SAP is a market leader in enterprise business application software. SAP solutions provide a rich set of composable application modules, and configurable functional capabilities that are expected from a comprehensive enterprise business application software suite.

In most cases, companies that adopt SAP software remain heterogeneous enterprises running both SAP and non-SAP systems to support their business processes. Regardless of the specific scenario, in heterogeneous enterprises most SAP implementations must be integrated with a variety of non-SAP enterprise systems:

Portals
Messaging infrastructure
Business process management (BPM) tools
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) methods and tools
Business analytics (BA) and business intelligence (BI) technologies
Security
Systems of record
Systems of engagement

The tooling included with SAP software addresses many needs for creating SAP-centric environments. However, the classic approach to implementing SAP functionality generally leaves the business with a rigid solution that is difficult and expensive to change and enhance.

When SAP software is used in a large, heterogeneous enterprise environment, SAP clients face the dilemma of selecting the correct set of tools and platforms to implement SAP functionality, and to integrate the SAP solutions with non-SAP systems.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication explains the value of integrating IBM software with SAP solutions. It describes how to enhance and extend pre-built capabilities in SAP software with best-in-class IBM enterprise software, enabling clients to maximize return on investment (ROI) in their SAP investment and achieve a balanced enterprise architecture approach. This book describes IBM Reference Architecture for SAP, a prescriptive blueprint for using IBM software in SAP solutions. The reference architecture is focused on defining the use of IBM software with SAP, and is not intended to address the internal aspects of SAP components.

The chapters of this book provide a specific reference architecture for many of the architectural domains that are each important for a large enterprise to establish common strategy, efficiency, and balance. The majority of the most important architectural domain topics, such as integration, process optimization, master data management, mobile access, Enterprise Content Management, business intelligence, DevOps, security, systems monitoring, and so on, are covered in the book.

However, there are several other architectural domains which are not included in the book. This is not to imply that these other architectural domains are not important or are less important, or that IBM does not offer a solution to address them. It is only reflective of time constraints, available resources, and the complexity of assembling a book on an extremely broad topic.

Although more content could have been added, the authors feel confident that the scope of architectural material that has been included should provide organizations with a fantastic head start in defining their own enterprise reference architecture for many of the important architectural domains, and it is hoped that this book provides great value to those reading it.

This IBM Redbooks publication is targeted to the following audiences:

Client decision makers and solution architects leading enterprise transformation projects and wanting to gain further insight so that they can benefit from the integration of IBM software in large-scale SAP projects.
IT architects and consultants integrating IBM technology with SAP solutions.

Martin Oberhofer