Figure 1: Quick look at the architecture -- It really is this simple.

Thousands of organizations license both Lotus Notes and SAP, and yet, surprisingly, not many have created integrated applications using both software packages.

Organizations (particularly large companies) typically use SAP to automate back-office business processes of all types, ranging from Human Resources (HR) to supply chain management, customer relationship management (CRM), payroll, and many more. SAP provides huge (and mission critical) benefit to these organizations, because it delivers unparalleled functionality. One area where SAP has historically been weak, however, is in its user experience.

That isn't to say nobody is integrating SAP and Domino (I'm distinguishing between Notes client integration with SAP and Domino server integration with SAP). Hundreds of customers are using Lotus Connector and Lotus Enterprise Integrator (LEI)/Domino Enterprise Connection Service (DECS) technology to integrate and move data between Domino and SAP servers. But where are the client-side applications that wire SAP data and business processes directly into the Notes applications on users' desktops: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Workflow, etc.?

The answer is: nowhere, apparently. Until now.

In May 2006, IBM Lotus Software delivered five packaged scenarios, or "use cases" that let customers use version 7.0.1 Notes client functionality as a front-end to certain SAP processes (IBM is developing two additional scenarios as part of the Notes 7.0.2 release). The package is called "Lotus Notes access for SAP solutions" (NaSs).

The five scenarios released in May for Notes 7.0.1 are:

• Contact Management
• Time Reporting
• Vacation/leave request
• Workflow processing
• Report generation

• Employee Self Service and Manager Self Service
• Meeting Scheduling

There are two major components of the NaSs distribution: a set of two enhanced Notes templates, and a client-side version of the SAP Connector module (there are also a couple of Help NSFs, one for users and one for administration/installation).

The overall architecture of the new capabilities couldn't be easier to explain (figure 1).

The Notes client uses a couple of enhanced NTFs with pretty normal (although new) template code in them to access SAP though a connector module (more on this module later). The Connector has a LotusScript API, so the new templates simply contain "normal" user interface (UI) components, such as forms, views, and so on, and some new LotusScript ScriptLibraries. The Connector reaches out to SAP servers over the network to make remote calls.

Enhanced NaSs templates

Here's a major point about the new Notes/SAP integration capabilities: Other than the connector module, all the code is template-based, and all the source code is included in the distributed templates. OK, well, that was two major points.

Another major point is: If you have a valid license for Notes 7.0.1 (Collaboration edition), then Notes access for SAP solutions is FREE. It's posted on the IBM Business Partner download site, and on Passport Advantage.

So, not only is it free to Notes users, but you also get all the source code to implement the integration functionality. All you need is an SAP server and a valid access license for it.

The two enhanced NTFs shipped in the NaSs package for Notes 7.0.1 are:

• Mail (mail7NaSs.ntf) is an enhanced mail template that's a clone of the 7.0.1 standard mail NTF. To it, IBM added code and other design elements to implement four of the five new scenarios: Time reporting, vacation/leave request, Workflow, and Report Generation (I describe each of these scenarios in more detail later).
• Personal NAB (pernames7NaSs.ntf) is an enhanced Contacts template that contains one of the new scenarios (Contact Management), as well as a new Account form for managing access to SAP servers.