. Following are some quick tips on how to enable rich HTML reports from WAD to be viewed on BlackBerry devices:

(i) Forcing HTML Content to be Returned to BlackBerry

To force BEx Mobile Intelligence to return rich HTML content to the BlackBerry instead of text-only WML, you can append the following string to the end of the URL that is used to access the web page:

&USER-AGENT=WINDOWS%20CE&ACCEPT=text/html&JAVASCRIPT=&NO_SESSION_COOKIE=X

For example, let’s assume that the following URL is normally used to access the report:

http://sapbw.acme.net:8000/sap/bw/BEx?CMD=LDOC&TEMPLATE_ID=ZKCWSUBSMASTER

When accessing the report from the BlackBerry web browser, you can use the following URL to ensure that full HTML content will be returned:

http://sapbw.acme.net:8000/sap/bw/BEx?CMD=LDOC&TEMPLATE_ID=ZKCWSUBSMASTER&USER-

AGENT=WINDOWS%20CE&ACCEPT=text/html&JAVASCRIPT=&NO_SESSION_COOKIE=X

When using this approach, it is typically recommended that you send the user an email with both URLs and encourage them to use the latter URL when accessing the page from their BlackBerry device. If the URL for accessing the report is static, then users can bookmark this URL in their BlackBerry web browser for quick and convenient access.

(ii) Optimizing Your Web Templates for BlackBerry

Optimizing web content for viewing on BlackBerry is more of an art than a science. Following are some common UI design guidelines and tips on using templates effectively that can help you tailor your content for optimal use on the BlackBerry:

UI Design Considerations for BlackBerry:

• Minimize Width of Tables: BlackBerry users scroll vertically, but not horizontally, so you should try to generate smaller tables that will fit within the screen width.

• Avoid Use of Large or Complex Images: Graphical images can be an important part of BI, but try to avoid large or complex images that will not render well on a small screen size.

• Simplify Navigation: BlackBerry devices do not have a touch screen and users navigate using a trackwheel. Ensure that content can be navigated easily by scrolling the trackwheel up/down.



www.blackberry.com

• Place Important Data Near the Top: Try to place the most important information at the top of the screen. It is often best to place graphical images at the top, followed by detailed tabular data below.

Using Web Templates in WAD to Optimize the Layout for BlackBerry:

• Reducing Table Size: Use the WAD tools to ensure that you are publishing tables that are no more than 3 or 4 columns wide. Web template attributes can also be used to enforce the number of data rows and columns to be displayed.

• Reducing Font Size: Style sheets can be used to specify a smaller font size.

• Simplifying Navigation: Use the web template attributes to enforce “only hierarchy navigation”.

• Suppressing Unimportant Text: Use the web template attributes to disable system messages and warnings.

Following are some BlackBerry device screen shots that illustrate how rich HTML BW reports can be optimized for display on the BlackBerry device:

BW Report – Tabular Data BW Report – Pie Graph BW Report – Bar Graph

Once you have optimized and tested the web content on the BlackBerry device or simulator, you can publish the report and send the URL to your BlackBerry users. This is typically done by sending them an email with the URL included in the message. It is also possible to push out a custom icon that will show up on the device home screen of your BlackBerry users. When a user selects the icon, it will invoke the web browser and take the user to your web page. This can be a great way to simplify access to web-based reports from the BlackBerry if they have a static URL address.

For more information on using the BlackBerry device simulator or pushing custom icons to the BlackBerry device, please refer to the BlackBerry Developer Zone at the following site: www.blackberry.com/developers

SAP ABAP Workbench and Web Dynpro for ABAP

ABAP Workbench is a set of tools for developing enterprise resource management applications that run in the R/3 subsystem from SAP. With ABAP Workbench, you can create web-based interfaces into standard business processes and workflow such as purchase and sales order management, employee information management, procurement processes, and so on. Though ABAP Workbench is typically used to publish HTML web pages and Business Server Pages (BSP) that are accessed from a desktop browser, it is also possible to publish content that can be accessed from a BlackBerry device.

Using SAP ABAP Workbench with BlackBerry



www.blackberry.com

ABAP Workbench can generate HTML and BSP web pages that can be accessed on the intranet from a desktop browser or a web browser on the BlackBerry device. Unlike when building applications with SAP BW Web Application Designer or Web Dynpro (discussed above), there is no inherent device recognition or “mobile runtime” for content that is published with ABAP Workbench. Regardless of which type of web browser requests the content, the SAP system will return standard HTML content to the user. Therefore, it is possible to create custom HTML web pages and simply access them directly from the BlackBerry device. However, it is important to consider the characteristics and constraints of the web browser on the BlackBerry device when designing your pages in ABAP Workbench. Following are some quick tips on how to optimize your HTML pages for viewing on BlackBerry devices:

Optimizing Your Web Pages for BlackBerry

Optimizing web content for viewing on BlackBerry is more of an art than a science. Following are some common UI design guidelines that can help you tailor your content from ABAP Workbench for optimal use on the BlackBerry:

UI Design Considerations for BlackBerry:

• Streamline and Simplify the Content: Due to the limited screen size, you should simplify your web content and only provide very task-oriented information. Try to provide simple screens dedicated a single task within a given workflow.

• Provide Buttons or Actionable Items Near the Top: Try to place buttons or links for approvals or other actionable items near the top of the screen to reduce the amount of vertical scrolling required by the user.

• Simplify Navigation: BlackBerry devices do not have a touchscreen and users navigate using a “trackwheel”. Ensure that content can be navigated easily by scrolling the trackwheel up/down.

• Minimize or Avoid Use of Tables: Large tables can be difficult to render and navigate on a small device such as BlackBerry. Try to avoid the use of tables or limit tables to no more than 3 or 4 columns of data.

• Avoid Use of Images: For most workflow and look-up applications, images and graphics are not important. Avoiding images can be a good way to speed up download time and improve layout on the screen.

• Avoid Use of Frames: The browser on the BlackBerry device does not currently support HTML frames.

Following are some BlackBerry device screen shots that illustrate an HTML approval form published as a BSP from ABAP Workbench that has been optimized for display on the BlackBerry device:

Approval – Email with URL Approval – Details Approval – Action Buttons

Third Party Web Development Tools

SAP has opened up its architecture and APIs to enable third party development tools to be used to create front-end interfaces into SAP applications and data. For example, IBM WebSphere and



www.blackberry.com

Microsoft .NET Visual Studio can now be used to create front-end portals or web-based applications that deliver information from SAP.

Using Third Party Development Tools with BlackBerry

Most third party development tools that can be used with SAP can also be used to publish web-based content for BlackBerry. Some toolkits can be used to publish standard HTML pages on the intranet. For tips on optimizing HTML pages for BlackBerry, refer to the previous section on the SAP ABAP Workbench. Some third party development platforms also provide custom tools and runtime environments for publishing optimized content for mobile devices such as BlackBerry. For example, Microsoft .NET provides “Mobile Controls” when designing web pages and IBM WebSphere includes wireless extensions for building portal pages and portlets that are optimized for mobile devices. For more information on these, and other third party development tools, please refer to documentation provided by the third party vendor themselves.

Extending SAP Applications to BlackBerry Using a Rich-Client Model

BlackBerry devices run a Java-based operating environment that supports the development and deployment of custom rich-client applications. SAP developers, systems integrators and independent software vendors can all build custom client/server applications for BlackBerry that integrate with existing or new back-end applications on the Internet or behind the corporate firewall. As discussed earlier in this document, the BlackBerry MDS Services enable custom rich-client applications for BlackBerry devices to easily and securely connect to corporate application servers, including SAP, using standard Internet protocols such as HTTP, XML and web services. Currently, SAP does not provide any integrated tools for building rich-client applications for BlackBerry. Instead, developers can use the following BlackBerry developer toolkits available from Research In Motion:

• BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE)

• BlackBerry MDS Studio

With the BlackBerry JDE, developers can write custom Java applications for BlackBerry devices which can communicate with SAP applications using HTTP and XML protocols. Alternatively, BlackBerry MDS Studio provides a simpler drag-and-drop toolkit that can leverage web services protocols to communicate with SAP applications. Using these tools, developers can build rich-client applications that run locally on the device. Thick-client applications can provide a number of advantages over browser-based applications, such as:

• Customized and optimized user interface

• Local data storage

• Support for offline functionality and reliable transaction queuing

• Integration with local BlackBerry applications (Email, Contacts, Calendar, etc.)

• Integration with peripheral hardware devices via Bluetooth

Following is a brief summary of how SAP developers can leverage these BlackBerry developer tools to build custom wireless applications that integrate with back-end SAP applications.

BlackBerry Java Development Environment

The BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE) is a fully integrated development and simulation environment for building custom Java applications for BlackBerry devices. With the BlackBerry JDE, developers can build custom client applications using the Java Micro Edition (Java ME) programming language. Following is a screen shot of the BlackBerry JDE:



www.blackberry.com

BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE)

Java Micro Edition (ME) on BlackBerry

Java ME uses the same syntax and programming model as the standard Java language that is used for developing desktop and server-side applications. It is an object-oriented programming language that provides a standard set of libraries and APIs that developers can use to build customized applications. However, there are two main differences that you need to consider when using Java to develop applications for BlackBerry rather than a desktop or server:

• Available Java ME and BlackBerry API libraries

• Designing applications to run on wireless handheld devices

(i) Java ME and BlackBerry API Libraries

Java ME is an industry standard which defines common sets of Java APIs for different types of mobile and embedded devices. Within Java ME there are several sub-categories, or profiles, defined which represent different classes of mobile and embedded devices. For example, the Java ME Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) was defined to address the API needs of constrained mobile devices with a user interface, such as cellular phones or personal digital assistants. Other types of embedded devices, such as TV set-top box and vending machine controllers, are covered by other profiles within Java ME. BlackBerry devices, along with many other wireless handhelds, support the Java ME MIDP standard. The details of the MIDP specification are not critical for this discussion, however, it is important to understand that MIDP provides a common API set that any wireless handheld can support, no matter what its underlying



www.blackberry.com

operating system is. Therefore, developers can often build one Java application using the MIDP standard APIs and have that application run on many different types of handhelds.

So BlackBerry devices and the BlackBerry JDE support the Java ME MIDP standard, which provides a good core set of Java APIs for building mobile applications. BlackBerry devices also support a large set of additional Java APIs that are not part of the MIDP specification. These are additional APIs that RIM has exposed to provide developers with more features and capabilities when developing for BlackBerry devices. It is not necessary to use these additional APIs in your applications, but they can often provide greater features and functionality over what is available in the standard MIDP API libraries. Between the MIDP standard APIs and the BlackBerry-specific Java API extensions, the following types of APIs are available when developing your applications:

• User Interface APIs: Used to create screens, menu items and all components of the user interface.

• Persistent Data Storage APIs: Used to store custom data locally within your application. Note that BlackBerry devices do not provide a relational database model.

• Networking and I/O APIs: Used to establish network connections and read/write data to a server-side application

• Event Listeners: Used to respond to user- or system-initiated events on the device.

• Application Integration APIs: Used to integrate with the existing BlackBerry email, phone, calendar, contacts, browser and task list applications

• Utilities: Additional APIs for data encryption and compression, XML parsing, Bluetooth connectivity, etc.

(ii) Designing Applications to Run on Constrained Mobile Devices

When designing Java applications for BlackBerry devices, you must consider the inherent constraints of running applications on a handheld wireless device. Following is a list of items to consider when designing your Java applications for BlackBerry:

• Processor Speed and RAM: Because mobile devices do not have the same processing power as the average server or desktop computer, you should strive to optimize the performance of your application and minimize object overhead.

• Network Connectivity: Users may roam in and out of network coverage and your applications should be designed to support this. As a result, you can not always rely on a permanent connection to the server and may need to consider how to manage asynchronous transactions.

• Network Speeds and Bandwidth: Wireless networks can impose limitations on network speed and latency. Therefore, you should design your applications to send as little data as possible over the wireless network.

• Multi-Threading: BlackBerry devices provide a multi-threaded environment, allowing your applications to spawn background threads to manage heavy processing and networking tasks.

Managing Wireless Connectivity and Back-End Integration

Java applications for BlackBerry can leverage the secure connection to the intranet provided by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry MDS Services. This means that you don’t have to worry about how to connect through the corporate firewall from the BlackBerry device or how to encrypt the data. Following is a diagram that illustrates the connectivity model for Java applications for BlackBerry:



www.blackberry.com

Java Applications for BlackBerry: Connectivity Model

When developing your applications, you must consider which protocols you are going to use to connect to the back-end systems and how you are going to manage the exchange of data to ensure reliability and data integrity.

Wireless Transport Protocols

Java applications for BlackBerry can use standard HTTP or TCP socket protocols to communicate with back-end applications. Most applications use HTTP as the transport protocol, using GET requests to fetch data and POST requests to submit data. Standard HTTP response codes are used to notify the application whether or not the connection was successful. When using HTTP as the transport protocol, you have to ensure that your back-end application can support these connections. Thankfully most modern programming languages, including Java Enterprise Edition, have built-in support for handling HTTP-based communications. When using HTTP, it is up to the developer to define the formatting for the actual data within the message. Though you can use simple tokenized or delimited text strings for simplicity, it is typically recommend that you use XML to format your data if possible. The BlackBerry Java APIs provide an XML parser and generator to support this.

To Push, or Not to Push?

For most custom wireless applications, the client will initiate the connections to the back-end system. However, there may be situations where you want the back-end application to proactively push data to the client to provide a real-time notification or data update. With BlackBerry, you can do this by leveraging the HTTP PUSH feature of BlackBerry MDS Services. The BlackBerry MDS Services provide a standard push interface that can be used by any back-end application. The back-end application simply establishes an HTTP POST connection to the BlackBerry MDS Services and provides an XML document that describes the target device, the content to be pushed and other configuration parameters describing how and when the data should be delivered. When the data arrives on the device, the application is notified and can take any type of action required (alert the user, save the data locally, etc.).

Connecting Java Applications for BlackBerry to SAP Applications

The BlackBerry JDE can be used to develop a wide variety of wireless applications that connect to SAP applications using standard HTTP protocols. Some common ways in which Java applications for BlackBerry devices may integrate with SAP include:

• Data Retrieval: Client application for fetching data from SAP using HTTP GET requests.

• Data Submission: Form-based client application for submitting data to SAP using HTTP POST connections.

• Data Synchronization: Client application allowing offline data storage that synchronizes local updates to the SAP back-end using HTTP POST connections.



www.blackberry.com

• Data Push and Notifications: Server-side application that proactively pushes data to a client on the BlackBerry based on an event or trigger.

Using HTTP to Connect to SAP

To get your Java application for BlackBerry to talk to SAP, you need to have a back-end application that can support HTTP communications. There may be several ways to do this, depending on the specific environment, but the most common approach seems to be using a Java Servlet to handle the HTTP communications with the BlackBerry application. This Java Servlet would then use JCo on the back-end to interface with the SAP system itself. As mentioned above, it is often best to use XML for formatting the data within these HTTP communications. Both the Java application on BlackBerry and the Java Servlet can be designed to parse and generate XML documents that use the same XML schema.

If you are considering using HTTP PUSH functionality in your applications, you can achieve this in the same way as above. You simply have to write an application that can initiate an HTTP POST to the BlackBerry MDS Services based on an event or trigger. Again, a Java Servlet or Enterprise Java Beans (EJB’s) could be used for this. The Servlet or EJB would connect to SAP using JCo to fetch the proper data and would then establish an HTTP POST connection to the BlackBerry MDS Services to push the content out. It is up to the developer to determine what should trigger the push, who should receive the data and what the application should do when the data arrives.

Following are some BlackBerry device screen shots that illustrate a custom Java application for BlackBerry to manage Time and Expense information:

Time & Expense – Options Time & Expense – Details Time & Expense – Details

Getting More Information

For more information on developing Java applications for BlackBerry, please refer to the BlackBerry Developer Zone located here: www.blackberry.com/developers

For more information on managing HTTP connections from a Java application for BlackBerry, please refer to the BlackBerry Java Developer Guide, Volume 1 located on the BlackBerry Developer Zone: www.blackberry.com/developers

For more information on using Java Servlets and other technologies to handle HTTP connections from an external client application, please refer to your SAP product documentation.

BlackBerry MDS Studio and SAP Web Services

BlackBerry MDS Studio is a visual application design and assembly tool that allows developers to quickly create rich-client applications for BlackBerry devices. Using a component-based drag and drop approach, it provides developers with a set of predefined user interface, message and data components that can be used as-is or customized. Wizards and editors enable applications to be assembled rapidly by connecting a series of visual components. The goal of BlackBerry MDS



www.blackberry.com

Studio is to provide developers with a simple drag and drop toolkit for building custom applications that work well on a BlackBerry device and provide a native look and feel for the user.

Using BlackBerry MDS Studio to Build Rich-Client Applications

BlackBerry MDS Studio leverages the unique features of Web Services and the Web Services Descriptor Language (WSDL) to simplify the design and development process. By analyzing the back-end WSDL files in an enterprise environment, BlackBerry MDS Studio can learn what interfaces and data components are exposed and can assist in generating client applications that can access those services and present the information to the user. To ensure a good user experience, the screens and UI components generated by BlackBerry MDS Studio are designed to match the look and feel of native BlackBerry applications. Following is a screen shot of BlackBerry MDS Studio:

BlackBerry MDS Studio

BlackBerry MDS Studio provides the following types of components for building an application:

• User Interface Components

• Data Components

• Messaging Components and Notifications

These components provide all of the necessary pieces to create an application that can consume and display information from a web service, submit data reliably to a web service and store and process data locally on the handheld.

(i) Creating a User Interface

BlackBerry MDS Studio provides various UI controls that allow you to handle many types of input and display fields, as well as menus, buttons, labels and images. Following are the types of UI controls that can be added to your application:

• Text Edit Boxes, Check Boxes and Radio Button Fields



www.blackberry.com

• Single- and Multi-Choice Fields

• Images, Labels and Buttons

• Menus and Menu Items

• Repetition Fields for Displaying Dynamically-Sized Data Sets

In some cases, you can use BlackBerry MDS Studio to automatically generate a standard UI for your application based on the information in the WSDL files. You can also use the drag-and-drop tools to customize your UI and provide more advanced features and customized navigation.

(ii) Managing Transient and Persistent Data Components

BlackBerry MDS Studio provides Data components that allow you to manage transient and persistent data objects within your application. For example, if a web service query returns a “customer” object containing a first name, last name and phone number, then BlackBerry MDS Studio will generate a data component to store all of this information. As a developer you can choose whether this data should be discarded after viewing or if it should be stored locally on the device for viewing at a later time. It is also possible to create your own local data components to store information such as user credentials, personal information, and so on. This data can be used locally within the application or can be used when calling a web service.

(iii) Integrating with Web Services Using Message Components

BlackBerry MDS Studio allows you to create Message components within your applications, which define and manage the connections to the back-end web services. Using the Wizard tools provided, you can navigate to an existing WSDL file on the intranet and BlackBerry MDS Studio will automatically generate a Message component for your application that will manage the connection to this web service. Message components are generally linked to other Data and/or UI components. For example, a button on a screen may invoke a Message component to call a web service to request some information. The data that is returned to the Message component will then be stored in a local Data component, and the screen may be updated to display the results. Message components can also be used to manage data that is pushed to the device from a back-end application using the Web Services Eventing protocol.

Managing Wireless Connectivity and Back-End Integration

Custom applications developed with BlackBerry MDS Studio leverage the secure connection to the intranet provided by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry MDS Services. This means that you don’t have to worry about how to connect through the corporate firewall from the BlackBerry device or how to encrypt the data. Also, the runtime environment on the device is designed to queue up data transactions that are made from BlackBerry MDS Studio applications if the device is out of wireless coverage. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about how to manage data submissions that are performed while out of network coverage – the device runtime will queue up the submission until the device returns to coverage. Therefore, you can focus your efforts on identifying or creating the back-end web services that you will use for your applications. Following is a diagram that illustrates the connectivity model for BlackBerry MDS Studio applications for BlackBerry:



www.blackberry.com

BlackBerry MDS Studio Applications for BlackBerry: Connectivity Model

Using Web Services

BlackBerry MDS Studio and BlackBerry MDS Services support the standard web services protocols including SOAP, WSDL, UDDI and XML. When building your applications, you can leverage existing web services and WSDL files that are already available on the intranet (or Internet) or you can create new web services in front of your back-end applications. There are many tools available today for creating web services interfaces into your back-end systems. When creating web services for use by BlackBerry MDS Studio applications, you typically want to ensure that the web services and WSDL files are as simple and well-defined as possible. Ensure that your data components use standard, well-defined attributes and data types and avoid services that return very large or ambiguous data sets.

To Push, or Not to Push?

For most custom wireless applications, the client will initiate the connections to the back-end system. However, there may be situations where you want the back-end application to proactively push data to the client to provide a real-time notification or data update. With BlackBerry MDS Studio applications, you can do this by leveraging Web Services Eventing in your back-end web services. Web Services Eventing is a relatively new standard and not all systems support it yet. However, it can be a great and very efficient way to define an event or trigger and have data published to any application that may be subscribed to the event. Once you have defined the event within your web service, you can use the tools within BlackBerry MDS Studio to subscribe to that event. When the event occurs, the BlackBerry MDS Services will receive the notification and the published content will be pushed down to the application on the device. When the data arrives on the device, the application is notified and can take any type of action required (alert the user, save the data locally, etc.).

Connecting BlackBerry MDS Studio Applications to SAP Applications

BlackBerry MDS Studio can be used to develop a wide variety of wireless applications that connect to SAP applications using standard Web Services protocols. Some common ways in which BlackBerry MDS Studio applications for BlackBerry devices may integrate with SAP include:

• Data Retrieval: Client application for fetching data from SAP.

• Data Submission: Form-based client application for submitting data to SAP.

• Data Push and Notifications: Server-side application that proactively pushes data to a client on the BlackBerry based on an event or trigger.

Using Web Services to Connect to SAP

To get your BlackBerry MDS Studio application to talk to SAP, you need to have web services interfaces exposed from your SAP applications. Most in-market versions of SAP, including SAP



www.blackberry.com

R/3, SAP Web Application Server and SAP NetWeaver, include support for web services with many services provided out-of-the-box. For example, all RFC-enabled functions (so all the BAPI’s) are exposed as web services by default if you are running SAP Web Application Server v6.20 or higher. Following is a screen shot of the SAP R/3 Web Service Browser:

SAP Web Service Browser for RFC-Enabled Function Modules

It is also possible to create your own custom web services using tools provided by SAP. For example, the Web Service Creation Wizard within ABAP Workbench can be used to create web services on top of existing ABAP functions. SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio also provides various options for exposing EJB’s and Java classes as web services. Following is a screen shot of the SAP Web Service Creation Wizard in SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio:

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio: Web Service Creation Wizard

Once you have identified or created the web services that you wish to use, you can use BlackBerry MDS Studio to create a new project for BlackBerry. Using the “Quick Start” approach, you can have BlackBerry MDS Studio analyze the WSDL file(s) from SAP and automatically generate a first build of your application which you can then customize. Alternatively, you can use the “Bottom-Up” or “Top-Down” approaches to analyze the WSDL file(s) and create the initial message and data components only, allowing you to build your own customized user interface. If you are considering using Web Services Eventing functionality in your applications to enable



www.blackberry.com

push-based data delivery, you will likely have to build new web services and define the events yourself. Standard SAP web services today do not include eventing functionality.

Following are some BlackBerry device screen shots that illustrate a custom MDS Studio application for BlackBerry to access custom data from SAP R/3:

Customer Data – Search Customer Data – Details Customer Data – Sales Orders

Getting More Information

For more information on developing BlackBerry MDS Studio applications, please refer to the BlackBerry Developer Zone located here: www.blackberry.com/developers

For more information on creating and using Web Services within SAP, please refer to your SAP product documentation.

Leveraging the BlackBerry and SAP Partner Communities

There is a growing community of third party System Integrators (SI’s) and Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) who are building applications and services to extend SAP to BlackBerry. These vendors typically offer expertise in wireless application development, custom integration and enterprise business processes, and may provide pre-built applications and/or middleware components to aid in mobilizing SAP applications. There are two main types of partners focused on mobilizing SAP with BlackBerry:

• SAP SI and ISV partners

• BlackBerry SI and ISV partners

Working with SAP SI and ISV Partners

There are several existing SAP SI and ISV partners who have built mobile applications for BlackBerry. These vendors typically leverage integrated SAP technology, such as SAP Web AS and Web Dynpro, to build custom applications to meet the needs of each customer. Some of these vendors offer development and integration services while others are offering pre-built applications such as mobile time and expense or mobile dashboards.

Most of these vendors will leverage SAP developer tools to build browser-based applications for BlackBerry, though some are using the BlackBerry developer tools to build rich-client applications as well. Because these vendors have past experience with implementing and customizing SAP, they tend to offer more in-depth consulting services and expertise with SAP solutions. Working with these vendors may offer a good alternative to developing custom SAP applications in-house.

Working with BlackBerry SI and ISV Partners

There are also many existing BlackBerry SI and ISV partners who provide advanced applications and mobile solutions for BlackBerry devices. These vendors typically specialize in rich-client



www.blackberry.com

wireless applications developed with the BlackBerry JDE or BlackBerry MDS Studio. Rich-client solutions from these vendors can provide a number of benefits over browser-based applications as well as custom solutions developed with BlackBerry MDS Studio, such as:

• Optimized local data storage to manage large data sets on the device

• Reliable transaction management, seamless synchronization

• Tailored user interface to improve usability and increase user adoption

• Ongoing technical support during development and deployment

Following are some screen shots from typical rich-client applications for BlackBerry devices available from BlackBerry SI and ISV partners:

Common Application Interfaces from BlackBerry SI and ISV Partners

Because these vendors focus on wireless solutions, they often provide robust middleware platforms that provide reliable wireless transaction management and back-end integration with SAP and other enterprise systems. They may also provide sophisticated wireless workflow engines that manage real-time data delivery and alerting to mobile users. These vendors will typically use web services or Java EE to integrate their middleware with the SAP system, though some may also leverage existing BAPI functions as well. Following is a diagram that illustrates how BlackBerry SI and ISV partners leverage the BlackBerry Enterpise Solution, as well as their own middleware applications, to mobilize SAP applications:

Architecture for Typical Mobile Solutions from BlackBerry SI and ISV Partners

Working with these vendors may offer a good alternative to developing custom rich-client applications for BlackBerry in-house, especially in cases where mobile users will depend on the BlackBerry application for day-to-day tasks or critical business processes such as sales force automation or service request management. These vendors have a deep understanding of mobile technologies, and have invested in specialized middleware to optimize the mobile experience for users.

For more information on BlackBerry SI and ISV partners, please refer to the following site: www.blackberry.com/products/thirdpartyapps/



www.blackberry.com

Summary

Many enterprises around the world are starting to rely more and more on wireless devices and wireless applications to stay connected to the information and applications that drive their business. Enterprises that are running SAP and BlackBerry now have a unique opportunity to start mobilizing their existing applications and business processes quickly, securely and at a low cost to implement. Whether you choose to build custom browser-based applications using the SAP developer tools, custom rich-client applications using the BlackBerry developer tools, or work with a third party integrator, there are plenty of options for mobilizing any application within SAP.

SAP developers can leverage many of the existing SAP developer toolkits to create optimized web-based applications for the BlackBerry device. SAP Mobile Web Dynpro, with its native support for BlackBerry, provides a robust toolkit for building mobile browser-based applications that provide easy access to SAP ERP, SCM, BI or CRM applications. SAP BEx Web Application Designer can be used to create optimized BW reports for BlackBerry, while the ABAP Workbench can be used to publish standard BSP/HTML pages that BlackBerry users can access to manage workflow and approvals within SAP ERP. SAP also provides SAP Mobile Sales Online, the first pre-built Mobile Application from SAP targeting the BlackBerry device.

SAP developers can also leverage the BlackBerry developer tools to create custom rich-client applications for BlackBerry that integrate with SAP using standard Internet protocols. With BlackBerry MDS Studio, developers can quickly build custom applications for BlackBerry that interface with SAP using standard web services protocols, without having to write any custom code. Developers can also use the BlackBerry Java Development Environment to build custom Java applications for BlackBerry that connect to SAP using Java Servlets or EJB’s.

Finally, SAP customers can work with existing SAP partners or BlackBerry partners to build and integrate custom wireless solutions using browser-based or rich-client technologies. SAP partners can offer consulting and product development services, as well as pre-built applications leveraging SAP technology. BlackBerry partners can offer their wireless expertise and mobile middleware solutions to extend critical business processes and data-intensive applications to BlackBerry devices in a reliable and flexible way.

And no matter which approach you take to extending your SAP applications, you can always leverage the inherent security and enterprise connectivity provided by the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution enabling you to deploy new wireless applications quickly, securely, reliably, and at a low cost to develop, deploy and maintain.



www.blackberry.com

Additional Resources

BlackBerry Enterprise Solution components

For more information on the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution components, see the following resource links

• BlackBerry devices: http://www.blackberry.com/products/handhelds/

• BlackBerry Enterprise Server: http://www.blackberry.com/products/enterprisesolution/

BlackBerry Mobile Data System: http://www.blackberry.com/products/software/mds/

SAP Mobile Developer Tools and Applications

For more information on SAP Mobile Developer tools and applications, please see the following resource links:

• SAP Mobile Technologies on the SAP SDN Mobile site: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/mi.

• Mobile Sales Online Application (MSOn) for BlackBerry on the SAP SDN Mobile site at: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/mi

• Web Dynpro general information: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/webdynpro

• Mobile Web Dynpro information on the SAP SDN Mobile site at: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/developerareas/mi

BlackBerry Developer tools

For more information on the BlackBerry Developer tools, see the following resource links:

• BlackBerry device simulator; http://www.blackberry.com/developers/downloads/simulators/index.shtml

• Pushing custom icons to the BlackBerry device: http://www.blackberry.com/developers

• Developing Java applications for BlackBerry: http://www.blackberry.com/developers/downloads/jde/index.shtml

• Managing HTTP connections from a Java application for BlackBerry in the BlackBerry Java Developer Guide, Volume 1: http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgecenterpublic/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/8067/645045/8655/8656/1195446/BlackBerry_Application_Developer_Guide_Volume_1.pdf?nodeid=1195276&vernum=0

• Developing BlackBerry MDS Studio applications for BlackBerry: http://www.blackberry.com/developers/downloads/studio/index.shtml

Third Party Applications available for BlackBerry

For more information on the Third Party Applications available for BlackBerry, see the following resource links:



www.blackberry.com

• BlackBerry SI and ISV partner information: http://www.blackberry.com/products/thirdpartyapps/

• BlackBerry Applications and information by industry, application segments: http://www.blackberry.com/solutions



www.blackberry.com

Part number: WPX-NNNNN-NNN

© 2006 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties of Research In Motion Limited. RIM, Research In Motion, 'Always On, Always Connected', the “envelope in motion” symbol, BlackBerry, and BlackBerry Enterprise Server are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries.

All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

The BlackBerry device and/or associated software are protected by copyright, international treaties, and various patents, including one or more of the following U.S. patents: 6,278,442; 6,271,605; 6,219,694; 6,075,470; 6,073,318; D445,428; D433,460; D416,256. Other patents are registered or pending in various countries around the world. Visit www.rim.com/patents.shtml for a current list of RIM [as hereinafter defined] patents.

This document is provided “as is” and Research In Motion Limited and its affiliated companies (“RIM”) assume no responsibility for any typographical, technical, or other inaccuracies in this document. RIM reserves the right to periodically change information that is contained in this document; however, RIM makes no commitment to provide any such changes, updates, enhancements, or other additions to this document to you in a timely manner or at all. RIM MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR COVENANTS, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, DURABILITY, TITLE, OR RELATED TO THE PERFORMANCE OR NON-PERFORMANCE OF ANY SOFTWARE REFERENCED HEREIN OR PERFORMANCE OF ANY SERVICES REFERENCED HEREIN). IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION, NEITHER RIM NOR ITS RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR CONSULTANTS SHALL BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER BE THEY DIRECT, ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES, EVEN IF RIM HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF BUSINESS REVENUE OR EARNINGS, LOST DATA, DAMAGES CAUSED BY DELAYS, LOST PROFITS, OR A FAILURE TO REALIZE EXPECTED SAVINGS.

This document might contain references to third-party sources of information, hardware or software, products or services and/or third-party web sites (collectively the “Third-Party Information”). RIM does not control, and is not responsible for, any Third-Party Information, including, without limitation the content, accuracy, copyright compliance, compatibility, performance, trustworthiness, legality, decency, links, or any other aspect of Third-Party Information. The inclusion of Third-Party Information in this document does not imply endorsement by RIM of the Third-Party Information or the third party in any way. Installation and use of Third-Party Information with RIM’s products and services may require one or more patent, trademark, or copyright licenses in order to avoid infringement of the intellectual property rights of others. Any dealings with Third-Party Information, including, without limitation, compliance with applicable licenses and terms and conditions, are solely between you and the third party. You are solely responsible for determining whether such third-party licenses are required and are responsible for acquiring any such licenses relating to Third-Party Information. To the extent that such intellectual property licenses may be required, RIM expressly recommends that you do not install or use Third-Party Information until all such applicable licenses have been acquired by you or on your behalf. Your use of Third-Party Information shall be governed by and subject to you agreeing to the terms of the Third-Party Information licenses. Any Third-Party Information that is provided with RIM’s products and services is provided “as is.” RIM makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee whatsoever in relation to the Third-Party Information and RIM assumes no liability whatsoever in relation to the Third-Party Information even if RIM has been advised of the possibility of such damages or can anticipate such damages.

extending sap applications to blackberry wireless devices sap... · sap mobile technologies ... sap...

Documents