TechEd '07: Technical developments designed to impress the boss |
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By Eric Samuels
16 Oct 2007 | SearchSAP.com |
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LAS VEGAS -- Attendees at TechEd 2007's Pimp mySAP -- Top Five Cool Technical Developments to Impress your Boss session got some quick and easy tips designed to make the average SAP developer's life a little easier via shared memory and Web services.
Alex Schuchman, senior manager of business intelligence (BI) and global information technology at Colgate-Palmolive Co., conducted the session at SAP's TechEd '07 developer conference, held Oct. 1-5. Schuchman's two most significant tips dealt with utilizing ABAP shared memory to speed up database buffer time and using Web services to retrieve BI data.
"The main reason I did this is, I was sitting in a session last year when I [first] heard about shared memory," Schuchman told attendees. "That justified my whole trip [to TechEd] last year."
TechEd takeaway: Utilize ABAP shared memory to "buffer" data
The average SAP developer has never even heard of ABAP shared memory much less worked with it or even utilized it to their advantage, according to Schuchman. He boasted that using this development will buffer data to help alleviate database read/write times on any custom program with which it's associated.
"I think what we typically try to do as developers is set up what SAP gives us [without any customization]; we implement an existing software package, but then we're writing so much code that in the end we're really crossing over and becoming a 'customizer' or an enhancer," Schuchman said.
TechEd takeaway: Retrieve BI data with Web Services
Developers will be able to integrate key BI query information into their BSP (business server page) application using Web services to retrieve BI data, Schuchman said. There is no need to hand code this framework as well because SAP generates the Web service. Avoiding dual maintenance of business logic in BI will allow users to utilize BI for what it was designed for, OLAP processing of large data sets.
"From our perspective we do a lot of customization -- more than most -- so we feel like we're always trying to make something fancy," Schuchman said. "We're really pimping out these SAP products."
Check out SearchSAP.com's SAP best practices tips section next week for the rest of Schuchman's technical developments to impress your boss.
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