Duet Forums
SAP is organizing six Duet Forums coming to a city near you. I just registered for Atlanta, GA, on July 25, 2006. I wish I can be available at that date and I can attend. If you live in one of the six cities (San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, New York, Dallas), hurry up and register online since space is limited. Agenda like that:
Morning Session: Business Overview
- SAP and Microsoft partnership — Learn about SAP and Microsoft’s first joint product collaboration
- Duet overview — Hear how Duet software brings together business productivity and enterprise applications
- Customer experience with Duet — Gain insight into the benefits experienced and lessons learned from customers who are currently using Duet software
Afternoon Session: Technical Overview
- Duet product demonstration and key features — See the features information workers can use to perform self-service functions
- Interoperability between SAP NetWeaver and Microsoft .NET — Learn how Duet enables you to leverage your existing IT investments
- Enterprise service architecture (ESA) – Understand deployment and implementation guidelines
I realized that some new scenarios were added on Duet: Features & Functions webpage. Look at Duet: Brochures & White Papers. Especially I am interested in “Bringing Together Desktop Productivity and Enterprise Applications: A Technical Overview” document.
In creating Duet, Microsoft and SAP developers used the Microsoft .NET framework and SAP NetWeaver® platform, with enterprise services architecture (ESA).
Duet Architecture Overview
The basic architecture consists of the following major components:
- A client add-on module for the Microsoft Office environment
- An SAP add-on for the back-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
- The Duet server, which facilitates deployment and communication between the two
Duet is designed to take advantage of the open, Web services–based enterprise services architecture of the SAP NetWeaver platform. The services-based architecture of Duet allows direct calls from the client to the Web services. Microsoft Exchange is used as an asynchronous message router, which eliminates the possibility of the Exchange Server becoming a system bottleneck. Moreover, no installations or modifications to the Exchange Server are required because of the use of a services-based architecture.
The Client Add-On
This module houses several important components to support integration with the Microsoft Office suite, including the following:
- A runtime engine
- A secure cache storage for data, query assembly, and metadata
- An output queue
The SAP Add-On
The SAP add-on encompasses the following:
- An engine for bundling service requests to mySAP™ Business Suite applications
- Configuration tools and metadata repository
The Duet Server
This component serves as the deployment and communication facilitator for the client and the SAP applications. The server contains the following:
- A runtime metadata repository
- A module for formatting and routing information to the Microsoft Exchange Servers
- A deployment module for propagating updates to client systems
Software Requirements
Client System
- Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Enterprise Edition SP2 or higher
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or higher
Embedded Components
The following components are installed as a part of client setup:
- Microsoft Windows .NET framework 2.0 or higher
- Microsoft SQL Express 2005
Duet Server
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 or higher
- SAP NetWeaver 04 Java Web Application Server 6.40 SPS17 or higher
- SAP GUI 6.40
Embedded Components
The following components are installed
- Microsoft Windows .NET framework
- Microsoft SQL Express 2005
SAP Add-On
- mySAP ERP 2004 SPS12 or higher (with SAP ERP Central Component 5.0 add-on)
- SAP ESA add-on for mySAP ERP 2004
- Duet ABAP™ programming language add-on
- Duet Java add-on (located on separate instance of SAP NetWeaver 04 Java Web Application Server SPS17 or higher;
can be installed on another machine or on Duet server itself) with SAP GUI 6.40
Microsoft Exchange Server
- No additional installation, software, or hardware requirements for existing Microsoft Exchange Server landscapes
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or higher
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or higher including Microsoft Active directory server 2000
So if you plan to make a Duet between your SAP backend system and Microsoft Office applications, at first you have to notice software requirements above and make sure you are ready for Duet. Otherwise upgrade comes to stage, SAP upgrades, Microsoft upgrades, maybe hardware upgrades.
So notice functionality of Duet, is it all what you want to do? Maybe wait version 2, version 3, etc…
Consulting aspect of Duet: A consultant who installs Duet Server, Client Add-ons, and SAP add-ons. A consultant who configures Duet in terms of your SAP modules (so far HR) and your needs.
UPDATE: I am glad that my registration was approved.
Dear Mr. Karaca,
Thank you for registering for the upcoming Duet forum. You are confirmed for the following event:
Name: Tuncay Karaca
The event is being held at Atlanta, on July 25, 2006.
The agenda and event overview will be sent to you closer to the event date.
If you require additional information or have any queries on the forum, please contact your regional Microsoft or SAP contact or e-mail the Registration Office.
….
We look forward to welcoming you to Atlanta.
Kind regards,
Duet - Registration Office