:D The Joker Challenge

Question

<b>UPDATED: Date extended to 10th October!</b>
The last few weeks have been interesting. Twice, during discussions with customers (minor problem handling in OSS) we were told that they are going live with their own developed BSP application, rollout always to more than 10000 users! We only hear about this when an OSS problem ticket is opened. Seldom do we know about the projects being done with BSP. Real life "war" stories are always the best!
This afternoon, while watching the Three Musketeers with my daughter, Mark was penning the <a href="/people/mark.finnern/blog/2004/09/17/the-three-sdn-musketeers version</a> of this epic story. One thing led to another. Doing some back of the envelope calculations with the input <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/index.sdn?page=crp_prize2.htm">cool geeky prizes</a> and my position as <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/index.sdn?content=http://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/pcd!3aportal_content!2fSDN!2fiViews!2fcom.sap.sdn.folders.pointsrewardsystem!2fcom.sap.sdn.crp.iviews.topcontributors&contenttype=url">Top Contributors</a>, gave the output anything from an iPod up to a <b>HP iPAQ!</b>
Let us use this joker card!
In the next week I will work very hard to answer questions in the BSP forum (and beg for points earned!). In addition, I will try to complete one more weblog (even although Thomas snagged my next topic!). With this, I am gunning to have one prize at the end of the week.
With this prize, I would like to sponsor the joker challenge. I am interested to know what people are doing with BSP. I am asking for people to write weblogs about the work they have done with BSP. <b>I will transfer my prize to the best weblog!</b> See rules below.
This means, that you can start today with zero points, write one weblog, and be catapulted right to the top prize (assuming I can hold the position one more week)! An HP iPAQ is winking.
The game is on!
regards, brian
<u><b>RULES</b></u> (To ensure a fair challenge!)
o) I am offering a prize which I do not yet have. I can not guarantee that I will get any prize, or which one. All I can say is that I will in this week work very hard to stay at the top. This will require that everyone in the forum take the time to review answered questions and assign the marks. However, the final risk is (unfortunately) with you.
o) <b>The deadline for submissions is the 10th of October</b> [updated!](we accept all weblogs with this date stamp). Yes, this is after the SDN competition close. If you wish to also earn marks with the SDN challenge, then the deadline is still upcoming Friday. Important is just that I earn points until this Friday to get the prize. Then you know what prize is up for grabs and have more time to write!
o) Speaking of writing, here is expectations (and the mininal requirements):
-- Must be written in English.
-- You must have permission from the company owning the BSP application to write the weblog
-- The title must be of the form "BSP In Action: ...". The "..." can be any sub-title of your choosing.
-- In the introduction section, the company must be explicitly named, including geographical data and a company logo. This is important so that we see that these are real world stories! (If this is not acceptable for your company, email me, and we can negotiate to remove this contraint!)
-- It must be a weblog of a minimum two A4 pages (when printed)
-- Very important: it must contain a minimum of three screenshots. Grey out any confidential information.
-- The text should give an high level overview of the problem (vaguely if confidential),  should discussion some sizing numbers (number of users, number of BSPs, developers,  application servers, etc). The most important section will be decisions taken section. Typical examples: "we used MVC, because..."; "we decided to go stateless as..."; "we did not use HTMLB, but our own HTML to achieve...."; "interesting aspects are the use of IGS, ...". If you were not a developer of the BSP application, we will accept as alternative a section describing in some detail the functionality of the application. Typical examples: "allows us to enter weekly data...", "give good statistic information..."; "have this nice feature ... that  ....", etc.
-- Code samples are not required
-- We do not require a life demo or link.
o) Judging: Only weblogs with the title "BSP in Action: ..." dated between today and maximum 3rd October will be accepted. If you have difficulty to quickly get your weblog online, email me ([email protected]) a Word document in time to place it online for you. The actual winning decision will be made by three colleagues that are real BSP experts. I will not decide! In addition, any remarks on this thread (and this thread only) about any of these weblogs will also be included into making a final decision. So getting as many other people as possible to give favourable comments on your weblog in this thread is definitely going to help you! Please understand that I do not have the infrastructure to handle an online voting, etc. I trust in the opinion of my three colleagues and the noise here! The decision is final and not negotiable!
o) What/how will be judged: the size/importance of the project will play no role. The quality of the writing will not be judged. The most important criteria will be the detail of the information presented. The more you tell, with the more detail, the higher your chances are. Screenshots will also be weight heavily! Both positive and negative aspects will be weighted equally. We are interested in the true "war" stories, and can handle the heat in the kitchen. A happy end would be nice
o) Who can participate? Effectively anyone. What is <b>NOT</b> allowed, is to write about BSP applications developed at SAP. Also <b>NOT</b> acceptable are weblogs
about modifications to such SAP developed BSP apps. Accepted will be weblogs about any BSP applications developed done by or for customers. As author of the weblog, it is not required that you actually participated in the BSP developed. You can be an user of the application, a tester, someone that helped in the design, anyone! We are interested in the scope of the developments. What is also perfectly acceptable, is that (SAP) consultants write about BSP applications developed at/for customers (only with their express permission!). It is also quite acceptable that more than one person write about the same BSP development (just don't spoil the working atmosphere with your colleagues:). It would be nice if those people already on track to win a price not participate, but this is only asked and not explicitly prohibted.
o) What to do if I just stumbled into this forum and we have never before developed any BSP applications? For this, we will also accept all weblogs that write about development using other SAP technologies. For example applications developed in SAP Enterprise Portal, or using Web Dynpro for Java, or even acceptable is an application developed in SAPGUI. However, this must be an application developed at and for a customer, and not any SAP development! The above rules for judging still apply! Most important is that you still use the title format "BSP In Action: ...".  We leave the "...." open for your imagination and will see how you bend it to fit:)
o) Finally, please accept that I have exactly this one prize (which I must still earn!) for the challenge. Unfortunately only one person can win. However, in the end everyone will win, as there is nothing more interesting than reading how other people tackled problems and made a success!
<b><i>So start writing today: given that at least three screenshots are required, it should not be difficult to fill at least two pages!</i></b>

Answer 1

Last night the Joker Challenge quietly came to an end. This morning I peeked into SDN and into my mailbox.
At a first glance, it does not seem that all that many weblogs made it into SDN. But looks can be slightly deceiving in this case. Officially three articles were published, over which I am very happy. In addition, I have received two additional descriptions by email, which can unfortunately not be shared. One text was rejected by the "owning" company (all top secret, I was not even told the name!). For one project, the consultant gave me a live demo, and then I could quickly help with some debugging. One or two were promised, but I suspect exchanged for a good holiday stateside (would have been my decision as well!). So, even if it has not been possible to share everything, I have definitely learned a lot about what is been done with BSP out there. Which makes me achieve my goals.
Three "BSP in Action" weblogs have been published. Each one has been excellent to read, and has shown the time and effort that was invested into both the BSP development, and the writing of these weblogs.
Thomas Jung opened the dance with <a href="/people/thomas.jung3/blog/2004/09/20/bsp-in-action-kimball-international">BSP in Action: Kimball International</a>. This was a very impressive piece of writing and especially that "will code ABAP for food" photo made me wonder whether it is time to learn Java. Gracefully, Thomas has declined to participate, as he had <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/documents/a1-8-4/sdn%20at%20sap%20teched%2004%20san%20diego%20_%20a%20new%20experience.article">already hauled away a 21" LCD flat-screen monitor</a>. The final <a href="/people/mark.finnern/blog/2004/10/06/well-deserved was given by Mark!
Days later, Stefan Riedel-Seifert followed this up with <a href="/people/stefan.riedel-seifert/blog/2004/09/23/bsp-in-action-mmmendresshauser">BSP in Action: MMM@Endress+Hauser</a>. And although we have known about this project for a long time, this was the first time that we have actually "seen" it. We spend hours ogling at the screenshots. A few emails later, and we were richer a number of bits and pieces of coding. We actually learned a thing or two! Hopefully soon, Stefan will write a new weblog, to show us a few more of his tips and tricks (handling of Excel!).
About the last entry, <a href="/people/ulli.hoffmann2/blog/2004/10/11/bsp-in-action-strategic-freight-procurement-with-basf-epilog">BSP in Action: Strategic Freight Procurement with BASF EPILOG</a>, which reached my mailbox last night, I was also very happy. We have known Ulli already a very long, probably since his and our first BSP days. As external consultant he has even worked a while for the BSP-team and certainly knows his stuff! (About that new 640 logon application he did, we must still write a weblog. It has many new features and should soon replace the old SYSTEM application as standard. Unfortunately only in 640.) The EPILOG project has everything in it that a good B2B application should have. Write once, save money every day.
I would not like to write to much about each weblog, more than to say I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. And I also hope that the rest of the forum did share the pleasure (even although comments have been rare?). Each of these three weblogs have shown beyond doubt that BSP is an enabling technology with which to develop industrial strength applications.
This morning I have requested the three judges to make the final call. At least, with Thomas already happy with his 21" screen, it reduced to only two excellent weblogs in the running. I am glad that I did not have to make the final call. And as was expected, it took hours of deliberation (hopefully they did not had to flip a coin:).
And the winner is: .....Stefan Riedel-Seifert!
A thorough interrogation of the judges showed that it was a close call. In the end, they were swayed by the "work of love" (their words). The E+H development was done using only hand-written HTML (started in 610 days before the HTMLB library), and really shows the BSP power to achieve pixel-perfect rendering!
To everyone that has participated, both in the weblogs published and the private ones received, I wish to say thank you! I have enjoyed these "war" stories to the maximum.
regards, brian