Benefits of PHP in the context of SAP

[Former Member]

Could it be that PHP and SAP integration people do not how to approach it. The concerntration and effort is where the true money is...... Java and ABAP.

I think what we all need to start doing is discussing the benefits of using PHP with SAP. Why should people use PHP with SAP when Java has been doing it for years?

[Former Member]

The main benefit I see it allows a slower migration into some of the more meaty SAP products. Most of the people I work with do not have WAS/Netweaver etc.. etc..

They have a non web enabled SAP enviroment with simple key objectives to make certain aspects of SAP data more available. The requirements are often so simple a WAS migration or BW is total overkill due to the expense.

Using this tool I'm able to provide them simple tools to meet requirements.

[Former Member]

I do hope you share some of your experiences in this area with the rest of us in the form of weblogs It would be great to hear about!

This I think (looks like we all do) is one of the best points of PHP it gives the smaller companies or even the larger ones without the huge SAP investment the ability to move into the web environment.

[Former Member]

I'm in the process of overhauling my website to include a weblog. Once complete I shall post some articles covering many IT business systems and issues.

[Former Member]

No offense but SDN keeps me pretty busy as well as half a dozen other websites, if you'd be so kind as to post your SAP weblogs here I for one would be greatful but the link to your new weblog for your other tech articles would be great as well so I can add it into my RSS feeder

[Former Member]

Excellent point!

However this should be done without damaging or "slamming" Java. It should be a objective comparision in order to give everyone an idea of the flexibility.

[maximilian_schaufler]

I think one of the advantages of PHP together with SAP was just shown with Craig's latest weblog:

<a href="/people/sap.user72/blog/2005/05/17/php-howto-your-system-status-rz20 / HowTo: Your system status (RZ20)</a>

Typically, if you already have a WebAS in your system landscape, you would sure think twice about adding another different technology. But in case you don't have a WebAS yet, an Apache-PHP server is configured quickly, and can be very useful as the example above shows.

I too was sceptical with the start of the forum, that people would start posting PHP solutions that would do much better on a WebAS, but Craig's weblog shows a nice useful way - imo a great way to start talking about other benefits of PHP within the SAP world.

[Former Member]

Thanks Max!

I agree with what you are saying. Quite often there is a R/3 server sitting in the company with no connection to the Web developers and with PHP you now have an easy cost effect solution for combining the two together without the large overhead and complexity of Java.

However on the same note if you already have the Java infrastructure in place you should really consider the TCO of a change in that infrastructure. For example we use Java in my company as our programming language of choice for Non-SAP applications and ABAP/BSP for the SAP applications. Trying to convince my company to consider PHP would make little sense because of the investment we've already made and most, not all, but most consider PHP to not be a "enterprise" level application development language.