Understand the technical base for Enterprise Services?

Question

Hi all,
I am trying to understand what is the technical base for enterprise services and the restrictions when activating them. The best documents I have found are:
Note 1566412 u2013 Enhancement package 6 for SAP ERP 6.0.
Note 1359215 u2013 Technical prerequisites for using enterprise services
sdn blog u201CDetermin the SOA readiness of your System with the ES Workplace (Part 1 and 2)
EHP Master Guide - https://websmp107.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700001183052011E
The documents are quite informative, however there are still questions. Maybe someone can shed some light of these:
1.) Is my understanding correct that Enterprise services can have three different base u201Cmodulesu201D?:
a. An EHP (with relation to a business function).
b. The swc u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D (without relation to a business function). E.G. ES Bundle "Bank Communication Management".
c. The SWC u201CSAP APPLu201D (without relation to a business function). E.G. u201CBusinessPartnerERPUpdateRequestConfirmation_Inu201D
2.) Is it possible to activate enterprise services (bundles) that rely on business functions after a EHP installation or ONLY during the EHP installation?
3.) Is it possible to activate enterprise services with base u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D after a EHP installation or ONLY during the EHP installation?
4.) Is SWC u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D a u201Ctechnicalu201D business function, whose activation cannot be reverted either? If yes what effect has the activation von u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D on the current ERP customizing?
5.) How do the Enterprise Services relate with Service Interface definitions from SAP Process Integration (XI Content)?
Do I need the XI Content with the service interfaces in ES Repository (and SPROXY) only if the communication is B2B (with PI) or also if the communication is Point-2-Point (without PI)?
Thanks for your feedback!
Chris

Answer 1

Hi Chris,
I'll try and provide answers where I can...
1.) Is my understanding correct that Enterprise services can have three different base u201Cmodulesu201D?:
I personally don't agree with this understanding. Enterprise Services would always relate to some or other business function, unless we have a different understanding of what "Business Function" means . What changes is how the Enterprise Services (or versions of them) are delivered.
SAP APPL for example would be relevant to most of the enterprise services shipped with a standard ECC EHP*. So it will relate to the business functionality for the applications that are shipped with an ECC installation.
2.) Is it possible to activate enterprise services (bundles) that rely on business functions after a EHP installation or ONLY during the EHP installation?
I don't understand this question but I'll try and offer a generic answer. You can activate/use Enterprise Services whenever you want to as long as they are already available in your current installation. If they are only available in an EHP that you don't have yet then you will need to upgrade (but I also seem to recall some workarounds - SAP notes - as an alternative to upgrading).
3.) Is it possible to activate enterprise services with base u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D after a EHP installation or ONLY during the EHP installation?
You decide when you would like to activate it, it's generally after. SAP will ship them anyway.
4.) Is SWC u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D a u201Ctechnicalu201D business function, whose activation cannot be reverted either? If yes what effect has the activation von u201CESA ECC-SE 60xu201D on the current ERP customizing?
There is a tool call Impact Analyzer, read up a little on it. It allows you to do an impact analysis before activating. It might also help posting a separate thread on of the ECC functional forums here on SCN for more impact analysis. I'm not sure if the activation can be reverted.
5.) How do the Enterprise Services relate with Service Interface definitions from SAP Process Integration (XI Content)?
The XI Content is the design equivalent of the Enterprise Services as you see them in SPROXY. It's only relevant in certain cases, examples:
- If you want to enhance standard SAP Enterprise Services
- If you want to do additional transformation/s & routing.
If you are planning P2P type communication, then the XI content is not relevant. One thing to be aware of though is if you have your backend ECC system connected to your PI ESR, the view that you get in SPROXY will reflect the SWC view of the ESR. So you might want to download the XI Content & import it into your PI ESR anyway.
Regards, Trevor