Extending the Solution Starter

The three main components of the ERP Connector Solution Starter for Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 are the HR module, Finance Projects module, and Finance WBS module. You can modify the human resources (HR module) solution starter components to use additional data from mySAP™ ERP Human Capital Management or make modifications for other business applications. You will probably need to modify the Finance Projects module, and you will most likely need to modify the Finance WBS module before you install it in a production environment. You can also use some of the Project Data Service (PDS) extensions in other applications.

Using the HR Module

You can use the HR module for mySAP ERP HCM "as is" if the data it transfers to Project Server meets your requirements for creating projects. If you have additional requirements, such as for employee skill data, you can add other mapping data to the HR module logic. You would have to extend the HR export module and the export schema as well as the PDS extender for HR integration.

You can also use the PDS extender module with business solutions other than mySAP ERP HCM. If you write export routines in your application that meet the requirements of the solution starter export schema, then you can use the PDS extender modules without any modification.

Using the Finance Modules

The ERP Connector Finance Projects module that that uses mySAP ERP Financial data, and the Finance WBS module implementation for Project Server, are very specific to accounting processes that are used within each business. Integrating the orders, project data, and task accounting data (from the CO and PS subsystems of mySAP ERP Financials) almost always requires customization of the Finance WBS module before using it in a production environment. You must first customize the mySAP ERP export module to meet your customer's requirements. You then have to modify the import module that is installed on Project Server to match the export data and restrictions. You also have to modify the mySAP ERP module to import the timesheet actuals.

Even if you do not want to use financial integration, the Finance WBS module can be useful as a set of routines for other extension scenarios. Because the standard PDS methods do not support editing of task fields, you can use the GetEnterpriseTaskFieldValue and EnterpriseCustomFieldValueUpdate PDS extensions to modify task field data in projects. You can adjust this PDS extension to manipulate the fields you need. In the solution starter, the Enterprise Custom Field PDS extender can handle only Enterprise Task Text fields.

You can also use the GetActualsSAP PDS extension in other applications where you want to retrieve timesheet actuals from a specified period. You can modify this PDS extension to meet your requirements.

For more information about the PDS extensions in the ERP Connector Solution Starter, see PDS Extensions.