General MII environment questions

[Former Member]

Hi,

We are just starting a project to implement MII. We have an MII consultant on site who has stated that in addition to the stock MII install, we need an additional database at each plant for locally caching production orders, purchase orders, inventories (raw, wip, f/g, packaging & ingredients) and other support type data (storage locations, material masters, tolerance, item-pack mapping codes, etc.) in support of the continuous operation requirement.

Are additional databases a common requirement?

If so, is dba level access for developers a requirement? Please keep in mind, they would potentially also want the same access for the production system.

If dba access is not required, couldn't we just add a tablespace (we're using Oracle)?

What is a typical configuration?

The consultant is not familiar with NWDI. His recommendation is to move directories from development environments to production.

Are most MII customers using NWDI including the Change Management Service? If not, how are they controlling and coordinating changes?

It was my impression that some of the data was stored in files and some of the data is stored in the database. Is that incorrect?

Can changes be safely migrated from development to production by copying directories?

Best regards,

Russ

[Former Member]

Hi Russ,

I support Mike's comments.

At one time all the MII application "articles" were text based and accessible via Windows Explorer. Now with 12.0+ releases, everything exists in the DB as you are aware. I'm not aware of anyone/customer/partner actually using NWDI with MII. When things were file based, it made it a bit more easy to integrate with some flavor of source control. But, even then, most projects did not use such tools for several reasons (albeit not necessarily good reasons). Many projects are small enough in scope that one person is working on code at a time. So the need for source control to prevent code contamination was not there. It would be helpful for promotions or transports from dev->tst-prd though. But, again, many projects used a possibly archaic method (ie, Excel) to keep track of what files and version of those files were where. At best, when things were file based, source control was used as a nightly backup of files. I could rattle off a number of multi-site, large enterprises that use Excel as their MII SVN tool. Again, it may not be best, but it is a common observation.

Today, yes, MII does work with NWDI. Is it the ultimate in source control/software configuration management? Probably not. Last year in Nashville for the SAP AMS conference, I gave a presentation on Software Configuration Management (SVN being a part of SCM) and MII. I gave some recommendations for incorporating SCM into the MII world. There are different options depending on your version of MII. But, for some combinations of MII and components of SCM, I was not able to provide a solution.

I'm hoping to find a really, really good solution for complete SCM compliance in the MII architecture at some point, but I'm haven't yet.

Regarding local DBs. Yes, if the requirement is limited sustainability or local survivability, then, yes, you will need a DB at each plant (at least one). As far as authorizations for your consultant - well it depends on how much you want them to do on the DB side. If you don't grant permissions, someone who has permissions will need to write the queries and stored procedures, obviously. That's really your call.

Good luck with your MII endeavors.

[Former Member]

Hi Ryan,

I am interested on your presentation of SCM and MII, I was just wondering if your slides were accessible via the web or if you could send it through to me?

We're looking into a project that is transitioning a pilot MII project into support and SVN and change management issues have popped up and I am interested on how well NWDI works for XMII. Hopefully someone out there has done an implementation of MII 12.1 with NWDI would like to share their experiences?

[Former Member]

Shoot me and email and I will send you the power point.

[Former Member]

Hi there,

Any references/ experience on NWDI usage from the xMII perspective?

Feedback??

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Isvarya

[agentry_src]

Hi Russ,

You sure packed a lot of questions in a short posting. It is fairly common for a separate database to be installed for use with MII when there is a disconnected (from ERP/rest of the network) operation requirement. Speaking as a former system integrator, it was much easier to develop the customer's applications with direct access and control of the database, but that was usually the exception rather than the rule. I was never allowed to touch any database once it was brought on line in a production environment. If you have direct access to the database while in the design phase, there are any number of useful tools to make use of. Not to go into that much detail, but creating views and stored procedures can really improve performance of your applications.

I am not a DBA, but I would expect a tablespace to work fine for many MII projects. It depends upon what involvement you want your consultant to have with the database structure. I welcome other more knowledgeable folks to comment further.

NWDI is new to MII with version 12.1 so there really aren't that many folks using it yet for content management. The content management is organized around projects, but directories are used for basic functional groupings within a project. Deployment is based upon one or more projects.

NWDI addresses the concerns of lots of MII customers regarding content management. In past times, there were few good options for content management available, so most folks just did their best with a less than desirable situation. With version 12.1, we now have a reasonable tool to use.

Regards,

Mike