Well, I had a conversation with a new friend of mine. He’s in a similar position was myself, starting a small startup software in the SAP space. We talked for over an hour and shared war stories and advice. One random piece of advice that he mentioned is that newest isn’t always better, at least in terms of software development. Something about that chat really resonated something I’ve thought about, but kept telling myself wasn’t necessary. Converting one of my applications FROM Web Dynpro to standard ERP Dynpro.
Now, this sounds totally counter-intuitive, even to me, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Currently my Renovation application is purely web based. It uses ABAP Web Dynpro, but you can’t open a transaction inside of SAP to do the same thing. Once upon a time, this all started because it was going to be a app for my client’s customers. They wouldn’t have SAP, so it needed to be web based. But since that time, it’s evolved into an internal application. Since my customer base is all about the small to mid-sized shop, or service shop in a large company that is still run like a little shop, that means they might not want or need a web application. They don’t care about fancy, sexy, web based. They care about getting the job done faster, cheaper, better. My plan had been to convert it to UI5. Make it prettier, responsive, add a buzz word.
Even in my own test systems, the web dynpro can be flaky. I’ve always chalked it up to my test boxes being small and my network being less than optimal, but what if it has nothing to do with my systems? I don’t know the answer for sure, so I’m thinking it’s better to have the option. It’s a small development price since all the hard work has already been done, and I can leverage everything with Proximity to get it up and running quickly. This also keeps the door open for older systems that don’t have Web Dynpro as an option.
I’d love your opinion. What is a better first task, convert to UI5 or convert to ERP Dynpro?
Thanks for reading,
As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to check out our SAP Service Management Products at my other company JaveLLin Solutions,Mike