SAP to SAP integration and PI

[Former Member]

Dear Experts,

Reiterating the old discussion, what is best to use (PI+ALE) vs ALE for SAP to SAP integration? I am analysing if PI use for SAP to SAP integration (mainly using ALE for long) can do some good.

I understood there are certain benifit at least from architectural point of view to use PI for SAP to SAP integration in a complex landscape. Use of BPM, Central integration and monitoring platform, Lose coupling of SW systems, SOA complient etc, etc.. Can someone here give me some reason against these thoughts?

How much of interface performance is to be scrificed if we use PI in between? and how worth is it to add another point of failure (PI) in compare to benifit mentioned above?

Is there any other argument against or for this discussion?

I am sure many of the PI consultants had to go through this question. So I am hoping to get some good argument and is much appretiated.

Regards

Suman.

[former_member181962 · Accepted solution]

Hi Suman,

One question that you have to ask yourself is,

"Are there any other integration scenarios in your company in the future."

If there are some non SAP systems present in your landscape and they need information to be tranferred from/to another sap/non sap system, then you ought to have a middleware like PI in between.

You should also have a closer look at your Business anf analyse the scope of B2B integration in your company.

If there is a potential requirement for B2B / EDI integration, sooner or later, you need to have a middleware.

In short, if the number of interfaces/ number of systems participating in the integration is more , then your company should consider using a middleware.

You can google for "Advantages of middlewares" to get a hang of other benefits , but again, these will be quite generic.

Your company specific needs will determine if you need to have a middleware and if yes, what middleware should it be.

Regards,

Ravi

[manish_bhalla2]

In case you are planning to use PI to route IDOCs from one SAP system to another, and you are concerned about performance... you can also look at using IDOC tunneling.

Regards

Manish

[rajasekhar_reddy14]

Hi Suman,

SAP PI Provides better Monitoring capability , its provides perssistance of messages.

If your requirement is only SAP to SAP Integration and the number of interfaces is very few,then better to inplement ALE Technology.

Regrds,

Raj

[Former Member]

Thank you Vijay, Ravi and Raja Sekhar for your prompt answer.

Yes, ours is a complex landscape and there are need of B2B and A2A integration currently well suppored by MW (non SAP) platform. But large amount of business processes are handled in SAP (R3, SRM, APO, CRM, MDM etc). SAP integration alone, is therefore complex.

Any thoughts on: How much of interface performance is to be scrificed if we use PI in between? and how worth is it to add another point of failure (PI) in compare to benifit mentioned above?

[Shabarish_Nair]

>

> Thank you Vijay, Ravi and Raja Sekhar for your prompt answer. 
> 
> Yes, ours is a complex landscape and there are need of B2B and A2A integration currently well suppored by MW (non SAP) platform. But large amount of business processes are handled in SAP (R3, SRM, APO, CRM, MDM etc). SAP integration alone, is therefore complex. 
> 
> Any thoughts on: How much of interface performance is to be scrificed if we use PI in between? and how worth is it to add another point of failure (PI) in compare to benifit mentioned above?

i think the effect on performance might be minimal in case you are not looking at extreamly complex data mappings in PI (i guess this shoulnt be an issue since you would be transferring IDoc to IDocs)

the main drive for decision in your case i assume would be to have all your ale level routing via PI so that it is centrally managed,

[Former Member]

Addition to the above points

Adding PI will benefit in case if need to extend your landscape and also for the existing applications,as PI allows for loose couplings...

it allows for easier maintenance and easier extension of existing applicaitons ,no need to disturb the existing setup..after one time configuration...

Not only this it allows to connect different applications deployed on different systems ..and can be used for lot of structural transformations and validations

HTH

Rajesh

[Shabarish_Nair]

basically the most important aspect i would say is the option of centralized monitoring while using PI.

Then as described there are options of restarting the message, at times editing and resending in case of errors etc.

Even the concept of implementing a business process (if any) can be added as an advantage of using PI.

If you would can compromise on the above then i guess ALE is your answer. Also another factor can be the implementation cost, if you have to involve PI in between (resources, development time etc)