Plumtree Software, which specializes in corporate portal software, Monday says it is set to release a new framework that will benefit anyone using SAP business software within its company.
San Francisco-based Plumtree, which makes modular portal services known as “Gadgets,” has expanded its service to include ways to integrate SAP R/3 data into the Plumtree Corporate Portal without any coding. The framework is called Enterprise Class Gadget Framework for SAP R/3.
The new SAP Framework connects to dynamic libraries of all the objects and functions available in SAP R/3, which lets a compnay’s SAP experts be flexible.
To create a Gadget Web Service, SAP experts use the Framework to navigate the SAP Business Object Repository (BOR), a library of SAP business data and processes. The SAP Framework accesses the BOR through a new technology developed by another Plumtree program called the Java BOR Connector (JBC), a programming interface that connects to SAP through the SAP Java Connector (JCo). The JBC offers SAP developers a rich library of capabilities for creating Web applications based on SAP data and processes, which simplifies development, and its adapter-based support for JCo and other SAP interfaces insulates developers from changes to the underlying SAP interfaces.
The company says the self-service approach is more cost-effective and practical than developing a wide range of graphical Web Services that have to be adapted to every customization of SAP.
“Until now, developers have been the bottleneck for Web-enabling electronic resources from large systems in a corporate portal. By offering a new, self-service paradigm for bringing these resources to the broad audiences of the portal, Enterprise Class Gadget Frameworks promise to change the way organizations deliver services to their employees, customers and partners,” says Plumtree CEO John Kunze.
The Enterprise Class Gadget Framework for SAP R/3 should be available by August 22, 2001.
