BPM in Ten Years? My Best Shot
At SAP TechEd 2009 Vienna, I met Chris Horak, who told me that he wondered what the future of Business Process Management might look like: “What will the successors of today’s BPM and ERP software in 10 or 15 years look like?” I took up the challenge and gave the matter some thought. Here's my best shot at it. Oct. 31, 2009
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Wave, Web Dynpro, and the Magic Glue: Google Wave and Web Dynpro Integration Part 1
Google Wave is here, and many active contributors from SCN have been swarming all over it, using it, experimenting, programming against its API, and discussing possible use cases and their business value. I have been working on the topic of Web Dynpro integration: How can we integrate waves and Web Dynpro? And what does this mean for the future of enterprise software? Oct. 21, 2009
Comments: 12   Rank: 4332   Page Views: 4947  (Stats updated nightly)

Join my Expert Networking Sessions at SAP TechEd 09 Vienna - RESCHEDULED
Are you making the final arrangements for your trip to SAP TechEd 2009 in Vienna? I look forward to this exciting event which is, for me, the highlight of the SAP year. Please join me for two open discussion events in the Clubhouse networking lounge on Web Dynpro as OpenSource and Custom Development with SAP NetWeaver. Note: I had to reschedule both sessions - the updates times are in the blog. Oct. 20, 2009
Comments: 0   Rank: 11187   Page Views: 560  (Stats updated nightly)

Web Dynpro as OpenSource: Built on NetWeaver, Runs Everywhere
Should Web Dynpro Java become OpenSource software? What’s in it for customers, partners, and SAP? A lively discussion is going on about these topics – here is my take on it. Oct. 7, 2009
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Speaking about information gathering, preaching about collaboration
A few days ago I had an appointment with our trainees to give them a presentation about information acquisition: how to find resources on SCN and learn about the inner workings of the system by debugging, exploring the source code, and so on. I improvised the session completely and it took an unexpected turn from information acquisition to collaboration. Sep. 18, 2009
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Composition in the Cloud: Run your own SAP NetWeaver CE 7.1 EHP 1 in the cloud (Part 3 of 3)
The final part of the three-part series about installing and running your Composition Environment trial in the cloud guides you through the installation and configuration of CE itself and wraps up everything, leaving you with a running and sharable CE installation in the cloud. Join the fun. Aug. 29, 2009
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Stop Thief - It's #blogtheft!
This Saturday afternoon, I saw a post on twitter announcing and linking to my most recent SCN blog post – but not on SCN, but on the front page of a pirate site, ill-formatted and without naming me as the author of the work. Having just put several days of work into this blog post, I was outraged about my content being pirated, and I still am. Aug. 25, 2009
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Composition in the Cloud: Run your own SAP NetWeaver CE 7.1 EHP 1 in the cloud (Part 2 of 3)
The second part of this three-part weblog series about installing your Composition Environment in the cloud describes the configuration of your system at operating system level. Come along and prepare your system for the installation of your CE trial. Aug. 23, 2009
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Composition in the Cloud: Run your own SAP NetWeaver CE 7.1 EHP 1 in the cloud (Part 1 of 3)
Are you curious about cloud computing or composition but haven't gotten around to trying it? This step-by-step blog guides you through the setup of a complete SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment trial installation in the cloud. Following the instructions, you’ll get both a CE system on the internet and valuable first-hand experience with cloud computing. Aug. 22, 2009
Comments: 5   Rank: 1817   Page Views: 5285  (Stats updated nightly)

Take Fifteen Minutes and Two Coffee Breaks to Configure Your Composition Environment 7.1 EHP 1 Trial and ESR
Have you installed your CE trial system but hesitate to configure it? Don’t feel like finding your way through the SAP Library? Start up your server and brew some coffee: We’ll take fifteen minutes and two coffee breaks to configure your CE trial.  Aug. 21, 2009
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Mark your calendar for SAP Inside Track 2010 in Bonn, Germany
It’s high time to plan for the next European SAP Inside Track! SAP Mentor Tobias Trapp and I are planning the next SAP Inside Track in Bonn, Germany. Our beautiful little town is located by the Rhine River, allowing you to combine your professional development with an extended weekend in one of Germany’s most beautiful and inspiring regions.  Jul. 21, 2009
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Join SAPtausch: What SAP Professionals can learn from Trash TV
German trash TV format “Frauentausch” has inspired a very special way of sharing ideas and knowledge between SAP professionals. Read this blog to find out how SAPtausch can benefit your company and your career by widening your perspective and letting you gain new experience. Everybody suffering from business myopia, join SAPtausch! Jul. 15, 2009
Comments: 5   Rank: 9932   Page Views: 1113  (Stats updated nightly)

Great Programmers will their Code to the New Guy
Do brilliant programmers create code that requires a genius to maintain? Is complicated code an indicator of greatness in a programmer? Or is the opposite true: You’re really good if the newbie can easily inherit your code? Jul. 1, 2009
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The Long Wait for the Web Dynpro UI Style Guide
While a standardized look and feel and consistent user experience is considered a core strength of the NetWeaver platform (especially SAPGui and Web Dynpro), there is still no publicly available UI style guide for Web Dynpro. This poses difficulties for development projects and makes simply no sense. Jun. 10, 2009
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Using MySQL with SAP JPA Persistence (3): Program, expose, and test an Entity
In the third part of the blog series about using MySQL with SAP Composition Environment, we will develop the actual JPA Entity, write an EJB 3.0 Stateless Session Bean, expose it through a web service, and test it. Jun. 4, 2009
Comments: 0   Rank: 10790   Page Views: 705  (Stats updated nightly)

Notes from the Ivory Tower Part 5: Enterprise Software Anti-Pattern "Superset Hell"
In this blog, we will have a look at a frequently encountered anti-pattern in enterprise software development: Developing the superset instead of the intersection of requirements in a shared component.  May. 20, 2009
Comments: 2   Rank: 10751   Page Views: 708  (Stats updated nightly)

Programming is a wonderfully old-fashioned craft
In this blog, I will not go anywhere near developing a Marxist theory of software development, but claim that a modern-day software developer is more like a 17th century blacksmith than his or her colleague in the next office. May. 6, 2009
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Using MySQL with SAP JPA Persistence (2): Setting up the DCs
In the second part of this blog series about developing a simple JPA-based Java Enterprise application usíng MySQL as database system, we set up the development components, add project facets for JPA programming, and maintain deployment descriptors. May. 3, 2009
Comments: 0   Rank: 7065   Page Views: 2273  (Stats updated nightly)

Are there still use cases for direct RFC calls?
A few days ago, I concluded a blog series called "ABAP Calls Java via RFC", prompting an inquiry by a fellow SCN member who asked why I was writing about RFCs between ABAP and Java in the first place. Should he not use PI and forget about direct RFCs? Yes and no, or “Jein”, as we say in German.  Apr. 23, 2009
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My 92 seconds
Craig asked the community members to present themselves in small videos of 30+ seconds length. I have already reserved 74 months for watching the videos of 1.6 million community members non-stop, and I am sure so have you. You may start here. Apr. 21, 2009
Comments: 1   Rank: 9893   Page Views: 1133  (Stats updated nightly)

ABAPers, Should You Jump the CE train?
SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment is advancing, but is the market ready for you, dear fellow ABAPer, to jump the CE train? In this blog, I share my idle and baseless speculations about future adoption of the platform, which skill-increasing investments might work, and how to get started with CE. Apr. 19, 2009
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Calling Function Modules in Parallel Universes
Tired of being restricted to the same old universe? Ready to create parallel worlds and execute the RFC function modules they expose? This blog helps you explore the multiversum within your AS ABAP. Also, it suggests some useful hacks. Apr. 16, 2009
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ABAP Calls Java via RFC (5): Configure the Connection and Run
The final part of the series shows how to configure the Java and the ABAP system to speak to each other through the SAP Gateway, and call the RFC module from ABAP. Apr. 12, 2009
Comments: 16   Rank: 451   Page Views: 8818  (Stats updated nightly)

Using MySQL with SAP JPA Persistence (1): Install and Configure
In this multi-part blog series we will develop a simple JPA-based Java Enterprise application that uses MySQL as its database system. The series walks you through downloading and configuring, programming, deploying, testing the application and finally adding some more advanced features. Apr. 11, 2009
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Notes from the Ivory Tower Part 4: Redundancy is Good for You
In this blog, we’ll have a look at the role of redundancy in our software and in the organizations we work in, and when it’s good to solve the same problem twice. Apr. 5, 2009
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ABAP calls Java via RFC (4): Implementing and Deploying the Enterprise Java Bean
In the fourth part of the ABAP calls Java via RFC blog series, we will do the actual Java programming: Create an EJB, write the deployment descriptors, and deploy it to the CE server. Dec. 2, 2008
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Notes from the Ivory Tower Part 3: Where there’s no Claimant, there’s no Judge
In the third part of my blog series about software architecture, we're going to look a popular architectural anti-pattern and how to discover it. A robust, well-written piece of software can be the whistleblower in an IT landscape when it reports errors occurring in other components or in the integration layer. This is not always to the delight of everybody involved: Sometimes people prefer not to know what's going wrong. I call this anti-pattern "Where's no claimant, there's no judge" after a German proverb. Dec. 1, 2008
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Enable ABAP Test-Drive NSP 7.01 to Release Transport Requests
Follow this quick walk-through to correct a setting in the NSP 7.01 Transport Management System in order to be able to release transport requests and share the fruits of your ABAP programming efforts with the world. Nov. 29, 2008
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ABAP calls Java via RFC (3): Creating the Development Components
In the third part of this blog series about calling Java EE functionality from ABAP via RFC, we create a Software Component and two Development Components, declare dependencies at the SC and DC level, thereby making the tutorial easily transferable to NWDI-based development scenarios. Nov. 27, 2008
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ABAP calls Java via RFC (2): Setting up the Project
In the second part of this blog series about developing a functionality for the Java EE server and calling it from ABAP via RFC, we talk about downloading and installing the Java EE server, the ABAP server, and the NetWeaver Developer Studio. Nov. 23, 2008
Comments: 2   Rank: 643   Page Views: 7754  (Stats updated nightly)

The Trouble with Tutorials and a Simple Cure
In this blog, I name two problems that sometimes make it hard to work with a tutorial (especially in NetWeaver Java), and offer suggestions on how to easily remedy them. Nov. 23, 2008
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ABAP calls Java via RFC (1): Introduction
Implement a functionality in Java, deploy it to the Web Application Server Java and call it from ABAP via RFC - this what we're going to do in this multi-part hands-on blog. Nov. 21, 2008
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Notes from the Ivory Tower Part 2: ABAP as a Setup.exe
"A Web Application Server on every desktop?" -- ABAP and the WAS are a great platform for individual application development, but the cost of running the server prevents medium and small businesses and ISVs from using it. We can leave this market to the .NET developers or we can work towards establishing ABAP and the WAS as a platform for wide use. Nov. 19, 2008
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Notes from the Ivory Tower Part 1: Why Now's the Time to Become a Software Zealot
Because of the rise Service Orientation and Service Oriented Architecture, software architects should now get in touch with their inner zealot, start preaching to those sheep gone astray, and lead them back to the path of rightenousness and componentization in order to prevent rapid architecture degeneration.  Oct. 22, 2008
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Notes from the Ivory Tower (Introduction)
Intro to an ongoing series of blogs about questions of software architecture, design, and related matters.  Oct. 22, 2008
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Community Day at TechEd 2008: A Shift in Perception
SDN Community Day at TechEd 2008 was all about contributions from and to the community, and about geeks and techies emancipating themselves from traditional top-down, classroom-style conference habits. Here's how and why it changed my perception of TechEd completely. Oct. 18, 2008
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