Database Reference
In-Depth Information
SAP EP at its central core has a
portal framework
consisting of
◾
Portal Runtime (PRT) running iViews
◾
Portal Content Directory (PCD) that is shared between the portal and the SAP NetWeaver
AS and provides an interface to the database
◾
Database that centrally manages all portal-specific data
The portal framework supports common standard technologies and standards like HTTPS,
JDBC, SOAP, SAP Java Connector (JCo), and SAP P4 that is analogous to RMI for synchronous
and asynchronous communications and Hyperrelational Navigation Protocol (HRNP). The last
protocol is essential for providing Drag & Relate functionality within iViews. Additionally, it
supports protocols and services for authentication like the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP), Active Directory Services (ADS), and digital certificates. Via interfaces, the portal
framework uses the security mechanisms provided by the J2EE Engine of the SAP NetWeaver
AS including user authentication, Single Sign-on (SSO), authorization management, and secure
communication. The portal framework establishes an SSO mechanism that uses encrypted
cookies to safely select and use user-specific authorizations and authentication across disparate
systems.
10.4.1.3 Collaboration
As discussed in Chapter 1, Section 1.3 “Management by Collaboration,” the business environ-
ment has been witnessing tremendous and rapid changes in the 1990s. There is an increasing
emphasis on being customer focused and on leveraging and strengthening the company's core
competencies. This has forced companies to learn and develop abilities to change and respond
rapidly to the competitive dynamics of the global market. Companies have learned to effectively
reengineer themselves into flatter organizations, with closer integration across the traditional
functional boundaries of the organization. There is increasing focus on employee empowerment
and cross functional teams.
The basic idea of collaboration has been gaining tremendous ground with the increasing
importance of business processes and dynamically constituted teams in the operations of compa-
nies. By their very nature, teams are flexible, adaptable, dynamic, and collaborative. They encour-
age flexibility, innovation, entrepreneurship, and responsiveness. Increasingly, companies are
populated with worker teams that have special skills, operate semiautonomously, and are answer-
able directly to peers and to the end customers. Members must not only have higher level of
skills than before but must also be more flexible and capable of doing more jobs. The empowered
workforce with considerably enhanced managerial responsibilities (pertaining to information,
resources, authority, and accountability) has resulted in an increase in worker commitment and
flexibility. Whereas workers have witnessed gains in the quality of their work life, corporations
have obtained returns in terms of increased quality, productivity, and cost-reduction improve-
ments. Consequently, in the past few years, a new type of nonhierarchical network organization
with distributed intelligence and decentralized decision-making powers has been evolving. This
entails a demand for constant and frequent communication and feedback among the various
teams or functional groups.
The collaboration component of SAP NetWeaver includes services that support communica-
tion and collaboration in enterprise-specific business processes. It provides facilities for virtual
rooms in which users can organize their tasks and share documents, applications, and ideas. It
