IdM 7.1 customized UI

[Former Member]

Hi, I am new to SAP IdM and my company is currently at IdM version 7.1 and 7.2 is not an option at the moment which of course would make things easier with the REST API.  What is the best way to go about changing the UI for IdM 7.1?  The default UI that comes with 7.1 is not very intuitive, with lots of windows popping up and just not very user friendly.  We would like to "re-skin" the UI and create our own branded interface to interface with IdM with a more Web 2.0 functionality.  We also want to create a few more customized functionality on top of IdM that may facilitate the usability better.  This would involve our own tables that would be populated from IdM.  I have also heard that VDS is something to look at to help implement some interface into IdM.

Again, I am very new to Idm as well as SAP NetWeaver so there is a bit of a learning curve on my part but I would appreciate any feedback from the pros here who have done what I am looking to do or at least can provide a starting point for me to get more info. 

Thank you for your help

-Neil

[former_member2987]

Neil,

Unfortunately not. The dynpros for IDM are locked by design. . It was a design compromise from the old php based interface to promote SAP best practices and to support some of the necessary back end support.

Matt

[Former Member]

Matt, 

Thank you for the quick response.  Would it make sense to go around the DynPros and directly access the IdM database (SQL Server) from some middle tier data objects created in whichever language and then expose that data in whichever manner we need to a new UI frontend (hosted on different web server)  that would be separate from the IdM off-the-shelf app provided with SAP NetWeaver?  We do not necessarily want to provide any new or updated business logic but just a way to read the IdM tables and perhaps create a few more tabales that uses that data in the manner in which makes sense for our business use?  My use of "IdM tables" might not be accurate, perhaps Identity Store tables(?) but you get the idea..   Am I making sense at all or am I way off?

Neil

[Former Member]

Hello Neil,

using INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE on the table mxi_values => Bad Idea. Very, very bad idea.

Better do something like this:

- Create your UI's in PHP, ASP or whatever you desire them to be written in.

- Use some tables to write the changes from your UI to.

- Than simply write the information from these tables to the Identity Store. This ensures that all the "background" work the IdM does, is processed correctly (-> Modifytime column for example).

- You could also use the VDS, yes. But I personally prefer the tables.

- Approvals are a bit tougher, yes. But they are feasible, too.

To sum it up, there are many ways how this can be done. SAP IdM's flexibility makes this possible in a very easy way. Just look through all the pass types and choose the one's needed.

Best regards

Dominik