SAP has announced two updates to the Master Data
Management (MDM) component of its NetWeaver integration and
application platform.
The updates, which will appear by the end of the year, are
designed to make it easier to synchronise data between different
systems.
Two other new NetWeaver enhancements, faster searching of
corporate data and more robust handling of errors in Java
applications, will only appear in the next release of NetWeaver,
planned for 2005, the company said at the SAP TechEd conference in
San Diego.
The first of the two updates to MDM, available immediately, adds
new data management capabilities, including an object modelling
framework, new web services and new data normalisation
capabilities, SAP said.
The object modelling framework allows users to define data
objects with attributes specific to their business, complementing
the standard data objects included with MDM. All the standard
NetWeaver services will work with both standard and custom data
objects.
New web services interfaces optimise the process of loading
millions of data objects from outside sources, and make it possible
to orchestrate the activities of a collection of web services as
part of a single business process.
SAP will introduce the second update to MDM in December, adding
global data synchronisation capabilities that will make it possible
to synchronise data all along the supply chain, from manufacturers
through distributors to retailers, in an industry-standard
format.
SAP also described two enhancements to other parts of NetWeaver.
These will be included in a new version of the platform due for
release next year, according to SAP spokeswoman Alicia Lenze.
The first enhancement will address problems experienced with
some large-scale Java applications, which are vulnerable because a
single error can affect many users at once, causing them to lose
data or their screens to freeze.
By isolating these users' sessions from one another in
"containers" in NetWeaver's Java virtual machine (JVM), the company
hopes to improve application stability by limiting the impact of
errors to a single user session - reducing the workload for support
staff in the process.
In addition to its effect on stability, the new JVM framework
reduces overall memory consumption for multi-user Java
applications. The framework also allows administrators to turn on
debugging controls for a single user process, meaning that they can
identify and monitor errors in a live system, without having to
recreate the problem on a test system.
The last NetWeaver enhancement, an improved business
intelligence and searching technology, will make it easier and
quicker to access information on inventory or profitability stored
in disparate systems across the enterprise.
Still in the labs, the technology promises a tenfold improvement
in response times to queries, with some queries being up to 1,000
times faster than using traditional techniques. It will be of most
help to businesses with high data volumes and large numbers of
simultaneous data requests of an unpredictable nature.
Peter Sayer writes for IDG News Service