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asp.netsap-basis

SAP Portal vs an ASP.NET Portal ... proof of concept?

We have an SAP portal, which is not user friendly from clients point of view, we as ASP.NET developers suggest to use ASP.NET as a presentation layer for SAP backend system instead of SAP portal. We already integrated successfully to SAP backend for data insert and retrieval.

So, we need to show ASP.NET power to SAP Team! How an ASP.NET portal will be much better than SAP portal. We though of AJAX functionality, look & feel of UI, and application mobility (cross browser).

So, what are the pros and cons of an ASP.NET portal compared to SAP portal? What are the issues SAP portal has, ASP.NET doesn't? Briefly, how to convince decision makers of ASP.NET over SAP from UI/Performance points of view?

Solution

  • My five cents:

    1. Nobody ever got fired for a SAP portal that didn't really work
    2. On the other hand, if you have a portal you make yourself, the potential to get fired when it doesn't work is much higher, because you can't blame SAP for everything.
    3. SAP software never really works (corollary)
    4. Consider point 3 on point 2 and the impact a failure of your portal will have on your carreer
    5. Do you have the TIME to do that ? ( = != do you have the knowledge)
    6. In case you are a Windows Forms developer, are you aware that it's much more difficult to make web UIs interactive (JavaScript compatibility + security issues) ?
    7. Caution with AJAX. Ajax is great, and so is Google Chrome, but IE 8 & 9 aren't, and there also still is IE 6
    8. Is it for internal use only ? If so, I strongly recommend Silverlight over AJAX (see points 7, 6)
    9. Do you sufficiently understand the SAP system ? What if SAP makes updates that breakes your system ?
    10. Data validation: SAP doesn't do it, the interface must do it, are you capable of that (date formats & internationalization, Unicode) ?
    11. Have you really already integrated successfully a SAP backend for data insertion and retrieval? Or did you just talk about it? Was it in productive use? Are you sure it works ? SAP systems are highly complex things, don't ever say you're quickly gonna do anything there.