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SAP earnings for Q1 2024 showed rises in cloud revenue and healthy cloud backlog, but the company must keep customers in the fold to drive future growth.

SAP earnings for Q1 indicate strong cloud growth | TechTarget

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SAP Stock Rises on Earnings Report. What Happened.

Shares of software provider SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) (DE:SAP) were little changed in after-hours trading after the company reported earnings for its first quarter of Fisca...

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Enterprise application software company SAP has introduced artificial intelligence advances for its supply chain solutions.

SAP Debuts New AI Offerings for Supply Chains

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript April 22, 2024 SAP SE isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here). Operator: Welcome, and thank you for joining the SAP Q1 2024 Financial Results Conference Call.

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

For the three months ended Mar. 31, SAP reported adjusted earnings of €0.81 per share, missing the consensus estimate of €1.06 per share. Revenue came in at €8.04 billion, also below the €8.63 billion expected by analysts.

SAP rises as Q1 print delivers 'solid update against elevated expectations' By Investing.com

SAP SE (NYSE:NYSE:SAP) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript April 22, 2024 5:00 PM ETCompany ParticipantsAnthony Coletta - Chief Investor Relations...

SAP SE (SAP) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking Alpha

What is a Sap Temporary  License Keys? An SAP temporary license key is a license used to activate SAP software that can only be used for a limited period of time. These keys can be used for evaluation purposes or during a system migration. They are temporary solutions and usually expire after a certain period of time. How to get the Sap BO Temporary License keys? Temporary keys: The SAP Support Portal provides temporary Business Objects license keys in case of any error while creating a permanent license key. You can download these keys by logging on to the link on the Support Portal and selecting the "Get Temporary License Key" link. These temporary license keys are valid for a maximum of 90 days. www.service.sap.com/licensekey Method 1: Manual download Open the URL and click here to download a file called "bobj-temp-license-key.zip": www.service.sap.com/licensekey After unzipping, there is a pdf file named "SAP Analytics Emergency License Key Process", in which you can find the License Key you need. Method 2: Automate the process of getting Sap Temporary keys using Python Download bobj-temp-license-key.zip You can use the library to download the zip file directly and save it in a specific path. requests import requests
import os

# Define the URL of the zip file
zip_file_url = 'https://support.sap.com/content/dam/support/en_us/library/ssp/my-support/keys/bobj-temp-license-key.zip'

# Define the folder path where you want to save the zip file.
download_zip_path = r"C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\Projects\\download_zip"

# Ensure the download folder exists
os.makedirs(download_zip_path, exist_ok=True)

# Create the full path for the zip file
zip_file_path = os.path.join(download_zip_path, 'bobj-temp-license-key.zip')

# Send a GET request to the URL and save the content to the zip file
response = requests.get(zip_file_url, stream=True)
with open(zip_file_path, 'wb') as zip_file:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=128):
        zip_file.write(chunk)

print(f"Zip file downloaded to: {zip_file_path}") Unzip the zip file to get the pdf The SAP Temporary Keys are saved in the PDF file, which you need to extract from the zip file first. You can use to obtain the information. zipfile import zipfile

# zip the zip file into 'bobj-temp-license-key'
file_path_zip = r"{}/bobj-temp-license-key.zip".format(download_zip_path)

if os.path.exists(file_path_zip):
    zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(file_path_zip)
    zip_file.extractall(keys_path)
    zip_file.close()

# you can get the path of the pdf after unzip
file_path_pdf = "..." Get the required Licence Key from the pdf file. Take SAP BusinessObjects Temporary Licence Key as an example; the Licence Key is located on the second page of the pdf after the "CPU 4.2" field; after testing to determine the SAP BusinessObjects Temporary Licence Key, the Licence Key is located on the second page of the pdf after the "CPU 4.2" field, after testing to determine the SAP BusinessObjects Temporary Licence Key. The Licence Key is located after the "CPU 4.2" field on the second page of the pdf: import PyPDF2
import os

# Get SAP BusinessObjects Tempory Licence Key
def get_key_from_text(text):
    start = text.find('CPU 4.2') + 8
    return text[start:start + 32]

# file_path_pdf is the path of the pdf in the previous step 
if os.path.exists(file_path_pdf):
    pdf_file = open(file_path_pdf, 'rb')
    pdf_reader = PyPDF2.PdfReader(pdf_file)
    page = pdf_reader.pages[1]
    text = page.extract_text()
    latest_key = get_key_from_text(text)
    pdf_file.close() Automate Updating Process If you need to update the license key every 90 days, you can save the license key in a txt file and compare it with the locally saved license key after you successfully get the latest license key, if latest_key! If latest_key != current_key, then replace latest_key with current_key to ensure that the latest license key is always saved in the txt file. if os.path.exists(file_path_pdf):
    pdf_file = open(file_path_pdf, 'rb')
    pdf_reader = PyPDF2.PdfReader(pdf_file)
    page = pdf_reader.pages[1]
    text = page.extract_text()
    latest_key = get_key_from_text(text)
    pdf_file.close()
    if latest_key != current_key:
        with open(current_key_txt_path, 'w') as file:
            file.write(latest_key)
        print("license updated, latest license", latest_key)
    else:
        print("license didn't update, current license:", latest_key)
else:
    print("PDF is not exists") Thank you for taking the time to explore data-related insights with me. I appreciate your engagement. If you find this information helpful, I invite you to follow me or connect with me on . Happy exploring!👋 LinkedIn

How to Use Python Automatically Get the Sap BO Temporary License keys?

Automating SAP GUI with PyAutoGUI involves using the Python package to simulate mouse clicks and keyboard inputs, allowing for navigation of the SAP system and extraction of data. It offers the advantage of not requiring extra rights and permissions, but may be less efficient and require more maintenance. This method is best for situations where access to APIs or databases is restricted and there is a need to automate tasks within the SAP GUI environment. Solution The solution involves two main parts. The first part focuses on automating SAP Logon, while the second part involves simulating clicks and typing using PyAutoGUI. To achieve this, the process of manually downloading data from SAP GUI is replicated by utilizing PyAutoGUI to simulate all necessary clicking and typing actions. Step 1: Automating SAP Logon open saplogon.exe this code uses package to open the saplogon.exe that has been installed on your Windows computer. If the installed in another path, feel free to replace it. subprocess saplogon.exe import subprocess

# open SAP GUI
sap_logopn = r"C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\FrontEnd\SAPgui\saplogon.exe"
subprocess.Popen(sap_logopn) maximize the window Maximizing the window will be beneficial for the next step, as we need to specify precise coordinates for each click and typing area. This will ensure greater accuracy and efficiency in our task. After opening the , we can use the shortcut + to maximize the SAP GUI. In Python, the code to achieve this using the library is . saplogon.exe Win Up pyautogui pyautogui.hotkey('win', 'up') import pyautogui

# maximize the window
pyautogui.hotkey('win', 'up') Log On after opening the and maximizing the window, we need to click the button and then type in your User and Password to login in. saplogon.exe Log On Auto Clicking Lon On Button Hover over the button and run the following code to print the coordinates. Then use the printed values to define the variables and . Log on log_on_button_x log_on_button_y x, y = pyautogui.position()
print("The current position of the mouse is: X-axis {} and Y-axis {}.".format(x, y)) log_on_button_x = x
log_on_button_y = y
pyautogui.click(log_on_button_x , log_on_button_y) Typing User and Password Hover over the Client(optional), User and Password and use the same method to get the coordinates of the typing area. x, y = pyautogui.position() is used to simulate clicking on specific coordinates on the screen, and is used to type the username and password. pyautogui.click pyautogui.typewrite Remember to adjust the coordinates (x, y) according to your specific scree size. Additionally, you may need to add small delays using to ensure that each action is executed properly. time.sleep # client
client_x = 'client_x'
client_y = 'client_y '
pyautogui.moveTo(x=client_x, y=client_y, duration=0.25)
time.sleep(1)
pyautogui.click(client_x, client_y)
time.sleep(1)
pyautogui.hotkey('ctrl', 'a')
time.sleep(1)
pyautogui.press('delete')
pyautogui.typewrite('client')
time.sleep(2)

# user
user_x = 'user_x'
user_y = 'user_y'
pyautogui.click(user_x, user_y)
pyautogui.typewrite('account')
time.sleep(2)

# password
password_x = 'password_x'
password_y = 'password_y'
pyautogui.click(password_x, password_y)
pyautogui.typewrite('password')
time.sleep(2)

# login in 
pyautogui.press('enter') When the default language on your computer is not English, it may cause an error in the login process. You can use the following code to set your language to English. from win32api import SendMessage
from win32con import WM_INPUTLANGCHANGEREQUEST
from win32gui import GetForegroundWindow

SendMessage(GetForegroundWindow(), WM_INPUTLANGCHANGEREQUEST, 0, 0x4090409) == 0 Step 2: Simulating Clicks and Typing with PyAutoGUI Typing TCODE After logging in successfully, the next step is to enter the transaction code (tcode). def type_tcode(tcode, tcode_x, tcode_y):
    pyautogui.click(tcode_x, tcode_y)
    time.sleep(2)
    pyautogui.typewrite(tcode)
    time.sleep(2)
    pyautogui.press('enter') individual filters and export the data You can use to simulate individual filters by following the same logic as the first step. First, obtain the coordinates of the filters and then use to simulate the necessary operations. If you need to press , , or , you can use . If the report in SAP requires a significant amount of time to run, be sure to use to allow for ample time. pyautogui pyautogui enter delete right pyautogui.press('enter') time.sleep() Additionally, if you want to extract data from the report, you can use to locate and click on the necessary fields or buttons to export the data. After exporting the data, you can use Python libraries such as to manipulate the data as needed. Using , you can automate the process of generating reports in SAP by simulating mouse and keyboard inputs to navigate the SAP interface and extract the required information. This can save significant time and effort by streamlining the reporting process and reducing the need for manual input. pyautogui pandas pyautogui Thank you for taking the time to explore data-related insights with me. I appreciate your engagement. If you find this information helpful, I invite you to follow me or connect with me on . Happy exploring!👋 LinkedIn Also published . here

How to Automate SAP Report Extraction with PyAutoGUI

In the realm of business intelligence and data analytics, SAP BusinessObjects stands tall as a powerful tool, empowering organizations to transform raw data into actionable insights. While its capabilities are robust, accessing and managing data programmatically can offer even greater flexibility. This blog post delves into the world of SAP BusinessObjects and Python, demonstrating a step-by-step approach to retrieve the list of documents effortlessly. Why This Matters In SAP BusinessObjects, years of operation can result in a cluttered mess of documents and folders. Cleaning up this chaos is crucial for data teams. By using Python to retrieve the details like path and last modified date and status for all documents, you gain a powerful tool. Python Solution Part 1: Authentication To initiate the authentication process, please replace the placeholder values for "username," "password," and "localhost" with your specific configuration details. import requests
import pandas as pd
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

# define the login request parameters
username = 'username'
password = 'password'
localhost = 'localhost'

auth_type = 'secEnterprise'
login_url = 'http://{}:6405/biprws/logon/long'.format(localhost)
login_data = f'<attrs xmlns="http://www.sap.com/rws/bip"><attr name="userName" type="string">{username}</attr><attr name="password" type="string">{password}</attr><attr name="auth" type="string" possibilities="secEnterprise,secLDAP,secWinAD,secSAPR3">{auth_type}</attr></attrs>'
login_headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/xml'}

# send the login request and retrieve the response
login_response = requests.post(login_url, headers=login_headers, data=login_data)

# parse the XML response and retrieve the logonToken
root = ET.fromstring(login_response.text)
logon_token = root.find('.//{http://www.sap.com/rws/bip}attr[@name="logonToken"]').text
api_headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/xml', 'X-SAP-LogonToken': logon_token} The code focuses on the initial authentication process, forming a secure connection to the server. User credentials, server details, and authentication type are configured, and a POST request is made to the specified login URL. The XML response from the server is parsed to extract the crucial . This token is then employed to construct headers for subsequent API requests, ensuring authenticated access to SAP BusinessObjects. logonToken Part 2: Data Retrieval and DataFrame Creation Previewing Retrieved Data: First Document's Name As we venture into data retrieval from SAP BusinessObjects, a peek at the obtained information reveals its structure. This Python snippet fetchs all the information about documents from the server. If you run the code, it will print the name of the first document. url = "http://{}:6405/biprws/raylight/v1/documents/".format(localhost)
response = requests.get(url,api_headers)
root = ET.fromstring(response.text)

first_docu_key = root.findall('document')[0][2].tag
first_docu_item = root.findall('document')[0][2].text
print(first_docu_key, ":", first_docu_item) Data Transformation Functions: Transform to DataFrame The Python functions, and , work together to simplify SAP BusinessObjects data retrieval. The first function transforms XML data into a structured pandas DataFrame, capturing document attributes. The second function efficiently handles scenarios with documents exceeding a single request's limit by appending multiple DataFrames. Collectively, these functions streamline the conversion of XML to DataFrame and provide an easy solution for handling a large number of documents. get_dataframe_from_response get_all_dataframe def get_dataframe_from_response(response):
 # Parse the XML data
 root = ET.fromstring(response.text)
 # Extract the data into a list of dictionaries
 res = []
 for item in root.findall('document'):
 doc_dict = {}
 for elem in item.iter():
 if elem.text is not None:
 doc_dict[elem.tag] = elem.text
 res.append(doc_dict)
 # Convert the list of dictionaries to a pandas dataframe
 df = pd.DataFrame(res)
 return df

def get_all_dataframe(url):
 documents = []
 for i in range(50):
 offset = i * 50
 url_offset = url + "?offset={}&limit=50".format(offset)
 response = requests.get(url_offset, headers=api_headers)
 df = get_dataframe_from_response(response=response)
 if df.empty:
 break
 else:
 documents.append(df)
 dataframe = pd.concat(documents, axis=0)
 return dataframe Retrieve detailed information about SAP BusinessObjects documents effortlessly using a single line of Python code. Utilize the function, and the resulting DataFrame provides a straightforward overview of document attributes. get_all_dataframe df_documents url = "http://{}:6405/biprws/raylight/v1/documents/".format(localhost)
df_documents = get_all_dataframe(url=url)
print(df_documents.head()) Showcasing df_documents: What follows is a glimpse into the dataframe structure document id cuid name folderId description 10283 AfZQen_U5hGgHqB8 Revenue Report 10782 NaN 12012 AUgbex_JocxFfvSFw Sales Report 11931 NaN 12435 AaGqyXfPrFIuC1Eac Cost Report 11965 NaN 11232 ATvl8iD_ii2HdxkKEY Inventory Report 11038 NaN 11023 cyslJAAy.JAJBB13hE Finance Report 11021 NaN Part 3: Document Details Extraction If you need additional details such as the document's path, last updated time, scheduling status, size, and refresh status, utilize the following function. This function fetches the specified details for each document in the DataFrame, providing a more comprehensive overview of each entry. df_documents def get_document_detail(documentID, detail):
 url = 'http://{}:6405/biprws/raylight/v1/documents/{}'.format(localhost, documentID)
 res = requests.get(url, headers={
 "Accept": "application/json",
 "Content-Type": "application/json",
 "X-SAP-LogonToken": logon_token
 }).json()
 return res['document'][detail]

def get_more_information_from_documents(df):
		details = ['path', 'updated', 'scheduled', 'size', 'refreshOnOpen']
		for detail in details:
 df[detail] = [get_document_detail(id, detail) for id in df['id'].values]
 return df

df_documents_more_info = get_more_information_from_documents(df_documents) Showcasing df_documents_more_info: document id cuid name folderId description path updated scheduled size refreshOnOpen 10283 AfZQen_U5hGgHqB8 Revenue Report 10782 NaN Public Folders/Test 2023-06-04T08:24:23.461Z false 64613 true 12012 AUgbex_JocxFfvSFw Sales Report 11931 NaN Public Folders/Test 2023-06-04T08:30:17.907Z false 64481 true 12435 AaGqyXfPrFIuC1Eac Cost Report 11965 NaN Public Folders/Test 2020-06-22T02:06:55.858Z false 65471 true 11232 ATvl8iD_ii2HdxkKEY Inventory Report 11038 NaN Public Folders/Test 2023-07-17T08:06:38.444Z false 171294 true 11023 cyslJAAy.JAJBB13hE Finance Report 11021 NaN Public Folders/Test/Test 2023-07-08T03:04:05.241Z false 168952 true Thank you for taking the time to explore data-related insights with me. I appreciate your engagement. If you find this information helpful, I invite you to follow me or connect with me on . Happy exploring!👋 LinkedIn

Unlocking SAP BusinessObjects Data: The Full Guide to Retrieving Documents with Python

Recently, I faced a mission: organizing all SAP Business Objects schedules into an Excel file. The manual process was tedious—copying each schedule name and details and pasting them into Excel. With hundreds of schedules, it meant endless copy-pasting. I scoured the internet for solutions and found that the primary solution is Query Builder. However, exporting the Power Builder results from the web into an Excel file is still challenging. I also tried the SAP Business Objects API, it could fetch all schedules, but the number of recurring schedules is not the same as what we saw in SAP BO CMC. So, I turned to Python, and it works! If you're grappling with the same challenge, my code might be the solution you're seeking. I mporting Libraries import pandas as pd
from selenium import webdriver
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
import time Here, it’s importing necessary libraries. for data manipulation, for web scraping, for HTML parsing, and for adding pauses between operations. pandas selenium BeautifulSoup time Setting up SAP BO Connection Details bo_cmc = 'http://localhost:port/BOE/CMC'
bo_user_name = 'username'
bo_password = 'password' It defines the SAP BusinessObjects Central Management Console (CMC) URL and login credentials. Function to Get Soup (HTML Content) def get_soup(driver, xpath):
    element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, xpath)
    soup = BeautifulSoup(element.get_attribute("innerHTML"), 'lxml')
    soup.prettify()
    return soup This function uses Selenium to locate an HTML element using XPath, extracts its inner HTML, and then creates a BeautifulSoup object for parsing. Functions to Convert HTML to List and DataFrame def bo_instances_html_to_list(soup):
    n = int(len(soup.select('tr td div')) / 16)
    values = [[] * n for _ in range(n)]
    for i in range(n):
        for j in range(16):
            values[i].append(soup.select('tr td div')[i * 16 + j].text)
    return values

def bo_values_to_df(values):
    df = pd.DataFrame(values)
    df.columns = ['', 'title', 'type', 'status', 'location', 'owner', 'completion_time', 'next_run_time',
                  'submission_time',
                  'start_time', 'duration', 'recurrence', 'expiry', 'server', 'error', 'title2']
    return df

def bo_instance_to_df(soup):
    values = bo_instances_html_to_list(soup)
    df = bo_values_to_df(values)
    return df These functions convert HTML content of SAP BO instances into a list and then into a Pandas DataFrame. Selenium Automation Function def bo_selenium_to_df():
    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    prefs = {'profile.default_content_settings.popups': 0}
    options.add_experimental_option('prefs', prefs)
    options.add_experimental_option("detach", True)
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
    driver.get(bo_cmc)
    driver.switch_to.frame("servletBridgeIframe")
    time.sleep(3)

    username_input = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="_id2:logon:USERNAME"]')
    password_input = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="_id2:logon:PASSWORD"]')

    time.sleep(1)
    username_input.send_keys(bo_user_name)
    time.sleep(1)
    password_input.send_keys(bo_password)
    time.sleep(1)

    login_button = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="_id2:logon:logonButton"]')
    time.sleep(1)
    login_button.click()

    time.sleep(5)
    html_text = driver.execute_script("return document.documentElement.outerHTML")
    contentFrame = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="contentFrame"]')
    driver.switch_to.frame(contentFrame)
    time.sleep(2)

    innerContent = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="innerContent"]')
    driver.switch_to.frame(innerContent)
    time.sleep(2)

    instance_manager_href = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="manageList"]/li[1]/a[2]')
    instance_manager_href.click()
    time.sleep(1)

    # instancemanager
    ## switch to innerContent iframe
    html_page = driver.execute_script("return document.documentElement.outerHTML")
    contentFrame = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="contentFrame"]')
    driver.switch_to.frame(contentFrame)
    time.sleep(1)

    innerContent = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="innerContent"]')
    driver.switch_to.frame(innerContent)
    time.sleep(1)

    frames = []

    soup = get_soup(driver, xpath='//*[@id="UniversalRepositoryExplorer_detailView_mainTableBody"]')
    n = int(len(soup.select('tr td div')) / 16)
    df_start = bo_instance_to_df(soup=soup)
    frames.append(df_start)

    # In SAP BusinessObjects (SAP BO), schedules default to displaying 50 schedules per page.
    while n == 50:
        next_page_button = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="UniversalRepositoryExplorer_goForwardButton"]')
        next_page_button.click()
        time.sleep(2)
        soup = get_soup(driver, xpath='//*[@id="UniversalRepositoryExplorer_detailView_mainTableBody"]')
        df = bo_instance_to_df(soup=soup)
        frames.append(df)
        n = int(len(soup.select('tr td div')) / 16)

    df = pd.concat(frames, axis=0)
    driver.close()
    drop_column = ['', 'completion_time', 'start_time', 'duration', 'server', 'error', 'title2']

    for column in drop_column:
        df = df.drop(column, axis=1)

    df['index'] = range(1, len(df) + 1)
    df = df[['index', 'title', 'type', 'status', 'location', 'owner', 'next_run_time',
             'submission_time', 'recurrence', 'expiry']]
    return df This function uses Selenium to automate the process of logging into SAP BO, navigating to the schedule manager, extracting schedule details, and finally converting them into a Pandas DataFrame. Executing the Selenium Function df = bo_selenium_to_df() This line calls the Selenium function and stores the resulting DataFrame in the variable . df Thank you for taking the time to explore data-related insights with me. I appreciate your engagement. If you find this information helpful, I invite you to follow me or connect with me on . Happy exploring!👋 LinkedIn Also appears . here

Python Web Scraping in SAP Business Objects CMC: Getting the List of Schedules

To retrieve a list of SAP Business Objects schedules using Query Builder, you can execute a query against the repository database where the scheduling information is stored. The repository database typically contains tables with information about schedules, jobs, and other related objects. Here are the general steps: Access and Log in to Query Builder: To access Query Builder directly, log in to Query Builder using your SAP Business Objects credentials by entering the following URL in your web browser: :port/AdminTools/querybuilder/ie.jsp. http://localhost Build Query: SELECT 
    SI_ID, 
    SI_NAME, 
    SI_SCHEDULEINFO.SI_SCHEDULE_TYPE, 
    SI_SCHEDULEINFO.SI_SCHEDULE_INTERVAL_NDAYS, 
    SI_SCHEDULEINFO.SI_SCHEDULE_INTERVAL_NTHDAY, 
    SI_SCHEDULEINFO.SI_SCHEDULE_INTERVAL_MONTHS 
FROM 
    CI_INFOOBJECTS 
WHERE 
    SI_SCHEDULE_STATUS != 8 AND SI_RECURRING = 1 the script retrieves specific columns ( , , and scheduling-related information) from the table for objects that meet the specified conditions. The conditions filter out objects with a schedule status of 8 and include only recurring objects. SI_ID SI_NAME CI_INFOOBJECTS Execute Query: Copy and Paste the SQL Script, Then Submit the Query Review Results: After the query execution is complete, the results will be displayed in the Query Builder interface. Thank you for taking the time to explore data-related insights with me. I appreciate your engagement. If you find this information helpful, I invite you to follow me or connect with me on . Happy exploring!👋 LinkedIn

How to Fetch a List of SAP BusinessObjects Schedules Using Query Builder

The SAP BusinessObjects RESTful Web Service (RESTful API) is an application programming interface provided by SAP BusinessObjects. It allows developers to interact with SAP BusinessObjects BI (Business Intelligence) platform functionalities through HTTP requests. This RESTful API enables the integration of SAP BusinessObjects services into custom applications, facilitating tasks such as retrieving, creating, updating, and deleting BI content, as well as managing user permissions and security. With the RESTful API, developers can perform operations like fetching information about reports, universes, folders, scheduling, and other BI-related entities. This approach promotes interoperability and simplifies the integration of SAP BusinessObjects BI capabilities into various applications and workflows. How to Fetch universes using Python? Part 1: Authentication To initiate the authentication process, please replace the placeholder values for , , and with your specific configuration details. username password localhost import requests
import pandas as pd
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

# define the login request parameters
user_name = 'username'
password = 'password'
localhost = 'localhost'

auth_type = 'secEnterprise'
login_url = 'http://{}:6405/biprws/logon/long'.format(localhost)
login_data = f'<attrs xmlns="http://www.sap.com/rws/bip"><attr name="userName" type="string">{user_name}</attr><attr name="password" type="string">{password}</attr><attr name="auth" type="string" possibilities="secEnterprise,secLDAP,secWinAD,secSAPR3">{auth_type}</attr></attrs>'
login_headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/xml'}

# send the login request and retrieve the response
login_response = requests.post(login_url, headers=login_headers, data=login_data)
# parse the XML response and retrieve the logonToken
root = ET.fromstring(login_response.text)
logon_token = root.find('.//{http://www.sap.com/rws/bip}attr[@name="logonToken"]').text
api_headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/xml', 'X-SAP-LogonToken': logon_token} Part 2: Data Retrieval and DataFrame Creation Previewing Retrieved Data: First Universe's Name This Python snippet fetches all the information about universes from the server. If you run the code, it will print the name of the first universe. response = requests.get("http://{}:6405/biprws/raylight/v1/universes/".format(localhost),
 headers=api_headers)
root = ET.fromstring(response.text)
print(root.findall('universe')[0][2].tag, ":", root.findall('universe')[0][2].text) Data Transformation Functions: Transform to DataFrame The Python functions, , and , work together to simplify SAP BusinessObjects data retrieval. The first function transforms XML data into a structured pandas DataFrame, capturing document attributes. The second function efficiently handles scenarios with universes exceeding a single request's limit by appending multiple DataFrames. Collectively, these functions streamline the conversion of XML to DataFrame and provide an easy solution for handling a large number of universes. get_dataframe_from_response get_all_dataframe def get_dataframe_from_response(response):
 # Parse the XML data
 root = ET.fromstring(response.text)
 # Extract the data into a list of dictionaries
 res = []
 for item in root.findall('universe'):
 doc_dict = {}
 for elem in item.iter():
 if elem.text is not None:
 doc_dict[elem.tag] = elem.text
 res.append(doc_dict)
 # Convert the list of dictionaries to a pandas dataframe
 df = pd.DataFrame(res)
 return df

def get_all_dataframe(url):
 documents = []
 for i in range(50):
 offset = i * 50
 url_offset = url + "?offset={}&limit=50".format(offset)
 response = requests.get(url_offset, headers=api_headers)
 df = get_dataframe_from_response(response=response)
 if df.empty:
 break
 else:
 documents.append(df)
 dataframe = pd.concat(documents, axis=0)
 return dataframe Retrieve detailed information about SAP BusinessObjects universes effortlessly using a single line of Python code. Utilize the function, and the resulting DataFrame provides a straightforward overview of universes attributes. get_all_dataframe df_universes df_universes = get_all_dataframe(url="http://{}:6405/biprws/sl/v1/universes".format(localhost)) Showcasing : What follows is a glimpse into the dataframe structure df_universes Part 3: Universe Details Extraction If you need additional details such as the universe's path and connected status, utilize the following function. This function fetches the specified details for each universe in the DataFrame, providing a more comprehensive overview of each entry. df_universes def get_universe_detail(universeID, detail):
 url = 'http://{}:6405/biprws/raylight/v1/universes/{}'.format(localhost, universeID)
 res = requests.get(url, headers={
 "Accept": "application/json",
 "Content-Type": "application/json",
 "X-SAP-LogonToken": logon_token
 }).json()
 return res['universe'][detail]

def get_more_information_from_universes(df):
 details = ['path', 'connected']
 for detail in details:
 df[detail] = [get_universe_detail(id, detail) for id in df['id'].values]
 return df

df_universes_more_info = get_more_information_from_universes(df_universes) Thank you for taking the time to explore data-related insights with me. I appreciate your engagement. If you find this information helpful, I invite you to follow me or connect with me on . Happy exploring!👋 LinkedIn Also published . here

How to Fetch SAP Business Objects Universes Using Python

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive business management solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It automates and streamlines the business process by helping users to manage your business. If you’re seeking to have a comprehensive business management solution, then Dynamic 365 BC is for you. It’s simple to use and adapt business collaborations with allowing you to make smart decisions. The business application extended and utilized other Microsoft Cloud Services such as Office 365, Power BI, Microsoft Flow, and other Power Apps. Dynamic 365 BC adapts itself by changing business and growing business needs while taking benefits of advanced technology. Why choose Microsoft Dynamic 365 Business Central? Financial Management Supply Chain Management Operation Management Project Management Reporting and Analysis Sales and Service Management The Microsoft Dynamic 365 approach is: Customizability Flexibility Enhanced Security Dynamics 365 Vs NetSuite Let’s move on with the topic by understanding how is best over NetSuite. Microsoft Dynamic 365 Business Central In simple words, have you used a single phone line with multiple users? Yes, it was common during the early days of the telephone. Now, can you imagine your info is shared with other parties? Similarly, party-line works like NetSuite’s multi-tenant software, whereas Dynamic 365 works as a single-tenant solution. Things to note about Netsuite: It’s complicated and takes time to deploy with requiring extensive customization. The service contracts are inflexible, and the pricing adds thousands of dollars per year. It was acquired by Oracle in 2016 and suffer losses in the last few years Dynamics 365 Vs QuickBooks QuickBooks QuickBooks owned by Intuit and started in 1983. It’s one of the best payroll systems and credit card processing add-ons as it plays a big part in the QuickBooks solution. It comes with a full range of deployment options. One can run the solution page in a single-tenant configuration with QuickBooks. Compared with Dynamic 365, it has more critical advantages like easy payroll integration and payment processing. However, there are a few restrictions that QuickBooks offers. Things to note about QuickBooks: Weak security options and too easy for making mistakes with improper data access. Not Robust and no login records or change to master records possible. It comes with Limited reporting options, which makes it difficult for customer insights and analytical capabilities. It’s not scalable. Therefore, if you have a growing business, consider using Dynamic 365 BC to have better billing options. As with QuickBooks, it’s challenging to manage third-party or different client locations. How Dynamic is 365 Business Central better than QuickBooks? One of the biggest strengths is its value, as Microsoft claims that Business Central owns 800+ more features than QuickBooks. Moreover, Business Central has functionality that goes beyond scalability and reporting. Also, when comparing the pricing, then Microsoft Dynamic is quite cheaper than QuickBooks. Dynamic 365 is quite robust and has better protection against employee theft and errors. Microsoft Dynamic vs Tally Today with the emerging business market, Tally is an accounting tool. Tally is used to growing business and helps to switch to global ERP’s. Tally accounting works on 32 inbuilt groups, whereas Dynamic is based on a chart of accounts that varies from customer to customer. Tally does not have product posting group concepts, vendor posting groups, customer posting groups, inventory groups, etc. Simultaneously, Microsoft Dynamic has a clear vision and road map for its products like , Dynamic 365, Dynamics AX, and Business Central. Microsoft uses the cloud-based solution and comes with the great advantage of adding Microsoft products like outlook, skype, Microsoft office, dynamic CRM as their collaboration capabilities. Dynamic NAV Microsoft Dynamic vs SAP SAP Business is designed to keep small to mid-sized businesses in focus. As SAP offers an integrated system, it allows us to manage and coordinate customer relationships, sales, and business intelligence reporting with ease. Using SAP Business One, the user gets real-time information on the most critical business metrics. SAP is built and runs on Microsoft SQL Server. It gives vast benefits by helping employees to update data from anywhere. Things to note about SAP: It’s too complicated to use since SAP has traditionally associated with large-size Fortune 500 companies. It makes it difficult to troubleshoot, and error is not always clearly found. If you want to focus on small to medium size, then go with Microsoft Dynamic as SAP if more Fortune 500 companies. Microsoft Dynamic 365 offers several customized options and comes with more than 750 add-ons solutions on AppSource Market. One can integrate it effortlessly with hosting Microsoft business applications. It gives more access to its features and functionality while helping to increase overall accuracy and efficiency. Dynamic 365 is better for long-term fit organizations. As mentioned, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive business management solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It automates and streamlines the business process by helping users to manage your business.

Advantages of Microsoft Dynamics 365 business central over NetSuite, Tally, QuickBooks, and SAP

You’ve likely heard of Ethereum in the context of cryptocurrency, but perhaps not so much in the context of enterprise software. In this blog you will learn what and are. You will learn how easy it is to connect an SAP ABAP-based system to Ethereum mainnet, try out a demo, and see . Ethereum Ethereum mainnet all the related source code The Ethereum Network Firstly then, a whirlwind tour of Ethereum and its uses. Ethereum is some software you can run on a network of computers referred to as . Each node can be thought of as being identical to all the others. nodes Nodes can run simple programs called inside a virtual machine called the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). These smart contracts have access to limited compute and storage resources. smart contracts Ethereum deals with that can be triggered by an external user or process, can run a smart contract program and change the state of data held on the Ethereum network. transactions Transactions can be posted every 15 seconds or so and are atomic, they either succeed or fail. If they fail then all changes they made are undone. Similar to SAP business process transactions, an Ethereum transaction is intended to perform some limited business logic and storage. Ethereum is not designed for compute-heavy, storage-heavy or very low-latency operations. You can think of the Ethereum network like this, many different nodes each with an EVM running inside them: Ethereum stores smart contracts and the data associated with them in a data structure called a , sometimes referred to as just a . New transactions get grouped into and validated by the nodes on the network. blockchain chain blocks all Transactions are then added to the end of the chain, together with a “fingerprint” (a hash) representing all the previous blocks. This fingerprint feature makes it intentionally very difficult to retrospectively adjust data. The idea is that once a transaction is posted it has been validated by every node and is permanent. So far so good, if a little unexciting. What interesting is that when this Ethereum software is run on a network of nodes, a special feature emerges. is The special feature is that even if individual nodes are operated by strangers that you cannot necessarily trust, the overall network itself be trusted to process transactions as the transaction originator intended. can This network is very resilient. The overall network can be trusted even if many node operators start colluding together to fiddle with data they are processing. This special feature can be referred to as “the trustless network”. There is no central authority, middle-man or 3rd party that must be trusted to check that the network is processing transactions honestly. The network of strangers “polices itself”. Ethereum is one example of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). The collection of transactions in blocks can be thought of as a ledger, and the network of nodes is the distributed part, hence it forms a DLT. There is much more to how Ethereum works. The above summary omits a lot of detail that is not relevant to this article. For example, Ethereum is closely associated with cryptocurrency but that aspect is not of interest here. If you want to read more, the book by Andreas Antonopolous is highly recommended. It is free and open-source. Mastering Ethereum Ethereum is young, it turned 5 years old in July 2020 and is an ongoing project. is underway which will, among other things, improve scalability. This article relates to the Ethereum 1.0 software that is available today. Ethereum 2.0 development Ethereum Mainnet As you’ve just learned, Ethereum is software that you can run on a bunch of networked computers. How big is a bunch? Well, you could run it on a private network inside your enterprise (a blockchain), or you could open it up a bit and allow known parties to have access and run nodes too, perhaps other enterprises you do business with. private When all the parties operating nodes are known, the network is called a blockchain. People can only join the network if they receive permission from those already running it. permissioned An advantage of permissioned chains is that the entire network, all its data and logic, can be hidden from those that are not part of it. This is particularly desirable when dealing with sensitive information. There are where permissioned blockchains might make a good choice. many use-cases Software like IBM’s Hyperledger Fabric, JP Morgan’s Quorum and can be used for these cases. SAP offer Blockchain-as-a-Service options for chains like these and have some on the use-cases. many others excellent documentation If you fast forward a few years you can imagine lots of permissioned chains with each organisation belonging to many. Therefore the potential long term downside of permissioned chains is that logic and data ends up in multiple, partially overlapping silos. Anyway, the focus of this article is not permissioned chains, rather it is the public, -permissioned Ethereum network that is of interest: the . un Ethereum mainnet It is public, because anyone, including you, can run a node in the mainnet. All you need is some commodity hardware, some and an internet connection. Ethereum software In fact something are operating on mainnet at any one time, each dutifully validating every transaction. This is worth emphasising: every node executes transactions. This is not distributed processing with the goal of increasing throughput. around 7,000 nodes the same This is distributed processing with the goal of ensuring the network can be trusted. It would require over half of these nodes to collude to start successfully tampering with data. This is the strength of such a large distributed system. You don’t need to run a node yourself to use mainnet. You can send transactions to any node you have rights to and the transaction will get processed. A popular option is to use an node, but bear in mind you’re then placing trust in Infura to operate their nodes fairly. Infura The mainnet can be thought of as some always-on cloud infrastructure that you don’t have to pay for up front. A small fee is incurred per transaction which gets paid to node operators, typically a few USD cents but for transactions that use more compute and storage this can run to several USD. The fee is paid in the network’s own internal currency called . Ether You can imagine mainnet as a global, single-instance computing environment, controlled by no central authority, where simple programs can execute and store small amounts of data without risk of interference or corruption. Take this idea further and imagine lots of enterprises connected to mainnet. You can imagine mainnet acting like a single, global, enterprise service bus. In this context, mainnet is sometimes called the “magic bus”. Demo Time Now you will see how easy it is to connect an ABAP-based system to mainnet. The demo scenario imagines using a smart contract on mainnet that matches buyers and sellers of raw materials. Imagine a SAP ECC system needs to procure some cobalt for manufacturing processes. An ABAP program sends a buy offer to a web service saying you would like to buy 1000 kilos of cobalt for 30 USD per kilo. Sellers of cobalt could post similar sell-side transactions to the smart contract saying they want to sell cobalt for a specified price. When a match is made, the buyer and seller can obtain details of their counterparty, and the rest of the business process can happen as usual. Doing this in smart contracts on mainnet means that no central party needs to be in control of the process, and no central party needs to have the power to shut the smart contract down. The smart contracts can be deployed and left to run autonomously. This differs from a centralised web portal-based solution, where some organisation builds and runs the marketplace and can shut it down whenever it wants. In practice, of course some ability to upgrade smart contract code and fix bugs is desirable. There are decentralised governance options to manage this which are beyond the scope of this article. The point remains that no single party needs to be in control. The components shown in the above diagram are as follows: SAP ECC Program This simple report acts as the UI for the process. The report title you choose will act as the unique identifier for your system in the smart contract, you will see this shortly when running the demo. ABAP This report does not know anything about Ethereum or smart contracts, it just interacts with a web API. copy the from into a new ABAP report and activate it. To install: report source code the main GitHub repo Web API This simple API allows you to create new buy offers and list existing buy offers and see their status. The API is written using and so is very portable, it is trivial to install it on Linux or Windows servers. .NET Core The source code is available in , see project SapEthereumIntegration.Api.csproj under solution SapEthereumIntegration.sln. There is for experimenting with the API. the main GitHub repo a Postman collection Internally the API connects to an Infura node using the excellent (which ). The API knows all the configuration necessary to connect to Ethereum, the details of the smart contract to call and some test Ether to pay the fees for new transactions posted. Nethereum library has a very friendly team This API is already installed on Azure and is freely usable without installing anything. To see it working, put into your browser to see a list of all current buy offers. To install: https://sapethapiver01.azurewebsites.net/api/market Smart Contract The smart contract is written in , a scripting language for writing the business logic and storage parts of our process. The contract accepts new buy offers, validates them, and matches them with a seller. Solidity For the purposes of the demo, all offers are instantly matched with a seller. There is a popular Ethereum data browser called that allows you to examine contracts and transactions. The as well as . Etherscan contract source code is visible on Etherscan in the main GitHub repo The contract is already installed on a mainnet-like test Ethereum network called Rinkeby and is usable without installing anything. To install: Demo Execution Run the ABAP you installed earlier and on the Display Offers tab, click the Display Offers button: The list of current buy offers is shown, retrieved from smart contract storage. The System Id shown above comes from your ABAP report description, and is intended to be a unique-ish identifier for your data held in the smart contract. Tick the checkbox “Show All System Ids” to see buy orders for every user of the smart contract. Now you can create a new buy offer. Click the “Create Buy Offer” tab: Enter a raw material free text, a quantity in kilos and a price. Press “Create Buy Offer” and a new transaction is sent to the smart contract. After 10 to 15 seconds whilst the Ethereum network processes this new transaction, you should see a message at the bottom saying “Buy Offer created”. If you return to the “Display Offers” tab and refresh, you will see your new order has been placed, and matched with the seller with email cob@lt. , albeit the information it shows is a bit cryptic. Congratulations, you’ve just interacted with the Ethereum mainnet from ABAP. Easy peasy! Ethercan will also show the new transaction Before you implement anything productive relating to mainnet, you need to understand the final section: privacy. Mainnet Use-Cases and Privacy Mainnet has lots of potential overlap with the , but without the side effect of generating silos. The limitation of mainnet in this context is privacy. permissioned chain use-cases Mainnet is public by design. All the smart contract code is public. All the related data it stores is public. All transactions are public. You get the idea, and this doesn’t often suit enterprises. In the demo example above, you likely don’t want anyone to know what deal you got on cobalt. Encryption is an option. If you trust your encryption enough to make the encrypted data public to the internet forever then this might be viable. This may suit some use cases, but it is clearly not perfect. Another option is to sensitive information on mainnet at all. Instead it is possible to store that sensitive information is known, and not the sensitive information itself. not store evidence Whilst this may sound like Gandalf the Wizard has started running IT projects, it is possible using technology called Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP). The is that, if I know a secret, I can convince someone else that I know the secret, without revealing about the secret itself. principle behind ZKPs anything at all There is an open source project that seeks to allow enterprises to collaborate over mainnet without revealing sensitive information. It is called the . Baseline Protocol Founding members include Microsoft, AMD and Ernst & Young (who are behind the also working with ZKP). The baseline protocol is a specification and an open source reference implementation. The project . Nightfall project community is friendly Conclusion You’ve seen how easy it is to connect to Ethereum mainnet, and should have a better idea of what it is. This example used .NET Core as the middle layer between SAP and Ethereum, but many languages could be used. For example, to connect to Ethereum from a SAPUI5-based UI, you could use the library. web3.js To continue learning about Ethereum and mainnet, has a dedicated section on . Ethereum.org enterprise usage Previously published at https://blogs.sap.com/2020/08/21/sap-integration-with-ethereum-mainnet/

Integrating An SAP ABAP System With The Ethereum Mainnet [A Step-by-Step Guide]

The e-commerce industry is one of the most rapidly changing ones. A constant stream of new tendencies, innovative technology, and the growing needs of the customers are the factors that make e-commerce business owners follow these rules to stay afloat. Those who still own brick and mortar stores are also transferring their business activities into the online arena. To build highly-functional e-commerce websites or simply enable seamless implementation of particular modifications, the businesses started actively opting for e-commerce website builders. However, once one gap was closed, the other one appeared, namely the problem of choosing such an e-commerce platform among numerous analogs that would fully satisfy your business needs and streamline the sales process. To help you in this arduous journey, let’s first consider those parameters that should be kept in mind while selecting the best-fit e-commerce website builder. . The security aspect is a primary concern for e-commerce websites since your potential buyers need to be assured the transactions will be processed securely when they submit credit or debit card information. Security Thus, when you are choosing an e-commerce platform, apart from its OOTB security capabilities, mind it should support HTTPS/SSL protocols. Moreover, the selected solution must be compliant and have data backups. PCI DSS Finally, in case you would like to reinforce the security aspect in your certain way, the platform should be flexible by allowing you to do so. Feature set. Consider choosing such an e-commerce platform that fully covers a standard for any e-commerce website builder functionality (pre-built design templates, marketing tools, user-friendly dashboard, etc.). The more expanded will be the set of built-in features that you will be able to adjust, the more capabilities you will be able to offer your end-users and potentially increase ROI. Additional integrations and plugins. It’s highly important to choose an easily customizable e-commerce platform; otherwise, you won’t be able to stand out from your competitors on the market with just OOTB functionality. Make sure that the platform provides you not only with a wide range of its plugins but also allows you to integrate the tools that you already use. . If your ultimate goal is to transform your e-commerce business and provide it with constant growth, then consider the scalability aspect while choosing an e-commerce platform. Once again, it should be flexible enough to maintain the performance of the website under the possible rapid increase of the customers. Scalability Besides the aspects mentioned above, you should pay attention to easiness in usage, mobile and SEO friendliness, technical support, and pricing to provide your users with high-quality services. If you want to figure out which platform will combine all these core parameters, then let’s take a look at the comparative table below. It reviews three top-notch e-commerce website builders that are best-fit solutions for enterprises. Based on the comparative table above, you may conclude that the competition is rather tight since all three top solutions are constantly improving their strengths. However, based on the aspect that is of the highest priority for you (great shopping and contextual experience, high-productivity of your e-commerce website in case of unexpected growth, or smooth and effective content management), choose such an e-commerce platform that will implement it better than others. To have a complete picture, let’s also take a look at the essence and internal structure of SAP Commerce Cloud and compare it with other top 2 solutions. SAP Commerce Cloud (also known as SAP Hybris) is rather multi-dimensional since it perfectly works for B2B, B2C, and B2B2C businesses. The most significant point is that it’s an omnichannel solution. It allows you to create a unified customer experience via all your channels or so-called touchpoints (online, mobile, POS, call center, social, etc.) and enable simplified order processing across all these channels. Moreover, the platform allows managing all your suppliers, distributors, and customers seamlessly in a unified ecosystem. Numerous tools provided by SAP Commerce Cloud give you a great opportunity to increase your ROI by tracing every step made during the customer’s journey. Salesforce Commerce Cloud, on the other hand, doesn`t have a unified solution for both B2C and B2B, which means that customers who want both B2B and B2C feature set will have to license, deploy, and manage two separate platforms, or considerably customize one or the other according to their needs. Magento, in turn, has rather strong native B2C capabilities and slightly less powerful B2B functionality. Overall, both platforms are quite flexible to meet your requirements and capable of managing large product catalogs. To dive deeper into the essence of the SAP Commerce Cloud platform, it’s also desirable to do that through the prism of its constituents. SAP Commerce Cloud is one of the primary solutions that fall under the SAP C/4HANA umbrella. Since the solution and its extensions are built on Java and run within the Spring environment, the configuration of all platform’s components is rather simplified. The platform’s architecture consists of numerous obligatory and customizable software packages (Data Hub, different accelerators, etc.). To form a full picture of SAP Commerce Cloud infrastructure, see the scheme below: Image 1. SAP Commerce Cloud architecture. Source: SAP Having examined the internal components of SAP Commerce Cloud, let’s see which three main pillars make SAP Commerce Cloud single out from the other two solutions. . With SAP Commerce Cloud, you can reduce multiple data sources and create a unified, seamless interdepartmental collaboration, that will help you gather all necessary info regarding customers’ behavior and make corresponding amendments. Omnichannel engagement . Since the solution has low interdependence among its components, it became famous for the variety of customization tools presented to the customers. Easily customizable APIs and back-office UI framework help businesses adjust their e-commerce website constituents and business logic to the requirements, in case the OOTB functionality is not enough. High customizability . The platform offers you a great variety of content management capabilities that are easily controlled in a centralized content repository. Users are enabled to catalog products efficiently according to diverse attributes and filters. Versatile content management The vast scope of knowledge we accumulated about the e-commerce market and the top platforms presented on it helped us form the fundamental parameters for choosing the most suitable e-commerce solutions. Pricing model, the feature set that will meet your requirements, and the level of security are the most significant ones. Some other useful tips in SAP Hybris development you can find . here

SAP Commerce Cloud Vs. Salesforce Commerce Cloud Vs. Magento [A Comparison]

Configure, Price, Quote – CPQ software is a tool designed to help sales teams of organizations to quickly produce accurate quotes. CPQs automate product pricing for customizable products. Cloud-based CPQ, like that of Salesforce, can provide data real-time allowing the sales team to continue the juggernaut of inching a customer ever so closer to a purchase, rather than wasting valuable moments during a crucial call doing the math behind quotations. To provide a layman example of what a does, imagine that you are a car salesman. A potential customer walks into your brand new showroom and you’re chatting them up. You’re doing all the talking behind getting them to go on a test-drive. They’re impressed. The big talk of money starts now. You hand them a brochure that quotes the ex-showroom price. Now comes the back and forth, where you do all the math. Once you start the negotiation process, you have to factor in what insurance best suits the credit score of the individual, what accessories, what color is the customer opting for, is there a way you can push him to buy the upgraded model if you offer better EMI, can you push more accessories as necessities – all this while trying to keep the customer from moving on to the next showroom. A CPQ software can factor all these in and provide the customer and you with accurate quotes on a real-time basis for every single option that is added or deleted over the base price. CPQ How are CPQs leveraged in today’s business model? Most of the corporates today don’t stick to a single product model. They provide an expanded base, with each product having several options and features. This process is a result of the way DevOps and innovation are transforming in today’s Lean and Agile industries. Using CPQ software is crucial for such companies as the software can help them determine which product to sell based on customer needs. Advanced CPQ softwares can even factor in economic situations, market pricing and competition to provide tailor-made quotes based on the customer Why use CPQ? Optimizing sales efficiency is largely an intangible factor for most B2B organizations. With the help of CPQ, the sales team can work smarter and more efficiently. CPQs help apply lean thinking principles as a sales functionality, by “eliminating waste” of a valuable sales resource – Time. Improving efficiencies of time-bound processes like submitting a proposal, goes a long way in determining sales outcomes. Moreover, quicker sales processes are the ideal tool for setting up a wide landscape for companies that want a continuous revenue stream rather than a one-time-purchase. Reduces wasted time Product knowledge is the starter that leads to caviar topping. The lead in every sales team is the one who is deemed the Subject Matter Expert (SME). A pundit of product capabilities, SMEs use their vast knowledge base to poke and prod at the pain points of the customer and offer the medicine as the product. A CPQ performs the task of an SME and essentially forces the sales team to ask the right questions to the customers. Using CPQs help sales teams understand the breadth and depth of the deal and identify the suites that would set them apart from competitors. Most salespersons are good with talk, but can’t get explicitly technical over minute details. CPQs are the solution to help reduce the small fumbles, thereby increasing cross-selling and upselling. CPQ is the SME to sales Having a handy ledger by your side that tells all, eliminates the need for going back and forth on configurations. Comparisons are much simpler and this key feature of a CPQ software is what helps accelerate the sales process. Moreover, CPQs also help determine expected ROI and provide a backbone to the salesman for minimizing discounting. As most CPQs also record sales calls, sales teams are better able to address queries and questions and eliminate confusion and general banter. Improves transparency CPQs ensure that only the latest approved pricing and discount rules are applied – a crucial support system for sales personnel. This eliminates common quoting errors, that more often than not, happens due to a cell that wasn’t updated in an Excel sheet! Human errors such as missing information, the wrong entry also cause major losses and embarrassing faces that salespeople dread. Ensuring automatic compliance with business rules, sales teams across geographies and sectors benefit from the increased confidence in the numbers they quote. Improves Quote Accuracy Another one that boosts transparency, on the whole, role-based access to CRM software have greatly helped improve trust and confidence between either party. Integrating CPQ software in CRM functionality helps increase revenue and allow customers to choose pricing and additional features on-the-go. CPQ + CRM = increased profit margin Data behind CPQ software Mitsubishi has reported a 95% reduction in approval time using CPQ and 5-% increase in quote-to-cash AVITRU observed 10 times faster quote generation Nimble storage saw 2 times faster quote-to-cash with CPQ Global CPQ software market is growing at CAGR 9.3% Dexter + Chaney showed a 30% higher quote accuracy after adoption Domino Printing Sciences reports 80% faster quote delivery When does your organization need a CPQ? While most organisations think that their product structures are too simple to think about a CPQ investment and leave the decision to the future, here are a few telltale signs that you may benefit from CPQ: You have an array of similar products with different functionalities Your customers are happy but your deal cycle time doesn’t match with the revenue cycle Excessive manual errors and arbitrary discounting is killing your profitability You require segmented quoting based on geographies. You are manually entering into Excel to close the gaps of your CRM software / using legacy quote configurations You are wasting employee time by manually reviewing quotes You want a build a recurring revenue stream but your sales strategy is confined You aren’t making using of cross-selling and upselling strategies effectively Lack of quote transparency is affecting trust and confidence for after-sales procedures How to choose a CPQ for your organization? The talk of the 4th Industrial Revolution is all up in the storm, and you’re still yet to put your running shoes on? Here’s a quick run-down of how you can decide what CPQ is best for you: Can the CPQ integrate with your existing CRM? If so, how efficient would it be? Is your CPQ mobile? ETAs are a disaster-term in the quote universe. Cloud compatible CPQs eliminate this problem, Does your CPQ take advantage of AI and Data Analytics? Which Top CPQ Software to use? In no particular order, here are a few CPQ software that are popular choices in the market: has very often been cited as the #1 enterprise multi-channel sales tool. The Silicon Valley-based global provider is a hybrid-cloud platform that utilizes tech from Salesforce, Microsoft, and IBM. Apptus clientele includes Adobe, HP, LinkedIn, and PayPal. Apttus CPQ Apttus If you are already a consumer, using a native Salesforce platform is highly recommended. The cloud-based easy-to-use app comes with several advantages that include easier implementation and a proven track record. The allows you to manage the entire deal process from quote generation to cash collection. Salesforce CPQ Salesforce Salesforce CPQ A global leader in cloud-based sales and marketing solutions, helps identify leads, ensure proper territory and quotes distribution and automates CPQ. This combination is quite a unique strategy and over 3900 organizations rely on CallidusCloud. Some customers include Barclays, HSBC, and NBA. CallidusCloud (SAP CPQ) CallidusCloud Conclusion If you have thought about building a homegrown solution to automate CPQ, the biggest challenge you face would be with maintenance. A problem that quite often goes unaddressed is that good Salesmen most often have skills that lie out of the computer and calculator realm. While product knowledge is key, a sales team’s biggest challenge is that fumbling numbers reduce confidence, and counteracting that throws off the balance, inevitably reducing efficiency. A confident approach is a key to making a good sale, and keeping things moving is the smartest thing to do. Stagnation over numbers is the biggest bottleneck to closing deals promptly and CPQ can help your sales team overcome this. Moreover, it is extremely important that you use data-backed solutions that can factor economies to your quote structure, as it will largely determine your competitiveness in an unstructured market with very few players. Sales teams are usually highly motivated to drive the sales themselves, but lack of support is what kills the burning fire and that’s exactly what a CRM can counteract.

A Beginner's Guide to CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) Tools

What is an ERP system? According to , Investopedia Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a process used by companies to manage and integrate the important parts of their businesses. Many ERP software applications exist to help companies implement resource planning by integrating all of the processes it needs to run a company with a single system. An ERP software system can integrate planning, purchasing inventory, sales, marketing, finance, human resources, and more. Investing in ERP software can help enterprises and automate certain processes of an organization. It is estimated that ERP software market will be worth . The figure is surely impressive, but deciding which technology your business should invest in is hard when there’s a sea of new technologies emerging every day. To stay on top of the game, it is important for business owners to seek out each and every tool in the market. And ERP systems are no exception. improve business performance $41.69 billion by the year 2020 ERP solutions help you collect, store, and manage data from various units of a business. It can eliminate data duplication and provide integrity since it collects an organization’s shared data from multiple sources. Let’s discuss some reasons your business needs an ERP system. Better Accounting & Improved Productivity It is important to keep track of your financials in order to determine success through a growth phase. However, it is not an easy task especially when your company is growing exponentially. The complexity of transactions increases and it becomes hard to manage them without a centralized system. Data entry tasks can be quite tedious. According to , 40% of the workers spend a quarter of their week doing repetitive tasks. With the help of the right ERP solution, you can automate boring tasks. ERP systems can keep track of your transactions thus avoiding the need for repetitive data entry work which is subject to human error. Smartsheet report This saves a lot of time for your workers and improves productivity. It also increases the visibility of the operational data with a centralized platform. Better Analytics With a centralized database, the analytics and reporting of your business can be improved. ERP software is an amazing business intelligence tool that records all the input data. With the help of ERP software, generating reports become so much easier. What needs to take several days of research could be done within a matter of minutes with an ERP. With ERP systems, you get a customizable dashboard. Executives can see all the reports just by logging into the system. From income reports to expense statements, you have access to all the reports with a single click. This can help you gain better insight and allow you to make better decisions. You don’t need to rely on anyone for these reports. Besides, you can specify access level to these reports so that only an authorized person can view company data. More Savings & Standardization of Software It is true that you will need to invest a large amount of money upfront to implement ERP systems and many business owners might think that this investment is more than they will ever be able to save. But that’s not true especially if you want your business to expand. You can get a great ROI with ERP systems. First of all, an ERP system binds together various processes and systems that are fragmented in your company. Thus, it becomes easy for your staff to access data from one centralized system. The staff does not need to look out for a piece of information on various systems. Instead, they will be able to access the information they need instantly because data retrieval is so much easier on a centralized system. A unified system improves security as well. Moreover, you don’t need to train your staff on several systems. This will not only reduce the amount of money spent on training, but it also reduces the logistic efforts involved. Happier Customers Customer satisfaction is more important than ever. In this digital era, people rely on the internet for almost everything. If you want to have some food with friends, you search for the best restaurants around. This internet thing is big. Almost as a personal recommendation thus making customer reviews more powerful than ever. 84% of customers trust online reviews It is clear that the customers look out for various factors to judge a local business. Therefore, it is important to keep your customers happy and satisfied. The best way to do that is to provide services centered towards your customers. ERP systems can ensure customer satisfaction in a number of ways. Most of these systems are equipped with the CRM tool. The tool has access to all the data across business functions. An integrated CRM tool can provide you with all the necessary details of your customer such as billing info and order history. Thus, you can have a better understanding of your clients’ needs. It allows you to formulate your strategy and provide your customers with exactly what they want. Stats & Figures According to a , small businesses lose up to $420,000 per year due to miscommunication while large companies lose up to $62.4 million due to the same. Also, employees lose 40 minutes of their productivity each day. survey ERP systems provide a lot of benefits to enterprises. Its implementation reduces while reducing administrative costs by 13 percent and certain improvements in other areas. operational cost by 14 percent ERP is important for all kind of businesses no matter the size. From food chains to diamond jewelry store, restaurants, the aviation industry, just to name a few, all businesses can benefit from ERP software. Take the aviation industry, for example. It demands accurate and timely decision to enhance its efficiency. The working cost is very high and it is very important for companies to keep track of all the transactions, refund details, customer data such as order history, airline miles, reward points, and more. Data security, multi-currency accounting, inventory management, real-time data, MIS reports are some of the features of the ERP system which makes it suitable for the aviation industry as well. Here are some of the major ERP providers: SAP ERP SAP ERP is one of the leading enterprise resource planning software developed by a German company SAP SE. is System, Application, Products in data processing. It serves 335,000 clients across 180 countries. SAP ERP provides access to analytical apps, key data, and other important tools to help your business succeed. It is equipped with the CRM tool, supply chain management, financial management, human capital management, etc. SAP software full form Since it is widely used by businesses, a lot of people are beginning to learn SAP. But as a beginner, it is important to have a knowledge of Business processes, , and project concepts. SAP acronyms list Netsuite ERP Netsuite ERP provides ERP solutions to mid-sized to large enterprises which are growing at a fast rate. It is a complete and scalable ERP solution. Using Netsuite ERP, you can automate various processes such as revenue management, billing, financial management, order management, etc. You get a centralized solution for your company and its combination of Business Intelligence and financial management operations make it stand out from the rest. Microsoft Dynamics GP Microsoft is the leading software vendor in the world in terms of revenue. Microsoft Dynamics GP is an ERP software that helps SMBs to better manage its supply chain, finance, billing, etc. It allows businesses to work smarter at faster speeds. Dynamics GP is available in North America, the UK, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and a few other countries with partner supported localizations. Small and medium-sized businesses can save on IT infrastructure costs since it takes advantage of the cloud. Some other ERP Software Companies: Oracle ERP Cloud Odoo SYSPRO Sage Intacct Brightpearl Epicor ERP For most companies, the advantages of ERP systems far outweigh its implementation cost. But be sure to do your research before investing in an ERP system. Hopefully, you will be able to increase Return on Investment and save a lot of money your business is losing due to miscommunication or other mistakes that can be avoided by ERP systems.

Top Reasons to Invest in an ERP System for Your Business

credit: http://saphanatutorial.com/prerequisites-for-learning-sap-hana/ I’m writing this post to jot down all the things I need to do during website deployments. cloudy ASP.NET Get the database connector project Re- Publish Grab that awesome URL rewrite module Set and free IIS_IUSRS app pool Check that your application pool refers to correct version of .NET Get — obviously it’s a new server, right? re-certified and certificate Import install the same in Import IIS Originally published at xameeramir.github.io .

What are the pre-requisites for an ASP.NET website launch

To paraphrase the British archaeologist and military officer T.E. Lawrence, only people who dream with open eyes have the ability to change the world. By contrast: “Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity,” wrote Lawrence, who was better known as Lawrence of Arabia. A similar principle applies to the Internet of Things. Many of the early projections related to the were like nighttime dreaming. While promises of billions and billions of connected devices and trillions of dollars in market revenue have a certain appeal, . technology their feasibility tends to evaporate when reality intrudes It’s for this reason that SAP’s Tanja Rueckert is an advocate of an Industrial Internet that is rooted in . The next is coming, she stresses, but it requires more than installing cloud-connected sensors on the shop floor. business reality industrial revolution SAP She touts her employer’s 45 years of experience creating business software as a competitive advantage in this regard. “We understand how to use new data and information to make those processes smarter,” notes Rueckert, who is the company’s executive vice president of LoB digital assets and IoT. “In the industrial space, there are a lot of players good at building machines, whether it is , , Rockwell, or FANUC. But our advantage lies in helping enterprises understand what you can do with the data coming from those machines.” GE Siemens In an interview with the IoT Institute, Rueckert shares her thoughts on the Industrial Internet at large and related technologies such as digital twins, blockchain, 3-D printing, and mass customization. What is one of your favorite examples of the Internet of Things in action? One of the coolest demos was with one of our partners, , which is Italy’s biggest train company. The demo highlights how much you can do with connected sensors on locomotives. You can put them in the batteries, the doors, and so on. And you can change the maintenance schedule for those components, so you aren’t tied to providing service based on kilometers or a time interval. Rueckert: Trenitalia Frecciarossa One of the things I liked most about this train demo is the live data feeds you can witness. There you are: sitting on an IoT thing — the Internet of Trains — and you see it in action. And you can see how you can do predictive maintenance — dynamic maintenance — right there in the train. You can also see how it helps ensure that the train always arrives on time or how IoT technology ensures that the air conditioner doesn’t give out in the summer. This example also shows off Trenitalia’s Italian flair and approach to customer experience. It also highlights our role as a software partner. Digital twins were everywhere this year at Hannover Messe. What’s your take on this and what is SAP’s strategy here? I am saying this with a certain amount of pride, but I believe that our digital twin is superior since we bought , which does multistructural and finite element analysis of materials as well as simulations and integrity modeling. These aren’t capabilities that SAP had before. We bought this material science IP — their ability to analyze Newtonian physics — brought it together with our software. The 3-D visualization capacity and material science expertise make our digital twin very strong. Rueckert: Fedem Technology AS SAP Here’s another cool story: One of our customers, Arctic Wind, has a wind turbine field known as the Havøygavlen Windmill Park that is the northernmost in the world. Nobody wants to go there to service it because it is so cold. So Arctic Wind came to us and asked: “Can you help us set up a virtual inspection, so our service engineers don’t have to go to these windmills?” So that’s what we did. What’s your vision for digital twin technology in the future? If you fast forward, I believe there won’t be much need for physical testing in years to come. This is a personal Tanja belief, but I believe we will move more and more into virtual testing. Rueckert: Let’s go back to the Arctic Wind example: They had a storm and wanted to see how it affected their windmills. They had some hardware sensors already, but we could also install a virtual sensor that helped them spot when there is a potential problem. Think about what this means for future testing. I believe that, in a few years, much material testing will be virtual in many different industries and that it will speed up product design. Maybe you won’t be able to simulate 100%. I think that regulations will still specify that you still need some material testing, but a lot of the more optional things will be done virtually. We’re still early in the Industrial Internet adoption cycle . Any advice for cash-strapped small and medium-sized companies looking to use the technology to stay competitive? We introduced a jump-start enablement program where we start with a design-thinking workshop that includes business KPI definitions. We help our customers build a one-week prototype and a three-month pilot at the end. This could include a SaaS predictive maintenance solution, for example, or we could have a SaaS program for, say, tracking vehicles. This program has a fixed price point. The other element is that we are moving towards consumption-based pricing. Rueckert: What can you tell us about SAP’s involvement in 3-D printing? We started to work with UPS to drive the concept of distributed manufacturing. We feel that 3-D printing is ready for the mass market: We have an array of materials available now, and the price point has come down. Rueckert: UPS was a perfect partner because they wanted to play two roles: First, they wanted to reinvent themselves to become a manufacturer — capable of 3-D printing on demand — as well as a logistics provider. They want to build up their printing farms and be able to print on demand. We are building out a distributed manufacturing network with them that we decided to build in the middle of last year and now it is released. We helped create the platform for all of the different partners and also helped ensure that there is a secure transmission of the specifications to the 3-D printer. This project will be one of our first showcases for blockchain. Everybody talks about blockchain now. It is not going to solve world hunger, but specific cases like this are a good fit where you have to protect a specification and where you have a transfer from point A to point B. What else is SAP doing in blockchain now? We are also looking at blockchain for global track and trace and sending documents or smart contracts. We are specifically looking at those areas. We are not trying to use blockchain for everything. But we see the value in applying blockchain at the data level — in the solution directly. We take the same approach with machine learning. Rueckert: Drones seem to be another hot IoT-related technology. What can you share about SAP’s focus here? I believe that drones will be critical for last-mile delivery and also farming, where they are already active today. For individual lot-size [of] one logistics, that is [where] you need . There are already plans for flying drones to carry passengers in Dubai. Rueckert: drones [ ] Related: The Ordinary Magic of the 21st Century Supply Chain I believe that drone delivery will come, but it will become more regulated. I think it is easy for us because it is another type of vehicle. We connect it, make sure we get the data, and help manage and steer it, but where we also use it is for imaging. I think computer vision and image recognition is a big piece in IoT. With computer vision technology, you can recognize what is on a retail shelf or you can take before and after pictures for insurance. There are lots of positive implications for IoT. I’ve heard you talk before about mass customization . Could you provide an example of this? Creating custom running shoes is a common example. But mass customization can be used to make anything personalized that you order on a website. This concept isn’t really intended for complex products, but simple ones that can be individualized with no extra cost at high speed. Rueckert: Here’s the basic concept: A personalized order goes down to the assembly line, and a high-speed robot line assembles the parts. It reduces the whole complexity of the system landscape. This combination of personalized manufacturing and mass production is called mass customization. This will change the world of manufacturing because it will bring manufacturing back to industrialized countries. One of the things holding IoT back is the skills gap . What skills does the industry most need? People and companies need to be multidisciplined. Your company could need expertise in mathematics, traditional IT, the Internet of Things, design thinking, machine understanding, and the ability to apply domain expertise from your customers. Data science is another crucial element. Every company will have data scientists in the future. Rueckert: What I have heard in my talks with many universities is that many are starting to launch curricula for data science. There is one in Mannheim, Germany, that I know personally but also at Stanford and around the world. I believe that demand for data science will increase across the world. And there will be multidisciplinary interactions between data science and fields like robotics. That is what we need for the future. Originally published at www.ioti.com on May 2, 2017.

To Take Root, Dreams of the Next Industrial Revolution Must Be Grounded

A Complete Guide to Recording Time & Date Periods With a Chatbot

In this series we’ll discuss the role of both operational and information technology in critical infrastructure from the point of view of an electric utility. We’ll then explore the role that Enterprise Resource Planning plays in this context. In doing so, we’ll demonstrate that, in addition to being an integral component of business operations, ERP systems also contain mission critical applications, crucial to maintaining safe and reliable critical infrastructure. We’ll expose the issues IT and Cybersecurity teams face in maintaining and protecting ERP systems, including a lack of transparency with business units, complexity as a result of high customization, and, most importantly, a persistent lack of adequate resources to maintain healthy and performant systems. Finally, we’ll demonstrate how a dedicated team of risk professionals can right these wrongs, gain a windfall of additional resources from federal and state governments, and build better, more transparent relationships with regulators. In the process, they’ll form lasting, collaborative relationships between IT and the rest of business, building a steadfast coalition dedicated to the highest purpose of all, greater public safety. ERP and Critical Infrastructure: A Series Electricity is the lifeblood of modern civilization, powering our homes, industries, and essential services. While electric, gas, and water utilities stand at the forefront, other forms of critical infrastructure include telecommunications, transportation systems, and healthcare facilities. Critical infrastructure refers to assets, systems, and networks foundational for our society to function. Electric utilities run on both Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) networks. OT networks in electric utilities prioritize real-time operational functions, such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and process control systems. These specialized networks facilitate the monitoring and control of physical devices and processes. IT networks, on the other hand, are the conventional user networks that the rest of the business uses to run its day-to-day operations and communicate with the outside world. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are part of the IT network. They integrate various business processes, including finance, human resources, procurement, and inventory management. ERP systems streamline operations by providing a centralized platform for data management and decision-making, enhancing efficiency and resource utilization. … Can we safely and reliably provide electricity without it? That’s the question an electric utility asks itself when determining which of its assets are mission critical. In the context of an electric utility, and other critical infrastructure, mission critical assets are thought to live on the OT network. And they do. A failure or compromise of Operational Technology could result in the flooding of an entire city. This is because OT systems control the operation(s?) of dams. OT hydroelectric power generation systems exercise precise control over the flow of water, a process fundamental to achieving optimal power generation while maintaining safety standards and preserving environmental integrity. If compromised, such systems hold the potential to trigger a catastrophic event. The is provided by The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for utilities to determine the criticality of their tech-enabled dams based on the number of people at risk if compromised. flowchart below A failure or compromise of OT systems could also impact grid reliability, disrupting essential services and endangering public safety. OT bulk power systems control the power supply across North America. Due to the interconnected nature of the North American power grid, even a handful of utilities experiencing OT failures could have cascading effects throughout the entire region, or even across regions, causing widespread blackouts (region map below). This happened on November 9th, 1965, when a power failure in Ontario, Canada cut off power to over 30 million people in parts of Canada, New York, New Jersey and most of New England. And on August 14 and 15, 2003, the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada suffered the worst power blackout in history. Areas affected extended from New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey west to Michigan, and from Ohio north to Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario. Approximately 50 million customers were impacted. So who regulates this? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was chartered as a result of the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, signed by President Jimmy Carter. FERC serves as an independent agency within the US Department of Energy (DOE) that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. To maintain the reliability of the bulk power system, FERC reviews, approves, and enforces mandatory reliability standards developed by an organization called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). FERC’s reliability jurisdiction primarily focuses on reliable operation of the grid. The aim is to ensure the real-time and day-to-day operations of the grid by developing and enforcing operational and business standards ( ). see “grid” as defined by FERC below According to FERC, grid reliability is based on two key elements: – A reliable power grid has the ability to withstand sudden electric system disturbances that can lead to blackouts. Reliable operation - Generally speaking, resource adequacy is the ability of the electric system to meet the energy needs of electricity consumers. This means having sufficient generation to meet projected electric demand. Resource adequacy OT systems are used to ensure “reliable operation” by isolating failures so they do not spread across the interconnected power grid. They are used to ensure “resource adequacy” by optimizing the distribution of electricity based on real-time demand and using automated load balancing to manage the flow of power to match consumption patterns, preventing overloading. OT systems also track the condition of equipment, analyzing performance data to predict potential failures, allowing proactive maintenance and protecting the lives of crew members in the field. They employ sensors and monitoring devices to detect faults, such as short circuits or equipment malfunctions that could cause disastrous and potentially deadly fires. And, In the event of emergencies like natural disasters, OT systems facilitate coordinated responses. They enable quick isolation of affected areas, rerouting power to minimize the impact of these life threatening events. A stable, protected, and defended electric utility is imperative to prevent disruptions that can have cascading effects on various sectors, including hospitals, elderly care homes, emergency response systems, and other critical infrastructure. When we think about IT technology in this context, we worry about adequate network segmentation to avoid cyber threats traversing from IT networks where they’re disruptive to OT networks where they’re potentially catastrophic (see illustration below). AT&T’s network segmentation But what if I told you that an attack on the IT network alone can also be catastrophic? That you could not safely and reliably provide electricity without ERP systems? And that these systems are far too often fragile, underprotected, under-resourced sitting ducks? More on that in part two

Enterprise Resource Planning & Critical Infrastructure

Most people hardly know what proxy servers are used for. If you are like most individuals, chances are you think proxy servers are only used to access content that’s not allowed in your country or stay secure on open WiFi networks. However, proxy servers have many other uses and are particularly crucial for businesses. A server is a relatively simple intermediary computer that allows you to make an indirect connection with other networks. has its own internet protocol (IP) address, which is made public instead of your private IP address. This mechanism can be utilized for an array of business reasons from security purposes to customer experience and everything in between. proxy A proxy server Well, there are five common reasons to use a proxy that every business owner needs to know about. Improve Business Security Hacking has been on the rise in the past several years. A can be very expensive and takes a toll on your public image. Exactly 1,769, 185,063 user records were leaked in . data breach January 2019 alone Here are some of the biggest data breaches of the 21st century: A proxy minimizes the chances of a breach. It adds an extra security layer between your company’s servers and external traffic. Since proxy servers face the web and relay requests from devices outside the network, they act as an excellent buffer. Hackers can gain access to your proxy, but they are going to have a hard time reaching your actual server where vital data is stored. Of course, it is impossible to keep talented hackers completely out with just a proxy server. However, you will be less vulnerable compared to running your business without a proxy. Balance Traffic to Prevent Server Crashes One of the most annoying things on the customer side is a site going down when they really need it. Peering, cloud data storage and proxy servers help ensure this does not happen and improve customer experience. Essentially, your content and data are stored across multiple servers around the globe and in the cloud. Peering ideally helps your network handle more traffic. However, you cannot ask customers to try varying internet service providers to reach that content. Instead, a proxy server is utilized to create a single web address that serves as the access point. The proxy ideally balances the requests to each and every server, ensuring that there is no overload. All of this happens in the background to ascertain a seamless experience on the customer end. Do Sensitive Tasks Anonymously Proxy servers are popular for their ability to keep your web presence anonymous. Unfortunately, most business owners do not know how useful this function can be. Whistleblowers, security officers, and reporters count on this additional security to protect themselves, their companies, partners, clients, and even sources. Proxies can ideally protect any research and development your team is currently conducting. Any potential spy attempting to track your traffic in order to know what your company is working on will have a hard time tracking your employees if you use a proxy. Any sensitive business tasks done online will be more secure if they are anonymized via a proxy server. Bandwidth Savings and Faster Speeds Due to the extra work done by proxy servers in the background, most people tend to think that it only slows down the internet. However, this is not always the case. You can use proxy servers to increase internet speeds and even save on bandwidth by caching web pages and files that are accessed by multiple users, compressing traffic and even blocking ads from websites. This frees up that precious bandwidth on a busy network and so, your employees are able to browse the internet faster. Control Internet Usage in The Workplace No employer wants the workforce to access inappropriate or insecure sites through company networks. This is the primary reason why most internal networks in companies and institutions operate on a proxy server. If a network is run through a proxy server, you will be able to control which websites people can visit and the devices that can access the network. You can and websites that you think will only distract the employees. block inappropriate content With a proxy, you will also be able to record what employees are accessing, for internal reasons. Most security officers take advantage of this feature to monitor for potential security breaches or illegal activity.

The Benefits of Proxy Servers for Businesses

There’s a reason apps, and operating systems receive so many updates, patches and fixes. Yes, it helps remedy underlying issues or bugs that crop up — or that were always there under the surface — but it has much more to do with security. software It’s impossible for developers and coders to create a flawless, nigh indestructible piece of software. Furthermore, as time goes on and more updates, features and content are released, it can open up new vulnerabilities and problems — which must be fixed. The fact of the matter is, failing to release updates and further support your code can and will have severe consequences, especially when it comes to security. You are not only putting your company, reliability and reputation at risk, but you are also putting your end users right at the forefront of those dangers. The huge data breach at , for example, arose that was entirely preventable. Equifax because of a simple mistake The Equifax hack was possible because of an external library they relied on, which had a gaping security flaw. The external library itself received a patch to fix the issues, but Equifax never bothered to update the internal code used on their systems. This is despite the fact that the library team made it known about the vulnerability and even released a security update. But what’s more alarming is that most hacks and data breaches happen because of outdated dependencies or similar user negligence. To think, most of these issues can be fixed, simply by updating the software or more specifically the dependencies at their core. Like it or not, modern web development , which must also be upgraded from time to time. often relies on third-party dependencies and libraries Incentives Are The Way A new study from computer science researchers at North Carolina State University reveals that to convincing more developers to fix and upgrade their code. an auto-fix tool may be the solution After reviewing a variety of open-source projects on GitHub, the researchers noticed a correlation between automated pull requests and developer support. They analyzed a variety of different ways projects incentivize updates and whether or not it has a direct affect on the developer’s work. Two groups stood out. One comprised 2,578 projects total. All of those projects applied automated pull requests for bug and vulnerability reports. The project administrators receive notifications about much-needed upgrades for obsolete dependencies in their code. It is accompanied by suggestions for potential solutions and even uses a test feature to check updated code. So, not only will developers stay informed about their projects, but they are also given the tools to fix their work — and ensure it’s secure. The other comprised projects that didn’t use any kind of incentivized system for upgrading dependencies that were not current. There were 1,273 projects in this group. As a developer yourself, you should be able to correctly guess which group was more successful. The researchers found that the larger group with automated pull requests received 60% more of the required upgrades than the projects without this feature. Chris Parnin, assistant professor of the computer science team and senior author of the paper, revealed some further insights. “[A] majority of automated pull request projects were using the most up-to-date versions of dependent software, whereas the unincentivized projects were [more fragmented].” Essentially, it means that automated tools — like the pull requests — can help developers and programmers stay on top of updates. While Parnin says, “these tools can’t replace good programmers,” they sure can make a “significant difference” in terms of security and development. Of course, it’s “up to the programmers” to deploy and utilize these tools in the first place. So, what’s the takeaway here? It’s up to you as developers and maintenance crews for these programs and apps to ensure the necessary upgrades happen. But that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. There are automated tools and systems you can put to use to stay on top of it all, and that’s what you can use to be more effective. Image by Negative Space

PSA: Upgrading Out-Of-Date Dependencies Is One Of The Most Important Things You Can Do

My portfolio website has been WIP since before I started professionally developing websites. Other priorities have always gotten in the way — paid projects, more interesting projects, reddit… I think most of you can relate😅 A problem that I hadn’t accounted for was that companies weren’t going to preserve their websites until I was ready to start on my portfolio. There was a marketing site for Facebook Events that I was lead on and was hugely proud of, but it’s been three years and they’ve , and so many other sites that were either renovated to the point where I can only claim to have worked on their previous incarnations, or have just been shut down. completely redone the site I started saving screenshots It’s tedious. Do you capture all the pages? At what dimensions? You also miss any interactivity and animations. What do you do when a potential client asks you “what have you worked on?”, send them a zip of screenshots and describe how the interactive pieces were supposed to work? What you should do instead — snapshot your sites. The Internet Archive’s is a good start, but you should also use . It is a screen-recording service, but rather saves webpages and their content, including Ajax requests. Wayback Machine webrecorder.io not Here’s an example snapshot of reddit But that’s not the coolest part Here’s a snapshot of my personal twitter feed : My personal, logged-in twitter homepage Try clicking on Dan’s comment (edit: I don’t mean in the image! Click the tweet from the example snapshot ) That window is populated with replayed Ajax requests! The tweet at the time of writing this post already has 325 likes, but it will always stay at 305 in this recording, even if Twitter changes their website and API. Recordings of websites can be downloaded as warc.gz files — an open standard Web ARChive format that can be replayed online or offline. To top it off, the service is and can be run locally using docker. You can self-host your own instance and never worry about it going offline! open source If you’re a web developer or designer, you should start snapshotting your work ASAP. That way you can send your potential clients or employers links to archived versions of your sites, and allow yourself to come back to a site and selectively take screenshots for your portfolio, whenever you get around to building it. Thanks for reading! 📬 to receive drafts of upcoming articles before they’re published. Subscribe to my newsletter If you want to set up your own self-hosted webrecorder instance on Digital Ocean, have I got a shameless referral link for you ! This article is sponsored by my hobby project — Compare npm package download counts over time to spot trends and see which to use and which to avoid! npmcharts.com 📈 Here’s an interactive download histogram for Angular and react-router

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