SAP NetWeaver 7.3: Pre-release Features and Functionalities from a Developers Point of View

• October 11, 2010
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With the much anticipated release of the SAP NetWeaver 7.3, our tech geeks here at Sweetlets were thrilled to get a hands-on opportunity to participate in the SAP NetWeaver 7.3 Beta for Portals program.  And because only a handful of SAP customers and clients worldwide took part in this special test project,  many people came to us for the inside scoop on this soon to be released portal version.

Disclaimer: This material is not guaranteed to be on the final 7.3 release. And even though we could not publish the exact information presented in the beta program, we carefully picked the best and most relevant details which may have the greatest affect on you. Much of this information was also exposed at the DSAG (German SAP user group) annual meeting if you were lucky enough to be there.

With such a unique opportunity of the SAP 7.3 beta program in front of us, we immediately deployed several of our apps on the not yet released platform – including Click Stream analytics, World Times and Stock Ticker iViews. Applying these business packages right out of the gate forced us to really dig deep into all the unexplored portal features and functionality.  This comprehensive understanding of how the the new platform works opens the door for smooth integration of all our business packages -and provides unique insight into helping end consumers such as yourself.  (It is always nice to be ahead of the curve too!)

But let’s get down to business!

Josef Minde, a long time developer here at Sweetlets provided us with most of the insight to the much anticipated 7.3 SAP Portal questions clients were asking. Due to the amount of information we gathered and wanting to give our readers the straight scoop, the majority of this post is in point form – right from the eyes of our keen technician.

Q: Total Participants:

• 90+ interested candidates
• 25 approved participants (15 customers/10 partners)
• 19 active participants

Q: Top Features – What will people in the SAP community find interesting with the upcoming SAP NetWeaver 7.3 release?

• Web Page Composer (WPC) improved significantly compared to current version (eg. new column layout)
• Wiki feature added
• Forum feature improved
• Quick Jump Navigation feature (search while you type for Navigation Entries all over the portal > select suggestion > open it directly without additional clicks)
• KM Archiving feature
• Change Management feature
• Back-end integration improved
• AJAX Framework Page
• New portal has some nice hidden features which are not obvious at the beginning, but one just has to explore a bit
• The pilot software was also stable

Q: Differences – What else distinguishes the old from the new?

• New technological basis: Java 1.6, JEE 5
• New role management concept: Work-Center Roles
• Different portal administration tools in the NetWeaver Administrator (NWA)
• Small differences in the user interface of the PCD administration

Q: Performance – Increase, decrease, or the same?

• From our end we didn’t notice a sizable increase. However, other participants did comment on an increase in performance.

Q: Migration – From the current platform to the latest SAP NetWeaver 7.3.

• We were able to reuse more than 95% of our 7.0 code-line
• Migration of our applications went smooth
• User interfaces, structures and API’s of the new portal look very familiar, so there is either no or not much training required for administrators who already know the old portal

Q: Release plans?

• The ramp-up is planned to start at the end of this year (2010) with the general availability planned for next year (2011).

Q: API’s

• API’s did not change much. There will be some new API’s e.g. for the AJAX Framework Page

Q: Benefits – Who will this new 7.3 version benefit the most?

• Key users that want to use Web Page Composer will like the enhanced features and improved usability
• Developers – the new Java Version and the corresponding new development tools
• Controlling – better scalability and performance
• Business – improved flexibility they will get from the collaboration tools like Wikis, Forums and WPC
• End Users – will enjoy the collaboration tools like Wikis for their daily work – without a need to involve IT
• Administrators – certainly will be keen on the new features in NWA, etc.

Q: Lessons Learned?

• On the whole, it is a major step forward for all involved stakeholders.
• There are some small changes which may make the transition to the new 7.3 expensive (e.g. if there are custom applications currently in use that cannot be adjusted to the new environment. Vendors such as Sweetlets offer free updates that guarantee compatibility with the new portal release.)
• The Ajax Framework Page provides a state-of-the-art UI.

Q: Conclusion – Some final words for our readers?

SAP listened to us and appreciated everyone’s feedback. Overall, response from participants was very positive. We participated in many one on one behind the scenes discussions, interacting extensively with the team at SAP.
From an end-user perspective, the functionality of the new SAP 7.3 is a major step forward. We are very happy to be a part of this beta program and look forward to helping SAP with future developments.

There you have it. We hoped this provided you with a bit of insight on the new SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.3 and captured your curiosity. If you are interested to learn more or have any questions regarding this or any other topic, simply contact us at . We are also very open to your comments.

**Update 1: SAP now officially announced SAP NetWeaver 7.3 for beginning 2011.

**Update 2: For the inside scoop on the 7.3 Portal details, see news item, “Sweetlets Attends Ramp-up Transfer Knowledge Workshop for SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.3”

**Special Note: A word of wisdom if you are thinking about migrating to the new 7.3 portal version (or any upgrades for that matter) – migrate the content that really matters!

Gather the necessary statistics from your current portal well in advance with tools such as Click Stream SAP Portal analytics so you can make educated decisions on exactly what content to migrate. Having this hard proof can save you and your company many man days and a lot of wasted efforts.

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