Boomi for SAP

Boomi for SAP is a product to accelerate SAP integration which utilizes the functionality in Core to create your own services and integration scenarios. The product is designed to quickly guide the user to design the OpenAPI services to retrieve SAP data and quickly integrate them via Boomi.

Boomi for SAP includes functionality to send SAP Events to Boomi. This has been done to optimize how to react to events inside SAP and distribute these to Boomi. Therefore, an event framework has been built which can send messages from SAP to Boomi for specific events and/or when required to do initial load of SAP Data to the developed integrations. These events can then be utilized in Boomi to communicate with relevant systems and thereby support an Event Driven Architecture.

Boomi for SAP is composed of two parts – Boomi for SAP Core which is a SAP module/application installed on the SAP systems which Boomi for SAP communicates with, and the SAP Connector which is a branded connector optimized and UI designed to interact with the services generated by Boomi for SAP Core.
 

Boomi for SAP Core

The Boomi for SAP Core is installed on your SAP System (must be NW ABAP 7.40 SP8 or above). The application is comprised of UI and the Application.

Boomi for SAP Core UI is designed to support Business Analysts, Line of Business users and Data Citizens. It enables users with familiarity of business data to expose the data without any SAP coding.

Boomi for SAP Core Monitoring is targeted for technical SAP users focused on monitoring, creating event jobs, and data for any auditing requirements

Boomi for SAP Connector

The Boomi for SAP connector is a branded connector available in your Boomi Enterprise Platform account as one of the connectors.

It can be deployed in an basic runtime, runtime cluster, and both public and private runtime clouds. The deployment of the connector on the public runtime cloud assumes that your SAP system is accessible outside the network which the SAP system is residing.

 

Data Wizards

Data Wizards are based on a stored collection of suggested tables to expose as services, when a user wants to expose a specific business domain or business object. These collections are based on experience, where the team has stored which tables are used for various extractions of data such as chart of accounts, purchase orders, HR personnel information etc. This means a user can choose a business domain or business object and then the wizard will guide the user through exposing the tables associated with the business domain or business object.

Data wizard content is part of the ABAP installation, and will be updated when a new version of Boomi for SAP is installed.
The relation between the Data Wizard objects are one to many. This means that a business domain can be related to many business objects and a business object can relate to many tables. Whereas a table can only be related to one business object, and a business object can only be related to a single business domain.


Core Process
The following flow shows how data wizards are generated in the Core component:

• Requirements:
  • It must be clear in the UI component, that the user chooses to do Data Wizards.

• Requirements:
  • Browse Data Wizards available in local system.
    • Must be able to search via business domain e.g. "SAP MM"
    • Must be able to search via business object e.g. "Material Master" 
    • Must be able to search via table e.g. "MARA"
    • Must be able to search via wildcards in name
  • As a user it is possible to choose which Data Wizard(s) will be used in the following step.

• Requirements:
  • Must be able to de-select field(s) for table(s) 
  • Must be able to delete table(s) from the list

• This next step starts the feature "Tables". The Data Wizards link to supported functionality in Boomi for SAP, and therefore to link Data Wizards to Tables. 
• Step 3 in Data Wizards is basically a guide which ensures, that the user is guided through creating the table service(s).
• Requirements:
  • Link to existing functionality.
    • Services are created with existing functionality. It is required that the user edit each service in terms of fields and service name creating all the services at the same time. Transport and Package is generally applied to all the services.
  • When all services are created go to the next step.

• The generated services from step 3 is shown here. Nothing is generated after this step since this has occurred during step 3 in Tables. This just gives an overview of the services created and makes it possible to click ok and return to the main page.
• No separate Boomi Enterprise Platform process is made for Data Wizards, since these utilize other Boomi for SAP functionalities. 

User Guide

Data Wizards

In the following section the Data Wizards will be described and visualized.

When you enter the front page of Boomi for SAP you will find the menu on the left side, where you can choose the Data Wizards under the LIST. 



The data wizards page shows you all the data wizards that can be used to create one or more services.

 

Search Data Wizards

You can search for data wizards by using the search function in the upper right corner of the page. If you for example search on ‘Financial’, all business objects, business domains and tables containing ‘Financial’ will appear.



When you are ready to create one or more services you should choose whether to create a Single Service, a Joined Service or create several services by using Via Data Wizard. You can find the different service creation options in the menu on the left side under CREATE.
 

Via Data Wizards

In the following section the Via Data Wizards will be described and visualized by using screenshots of the steps within the process. 

When you enter the front page of Boomi for SAP you will find the menu on the left side, where you can choose the Via Data Wizards.

By clicking on 'Via Data Wizards’ you will be directed to the Data Wizards page where business objects and the associated business domains are shown. To the right of the business domains, the tables included in each business object are displayed.


 

 

Filter

You can filter on the business domains by clicking on the 'business domain' in the list.


 

 

Search Tables

You can search for tables by using the search function in the upper right corner of the page. If you for example search for ‘Financial’, all business objects, business domains and tables containing ‘Financial’ will appear.



When searching for ‘Financial’ you can see how many business objects, business domains and/or tables that contain ‘Financial’ in the name in the lower right corner.

Select & De-select

You can select or de-select a Data Wizard by clicking the 'check box' to the left. You can select all Data Wizards, by clicking the upper most checkbox. If you instead want to de-select all Data Wizards, click the upper most checkbox once again.






When you have chosen the Data Wizard(s) you want, you must click on the 'Configure services' button in the lower right corner.
 

 

Configure Services

The elements used when configuring a service will be described in this section.



Service Name: To create a service you must enter service class name for each service you want to configure. The service class name is limited to include 30 characters. If the service class name exceeds 30 characters an error will occur until the service name has been reduced to include 30 or less characters each. The amount of characters written is shown below the line of where the service class name is written.

Business Object & Business Domain: This is the business object and business domain for the tables service(s) you are about to create.

Table name: If you hover over a specific table name, a short description of the table will appear. For example, hovering over the table name 'BKPF' will show the description Accounting Document Header.
Selected fields: This is the number of fields you have selected for the table service. The default is that all fields are selected.

Edit: If you want to change the number of fields selected, you can edit the fields included in the service by clicking on the 'table icon'. You will then be redirected to a new page showing the details of the table. On this page you are able to filter the table by de-selecting individual fields included in the table. In the following, the elements shown when editing the table will be described:

Key: The key indicates whether the field is a primary key or a child element.

Field Name: The name of the field included in the table.

Description: A description of the data included in the field.

Type: The type indicates the type and length of the data included in the field.




Back: If you do not want to edit anything you can click on the 'Back' button to get back to configure the service.
Confirm: When you are done editing the table, you must click on the ‘Confirm’ button to get back to configure the service. You can then continue configuring the service.

Status: This indicates whether the service has been created successfully or not. Before the service has been created the status will be 'pending'.

Remove: By clicking on the 'remove icon' the table will be deleted from the list of tables to be configured.




Back: To add new and/or delete objects, click on the ‘Back’ button.

Continue: When you are done with the configuration of your services, you can move on to generating a service by clicking on the ‘Continue’ button.
 

Configure a service

When configuring a service you should start by entering the service class name for each service you want to configure. After that you must find out whether all fields included in the service should be included. If you prefer to de-select some of the fields you should click on the 'edit icon' and follow the process of how to edit a table described in the above section. Please note that you should click on the 'remove icon' for all the services you do not want to configure. You will not be able to continue without a service class name entered. When you have entered the service class name, made the desired edits and removed the superfluous services you must click on the 'Continue' button.
 

 

Generate Services

This section describes how to generate a service.

After entering service names for the desired service(s) and pressing the ‘Continue’ button a pop-up window will appear. If you would like to go back and change the service name or go back and add a new service, click beside the pop-up window. You will then get back to the page of configuring a service.




Transport: This is the transport that will be assigned to the service(s).

Package: The package that belong to the transport of the service(s) should be entered here. As indicated by the * in the picture below, this is a required field. If a package is not given before pressing the ‘Generate Services’ button, an error is returned. This is seen by a red logo under the Status of the service as well as a message saying ‘Missing package name, Code 500’. To correct the error, press the ‘Retry’ button in the lower right corner and the pop-up window will reappear.



Generate Services: After filling in the information explained above, you generate the service(s) by pressing the ‘Generate Services’ button. If the generation of the services were succesfully, a temporary message saying ‘All services were successfully created’ will be displayed. Successfully generating a service is also indicated by a green checkmark under ‘Status’.



Retry: If an error occurs while generating a service, you will be notified in the status column with a red '!'. In this example the error occurred because the service name is already in use. After entering and new service name, you can retry by clicking on the ‘Retry’ button.



When you have created the service(s) you will be redirected to the table services page where you can find the service(s) you just created.

 

Active Services

In this section it will be described how to find active services.

By clicking on Table Services you will be directed to the Table Services list, where configured services are shown.


 

Search Generated Service

You can search for table services by using the search function in the upper right corner of the page. If you for example search for the name ‘SKAT’, all table services containing 'SKAT' will appear.



Table Service: The table service is the service configured containing one or more tables.

Table name: The table name is the name of the table(s) included in the service.

Fields: The fields indicate how many fields that are included in the table service. The number is thereby a sum of all the fields included in the service.

Details: If you want to see the details of the table(s) and fields in the service, you can click on the 'table icon'. A pop-up window will then appear showing the details of each table(s) and the fields related to the table(s).



In the above example, you see the SKAT table. Click on the table name in the left upper corner to see the details of the fields included in the specific table. When the service is created you will no longer be able to edit the tables. To go back to the table services page click on the 'Close' button.

Package: The package that belong to the transport of the service(s). The package is written when the service is being created.

Delete: If you click on the 'garbage can icon' the table service will be deleted from the list.
 

 

Boomi Enterprise Platform

This section describes how to import the services created above into Boomi.

The Boomi for SAP connector can either be used in a start step to begin a process, or as a connection step later in a process by searching for the connector and dragging it onto the canvas. The following sections show how to start a new process using the Boomi for SAP connector in a start step. However, the options are the same in both cases.

Please note that by default the Boomi for SAP  connector returns 100 documents; however, this can be overridden by setting the Boomi for SAP - Count document property. Because this property cannot be set prior to a start step, the Boomi for SAP connection can only return 100 documents if used in a start step. For larger loads we recommend not using the connection as a start step or using a paging pattern.  Please see Boomi for SAP in the process library for an example of this.

When you enter the Boomi platform you should click on the 'Process' button in the canvas or create a
New Component within a folder.

You must then fill out the different fields shown on the start step page.



Start out by writing a 'Display Name'. After that, you should click on the drop-down arrow to select the connector Boomi for SAP. The action will then change because of the chosen connection.



By choosing Boomi for SAP, the action should by default be set to QUERY.


 

 

Connection

This section describes the process of how to connect to Boomi for SAP.

You must create a new connector or search for and select an existing connector.

Boomi licenses are based on consumed connections by runtime (basic runtime/runtime cluster) used per basic runtime, so reuse the configured connection as much as possible per runtime.

If a connection has already been created, click on the field and select the connection placed in your folder. If it is not visible you can search for the connection in the text field.

To create a new connection you must click on the small 'green plus icon'.





Then fill in the different fields shown on the connection page. If you don't know the answers, reach out to the SAP team within your organization. When all the fields have been filled out you must click on the 'Save and Close' button to get back.

Operation

You now must select, create, or search for the connector operator.

If an operation has already been created, the connector operation on the specific account, you can just click on the field and select the operator placed in your folder.

If it is not visible you can search for the connector operation in the text field.

To create a new connector operation, you should click on the small 'green plus icon' within the operation field.



You will then be redirected to the page where you can create the connector operation.

To easily find the operation in the future, you should add the name of the service you created earlier in the operation name field in the upper left corner. In this example we named the operation 'Get SKAT' because it imports the table named 'SKAT'. The service was previously created with the Single Service feature in Boomi for SAP.
 

 

Then click on the 'Import' button to query the objects. A pop-up window will then appear.

 

You must then choose an Basic runtime to run the operation by clicking on the drop-down.



After that you must choose a connection. You can either create a new one, search for one, or select a recently used connection.

When you have selected the basic runtime and the connection, click on the 'Next' button to query the objects. The basic runtime will then connect you to object types. You must then click on the drop-down and click on the desired Object Type.

Alternatively, if you click on the 'Back' button you can use filters with wildcard characters to reduce the number of returned objects.

The filter allows you to limit the objects (Services) by searching for a specific value in the service name. You can use * to search for any value. If you want to find tables ending in 'SKAT' you should search on
*SKAT. Or if you want to find all services that contain 'SKAT' somewhere in the title search on: *SKAT*.



When you have entered the desired filter for example *SKAT* click the 'Next' button. The object type shown will then contain the work 'SKAT'.




When you have selected the desired object type click on the 'Next' button. A new page will then appear showing the object type and the associated response profile. You should then click on the 'Finish' button to get back.



You will now see that your operator imports the service selected with an associated response profile. Click on the 'Save and Close' button to get back to the start step page. To finish the configuration, click on the 'OK' button.




When you have created the operation, you can add a filter and/or sort criteria which will be applied when the service loads SAP data into Boomi. Note: the filtering happens on the SAP side, so you are not exhausting the basic runtime with the filtering task.

In the bottom of the page where you just imported the SKAT object you will find Filters and Sorts. The following sections describe the filter and sort criteria.
 

Filter

The QueryFilter supports one level of nesting, where the top-level groupings will be AND’ed together and the nested expression groups will be OR’ed together. Note: Nested OR statements must have same field name in all fields, within each Logical OR group. The following describes how to filter by adding an
 
AND’ed expression group. By adding a logical sub-group to the AND’ed group you will be able to filter with OR’ed groupings under the AND’ed grouping.

Click on the 'arrow' under filter to 'Add Logical Sub-Group'.



A new field will appear where you can click on the 'arrow' and choose Add Expression. The operator to the right will by default be AND.




To add an expression, choose a field by using the drop-down. Click on the desired field and click then on the 'OK' button.



After that, a new operator field will appear. You should then click on the drop-down to choose the operator. In this example SKAT.KTOPL is chosen with the operator Greater Than.

Then you must ensure to write a 'Filter Name' that reflects the chosen field and operator. This will make it easier to find the expression later in the process.




If you want to add a second expression click on the 'arrow' beside the expression you already made and after that you should just follow the steps described above.

After you have created one or more expressions click on 'Save and Close'.




You will be redirected to the canvas, then click on '(Parameters 0 of 2 set)'.



A new page will then open to the right, click on the small 'green plus icon' to set the parameters.




A pop-up window will then appear where you must choose the Input you just created as an expression.




You can then compare your filter criteria with a variety of different values, for example the current date, a static value, or a process property. For a full list visit parameter values .



In this example two different type have been chosen:

Dynamic Process Property and Static. You will need to do different things based on which type you choose before clicking the 'OK' button to return.






When you are back at the start step page click on the 'OK' button to return to the canvas.
 

 

Sorts

Click on 'Sorts' beside the 'Filters' in the bottom of the operation page. Two big boxes will then show up.



Click on the 'plus icon' to be able to select the field you want to sort. By clicking on the field, you will be able to select the field you want to sort. After you have chosen the desired field click the 'OK' button.



When you have chosen the desired field, you will be able to select an order which can either be
Ascending or Descending.



You can add as many fields you want to sort. When you are done adding fields to sort click the 'Save and Close' button.

Note: From the canvas you will be able to configure the step. If you want to make changes in the connection or the operation you can do that directly from the canvas. For example, if you click the 'Get SKAT' you will be redirected to the configuration of the operation.