Articles

Introduction

Leading and General Articles

The following articles set the stage – they introduce composite applications, and explain the many new terms used in this field.

Designing xApps, Examples of SAP xApps

This group of articles presents xApp design issues as well as SAP software projects and products in the xApp area.

 

xApps and Composite Application Design

Previous Editions: Edition 7 – published October 20, 2003 • see the disclaimer below

Sunflowers are composite flowers - xApps are composite applicationsThis seventh edition of the SAP Design Guild focuses on the design of composite applications, which SAP's xApps are a forerunner of.

At present, many companies are faced with the challenge of quickly reacting to their customers' needs – not only locally but around the whole world. This situation forces companies to improve communication and collaboration, for example by ad-hoc or evolving teams, in order to guarantee improved decision-making and increased productivity.

Traditional applications can no longer keep up with this development as they are designed for specific functions and users. The challenge for new applications was to steer away from the tendency toward single processes, functions, and users. New applications should:

  • Serve business processes that cross multiple functions
  • Target multiple users even across inter-enterprise boundaries
  • Integrate functions that were previously supported by independent generic applications

Composite applications represent a new breed of applications that try to meet these challenges. They are built on top of the company's heterogeneous technology landscape, thus enabling cross-functional business processes and securing existing software investments. This edition takes a closer look at composite applications and xApps, SAP's new breed of composite applications.

Read the introduction Crossing Boundaries with Composite Applications
and the leading article Packaged Composite Applications: A Liberating Force for the User Interface by Dan Woods

Further Highlights

Read also xApps – A New Practice for Next Practice by Karen Holtzblatt and Jörg Beringer
Process Recombination: An Ontology-Based Approach for Business Process Re-Design by Abraham Bernstein
and The Agile Dance of Architectures – Reframing IT Enabled Business Opportunities by John Hagel and John Seely Brown

 

Disclaimer: Please note that this edition was written in 2003. Therefore, statements in the articles, particularly those regarding SAP's products, product strategy, and organizational structure, may no longer be valid.

 

Further Editions