During our SAP Community Call of SAP Integration Suite on Dec 9^th, 2021, you asked us a few questions, which I would like to answer as Q&A in this blog post.

In the community call “SAP Integration Suite – Overview, Recent Innovation and Roadmap,” my colleague Udo Paltzer tells you about SAP Integration Suite, which is SAP’s Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service for the integration of heterogeneous system landscapes. SAP Integration Suite supports the integration of APIs, processes, data, events, etc. In this SAP Community Call, you can learn more about the key scenarios, capabilities, and benefits of SAP Integration Suite. This session also covers the recent innovation and the roadmap for SAP Integration Suite. Kindly discover the Replay and Presentation.

By joining this call, some participants of you took the chance to address your question with the expert. I prepared a short overview for you of Q&As:

Q: How are companies using the SAP Integration Suite?

• You can learn how companies use SAP Integration Suite in our Business Transformation Studies on SAP Customer Reviews & Stories | Software & Technology Solutions and also on in SAP Discovery Center – Integration Suite – Customer Stories (cloud.sap).

Q: Is there any existing solution to integrate SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur? If not, is there any plan to build that?

• A: Yes, for SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur, you can find pre-packaged integration content, APIs, connectors, and integration flows of SAP Integration Suite in the SAP API Business Hub:
  • SAP SuccessFactors: Overview | SAP SuccessFactors | SAP API Business Hub
  • SAP Concur: Overview | SAP Concur | SAP API Business Hub

Q: There is a Salesforce adapter running on the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite, and there is also an Open Connector for Salesforce. What is the reason for two possibilities, what is the future for both, and which one would be recommended to use?

• A: It is the customer’s choice. Both options are provided. Open Connectors capability of SAP Integration Suite provides a harmonized out-of-the-box API strategy for multiple third-party providers. If customers want to create a seamless API strategy, Open Connectors would be preferred. Suppose you work with heavy orchestration or transformation or mapping use cases in the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite – in that case, you may use adapters offered by the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite. It depends on the customer’s preference.
• In the future, SAP Integration Suite will provide even more adapters, connectors, and integration content for much more applications and systems, e.g.:
  • Integration content from SAP LOB’s & our community
  • Commercial partner content
  • Non-SAP adapters via Integration Factory: Dropbox, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, RabbitMQ, Slack, Splunk, …
  • B2B type systems in Integration Advisor for Business Partner & Network integrations
• Please discover the roadmap for SAP Integration Suite.

Q: What can I do if the APIs of “my” SAP S/4HANA module are not in SAP API Business Hub?

• A: With SAP Integration Suite, you have the option to integrate any APIs, i. e. also your own custom APIs; in this case, you can design your own integration scenario with SAP Integration Suite.
• Additionally, customers and partners can provide feedback and request further APIs or pre-packed integration content via the feedback option on the SAP API Business Hub.
• Furthermore, all customers and partners can write and vote for feature requests, e.g., special adapters, connectors, functions, etc. in SAP Integration Suite on our Influence Opportunity Homepage – Customer Influence (sap.com)

Q: How do we manage the connectors with non-SAP applications, and if the open connector is not readily available?

• A: Next to the Open Connector capability of SAP Integration Suite, there is also a Cloud Integration capability with adapters and inclusive non-SAP connectivity. It is the customer’s choice. Both options are provided. Open Connectors capability of SAP Integration Suite provides a harmonized out-of-the-box API strategy for multiple third-party providers. If customers want to create a seamless API strategy, Open Connectors would be preferred. Suppose you work with heavy orchestration or transformation or mapping use cases in the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite – in that case, you may use adapters offered by the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite. It depends on the customer’s preference.
• A: If you need more adapters, then you can either create your own adapters using the Archive Development Kit (ADK) of the Open Connector capability of SAP Integration Suite or/and additionally you can create a request on our Influence Opportunity Homepage – Customer Influence (sap.com), where all customers and partners can write and vote for feature requests, e.g., special adapters, connectors, functions, etc. in SAP Integration Suite.

Q: What is the primary difference between SAP Integration Suite and SAP Cloud Platform Integration for Data Services (CPI-DS)?

• A: The data integration capability SAP Cloud Platform Integration for Data Services is called SAP Cloud Integration for data services now, and it is included in the data integration capability of SAP Integration Suite, i. e. SAP Cloud Platform Integration for Data services is still available as SAP Cloud Integration for data services and mainly used in the context of Integrated Business Planning (IBP) integration. Furthermore, SAP Data Intelligence belongs also to the data integration capability of SAP Integration Suite. You can find further details about the data integration capabilities of SAP Integration Suite, including the use cases and use case patterns in the Data Integration section of the SAP Integration Architecture Guide for Cloud and Hybrid Landscapes.

Q: When can we expect B2B standard functions in SAP Integration Suite?

• A: B2B is already supported today, such as EDI converter, ack handling, archiving, support for AS2 adapter, and Integration Advisor to build message implementation. Furthermore, several B2B libraries are available for different B2B standards, such as ANSI X12 and EDIFACT. Mapping guidelines are also a key component of the B2B/EDI support. Additionally, Trading Partner Management to centrally manage trading partners, as well as B2B Monitoring, are available in SAP Integration Suite.

Q: Is there any standard out-of-box solution for the message resend/retry option in SAP Integration Suite rather than JMS queues which are limited per tenant.

• A: SAP Integration Suite has a flexible pipeline where you have more control over building your orchestration compared to SAP Process Integration/SAP Process Orchestration, which has a fixed pipeline. This means that you need to explicitly model scenarios for retry.
• While SAP Process Integration/SAP Process Orchestration and Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite are cousins and follow many similar patterns, they are not intended to be the same product. The Retry approach will mature as time goes on, but there are many benefits to JMS queues for guaranteed delivery, including performance in the cloud, which is why SAP chose it as a strategic investment for now. Expect more developments in the future.
• Furthermore, JMS Queues are unlimited with the SAP Integration Suite license.

Q: Is Integration Studio a separate IDE tool?

• A: No, Integration Studio is part of SAP Integration Suite and basically harmonizes the tooling of the different capabilities of SAP Integration Suite. You can find further information about the planned harmonized user experience on the public Roadmap for SAP Integration Suite, particularly under the term Integration Studio.

Q: As part of the new Integration Studio of SAP Integration Suite, will you address the fact that the layouts of the connections between the components are not saved?

• A: It’s a valid feature request, thank you very much. We plan to harmonize the tooling of SAP Integration Suite via a common Integration Studio; additional details you can find on “Integration studio” on SAP Integration Suite Roadmap. Additionally, we already received a feature request here: Improvement Request Details – Customer Influence (sap.com) – User-friendly Message Mapping Editor in CPI. Please vote for it or request your own request on our Influence Opportunity Homepage – Customer Influence (sap.com).

Q: I am trying the trial version of SAP Integration Suite and have noticed that I have to re-login to enable entitlements, capabilities. Would it be the case in the actual product, too?

• A: Now Free Tier is available for SAP Integration Suite and SAP BTP, please see SAP Integration Suite Free Tier is Now Available on SAP BTP! | SAP Blogs. With Free Tier, you can enable all capabilities of SAP Integration Suite, and once you have the licensed SAP Integration Suite, you have all the correct entitlements in place.

Q: Will the Integration Advisor support message mapping?

• A: The Integration Advisor capability of SAP Integration Suite already provides:
  • Definition and documentation of interfaces and mappings
  • Central documentation of B2B and SAP libraries
  • Intelligent and crowd-sourced proposal service
• Export and import of message implementation guidelines and mapping guidelines are planned in MIG editor along with the roadmap for SAP Integration Suite. In MAG editor, optimized mapping proposals are planned.

Q: I would like to understand the SAP’s road map for IoT?

• A: Integration of IoT platforms and devices is already possible with SAP Integration Suite.
• As an Add-On for SAP Integration Suite, you can custom IoT device-connected scenarios with CPEA license or Pay-As-You-Go license, where you can purchase SAP Integration Suite and SAP Internet of Things as parts of SAP Business Technology Platform.
• Please discover planned IoT features on the roadmap of SAP Internet of Things as well as the SAP roadmap of features tagged with “Focus Topic”: Internet of Things.

Kindly have a look at my blog post with a long list of Q&A coming during our SAP TechEd 2021 sessions: SAP TechEd 2021: Watch the SAP Integration Suite session recordings and discover the SAP Integration Suite FAQs | SAP Blogs

If you have further questions, please write your question in SAP Community here SAP Integration Suite Community Topic page, or here: SAP Integration Strategy topic page.

More Community Calls you can find in the SAP community calls list.

Best Regards,

Milena

References:

SAP TechEd 2021: Connecting Your Enterprise with SAP Integration Suite | SAP Blogs

Accelerate Enterprise Integrations with SAP Integration Suite |

Learning Journey: SAP Integration Suite

SAP Discovery Center – Integration Suite (cloud.sap)

Integration Architecture Guide for Cloud and Hybrid Landscapes Based on SAP® Integration Solution Advisory Methodology

CIO Guide: SAP’s Hybrid Integration Platform for the Intelligent Enterprise

SAP Road Map Explorer

Influence Opportunity Homepage – Customer Influence (sap.com)