Skip to main content
P
ptc-53864411-Visitor
1-Visitor
November 20, 2013
Question

PLM and SAP Integration

  • November 20, 2013
  • 5 replies
  • 17054 views

Hi,

We are looking to integrate Windchill PLM to SAP Integration. Our goal is transfer real time data (BOM, parts) to SAP. We are looking at options on what are the best options here.what are your thoughts on using SOAP based JMS queue concept?

We want to use SAP PI system instead of TIBCO and wanted to see if we need ESI framework in order to do real time integration?

Also what is the best way for error handling mechanism where in scenarios such as if sap pi server is down, can we monitor the failed messages from PTC PLM side and can we resend those message once the SAP PI is up.

Thanks

Raj

    5 replies

    GregoryPERASSO
    GregoryPERASSO16-Pearl
    16-Pearl
    November 20, 2013

    Hello

    You ca use ESI with a direct integration to PI (we do this for WTpart and BOMs).

    ESI will provide you an OOTB framework for publishing . And can be customized depending odf your need.

    just be sure of your functionnal scope. may be it will be less painfull to develop a full legacy interface ....

    depending of trigger, Change Mgmt or direct sending, BOMs, multilevel or not, effectivities ....

    Error handling can be done fron Windchill, more depending of the implementation of the "ESI send" workflow you will use or develop. You can imagine a Webservice who will check that PI is up before releasing the message ....

    regards

    M
    Murali1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    November 20, 2013

    Hello,

    Yes, your right.

    windchill-SAP integration need use windchill ESI only which is fully developed and tested.

    -- warm regards Murali www.prism-ind.com India:+91 888-00-77476 USA :+01 281-86-77476
    H
    hlinseisen1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    November 25, 2013

    If you want to use the ESI i would ensure first that your numbering scheme follows the system given in the ESI interface.

    So one part master in Windchill should be one part in SAP -- if your numbering doesn't follow this rule i'd consider building my own interface because this would break the internal logic of the interface.

    By the way -- My personal thought is that this JMS thing makes the whole interface much more complicated than necessary. If you have some trouble it's really hard to find out the location where the problems come from because the code is very splitted up.

    C
    ChiragSuthar1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    December 31, 2013

    Use Webservice,

    Add following rule for publishing bill of material in SAP

    it will help you,

    For example,

    Level assemblly name Rev

    0 ABC.asm 0

    1 abc-01.asm 1

    2 abc-01_1.asm 1

    1 abc-02.asm 0

    2 abc-02_2.asm 0

    Before publish above assembly check

    If

    Number in windchill =number in SAP

    Rev in windchill =Rev in SAP

    If yes then do not publish below items.

    Because information is already available in SAP.

    If no then publish to SAP.

    Regards,

    Chirag

      B
      BenThompson1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      May 23, 2014

      Originally on Windchill 10.1 M040 but recently 10.2 M010 we use ESI for integration with our SAP ECC 6.06 (ERP) system.

      We also have SAP PI in our landscape but PTC has too much 'business logic' currently built into their ESI/TIBCO deployment to easily replace the OOTB TIBCO with PI.

      Error reporting is basic and we've definitely had some issues in understanding some of the often 'cryptic' Failed ESI transaction responses. In some cases we've done some development work on better error handling 'wrappers' to the standard SAP BAPIs etc. being called.

      Part numbering is critical. In our model Windchill 'owns' the creation of the Part number, which is passed down to SAP (Material number) upon Release. We assigned a SAP External Number Range for Material numbers in SAP and updated the Windchill Sequence (we run MS SQL Svr) assinged to the WTPart sub-types we use for ERP Parts/Materials to the same. Note; same for passing WTDocument sub-types to SAP DMS.

      We're currently piloting the Process Plan -> SAP Routing functionality so would definitely be interested to learn how you progressed with your integration activities.

      P
      PreetiGupta15-Moonstone
      15-Moonstone
      May 23, 2014

      Ben,

      We have a similar situation where the SAP has its own number range assigned(Not live yet with SAP, but that is what I heard)

      We use 10 digit smart part numbering scheme in Windchill.

      We are running Windchill on Oracle. Would you explain more about Windchill Sequence?

      thanks,

      Preeti

      B
      BenThompson1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      May 27, 2014

      We are running MS SQL across our landscape so I can't offer any Oracle specific examples but take a look at the PTC Windchill Customization Guide (~page 1845 in the 10.2 M010 version). It offers some good instruction and examples re; creating the DB sequence.

      Note; we're also not using any sort of 'smart' numbering schemes in SAP or Windchill. For this type of functionality (particualrly on the Windchill side) we've found defining additional soft type attributes has been more beneficial and a lot less complex.

      An example scenario could be; we have a Part sub-type (we'll call OurPartType) which we want to assign a unique ID starting at 20000000 and incrementing by 1 for each occurance.

      For our use case we defined an External Number Range in SAP for Materials (T-Code MMNR) for 20000000 - 29999999.

      We then defined a Sequence (non-modeled) in our Windchill MS SQL database using the following:

      USE Admin

      CREATE TABLE Admin.wt_sequence_wtourparttypeid (dummy CHAR(1), value BIGINT IDENTITY(20000000, 1))

      go

      CREATE PROCEDURE Admin.wt_get_next_sequence_wtourparttypeid @returnValue BIGINT OUTPUT

      AS

      INSERT wt_sequence_wtourparttypeid (dummy) VALUES ('x')

      SELECT @returnValue = SCOPE_IDENTITY()

      Go

      The final step was to update the OIR for the sub-type Part OurPartType to call the Custom Sequence:

      <Arg>{GEN:wt.enterprise.SequenceGenerator:wtourparttypeid:8:0}</Arg>

      K
      KamleshGosalia1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      June 16, 2015

      Hello,

      We have a customer who purchased ESI to integrate with their SAP (Windchill 10.2M020). However, they do have security requirement to pass information through SAP PI only. Is there any way to use the TIBCO (Available with ESI)  and make it talk to or work with SAP PI? can we pass information from TIBCO to SAP PI and have SAP PI talk with BAPI? If yes, whats the effort like on the TIBCO to SAP PI piece and SAP PI to SAP?

      Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

      Regards,

      Kamlesh

      L
      lmouchard12-Amethyst
      12-Amethyst
      August 9, 2016

      Hello Kamlesh,

      an interresting alternative would be to use the IFConneX interface for SAP provided by the company Innoface (http://www.innoface.de/en/ptc-windchill-sap-interface-ifconnex/). You can synchronise Material, Documents, BOM, change management, etc. It supports both the JCO and PI API of SAP.

      Regards,

      Loïc

      Terms & ConditionsCookie settingsAccessibility statement