As part of defining enterprise integration architecture, we are conducting a thorough analysis of what kinds of middleware should include in addition to the ESB BizTalk Server 2010. In the current landscape we have PI for systems integrations between SAP & non-SAP scenarios. To make a decision whether or not we shall disregard PI, we defined three possible patterns:

1 - SAP PI will be used to integrate SAP & non-SAP scenarios, without using BizTalk.

2 - BizTalk + SAP PI will be used to integrate SAP & non-SAP scenarios, using SOAP as the transport protocol (SOAP Adapter/mySAP Business Suite Adapter from BizTalk)

3 BizTalk will be used to integrate SAP & non-SAP scenarios, using the following mechanisms: RFC, tRFC, BAPI, IDOC provided by the adapter from mySAP Business Suite.

I would like to know your point of view in order to make a correct decision, understanding that each of these patterns has its pros/cons and implementation prerequisites (such as the version of SAP R/3 or ECC).

Beyond the analysis I have done so far, I would like to understand why many companies have opted for the second pattern even wasting the benefits of the Biztalk adapter for mySAP Business Suite. I can bet the answer could be to have only one tool as middleware for getting services like monitoring, routing or even the implementation of a canonical model. Does this really justify the usage of BizTalk, when it is redundant, while still using PI as gateway integration?

Thank you very much in advance.

• Changed type Leonid GanelineMVP, Moderator Tuesday, February 05, 2013 7:52 PM