Digital Symposium Collection 2000

Interoperability of Java-based Applications and SAP's Business Framework State of the Art and Desirable Developments M. Aleksy and A. Korthaus   View Paper (PDF)   Return to Track II: Interoperability Abstract Interoperability of Java-Based Applications and SAP's Business Framework State of the Art and Desirable Developments As the leading vendor of enterprise business standard software, SAP has recognized the need to adapt their R/3 system to current trends in software development and to meet market needs for speed of development, flexibility, openness and inter-operability. In this paper, we first present SAP's approach to object-oriented and component-based technology by describing the Business Framework, the concepts of Business Objects, BAPIs, and the Business Object Repository. On this basis, we then analyze current communication architectures and products enabling the interaction of external Java-based software applications with SAP R/3, point out the advantages and disadvantages of different solutions and finally elaborate on potential strategies and steps for driving the evolution of SAP R/3 in order to further increase interoperability, openness and flexibility. Copyright(C) 2000 ACM