Strategy for migrating from php to java in context of SAP

Question

I'm currently doing web application development in PHP. Management has told us we're standardizing on "J2EE" (and yes, I keep reminding them it's now called "Java EE"). I think the rational behind this mandate is something like "we run our business on SAP NetWeaver. We should use Java so everything is integrated".

The majority of what I do now, and what management wants us to continue doing is rapid web development. My experience with SAP so far (bobj, BW, data services) has not been positive. Insider knowledge is hard to come by. Upgrades are expensive and take forever. Every little change requires involvement from 15 different departments. My gut tells me NetWeaver will be overkill for most of our projects.

Is NetWeaver going to slow us down?

I'd like our custom web development to remain independent of our SAP environment. From what I've read, there are plenty of open source Java MVC frameworks. I envision our own test/production servers running open source application servers with our choice of database backend (we have DB2, MYSQL and SQL Server running available in house). Each developer would use local vms as their sandbox\dev environment. Interaction with SAP would be done using web services or the SAP java library.

What will we loose by not deploying our web apps on NetWeaver?

Above all I want to make sure our team stays nimble, both in speed of development and in keeping up with current technology. PHP has met those needs so far. I don't want to backtrack 5 technology years just so we can "integrate" with SAP.

Thanks.

Answer 1

if management says "we run our business on SAP. SAP has netweaver. We should use JAVA so everything is integrated" and you are going to use java on another application server, where is exactly the integration (which was the reason for switching to java)? if you ask me, you should either go the java/netweaver way or stay with php. both support "integrating" the sap system with web services or rfc calls.

SAP has it's own UI technologies "Web Dynpro for Java" and "Visual Composer" which are avaiable to you on netweaver. there is also the "Netweaver Development Infrastructure" (a QA and Transport System) which integrates the transport and deployment of changes into the sap system. these are poins you're gonna loose by not using netweaver.

Answer 2

Maybe this link can help you... http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/index?rid=/webcontent/uuid/5d9fb155-0b01-0010-8e8a-d8703df8bb9e

It talks about how PHP can work with SAP.

Answer 3

You don't need the components of NetWeaver Java to integrate with SAP; you'll be fine using the Java Connector for RFC integration, and you won't need anything specific for web services integration.

I can tell you from experience NetWeaver Java is going to slow you down, a lot. The developer studio and infrastructure aren't that great, deploying and testing is tedious, web dynpro is old and ugly, and visual composer is totally crap due to bugs (last time I checked).

If I were in your shoes I'd try to make are really good argument to stick with your current environment, or move to a non-NetWeaver Java EE environment.

Answer 4

The reasoning behind the switch to Java seems flawed. The bulk of SAP functionality still runs on the ABAP stack. RFCs, BAPIs, IDOCs etc are all written in ABAP, so moving to Java will not bring you any closer to an integrated environment. (Even if you needed to do that).

Your managers may be confused by the fact that Netweaver now has a Java stack, but it does not replace the ABAP stack. Discrete functions of Netweaver will run on either the ABAP OR the JAVA stack, not both. Web Dynpro is one exception to this rule, you can develop Web Applications in Netweaver on either the Java or ABAP stack.

However, I would not want to develop non-SAP applications in Netweaver, unless the bulk of your systems were already running on Netweaver, and the new application was the exception to the rule. From your question that does not seem to be the case. If you have SAP ECC6, you have access to the development tools if you need it. That does not mean you have to port absolutely everything to Netweaver.