ABAP Objects - Percent of WF'ers using ABAP OO?

[Mike Gambier]

Hi all,
 
Mind if I chip in? Mike and I have been having a good old discussion about this since we currently sit in front of each other (and since our Production system just died I have some free time...).
 
As most of us here are aware, ABAP OO is hard to avoid these days especially if you're working on certain technologies, e.g Web UI. 
 
But I think that the overall number of BOR/Workflow savvy people who are chossing to cross-train/upskill and learn ABAP OO stuff with a view to building Workflow stuff using it is likely to be very low indeed. 
 
Ceratinly here for our client, the number is 0%. Zip, nada, rien.
 
One of the biggest drawbacks to building SAP Business Workflow based on ABAP OO concepts is that it is so damned hard to do so when there exists the enromous temptation to fall back on tried and trusted BOR techniques that are so much easier and cheaper to build and are known to work. 
 
Simply put, the benefits of making the switch don't stack up when you are forced to build to the lowest common denominator, the humble ABAP coder.
 
If SAP truly wanted to push Workflow developers away from BOR and towards ABAP OO they would have defined a BOR '2' framework to show the way, but they didn't and don't show any signs of doing so for that matter.
 
Instead, they shifted their focus to the Java stack and started selling SAP CE instead, which uses a 'proper' OO language rather than ABAP OO. Of course now that Oracle has bought Sun (and is merrily killing it), you never know, SAP may decide to stop investing in this area entirely and we might see another shift in direction...
 
And before anyone says it, no, I don't believe that ccBPM really counts as an alternative - the idea of a 'dark' Workflow process running on the ABAP stack of a PI box is just plain daft and in practice it's routinely overlooked for serious volumes.
 
As a result of this apparent modelling vacuum the following appears to have happened as far as I can see:
 

1. Any ABAP OO Workflow stuff now ends up being boiled down to an entry point for some sort of ABAP OO processing stuff rather than as part of a full-blown end-to-end Business Process modelled using ABAP OO concepts.
 
2. Few people want to learn BOR stuff because it now appears to have a short shelf-life and looks decidedly old school.
 
3. Only people like us are concerned.
 
Regards,
 
Mike GT
 
> Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:34:07 +0000
> Subject: Re: ABAP Objects - Percent of WF'ers using ABAP OO?
> From: wug at workflowconnections.com
> To: sap-wug at mit.edu
> 
> Hi Rick,
> 
> I know what you mean! Some theories I can offer based on my experiences:
> 
> - Learning curve: Although OO requires far less specialist WF knowledge
> than BOR, there are still quite a few rules to work by.
> 
> - Skillset: Many people learnt ABAP as a secondary skill to build better
> workflows. They have a handle on BOR and - no disrespect intended - the
> concept of relearning OO terrifies them. In some ways rightly so, BOR is a
> bit more forgiving for people just muddling through. OO on the other hand
> benefits from better programming skills, with the upshot of better quality
> solutions.
> 
> - Installed base: Much SAP-delivered and custom-built functionality is
> already contained in BOR. People see it as a huge task to switch to OO,
> but this is really just a chicken and egg scenario because it's easy to
> port BOR to OO *if* you have good knowledge of WF-OO. (Hint: The Book v2.0
> will help with this!)
> 
> For anyone sitting on the fence, I say: just do it! There's no need to
> make it a major undertaking, just tackle one thing at a time. As a rough
> guideline, anything new gets developed in OO and anything requiring
> changes is ported where practical.
> 
> Have fun,
> Mike
> 
> On Fri, February 18, 2011 8:48 pm, Sample, Rick wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I scanned here and SDN WF blogs and I really don't see a whole lot of OO
> > activity for WF. I am wondering if it is the learning curve, staffing,
> > budget, lack of interest, or other. Since WF developers are about what ...
> > 1 of 50 ABAP'ers, I would assume the ABAP OO to be orders of magnitude
> > larger in number of posts. Just the opposite.
> >
> > Any numbers on what percent is using:
> > sticking with 4.6c BOR,
> > phasing in ABAP OO with WF for new projects and re-writes, (This is our
> > plan so far. Not implementing full BPM tools etc.)
> > other BPM tools,
> > something else?
> >
> > Any of this data available from SAP with regards to who and how many are
> > moving to <what?> Recent blogs on this subject? etc. etc.
> >
> > As always, you may contact me directly.
> >
> > Rick Sample | SAP Workflow Analyst/Developer
> > Rick.Sample at Graybar.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > SAP-WUG mailing list
> > SAP-WUG at mit.edu
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/sap-wug
> >
> 
> 
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