The Cloud for Customer solution offers 2 tools for customer extensions and UI adaptations:

1. Key User Tools (KUT)–It is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) tool which can be used by IT
   administrators to extend the C4C application via the browser without any
   coding. The adaptations are valid not just for the desktop version of the
   application but are immediately available for the mobile apps as well which greatly reduces implementation
   effort compared to traditional app extension mechanisms.

1. It allows adding new fields and queries. Changing
   field properties like visibility, whether it is mandatory and/or read-only for
   any field. It allows moving around and hiding tabs, fields, adding new sections
   etc., with easy drag and drop controls.
2. It allows creation of “Master Layout” and “Page
   Layout” for the C4C screens. The adaptations in the master layout affect all
   users of the system. Page layouts can be assigned to specific business roles or
   business process and can help define what user interface is seen by a
   particular user group assigned to the business role
3. “Code List Restrictions” help to setup dependency of a value in a dropdown field
   based on another field (control field), it also allows you to restrict the
   values based on business role. This provides great flexibility to design
   dependency between dropdown fields based on logged on user.
4. “Workflow Rules” can be defined per object which helps in sending notifications to
   appropriate people when rule based data changes occur in an object. Update of
   fields and calling actions based on conditions is also supported.
5. Using the “Language Adaptation” feature it is possible to change the terminology used in C4C to
   suit your needs by changing the text of field labels, value helps and messages.
   This is of immense values when your user base is familiar with terms different
   from the ones used in C4C. Example, in healthcare, “Accounts” would be referred
   to as “Patients”.
6. Via the “Custom Object Builder”, it is possible to model new business objects without worrying

                about the technical infrastructure. The system generates the user interface (both desktop and tablet),

                data sources (for analytics) and web services (for integration and consumption) for the custom objects,

                thereby drastically bringing down implementation effort.

              Information Links and Videos:

                    SCN Blog post on Creating Dynamic Screen Layouts:

                     http://scn.sap.com/community/cloud-for-customer/blog/2014/05/28/creating-dynamic-screen-layouts-in-sap-cloud-for-customer

                    Adapting the Cloud for Customer Home Page:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFj4aUkWAtI&feature=youtu.be

                    KUT info in the Cloud for Customer Admin Guide:

                      http://help.sap.com/cloud4customer?current=on-demand> Administrator Guide > Business Flexibility chapter

                    Administrator UI adaptation example:

                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP7oLXy5pwk

     2.  SAP Cloud Applications Studio – It is a Software Development Kit (SDK) for enhancing
          the functional capabilities of Cloud for Customer to fulfill customer
          requirements, legal requirements or industry best practices. It is a
          modification free method to enhance the application and provides support for
          desktops and mobile versions of the app.

1. It provides an “Integrated Development Environment(IDE)” based on MS Visual Studio

                which among other feature allows enhancement of standard objects, creating new objects and provides a
                wizard based approach to define UIs, forms, reports, workflows, web services
                and business configuration.

           b.  It provides “UI Designer” which allows extension of Cloud for Customer standard UIs

                and allows creation of new custom UIs.

           c.  It supports “mobile out of the box” with the same development environment being
                used for desktop and mobile. This also incudes the” analytics” defined on the custom

                objects associated with the standard content.

           d. Support for “web services” to communicate (both Consumption and Provision)with
               other SAP LOB Solutions or Cloud Solutions.

           e. Support for “lifecycle management” in a customer environment which typically includes development

               in a test tenant and then deployment in a productive tenant. Supports lifecycle for the Multi
               customer solution where the solution after the development shall go through the
               certification process before getting published in the SAP store.

          Information Links and Videos:

               SCN Community:

                https://scn.sap.com/community/business-bydesign/studio

               Best Practice Videos:

                http://scn.sap.com/community/business-bydesign/studio/blog/2014/04/10/cloud-applications-studio-short-best-practice-videos

               Product Documentation:

                https://help.sap.com/studio_cloud

               Studio Training (Select your country and search for ‘SAP Cloud Applications Studio’ or C4C30):

                https://training.sap.com/us/en/

SAP Cloud for Customer helps Business Run Simple with the Samsung Watch to Engage Customers Like Never Before

(Borrowed from Wikipedia)

Wearable computers, also known as body-borne computers or wearables are miniature electronic devices that are worn by the bearer under, with or on top of clothing. This class of wearable technology has been developed for general or special purpose information technologies and media development. Wearable computers are especially useful for applications that require more complex computational support than just hardware coded logic.

One of the main features of a wearable computer is consistency. There is a constant interaction between the computer and user, i.e. there is no need to turn the device on or off. Another feature is the ability to multi-task. It is not necessary to stop what you are doing to use the device; it is augmented into all other actions. These devices can be incorporated by the user to act like a prosthetic. It can therefore be an extension of the user’s mind and/or body.

Many issues are common to the wearables as with mobile computing, ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing research communities, including power management and heat dissipation, software architectures, wireless and personal area networks.

SAP Cloud for Customer is bringing its software-as-a-service capabilities powered by the SAP HANA Cloud Platform to wearables to make the lives of Line of Business Sales, Service and Social Engagement Users Simple as they go about Engaging Customers like Never Before.

Feel free to engage with us via comments and observations as we flesh out more cool stuff in our SAP Cloud for Customer Labs working to redefine the way line of business sales, service and social engagement users Engage Customers Like Never Before.

Thank you to Shalini Mitha for the voice over and Romit Ghose for the camera work.

=============================================================================================================

SAP Cloud for Customer Runs Simple on your Wearable to Engage Customers Like Never Before - YouTube

Keeping Accounts Ids consistent in C4C – ERP Integration,
considering Special Characters

Business case:

Customer requires Account Id consistency between systems.
Instead of managing internal and external Account Ids, as C4C standard
proposes, they prefer to have one and the same ID for all systems, regardless
what was the system of creation.

In order to keep Account ids as the same it is necessary to
build a new logic using SDK to maintain the C4C ID Mapping Table and it is
necessary also to change some mapping in the middleware.

In this document i explain a possible solution applicable
to Cloud for Customer and ECC using Hana Cloud Integration, adding the
particularity of alphanumeric number ranges.

Configure C4C:

Allow external Alphanumeric Number ranges

Business Configuration settings

Fine Tuning Activity “General Business Partners”

In this case, the Description “external” means that the user
can enter a value manually, it doesn’t reference an external system.

UI personalization:

In order for users to enter an Alphanumeric Account ID
manually, it is necessary to unhide the field from the quick create screen.
This can be done via Personalization.

Keeping External number ranges

Business Configuration settings

Fine Tuning Activity : Integration of Business Partner data
from your Cloud Solution to SAP ERP

When configuring this intervals in the standard it is
imperative that we select the same ranges for Accounts and Prospects we will
use in ERP Transaction SNUM, according to the integration guide. In this case
we can keep the defaults because Ids will be overridden any way in a later
step.

SDK Configuration:

Scripting

In the case of Account creation in ERP; in order to “fix”
the id mapping table before sending the message out to ERP, we need to develop
the following logic:

Business Object:
ObjectIdentifierMapping

           
Node: Root

           
Event: BeforeSave

We override the Account External ID with the alphanumeric value entered by the user in the Account id field.

This changes the id mapping table

importABSL;

importAP.FO.BusinessPartner.Global;

varOUTBOUND_IDENTIFIER_MAPPING_CODE = "4";

varERP_CUSTOMER_NUMBER = "918";

varBUSINESS_PARTNER_TYPECODE = "147";

varBUSINESS_PARTNER_NODETYPECODE = "5368";

if(  
this.OriginTypeCode
== OUTBOUND_IDENTIFIER_MAPPING_CODE
&&

       this.RemoteIdentifierDefiningSchemeCode
== ERP_CUSTOMER_NUMBER&&

       this.LocalObjectNodeReference.ObjectTypeCode.content
== BUSINESS_PARTNER_TYPECODE&&

       this.LocalObjectNodeReference.ObjectNodeTypeCode.content
== BUSINESS_PARTNER_NODETYPECODE)

{

       varcustomer = Customer.Retrieve(this.LocalObjectNodeReference.UUID);

       if(customer.IsSet()){

           
this.RemoteObjectID.content = customer.InternalID;

       }

}

Creating Scoping Question

For regular users to be able to see the newly created changes in the business object, it is necessary to create a scoping question
that should be checked as “In scope”

This example belongs to a Brazilian Customer, thus the text
is in Portuguese. It translates to:

“Solution for External
ID Mapping  - Service Center”

“Please check to
enable the automatic ID mapping”

HCI Mapping:

From C4C to ERP:

Standard behavior

In our C4C structure in Hana Cloud Integration Designer we can see that there are two fields corresponding to the Account ID. These are
the “Internal ID” and the “ReceiverIntrnalID”. As appreciated in this screenshot of the standard settings, the one that is mapped to KUNNR  (Account id) in ERP is the “ReceiverInternalID”; which is known in our C4C UI as the “External ID” field.

In the standard this ID we send to ERP,  is drown from the Interval we indicated in
the business configuration, under the “Integration of Business Partner data
from your Cloud Solution to SAP ERP” activity.

Changes in the Mapping (optional):

We already did a change in PDI to have the same
“ReceiverInternalID” as the one we entered manually in the Internal ID (Sender
id) , this means the two fields are the same now.

We can keep the standard mapping and keep sending the
“ReceiverInternalID” to ERP, because it now contains the right value we need,
but it is valid also, to have a contingency plan, just in case something goes
wrong with the developed script.

1. Instead of keeping the standard mapping “ReceiverInternalID” to KUNNR;  we change it to

• “Internal ID” to KUNNR

From ERP to C4C:

Standard behavior

In our C4C structure in Hana Cloud Integration Designer we
can see that from ERP , the KUNNR Field is mapped to  “Internal ID” .

In this case, InternalID refers to the ERP id, and ReceiverInternalid refers to the C4C id. Exactly the
opposite of what we see from C4C to ERP, (in which case the InternalID refers to the C4C id)

InternalID is a key field of the Id Mapping table in C4C.

So when the Internal ID (ERP ID) is informed to C4C, the field External id is looked up in the ID mapping
table

If the External ID doesn’t exist, then  the system understands  that this account has not been synchronized with the external system yet. And creates another Account.

In the creation logic (before save event) is where our PDI logic exists so the field will be overriden here anyway

Required changes in the Middleware:

1. We keep the standard mapping  KUNNR à “Internal ID” and we also Map KUNNR to “ReceiverInternalID”.

So in this case KUNNR is mapped to 2 fields at the same
time.

KUNNR (ERP id) is now written on both fields.

Further Integration:

Having the mapping table corrected, the communication of any other further message, like Opportunities or Quotes can happen normally.

We don’t need to change the mapping in any of those documents.

Considerations:

This solution will not work as is if besides using Alphanumeric
number ranges, customers also have special characters in their Ids.

Special Characters in the ERP Ids.

ERP Customer id field allows special characters. The most common is &, but for Brazilian customers, in example , Á, ç, Ô, etc , could be used too.

The Account ID Field in C4C doesn’t allow special characters and it is not possible to switch off this validation in the backend. If we remove this validation (it is standard for all identifiers in C4C) it would have a major impact on the function of the C4C solution.

To achieve this kind of special integration we have 2 options:

1. To remove or replace special characters in
   the middleware

Consideration: If two accounts have similar ids like A&B and AçB and we remove the special characters. Both accounts will appear as AB, causing a duplication error.

2) to Create an Extension field for Account ID that would allow special characters and map that one to ECC: This requires internal
numbering in C4C, so the system would assign ids, user won’t be completing this field manually.

Mapping should be standard.

The only SDK logic is to populate the Account id extension field value with the External id value, if user is System user. (This means the
Account is being created from ERP).

And to override the External ID value created by the system according to number ranges, with the extension field value entered manually by
the User if user is different than system user (this means a real user is creating an account manually in C4C)

I hope this information helps!

Cheers

Natalia

In most customers implementations,it is decided that not all data is required to flow from one system to the other. Even if it is technically possible in standard integration.

The general recommendation is to apply all data filters in the middleware. But there are some exceptions of already built filters that we can laverage:

Data Exchange Filters – C4C Outbound

Consideration

All integration decisions in C4C, are controlled in the Business Configuration, there you can decide to integrate Accounts and Contacts uni or bi-directional, prospects and Account Hierarchies.

Apart from that there are not many Integration filters to be applied from C4C out of the box.

Data Exchange Filters – C4C Inbound (From ERP)

Consideration

When going live with a subset of the ERP solution (1 company, 1 sales org) the decision has to be made whether to replicate the entire organizational structure from ERP and whether to send all accounts or a subset of the accounts.

If the decision is made to send a subset of the accounts to C4C, filters will need to be added to either the outbound IDOC configuration or the middleware solution to only include accounts that exist in those org units in scope.

Limitations

The initial set of filters you can apply in ERP (Transaction BD64) are very few, only consider Account Groups, Org units, Channels , Divisions, region, Postal Codes, Contact Person Function, Country Key, Credit Control Area.

Recommendation

Filter in the backend system if :

• Some sensitive records may not go out of the system at all
• It is a Large portion of the data to be filtered out on HCI/PI: Example: Let’s assume ERP has 1,000,000 accounts and only 100,000 are relevant for C4C. In this case it would not make sense to send 1,000,000 IDocs to PI and throw away 90% of them.

Use this if your filter requirements can be fulfilled by the filter objects available in the distribution model

Simple scenarios can be supported this way:

ALE Distribution Model BADI: IDOC_CREATION_CHECK

There is a second BADI that may be used in this context

BADI BDCP_BEFORE_WRITE to prevent change pointers from being written

For both BADIs: Watch out to not to interfere with other ALE integrations at the customer!

If the ERP filters are not sufficient, then other filters can be applied in the middleware.

Initial Data Load

Consideration 1

It is common that customer would want to create their own Extension fields in C4C UI.

Recommendation

Because C4C typically assign the C4C number and stores the mapping to ERP, it is recommended that all data is loaded via the
interface, and not via the C4C data migration workbench.

All Extension Fields that need to be exchanged between can be integrated using the middleware.

Those fields that will not result populated in integration can be populated later using the Mass maintenance tool.

If for some reason, the migration workbench is chosen for Initial data Load, then it is mandatory to maintain ID mapping for all Accounts.

Consideration 2

When migrating accounts there can be a lot of dependencies between accounts, relationships to other business partners; that can prevent one account from being properly saved when sent from ERP to C4C.

Recommendation

Use Trx. BD12 to load all accounts, first without any
sales area data (which include relationships). 

Filters are applied in transaction BD64.

This will create all the general data of the accounts, so that they can be referenced in a second load, to create the
relationships. 

Then take out any filters, and  run BD12 to send all the accounts to C4C again.

Keep in mind that all idocs are processed individually and it takes certain time. So leverage the option of selecting a subset of accounts to be entered then in BD12. Don´t run BD12 without a selection of data, unless you truly want to replicate all (or a very high percentage of ) accounts existent in ECC.

We're excited to share the new features and enhancements introduced in our February release. There are both new features and enhancements to existing features enabling ease of use, flexible configuration and further integration to SAP ECC.

Our releases focus on a couple of key business scenarios - Multichannel Customer Service focused on optimizing customer service across channels - agent assisted in the contact center or mobile and self service, providing customer service excellence anytime, anywhere. The second -  Field Service Management ensuring the highest levels of productivity for fields service engineers completing installations, repairs, routine maintenance, etc. resulting in increased levels of customer satisfaction and first time fix rates.

So what's in 1502? Check out the below summary of topics and details via the links later in this blog. But let me highlight a few items:

• Queue modeling using territory modeling allows greater flexibility in queue and routing rule definition that provides an approach that is more flexible and easy to configure and maintain. Take a look and enable this new approach for your contact center queue definition and routing.
• Customer don't always follow your preferred email protocol - with tickets from email channel you now have the flexibility to merge, split and copy tickets maintaining the email reference and ticket relevance! So, no worries if a customer adds a new problem to an existing email thread!
• UI Simplification in the service work centers - Yes - you read it "simplification" - when configuring views for various service roles you now have one point of departure - a new service ticket view is introduced. Admin's take advantage of the opportunity to simplify your lives! We hope to obsolete the 'old' ones in our upcoming release.
• In Field Service installed base is out of beta! Further improvements to contracts and work ticket enhancements including more ECC integration ensuring end to end billing and parts logistics processes.
• Service compliance analysis with standard data source and report available.
• Did someone say Offline? More extensions here to surveys, tasks and individual customers.
• Complaint ticket with items reference and ECC order integration

Here are the topics covered in detail in the below links (provided in PDF form and video recording):

My colleague, Prashant Dube and I recorded a session with our 1502 release features focused on Cloud for Service (~45 min). For successive releases look for that email in your inbox providing a date and time for a similar session!

Here are the links: Check out the presentation and/or watch the recording of the presentation showing all the new features and some details on how to enable them.

Hello all,

I am happy to announce the availability of the "SAP Cloud for Customer Integration with SAP ERP" package on SMP.

Integration points covered:

• Integration of C4C with SAP EPR via HCI
• Integration of C4C with Microsoft Outlook (optional)
• Mobile Access setup (optional)

What's in it:

• Step-by-Step Configuration guide for setting up integration of C4C with SAP ERP (SMP Login and Software-download permission required)
  • Setting up Connectivity
  • Configuring C4C
  • Configuring ERP
  • Configuring HCI
  • Data Loading
• Customer Overview Presentation
• Scope Item Descriptions
• Test Scripts/Business Process Descriptions

Process Scope Covered:

• Account and Contact Management
• Opportunity Management
• Reports (optional)

Why you should get it:

• Detailed, easy-to-understand guide for setting up pre-defined integration scenario with HCI
• Perfect for consultants new in C4C integration (does not replace our trainings, though)
• Great basis for creating your own fixed-price service offering based on this package (if you do so reach out to me and let's talk about success-stories)

Where can you get it:

• http://service.sap.com/rds-cfc-erp

Your feedback on the package content is highly appreciated, so let us know how we can improve it, how you use and what your customers think of it by reaching out to me.

The “SAP Best Practices for SAP Cloud for Customer integration” has been updated for the 1502 release of C4C and with that following two guides have been brought to the latest status as well:

• How to configure Integration between SAP CRM and SAP Cloud for Customer using HCI
• How to configure Integration between SAP ERP and SAP Cloud for Customer using HCI

The how-to-guides for integration via SAP PI (ERP and CRM) will be updated soon, and we’ll let you know here once that is done.

You can download these guides as part of the best-practice package here: http://service.sap.com/rds-cfc-int

Please remember, that these guides are only to be used ON TOP of the integration guides that are provided by product management, which you can find here: https://websmp207.sap-ag.de/cloud4customer.

If you are looking for a complete best-practice package for the integration of C4C with ERP via HCI take a look at our new package that has been released on March 23rd: http://service.sap.com/rds-cfc-erp  -  All the information you need to configure the pre-defined integration scope in one single configuration guide…

Please don't hesitate to share your feedback and suggestions! asdfd

With the update of the SAP Best Practices for SAP Cloud for Customer integration on SMP to the 1502 release of SAP Cloud for Customer, we also provide a updated the how-to-guide that explains you how to integrate SAP Cloud for Customer with SAP hybris Marketing.

In this guide, we are showing you how to implement the following example scenarios (see pictures below):

1. Create leads in SAP hybris Marketing and replicate to SAP Cloud for Customer
2. Replicating opportunities from SAP Cloud for Customer to SAP hybris Marketing - new -
3. Create leads in SAP Cloud for Customer and replicate to SAP hybris Marketing - new -
4. Replicate contacts from SAP Cloud for Customer to SAP hybris marketing

You can find the how-to-guide on SMP, where you can download it as part of the overall best practice package for SAP Cloud for Customer integration: http://service.sap.com/rds-cfc-int

Any feedback suggestions on the guide is highly appreciated!

From long, CRM applications are focussed on improving the operational efficency of sales force by empowering them with the tools which helps in reducing the delayed sale cycles and to increase the service productivity.

Digital tranformation has changed the dynamics of CRM from the customer relationship to customer engagement. Organisations are prepared to engage with their customers in end-to-end journey  in providing personlised experience. We all are aware of  the changes that the devices like mobile, tablets have brought to our business, it has empowered the end consumer like never before. The data that is created from various social networking sites has become  valuable input for the companies to adopt their sales processes and how they service their customers. There are tons of data generated by various social networking sites online everyday , this data can be captured to deliver better customer experience across the sales, service, and marketing lifcycles.

In today’s digital world, it is important to draw insights of  the data captured from the digitally connected devices. It helps in Predicting the unscheduled breakdown of the product (eg Predective mantaince through IOT ) can be quoted as example of, which also helps in  planning of right technician at right time and to optimise spareparts inventory which eventually  leads to customer satisfaction and faster service .

To handle ever changing dynmics of market, companies really needs a approach that helps them innovate by building value around the on-premise investments and to convert insights into actions.

SAP has business applications in four strategic functions (Customer, Supplier, Money, Employee) in public cloud space.  SAP Cloud for customer is a( Software as service) cloud offering which falls under the category of customer function. It was brought under the protifolio of customer engagement and commerce with Cloud for customer, Hybris and seamless integration with On-premise systems through HCI which is an integraiton service in Hana cloud platform .

Through Cloud for customer, user has the opportunity to work on various channels like web, mobile, social, call centers , e-mail, marketing channels with the same universal user expereience in all the channels . It proivdes end-to-end user expereince across channels & devices with Fiori design.

Let me give you in-depth explanation of C4C product portfolio with Hana cloud platform underneath, on which the entire architecture rest.

HANA Cloud Platform : SAP HCP is a platform as service offering on HANA, which offers not only database as service, but also infrastructure and application as service. SAP HANA application as service provides option to the customers, to extend the current applications on cloud and build next generation comprehensive applications with collaboration to mobile and big data service. Mobile, portal, analytics, collaboration, security and integration are the services available in the area of application as a service, with HTML5, Java, and HANAXS runtimes. With this, the customers can build and develop their own application with provided services.

Social & predictive Analytics: Leveraging the power of HANA cloud platform, Cloud for customer delivers next generation predictive analytics with combined features of SAP infinite insight (KXEN) and predictive analysis. SAP infinite insight supports the capabilities of social (find your influencer), scorer (deploy your scores), explorer (prepare your data), recommendation’s (Personalized recommendation’s) which allows the business analysts users at any line of business  to work without additional skill enhancements.

Line of Business Functions: C4C comes with the best of the functionalities in the areas of sales, service, marketing, social & analytics. Hybris is an industry leading Omni channel  commerce solution combined with strength of HANA which enable businesses to optimize customer engagements and their businesses across all customer touch points. Hybris can be integrated to C4C, the B2B and B2C transactions created and can be integrated to C4C seamlessly. Cloud for customer is complete and matured solution, which provides options to businesses to extend or move the current applications to C4C. This allows companies  to engage with customers and enjoy the benefit of providing the personalized approach in different lines of business.

Industries: C4C has prioritized industries based on CRM trends and customer demand. Some of the solutions in demand and released by SAP so far are Professional service, insurance, banking, utilities, hi-tech, Retail, AFS, CP,IM&C  and Chemical .

Key differentiators

The following are the some of the key differentiators of C4C in comparison with other cloud competitors,

1) Speed of deployment: Time to value is significantly faster than on-premise applications, a go-live would take typically from 3 days to 25 weeks or more based on the complexity of scope and requirements. If you are looking at out-of-box functionalities of C4C sales ( for eg), with integration to ERP or CRM with 2-5 migration object, it is safe to estimate up to 30-50 days . This is considered fairy quick deployment and lower time to value.

2)Version Upgrades: Upgrades and renewals will be taken care by SAP. SAP release a new version for every quarter.  Customers are well informed in advance about the version plan and release timeline for their systems. Test tenant would be upgraded 2 weeks before the production tenants, this is provisioned so that customers have the lead time to take care of the custom activities. The current running version is 02.15.with C4C companies get upgrades free of cost unlike on-premise  the upgrades comes with huge cost and unscheduled downtimes.

3) Integration: To leverage the value of on-premise already implemented and to extend some of specific processes on cloud to take advantage of HANA, customers have to look at hybrid model. With the help of HANA cloud integration, companies can integrate their on premise applications to Cloud for customer seamlessly. HCI is a cloud based technology with bi-directional process integration, it comes with pre-packaged integration iflows. HCI is not  a part of C4C licenses, customers have to procure the license separately for both test and production tenants . After the initial security settings in both systems (eg like installing certificates etc), the integration activities would take upto 4 weeks or more, again subjective to complexity of scope of integration. The vital part of any implementation is integration with SAP ecosystem or with third applications as most of the customers current landscapes are hetrogenous, C4C along with HCI can handle this with greater flexibility and scalable for future needs.

4) Mobile: With the implementation of C4C, customer don’t have to opt for Mobile separately.The mobile apps provided for C4C can be very much operational when C4C goes live. Tenant URL used in the browser by desktop users can be  used by mobile users while subscribing to application. Cloud for customer app is available on iOS and Android. User will experience the same look and feel of the UI screens in mobile and desktop browser. Mobile has Offline facility where the mobile user can create master data as well as edit transactions when they are offline and sync back when they come online.  C4C mobile applications come free of cost and with minimal effort to make them operational.

5) Training: Cloud for customer is simple and easy-to-use, it means that the  user doesn’t need to be specially trained on intuitive HTML5 UI. It is simple to use with same user experience of using gmail’s and ebay’s. C4C has a help center in every tenant, where the users can e-learn by navigating to how to videos and C4C knowledge libraries where all the features and functionalities are fully covered. Any customer specific customization developed or configured can be created as Company specific help in the form of a video or link. With the Help center, the user can effectively refer to the content as and when required, this will save lot of dollars towards training of end users.

6) Resources skill set: Typically if you are CRM on-premise functional consultant, you would like to take a career progression towards cloud, it would be easy transition considering the process similarities and integration touch points with on-premise CRM. For Developers, if you are a Webdynpro ABAP or C-sharp or .Net or Java developer or combination, you will be better suited to work on Cloud application studio. People who have experience on SAP PI are better suited to learn and work on HCI.

7) Post production Support: SAP will support customers to resolve issues relating to standard delivery. The users have an option of logging incident directly to SAP, if they face any issues related to C4C standard features which are out of box. However, Customers have to support themselves for the custom developments specific to their process. It is usually a huge cost advantage if post production support is taken care by product owner itself, this is something customers can’t ignore.

8) Subscription based Model: Cloud for customer is a subscription based model , customers can pick and choose the user license based on the module best suited for their business, it is just plug in and play ( eg : number of users in sales, service, social etc) subjective to changes. SAP is better placed to answer questions in this area.

Hello Everyone!!

I thought of sharing some high level key functions/benefits of a Cloud for Customer system. The focus area is Account & Contact Management, Lead Management & Opportunity Management...This is not a complete set of benefits/functions, neither this specifically covers integration related things, but, it definitely gives an idea for evaluating the pros of using a Cloud for Customer Solution, specially for beginners...

Account & Contact Management

• Central place to store the Account/Contact Data in C4C as opposed to distributed systems like Outlook, Excel sheets, Mobile devices, etc.
• Account ó Contact Relationship, along with relationship to Operators, sellers, suppliers, etc. maintained in C4C system which simplifies work of Sales People in finding the relevant Accounts & mapping the Contacts/other relationship against them.
• Enterprise Search functionality which offers quick search for Accounts/Contacts, & other Objects, also search Accounts/Contacts based on filters like: Account Owner, Sales Area, Sales Employee, etc. These search filters can be saved on the Search screens for a one click access to filtered information.
• Account Feed information offers visibility into ALL activities that take place on an Account, like, Opportunity created on Account, Contact/Address information updated, any Appointment/Task updated on the Account etc. in one single screen
• Reps can mark the Accounts as Favorites to get instant access to their frequently visited Account & can keep themselves updated on the activities happening on the Account, they do not need to go through several channels to get updates on Key Accounts they work on.
• Capability to maintain multiple Sales team members at Account , which ensures every active contributor from the sales team on the Account is maintained & tracked.
• Seamless integration of Account/Contact Master data from SAP ECC to C4C system, to keep the Master data & its integrity intact in C4C System.
• No repetitive/manual effort needed for updating Account/Contact information in C4C as along with the initial Account/Contact data, any changes (Delta) performed on ECC Master data automatically flow to C4C Account/Contact data.
• Key information about the Account like:

1. 1.Account Hierarchy information
2. 2.Industry Type
3. 3.Account Classification
4. 4.Active Pipeline revenue information on the Account available right on a single screen for a complete 360 degree view of the Account along with Address & Bill-to, Ship-to address information.

• Access to all follow up items, like Leads/Opportunities/Appointments/Tasks created against an account can be accessed from within the Account screen, this provides end to end information from a single screen to every activity created/performed on an Account.
• Account/Contact information accessible on Mobile devices makes the On-the-Go Sales rep job simpler & enables them to better manage their Accounts/Contacts while on the go. They can perform Opportunity creation, Schedule Appointment or create and assign Tasks in the Accounts while on the go using the mobility feature of C4C for Account/contact management on the go.
• All critical attributes of an Account & Contact are reportable, so running Analytical reports on the Account & Contacts now becomes much simpler using the embedded reporting functionality to derive intelligent information on the data maintained in C4C system
• Standard integration using Outlook Add-On enables seamless connection between your Outlook & C4C system, which makes multitasking simpler, so reps can now works from Outlook & access Account/Contact data residing on c4C from the Outlook itself.

Lead Management :

• Single place in C4C to capture information about your Leads, which you get from various sources like Email campaigns, road shows, business card exchange, phone calls, web Leads, etc.
• Leads provide capability to maintain information about the potential Customer like Customer name, its contact details, address information, etc. which are key things to communicate with the prospect further, also capture information on Customer interest on your Product.
• Maintain the team members involved like Sales team member, Marketing team member information, etc.
• Maintain key information against the Lead like:

1. 1.Lead Status, ex: Open, Qualified, Converted, etc, post Lead qualification process.
2. 2.Lead source like: Campaign, Road-show, Telephone call, Event, card exchange, etc.
3. 3.Lead category to specify what kind of Prospect is it like: Prospect for: Consulting, Product Sales, Service, Training, etc.

• Add Products in the Lead to specify the Prospect’s interest in the Product.
• Create Activities against the Lead like scheduling appointment, creating a task for some other team member to do some R&D & follow up. All these functionality from within the Lead provide a single platform to perform end to end Lead Management process right from Lead creation to qualification, Product addition, scheduling appointment/tasks all the way through conversion to an Opportunity.
• Leads can be converted to an Opportunity from within the Leads itself in C4C, this allows you to track the efforts on New Prospect.
• All attributes of a Lead are reportable, so analytics on Lead for example by Source, by Category, by rep, etc. is easily configurable.
• The converted Opportunity can be accessed from within the Lead itself which provides a document flow to the rep which gives them access to all activities in a sales Lead management process from one single screen.

Opportunity Management

• Managing your end to end Sales Process is simplified by C4C’s Opportunity Management Process.
• Create your own Sales Cycle and assign different Sales Phases against the Sales Cycle. Each Sales Phase can then have further Probability (%) assignment to it. This provides a very process oriented approach to manage the overall sales process from Lead to Opportunity Management to your organization.
• To bring in further details to the Processes, every Sales Phase can be assigned one or several Activities/Tasks, which ensures that the reps adhere to every single critical step in the Sales Process laid down by your Organization. This is the guided selling process via the Sales Advisor function in an Opportunity.
• Critical key figures like the Dollar Amounts (Expected revenue), Timelines (Start & End Date), Probability (%), account for critical KPI analytics over an Opportunity.

• Adding Products to get the revenue information is a key capability on the Opportunity, which drives the revenue analysis of an Opportunity.
• Maintain information on an Opportunity like involved Sales team members, Involved parties like Operator, supplier, Partner, etc. to ensure every involved person be it external or internal is correctly captured in the Opportunity. The Opportunity can be analyzed based on these roles as well, which gives insights into individual performance management on Opportunities & the involvement of external people in the Opportunity.
• Maintain different Opportunity status like Won & Lost and also maintain the reason against the Opportunity status to analyze the root cause or drivers for a Loss or Win. This analysis helps in better planning and alignment of the focus area for future Opportunity management.
• Several standard reports/dashboards available in C4C offer logical & useful data, ex: Opportunity Analysis, Opportunity-Activity analysis, Opportunity-Product analysis, Revenue Analysis, Performance analysis, etc.

Hope beginners to Cloud for Customer find this information handy.

BR

Ankur

In this document I share my learning about using Certificates in the Integration between C4C and ECC using HCI. It's mainly an assimilation of information from the Integration Guides - but purely focused on using Certificates. It should be similar for CRM as well

Quick Reference for Certificates Configuration – between C4C and ECC
using HCI

Basically, the Client should trust the Server and the Server should trust the Client for a mutual SSL handshake to happen. To have this trust, both the client and server should provide their certificate/identification to the other. ECC/HCI/C4C behave as a client or server depending upon the direction of flow of information and based on who they are communicating with - Eg: both C4C and ECC communicate with HCI either in an Inbound direction or Outbound direction

A.   For Inbound communication from ECC to C4C via HCI:

There are 2 parts to the trust:

1. Between ECC and HCI and
2. Between HCI and C4C

Between ECC and HCI: ECC is the Client (The side initiating the request is deemed as Client, hence ECC is the Client) and HCI is the Server accepting the request. Hence there should be mutual trust between the two. Then, HCI becomes the Client and C4C the Server, and mutual trust should exist between the two

1. ECC is Client, HCI is server:
   1. HCI should trust ECC as a client ->

• ECC’s own Client Certificate has to be an approved one. This should not be a Self- Signed certificate(like shown below), instead should be a signed one by a valid/approved CA. A certificate request can be created from the STRUST and sent to the CA for signing. Later, the Signed response can be imported back here

• HCI should have this Signed ECC Client Certificate in its iFlows: Once a valid Signed Certificate has been obtained for the Client in ECC, in HCI, in the iFlows – eg.Material replication, using certificate based authentication, this ECC Client Cert needs to be uploaded to the iFlow – Export this SSL Client Certificate from STRUST and import to the iFlow in HCI

b.      ECC should trust HCI as a Server: HCI is the server for ECC, and the HCI Server Root Certificate chain has to be imported to STRUST in ECC.           HCI Worker node URL has the certificate chain which should be imported in STRUST – SSL Client

  2.      Between HCI and C4C, HCI becomes the client and C4C is the server

1. C4C as a Server should trust the HCI client cert
   • In the HCI provisioning mail, the HCI Client Certificate details are provided - or raise a ticket. This then needs to be uploaded to C4C in the communication arrangement for Inbound communications, and
   • the CA for the HCI cert should be in the trust list of C4C

     b. HCI should trust the C4C Server Cert – Nothing needs to be done for this, as this is already taken care of within HCI.

B. For Outbound communications from C4C to HCI:

There are 2 parts to the trust:

1. Between C4C to HCI and
2. Between HCI to ECC

1. Between C4C to HCI : C4C is the client and HCI is the server (C4C is the one initiating the request, hence is deemed as the Client)

1. The CA for the HCI server cert should be in the trust list of C4C
2. C4C client certificate should be imported to the iFlows in HCI in the sender channel – You need to export the x.509 certificate from C4C Communication arrangements and import it to the iFlows in HCI

           c. HCI server should be trusted by C4C client. Nothing needs to be done for this

2. HCI is the Client and ECC is the server

1. ECC- In the Server SSL, the HCI client certificate has to be imported in STRUST

          The HCI client certificate is present inside the key store of HCI. You need to request operations team to provide you the corresponding public certificate, from which you can get the issuer certificate (raise a ticket for this). This then needs to be present in the Server PSE of ECC

Upload to STRUST Server SSL

b.    ECC should have a signed Server Root certificate, which should be trusted by HCI in its keystore. Do ensure that this is not a self-signed certificate as it would not work

A Certified Root Server Certificate one has to be obtained by the customer and uploaded here

Mapping the Integration User to the Certificate

When using Certificate based Authentication, the user needs to be mapped to the certificate – so that this certificate can be used to authenticate the
user

Create Service Account for Connectivity from HCI to ERP

1. From transaction SU01, create a service account with the type C or B and assign the custom roles :

SAP_SD_COD_INTEGRATION

SAP_SD_COD_INTEGRATION_EXT

In the following example, the CODINTG user is mapped to the HCI client certificate. To map HCI Client Certificate with Service Account, follow the
steps below:

6. Select the file that contains the public certificate and click Open.

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This blog gives you the latest information on what's new in integration, so you can stay up to date on CRM/ERP integration features with every release of SAP Cloud for Customer(C4C), starting with the 1502 release. Check back here regularly to see what's new or subscribe to this blog.

Quick Start Guides

Here is an attempt to showcase functional information about select features through the quick start guide. This guide will give you an overview of a few features and lists key configuration activities that should be performed to help you set up a feature. It does not detail out information on how to set up integration, as it is already covered in the integration guides on SAP Service Marketplace.

For example, you are an existing integration customer, and would like to know how to set up account 360 integration. The Account 360 chapter in the quick start guide will give you a business overview of account 360, and highlights key configuration activities to be performed in C4C, ERP and the middleware.

You can access the quick start guides on SAP Service Marketplace. Look for Integration: Quick Start Guide.

This is a pilot effort on select features, and your feedback is most welcome. Feel free to write back if you face issues, so these can be captured in the next version of the guide. Also, if you prefer to read such documents on other features, send us your request by adding a comment in this blog.

What's New in Integration

Tips from Development

Coming soon...

Developers who are busy building the integration content are now planning to write blogs, to help you understand integration. Here are a few planned topics:

• Prospect to customer in ERP
• Territory replication
• Understanding code list mapping (updates to 1502)

Hello Everyone,

In this blog, I want to share my experience around post server refresh activities specific to C4C integration with SAP ECC system.

This is purely a technical blog, however it may come handy to Customers/Partners/Consultants who plan to or have already integrated their SAP ECC systems to C4C aka Cloud for Customer using HCI as middleware.

In a general, SAP landscape where there is Dev -> QA -> Prod. systems connected, as part of server maintenance activities, Customers might perform server refresh activities on Productive systems. What this means essentially in a C4C - ECC integrated scenarios is that the Integrationrelated settings/configuration maintained on SAP ECC QA system would get refreshed post this activity, which would overwrite the configuration/settings on SAP QA system.

As part of best practices, following would be the key steps to restore the integration on SAP ECC QA system:

1. Check the STRUST  TCODE for SSL client standard PSE with required certificates added to the certificate list:

2.Check for HTTPS parameter in RZ10 instance profile:

If it does not exist, add the parameter in RZ10 instance profile and restart the system (one time activity).

3. Check in SMICM port information for HTTPS service, it should be active.

4. Go to SA38 TCODE to run RCOD_CREATE_CONNECTIVITY_MW.

5. Give the target host iflmapg**************.intaas.us1.hana.ondemand.com and 'S user id' with password and select Default SSl Client standard.

6. Select all the relevant IDOC Message types per the original scope of integration:

7. Now execute this report. It will create the distribution model and partner profiles:

8. Check the Logon & Security tab & populate the correct S-User Id details:

9. Finally, do the connection test, it give a message as shown below:

The above steps will ensure that the Integration related configuration/settings which might get over post Production Server refresh is restored back to its its original state.

I hope this blog comes useful to all the  C4C Customers/Partners/Consultants & the ones who plan to integrate C4C with SAP OnPremise system.

Comments/feedback are welcome!

Thanks

BR

Ankur

This is integration scenario example of SAP Cloud for Customer to SAP CRM Onpremise system integration with HCI middleware.

Pre-requisite :

1. You have generated your Idoc using BDFG and have clean Idoc and Message Type.
2. Download the Z or Y Idoc WSDL using program : SRT_IDOC_WSDL_NS  from your Onpremise system . The highlighted box should be left blank and then you will not get errors. Else it keeps complaining for unreleased segments which are SAP standard and we do not have authorization to release them. Here it is how it should be.

Now Let’s start the process :

1. First check the Idoc type and Message Type you are using in the table : TBDFA using transaction SE16 or SE16n in Onpremise system ( Not Mandatory but good to know ) :

For standard Idoc following is used :

The reason to create custom process code is to call the function module attached to our custom Idoc. If you compare the generated code of standard function module CRMXIF_PARTNER_ALE_IN used for standard integration with your custom inbound function module for Idoc e.g. ZIDOC_INPUT_CRMXIFV_PARTNER_SA in this case. You would see that CRMXIF_PARTNER_ALE_IN  doesn’t contain custom field  or custom Idoc segments (Z or Y fields and segments ) whereas your Idoc’s generated function module contains those. It means for integrating your custom fields the Idocs need to be generated to have custom field and segments.

2. Go to Transaction BD67 . Highlight and copy the standard entry to create your own.

Change the copied information to create your own process code :

3. Go to WE57 and verify that your Idoc and Message type are maintained:

4. Go to transaction WE42 to maintain the Process Code and Message Type assignment :

Hit enter after choosing above values taking you to next screen. If you already maintained in BD67 then this will get autofilled.

Assign your message type to the process code :

5. Go to transaction WE20 to maintain partner profile :

6. Go to HCI or PI Middleware to make changes . Choose appropriate iflow which you want to make call to your custom Idoc. In my case I want from COD to CRM my custom Idoc to be triggered. I do not want to call it when BP confirmation comes from COD to CRM. So , I choose following :

Go to mapping. Assuming that you have already imported the custom Idoc WSDL for mapping :

Go and change the constant values which are currently assigned to highlighted fields as below.

Change the Idoc type constant value mapping. This is the Value that you have from 1st step from table TBDFA in this blog.

Now Change MessageType constant value mapping :

All of your custom segments should also have constant value ‘1’ if they need to get values. In my case i assigned Segment Z101CI_EEW_BUT000 as constant value '1' and then segment name "SEGMENT" also assigned constant value '1' as i want these segments to be sent in my Idoc from HCI.

Even after assigning the correct mapping and seeing the values cming in Idoc we found that values are not getting saved in Onpremise system. I realized that apart from custom segment we also need to set the values in *DATA_X segment :

Assign constant value ‘1’ to  segments. Assign ‘X’ to fields that you want to be saved for application.

I think you are all set for integrating your custom Idoc from C4C to OnPremise system. This example concept will work for Business Partner , Opportunity , Activities , Leads scenario. Only thing that will change will be iflow , custom Idoc in each scenario but the concept will be same.

Do share feedback if you feel anything needs to be added or improved.

SAP is introducing a universal free-phone number for contacting SAP support, giving you one number for all your SAP telephone-support inquiries.

This toll-free phone number is now accessible in most countries through landline phones and some mobile providers. When you dial the telephone-support number "CALL-1-SAP" you will have access to a service menu enabling you to select the specific SAP product area you require, giving you direct access to an SAP support representative.

Read all the details here...

To contact SAP Support via phone, look up the SAP Customer Interaction Centers' telephone numbers.

Start using this number today and Enjoy an easier way to contact SAP support!

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New Service Menu — What you will hear when you use "CALL-1-SAP"

Thank you for calling SAP Active Global Support. Please choose from one of the following options:

For SAP Business Suite, SAP NetWeaver, Business Analytics or Sybase support, please press 1

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My first blog post - Please let me know if I can improve this somehow!

You may have noticed that in standard OWL list panes they include the name fields which link to the other Thing Types/BO Data for easy navigation as below. We had a requirement to link to standard SAP contact screen for a custom BO OWL that we defined.

I couldn't find any documentation on how to do this so I had to reverse engineer the standard screen.

I will use the example of Contact Name linking to Contact Thing Type!

These are the steps to follow:

1. Open up UI designer and navigate to your data model tab. Create two fields. ContactName and ContactNameIdentifier
   
2. ContactName will become our link field. Make sure this field is bound to the UUID of the contact so that the navigation works correctly. I now bind it to my association to the business partner.
   
3. We now need to bind the ContactNameIdentifier field. This field is just a placeholder for the Contact Name/description. In my example I will bind to the 'BusinessPartnerFormattedName'
   
   
4. Open up the designer and add a column to your list pane (if applicable). Bind your new column to your ContactName (UUID field).
   
5. You must now change two more important settings.
   First change the DisplayType under Appearance to 'Link'.
   
6. Secondly you must change the 'PresentationMode' under CCTS Information to DescriptionOnly.
   
7. Go back to your DataModel Tab. Select your 'ContactName' field.
   Select the 'Identifier Description Datafield' and bind this to your 'ContactNameIdentifier' field that you set up in step 3. This will bring through the contact name as per the requirement.
   
8. Now we need to associate to the contact thing type so our link takes us to the right place. While you still have 'ContactName' selected, look at the bottom of the screen and you will see Thing Type Information. Change the Mode to static and select COD_CONTACT_TT (Standard SAP).
   
   You have the option here to use SAP standard or you could even link to your own custom thing types inside your solution:
   
9. Save and activate the screen. Time to test our work!
   
   
10. If you see contact name similar to the above screenshot, click the link and make sure you can navigate correctly to your associated thing type!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Hello Everyone!

After implementing several C4C Projects, & being a part of the complete cycle right from Customer discovery up to Post Go-Live, I have concluded few critical aspects of a Project, specifically C4C Project, to ensure every project gets a smooth start & it sails through the project duration up to Go-Live in a seamless way resulting in excellent customer success.

These may be generic and people may be already doing such activities before & during the Project, however, reviewing them again as a checklist only builds your confidence stronger to move ahead with these projects.

[Note: C4C => SAP Cloud for Customer and SI => System Integrator, could be a SAP cloud partner or any organization implementing a C4C Project for a Customer]

Any project like a C4C project would start with several discussions with the Customer which ultimately results (If all goes positive) in the SI providing accurate

estimates for the implementation & the Customer signing the Contract/SOW.

Let us start with the SOW & estimates part first.

Depending on the Scope of the Project, the SI should provide accurate estimates to the Customer in terms of resourcing, timelines & billing.

It becomes prudent that the SI along with the estimates also provides all the assumptions made during the estimation process & clearly mentions them in the ROM/SOW.

In Projects specially where integration to a SAP CRM or ECC OnPremise system is concerned, these assumptions & educating the Customer before the actual start of the Project & getting a confirmation is of absolute importance.

Few thing to keep in mind while talking to the Customer would be:

1. VPN access to Customer's Network:

Depending on the Customer's internal security policies, this thing can take up to few days to couple of weeks too, hence ensure that this is being discussed & confirmed with the Customer well in advance of the Project start. If not done early before the Projects start, this can result into unexpected challenges both to the Customer as well as SI, like delay in getting access to Customer network which can certainly cause delay to the overall deliverable & timelines, ultimately impacting the final Go-Live.

Best practice: Raise this at least two week prior to the Project start date, to ensure that when the Blueprinting (PREPARE) phase is underway, the project team has access to Customer network through VPN (or any other means per the Customer security policies), so that they can validate the access & can start working on their deliverable to be performed on Customer systems.

2. Access to Customer's SAP ECC or SAP CRM and/or SAP PI environment:

Once the SI gets access to the VPN, the next step is to ensure that the Project team has credentials created for them by the Customer IT team on their SAP OnPremise systems. Again, this means that the SI will have to be assigned certain roles or the Customer would have to explicit assignment to the Project team to access specific transaction codes on Customer's SAP OnPremise to perform integration related activities.

It is crucial for the SI to get this access not later than the 3rd day of the Project start, specially when the duration of the overall project is short. There may be certain policies/guidelines/approvals which the project team members have to follow/adhere to in order to get access to Customer's SAP systems, which again can be time consuming depending from Customer to Customer as their policies for such activities may vary & their time to deliver these things would vary as well.

Best practices:Ensure that the Project team is able to access Customer's SAP OnPremise system, not later than 3rd day of the Project's first week (whichever is in scope for integration), and alos validate all the Transaction codes to validate that the team has enough level of access on those Transaction codes. This can become a pain if not done in the early stage of the project as getting around the access to Customer's system, after signing any NDA's, getting all approvals from all concerned authority from Customer side, Customer wanting to do any background checks on resources,etc.all these could be several reasons, which could cause delay if this activity is not done in early stage of the project. Make a list of all the Transaction codes for the system you want access to, & help the customer by providing this list with the names of all resources so that Customer has all the information to help the Project team in getting all required access in advance.

3. Access to Customer's Cloud for Customer (C4C) tenant:

This one is the most important, why? we are doing a C4C implementation project because. People reading this may think, what has this got to do with the best practice? My experience says, ensure that the Customer has purchased the license for C4C system, has got the relevant credentials with them in advance of start of the Project. Try not to embark on starting the Project before confirming with the Customer on their C4C tenant access.

Best Practice: During the initial discussions with the Customer ensure that they have the required no. of license for C4C & have the initial credentials to start the Project on this tenant. Now, there may be Customers who are in the process of purchasing/acquiring the required licenses to operate C4c system, in this case, make sure that before the Project starts, the Customer has the required licenses along with the initial credentials to start the build of C4C tenant. In case, the Customer does not have the license and or credentials, this can consume time from a minimum of one day up to as long as the Customer is able to get them! Always good to start with all the necessary things available at hand!

4.Customer's SAP OnPremise system status:This should be clearly asked & understood by the SI. There may be scenarios where the Customer's SAP OnPremise system is undergoing an upgrade. Although it is possible that this upgrade is not a necessity to start & build integration with C4C, however,

this upgrade can definitely impact the C4c integration project in several ways.

A SAP OnPremise upgrade is as good as an implementation project, in terms of the processes/activities/checks/testing etc. that happen during the upgrade. Now, assume that this upgrade is not a pre-requisite for the C4C integration, meaning Customer's SAP OnPremise system is already on the required level for integrating with C4C. During such upgrades, there are critical activities that happen on Customer's SAP landscape. For example, Transport freeze on Production/QA system, Integration testing, UAT, etc.

In a C4C integration project, there will be activities performed on Customer's Dev/QA & Production SAP OnPremise system, now although the upgrade may not be a necessity, but due to several activities as part of this upgrade, the C4C integration project might have to bear the burnt. The freeze period for example will not allow the C4c transports to be moved to Customer's SAP OnPremsie system, this will result in delay of SAP OnPremise Production build with C4C directly. There may be issues like delay in UAT or unexpected challenges during the upgrade which may ultimately cause delay & impact C4C integration project!

Best Practice: If possible, get a confirmation from the Customer, that their is no upgrade or any other highly critical activity supposed to happen on their SAP

OnPremise system by educating them on how this could impact the overall C4C integration project & its timelines. Having a complete & consistent SAP OnPremise system available for integration without any last minute/in-between challenges on SAP OnPremise system ensures that your integration build is going to be as planned & per the timelines.

5. SAP C4C Upgrade:Another very important aspect of a C4C implementation project that an SI as well as Customer should account for is the quarterly release cycle of C4C system. SAP upgrades the C4C version every quarter, in which there are new functionality being pushed with the new upgraded version. Let me first say that the best part of such upgrades is that it is an auto upgrade of these systems, which means that a Customer does not have to really perform any activities for the upgrade! SAP takes care of everything (bear in mind this does not include any Customer solution that a Customer may have built, in such a case the best practice would be to consult SAP if the custom work done is of very high complexity level specially one which has several enhancements done to the standard functionality).

Best Practice: During the initial discussions with the Customer when things are into the finalization/positive discussion stages, educate the Customer of the upgrade policy of SAP C4C system. If possible, depending on which month a C4C project is going to start, have the Customer review the new functionality being pushed into the upgraded tenant so that the Customer can make a call if they would be interested to include the new functions in the scope or not, this shall help the SI to better manage the Scope & the ultimate design & build of the system.

Alright, I believe this would be too much reading for everyone, so I would take a break here.

Nevertheless, as we travel through the journey of C4C implementation/integration projects, I would keep sharing my thoughts based on my real time experiences, with the community!

I hope this would be a good read for Customers/Partners/Consultants/anyone interested in a C4C Project's best practices derived from real time experiences!!

Happy reading to all & comments/feedback are welcome.

BR

Ankur

With the SAP Cloud for Customer, public cloud SaaS B2B industry user option, you can configure the design win exchange process to support your organization's high-tech indirect channel sales.

If you work with channel partners on a regular basis, yet also require a mechanism to identify incoming opportunities and ensure their quality, then SAP recommends that you activate deal registration in your SAP Could for Customer SaaS.

In SAP Cloud for Customer, deal registration is an important aspect of partner channel management. A deal that is created in your solution can be understood to represent a type of pre-qualified lead that is unique to channel partners. Each deal contains information that is comparable to a lead, yet features additional information that is specific to the channel partner.

Deals also include the answers that channel partners provide to short questionnaires, as they submit the prospective deal, to describe its potential business value.

By allowing your channel partners to enter design registrations directly in your solution, you can monitor and manage the design opportunities that exist for your product to be established as an approved component in a product that an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is planning.

If your service is set up to support it, you can use the design win exchange process to drive your indirect channel sales through design registration. Your channel partners can access your solution directly to upload or create new design registrations. You can then review, approve, and even transfer the design registrations within your channel partner network. You can also create sales quotes based on design registrations.

Find out how collaboration between brand owners and channel partners is supported using the design win exchange process.