Where can I find a good introduction to SAP MAM?

[Former Member]

Hello Everyone,

First off I would like to express how happy I am to have found this page. It seems as everyone here is very knowledgeable when it comes to SAP MAM.

My backstory; I have been put in charge of the SAP MAM project here at work. And how business life usually is, there is no one that can help me. No one truly understands the infrastructure of SAP MAM and how to troubleshoot the phones when synchronization is not working, or if there is no connection to the SAP server.

I am trying my best to pick up the bits and pieaces, and figure out how the application works. Keep in mind I have never used SAP before. So SAP MAM is going way over my head.

The project has already began, and there are alot of employees running around with HTC TyTN mobile phones trying to report the hours they worked on different jobs.

The biggest problem right now is that synchronization usually keeps refreshing itself and never stops. I have figured out that I can create a trace file to further analyse the problem. But if I really want to figure out where errors are coming from I need to understand the environment.

Is there a PDF or so that explains in layman terms what is needed to run SAP MAM, and what kind of environment it needs to run smoothly? It is difficult for me at the moment because I dont know whos fault it is when something comes up. For example synchronization; is the SAP MAM at fault, or is our Mobile Phone provider's connection to the SAP MAM server not functioning?

If anyone has any info or a PDF i would be very very grateful.

Once again, I am happy to have found this resource and hope that I can profit from it.

Greetings from Switzerland!

PS; If any swiss happens to read this and is also dealing with swisscom, i would like to exchange information on your experience with SAP MAM.

Thank you again!

Michael

[Former Member]

Hi Michael,

You will surely profit a lot from here.

To find out more information on MAM, you can get all what you want from the service market place.

Goto http://service.sap.com/instguides

Here click on SAP xApps -> SAP xApps for Mobile Business -> SAP xMAM.

You will find all the guides and docs to use MAM. Its a good place to start off with.

Regards,

Nameeta

[Former Member]

Thanks again Nameeta,

This is embarrassing, but what type of username and password is required?

Greetings

Michael

[Former Member]

Hi Michael,

Kindly refer this link too. This will surely help you to know more about MAM application

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp2005vp/helpdata/en/32/1006345117a941a172a38963c2b320/frameset.htm

Hope this helps

Best Regards,

Lakshmi

[Former Member]

Hi Michael,

Good question.:)

When an organisation install SAP systems, it get access to SAP service.sap.com, popularly known service marketplace. For working with SAP MAM, you must have install WAS (Web Application Server) and a backend, which has all the data. Contact the BASIS person (one who looks after these SAP systems) from you company and ask him to create an user id & password for you on the service marketplace.

That will allow to access the site provided by Nameeta earlier.

Regards,

Rahul

[Former Member]

Hi Michael,

Apart from the instiguides from service market place, you can search in the

mobile forum for a search string MAM.

I think these forum threads are helpful

Thanks

Veerabhadram

[Former Member]

Wow you guys are FAST!!!

thank you so much. I am running off to a meeting this afternoon. I will get back to you as soon as I have researched the links you have so generously bestowed me with! : - )

Kind Regards

Michael

[former_member304703]

Hi Michael,

I am amazed that a person with no experience or proper training was assigned to MAM support role. Seems like knowledge transfer was not conducted properly in MAM implementation phase.

MAM is a complex application and to properly support it a knowledge in very different areas is required. As architecturally it has three layers: backend, middleware and frontend, there should be a person (most of the time more than one) who is an expert in each of them.

If your company wants you to have this role (roles) I suggest you ask for training in the next arears:

1. Backend: SAP Asset Life Cycle Management module (either Plant Maintenance or Customer Service depending on what kind of company you work for). MAM does nothing else than to bring some PM/CS transactions to an offline user.

I would recommend courses PLM300 (Plant Maintenance), PLM305 (Structuring and Managing Technical Objects), PLM310 (Preventive Maintenance and Service), PLM315 (Maintenance Processing: Operational Functions) or similar courses for Customer Service.

2. Middleware. I don't know if your application is running with Mobile Infrastructure 2.1, 2.5 or Netweaver Mobile 7.0. From what I understand from your description that is where your main concerns are now: sync process, troubleshooting, application deployment, etc. MAM itself is just a bunch of backend transactions and front-end application. It relies on MI server for data sync and MI client for maintaing data on the device. So when you have sync issues it has nothing to do with MAM itself.

There are several classes (unfortunately not too many) on Mobile Infrastructure. One of them is TMOB20 (Mobile Infrastructure Administration) for MI 2.5. There is a similar one for SAP Netweaver Administrator.

3. Front-end. MAM front-end is written in java and from my experience is never left by any customer as-is. So if you support application you have to be able to troubleshoot issues and distinguish if errors are caused by SAP code or customer enhancements (which understandably are not supported by SAP). No courses exist in this area. You can only rely on your java knowledge and MAM documentation. MAM documentation is split in two ares: fucntional, ex. configuration, installation guides, etc, and enhancement guides which is an absolute "must read" in the implementation phase unless application is used "as is".

To run MAM successfully is has to be customized, I beleive you were sent some links on this topic. Customization is mainly relates to backend but has a few front-end settings as well.

From my experience it is seldom one person who is an expert in all three areas. Usually, a person with ABAP skills is responsible for backend side (including MAM customization) and java skilled individual takes care of front-end and middleware.

I wish you all the best in a mobile world.

Cheers,

Larissa Limarova

[Former Member]

Hi Larissa,

Your reply is very explaining.

Nice job. Thanks.

Divya

[Former Member]

Wow larissa,

Now that is a very nice post! Very well written and helpful. A rude awakening in my case but thank you nonetheless.

I am aware that this situation is very peculiar. The truth is that it probably has to do with very bad planning, and a pilot project that obviously wasn't taken care of the way it should have been. The people that handled the project before have left the company, so here I am. trying to straighten things out as best as I can. Things like this take alot of time to get into, but that is a luxury I dont have.

My first priority is to try to get the synchronization to work smoothly.. (Im guessing thats everyones goal). And until then, I need to brake the project as much as I can by slowing it down and essentially taking it back into the pilot phase. I know that in the state the company is in, there will not be any more employees hired to solve the problem. There arent enough resources.

That is why, I wanted to get as much information as possible so I can make myself an overview of the system and how things should work. If I know that, I can at least point out where a problem lies. Instead of not being able to answer as simple question as that.

You are right though Larissa, the situation is a peculiar one. But I have to deal with it for the moment.

Thanks again, for an excellent post. Its still morning here, and I am trying to find someone in the company that can get me the account information so I can download an SNOTE and try my luck on implementing it. But again, to do that, I need to delve into the manuals! : - )

After that I will have time to dissect and evaluate your post!

Cheers

Mike

[former_member304703]

Hi Michael,

I am glad that you found my post helpful. I was hoping that it will help not only you but other people on this forum as well. And maybe wake some people up.

I know that MAM, as well as other mobile applications, are percieved by the market as unstable and difficult to implement. And I have heard a lot of stories similar to yours - customers are struggling to run and support MAM.

The reasons for this are obvious: mobile applications are not typical SAP applications and require a completely different set of skills. Customer usually have no idea about this and when implementation phase is over are left to struggle. The other reason is that there are so few consultants on the market that usually there is no local ones, implementation is done by people from overseas and it is so expensive that project time is cut as short as possible.

I have been MAM developer and technical lead for 6 years, from the first days of application prototype. And transfered to consulting about 6 months ago. So I know that application has a big potential and use. That is why I am trying to help people as much as I can through this forum.

I wish you all the best in a mobile world. It is very challenging but very rewarding as well!

Cheers,

Larissa

[Former Member]

Thanks Larissa,

Although it doesn't help, Im glad that I am not the only case you have heard about.

The frustrating thing is that even the people that work with SAP everyday cannot help me when I have simple questions such as "Where can I access Middleware?"

I get a "What the hell is Middleware?" look on peoples faces.

And I am still waiting on a login to the Service Admin so I can download the SNOTE that was suggested.

At the moment im fighting with the installation of Creme and mi25Tom on another phone. I noticed that the one that cant login to the server although it can connect has a much shorter MobileEngine.config file. I am going to try copying that file from one mobile to the next. Is that possible?

If that doesn't work, I will need some help evaluating the problem through a trace file.

Cheers

mike

Message was edited by:

Michael Zimmermann

[former_member304703]

Hi Michael,

with MI client you can not just copy files from one machine to the other.

And especially not between different types of device!

You can run into all kind of trouble.

Whould you mind to send me an email (you can find my address in my business card)? I feel that you might need some help, we can discuss it privately.

Regards,

Larissa