Do SAP Plan to Productise the PIC Internal Process for Customers & ISV's?

[Former Member]

Recently SAP has released information on the internal process they have adopted for Enterprise SOA based Service definition and development.

It has the name PIC (Process Integration Content) and seems to be "governed" by an internla SAP "Council".

Here is a description gleaned from a recent SAP presentation at the SAUG Summit:

PIC (Process Integration Content Council)

What is it?

• PIC is the process by which SAP defines and aligns enterprise services

Why do we need the PIC process?

• Reuse of services

o Service cut - done in PIC0

• Reuse of data types

o GDT-PIC

• Unified and readable naming of objects, services, and data types

• Unified design with defined modeling rules

o Outside-in approach

• Harmonization of business objects and service interfaces

• Unified behavior of services

• Overall documentation

• Intellectual property rights (IPR)

The PIC process involves using a BPM Modelling tool (IDS-Scheer's ARIS). The description from SAP is described as:

ARIS supports the entire enterprise service definition process

• PIC 0: service definition and cut

• PIC 1: raw design of interfaces based on business object model

• GDT-PIC: harmonized definition of relevant data types

• PIC 3: final interface definition including element structure with all details

It is understood that definition of all "Enhancement Package" content for ERP6.0 for example now follows this process.

This raises many important questions for SAP Customers going forward. Such as:

1. To what SAP Software and Versions does this process apply?

2. Does SAP intend to "Productise" the PIC process so that Customers can plug into and adopt it in a seemless way?

3. If so, when?

4. If so, what are the implications for customers for custom development within their own SAP systems?

5. If so, what are the education, training, skill set and licensing implications of integrated use of the ARIS product suite?

For example, is SAP planning to fully OEM the ARIS solution for SAP, in a similar way that Oracle has with its "Oracle BPA Suite"?

It would be good to get EAC access to the right SAP knowledge so these questions can be answered. Perhaps this is a good topic for future EAC gatherings?

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Cheers, Phil Gleadhill.

BHP Billiton.

[Former Member]

Phil - I will share a few comments / responses to your questions. Will need to check with some of my colleagues on other parts.

First, as you mentioned, PIC is primarily an internal governance mechanism SAP uses to provide strong governance for ESR content. Among other things it provides consistency and alignment across service definitions and other models. PIC itself is a methodology separate from an implementation instance in a tool.

In talking with product management we announced at TechEd we would share not only service defintions, but also process component models, integrations and interfaces along with the services. Essentially this shows 'results' of PIC.

One way or another, all customers adopting enterprise SOA need a way to govern the design of services (and more) to be successful. Some customers have realized that adapting the PIC process to their own organization to extend SAP content with their own custom or partner services and related models would be an ideal way to do this versus starting from scratch. While we've been working with individual customers to see how this could work there is no general release of the PIC process per se I am aware of. My understanding is a workshop on PIC is under development for a release "soon" to immerse customers in the process.

Others will have to address the "coupling" between ARIS as a tool supporting the PIC process / methodology and what this means tdy / tmrw.

[Former Member]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your informative answer.

There is a lot of good news here if this is delivered (as in time it will have to be) in some form for customers and ISVs to use.

It would make perfect sense for customers and ISV's to be able to plug into the exact same ES definition and governance process (and toolset as appropriate) that SAP themselves use in populating process content and the service definitions in the ESR. Otherwise, customers and ISV's would not be starting from the same definition point or set of artifacts/models you mention below when they need to adapt, extend or modify any existing delivered content, or define their own extensions.

I am very interested in the news of a "PIC workshop" being made available externally, and have been told something similar by 2 SAP colleagues locally here. I guess I just need to keep watching.

Thanks again.

Phil G.