Adapter Integrates CMS into SAP NetWeaver Portal

An interview with Peter Klassen, product manager at Day Software

Integration of business-critical content and functions from the Web content management (WCM) solution Communiqué into SAP NetWeaver Portal – brought to you by Day Software and its SAP-certified CQ PortalAdapter. This software gives organizations an efficient, cost-effective way to standardize access to content from Communiqué WCM in their SAP portal solutions.

Four questions for Peter Klassen, product manager at Day Software

Mr. Klassen, what makes your PortalAdapter special?

The main feature of our integration solution is how it enables the Java Content Repository-based Communiqué WCM to complement SAP NetWeaver Portal. In its JCR API specification, Day Software has implemented an established industry standard for uniform access to content. Our reasons for doing so were clear: As the number of data repositories in use increases and the management of these resources begins to generate exorbitant costs, open IT standards independent of manufacturers are starting to make more and more sense.

Communiqué WCM and its integrated Content Repository Extreme (CRX) represent the first high-performance, commercial content repository that is 100-percent compatible with the JCR standard. With its range of connectors, Communiqué also enables both JCR-compliant access to external repositories and databases and uniform, centralized access to global company content of any kind. CQ PortalAdapter adds this potential to SAP’s portal solution, supplementing the business software it contains with content from Communiqué WCM.

Communiqué is a 100-percent Java-based and platform-independent content management solution (CMS). Its technology enables companies to standardize and manage business data, systems, applications, and processes over the Internet.

What specific elements does your solution offer companies?

Other than the cost efficiency based on the standardized content access I mentioned, companies benefit from role-based displays of CMS portal content in SAP’s unique portlets – called iViews – which enable organizations to reuse content. This in turn leads to efficient creation processes and easier content maintenance.

Generating and publishing CMS content from within SAP NetWeaver Portal is also an option. An authorized user now has the ability to create and maintain content without direct access to the CMS author environment, reducing the time and effort required to a minimum. Authentication is based on an SAP-compliant single sign-on solution, and in the standard configuration, an LDAP server handles general user management.

Other feature highlights of the PortalAdapter include the integration of multilingual support for Communiqué CMS and the option of using the comprehensive workflow functionality of Communiqué CMS in SAP NetWeaver Portal.

What customers are already using CQ PortalAdapter?

A customer in the steel industry – one who will be an excellent reference in the future – is currently in the go-live phase with the adapter. Since the adapter’s SAP certification, we’ve gained a number of interested parties from the insurance, telecommunications, and aviation industries.

Peter Klassen, product manager at Day Software

What are your plans for the future?

The access link between SAP NetWeaver Portal and JCR-compliant content repositories in a WCM context is now in place. Our focus is now on properly providing content assets – a term I can’t stress enough, given how many people don’t realize that content represents real value for their companies – in SAP NetWeaver Portal.

Here, we’re looking at managing and publishing multimedia content (digital assets), as well as Web 2.0-related topics like wikis, blogs, and calendars – content generated by collaboration. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for CQ PortalAdapter.

Day Software is a leading provider of content management, portal, and digital asset management software. Along with companies like EMC, IBM, and Sun, the Swiss company initiated and is driving the industry standard for content access, JSR 170, as well as its next generation, JSR 283.