How to event enable on-premises SAP data and stream it across your enterprise in real-time, with Solace PubSub+ and ASAPIO

Solace PubSub+ and ASAPIO Cloud Integrator (ACI) enable enterprises to listen for changes in data generated by SAP systems on-premises (ECC modules, S/4HANA, etc.) and stream them in real-time across the distributed enterprise. For all the reasons why you might want to do this, see my first post on this topic: How to Build an Event-Driven Architecture for SAP Data.

This post focuses on the technical details of the solution. It’s based on a 6-minute webinar run by Solace’s Ricardo Gomez-Ulmke.

Here’s how it works:

Whenever a business object in an SAP system changes, there will be a new entry in the SAP Change Pointer database table (1).

Any of these changes can be set up to trigger ACI (2), where data related to the change in the business object will be extracted and processed (read/write).

From there, the data is (3) passed on to another module where it is formatted as an event, (event payload defined, topic composed).

The event is then (4) passed on to the Solace Connector, which uses SAP’s native internet connection (SAP ICM), to (5) send it to Solace PubSub+ Event Broker via an HTTP post.

The event can then be (6) streamed across the distributed enterprise, where event brokers are deployed in and connected across different environments (data centers, private clouds, public clouds, IoT, etc.).

How is this possible?

In relation to (1), (2), and (3) above, ACI is an “add-on” to on-premises SAP systems. It is installed on the same server and makes use of existing SAP technologies – it’s written in ABAP and it’s triggered natively by SAP Change Pointer (a database table that keeps track of changes in SAP business objects).

Regarding (6), PubSub+ Event Broker can be deployed as software, hardware, and as a service, in any environment (data center, private, or public cloud) and connected to form an event mesh that dynamically transmits events between any publishing and subscribing applications that touch the mesh. An event mesh is what enables events to flow across a distributed enterprise dynamically, simply, securely, and in real-time. You can learn more about PubSub+ Event Broker here.

How do you set this up?

It’s easy to configure ACI. Here’s an example: say you want to be notified when a new sales order is made. The first step is to configure ACI to monitor the sales order business object, and to get triggered whenever the order changes.

Next, you’ll define whatever payload you want to send out, be that (i) an event notification only, (ii) an event notification + metadata, or (iii) the event notification + data. And you’ll send it to Solace via HTTP using native SAP ICM. Then any other application and business process that touches the mesh can have real-time access to the event.

Want to see the joint solution in action?

Watch the demos:

Demo: Sample Scenario/Setup (3:10 mins)

Demo: User perspective/GUI (1:57 mins)

Demo: Admin perspective: How to customize ACI to send events to Solace PubSub+ (5:39 mins)

Demo: Operations perspective: How to select single events and see the trace log (2:41 mins)