SAP/P3e data transfer

Hi Rudy Hingst,

I’m using P3e to plan and schedule. SAP only to show sumarry tasks.

We are transfering datas manually, but i know that there is a software that transfer P3e datas to SAP PS and vice versa.

Try

http://www.asug.com/client_files/Calendar/Upload/Turn%20Around%20Management%20Using%20SAP%20%20Primavera.ppt#21

Kind regards.

Marcio Eduardo

We are using P3e to schedule & resource level aircraft maintenance checks. We then have to transfer the activity dates back into SAP as constrained dates via the so-called ’Project planning board’.
I know there is software like ’Impress’ around to link the two programs, but I’m not convinced we need to go that far. Does any of you clever fellows know a way of uploading dates in to SAP?

The first place to look is the main Primavera website:

http://www.primavera.com/partners/sap.asp where you will find a number of different options.

Essentially you can either go with a middleware provider or else custom develop your own integration using the Primavera APIs. You may wish to consider outsourcing this kind of custom development to an experienced 3rd party.

In Australia we typically work with customers to develop custom built interfaces. This has worked well with NAB, Centrelink, Bluescope Steel, Country Energy and others. If you chose a custom approach you can make the integration as simple or as sophisticated as you wish.

We find custom building the integration to be relatively straightforward and more cost effective for the client, especially where we can re-use templates from past integrations to speed up the process.

I would point out that the primary challenge is for the client to accurately capture desired business processes to be supported by the integration. A lot of thought must go into this process, to ensure that all business needs are captured and all stakeholders effectively represented.

If I were you I would look at all the options before figuring out the best route for you and your situation.

In the case of simply uploading dates to SAP I suggest you take a close look at the APIs available from Primavera and consider custom building a straightforward batch process.

Hi Steve,

Have you experienced using a middleware provider to interface SAP and P3 3.1 or any PM software?

I’m now involved in integrating various platforms/systems of an airport and we also use this kind of solution. I have been talking to our middleware provider but told me that they have no experienced yet on the integration of SAP to any project management software.

Would you know someone or some materials/white paper regarding the matter?

thanks,
Se

Hi,

on the link I gave before you can navigate to all the authorised middleware partners for Primavera where you will find a lot of good content. I just browsed Impress’ website and found this for example (a case study on their work at Alcatel - check http://www.impress.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/93).

Impress (www.impress.com), Intech Professionals (www.intech-pro.com), TCR (www.tcrproducts.com) and LaborLogix (www.laborlogix.com) all offer authorised middleware solutions between SAP and Primavera.

With middleware vendors you certainly get a tried and tested product. However sometimes it can be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. By that I mean that there is often a significant up-front cost, which can be justified by more complex types of integration.

At the same time I will send you a document privately on how we handle integration locally as a comparison, using bespoke development.

My company has been providing this kind of solution for different Primavera products since 1998. Interfacing with SAP is uniquely difficult and expensive compared to other work management systems such as Maximo, because of its architecture.

We are familiar with all the competition in this area. We all provide really smart, fully automated interfaces. However have you looked at what you can do in Primavera 5 with the Excell Import/Export? If you can live with the "one project one spreadsheet" restriction all you need is your in-house Excell guru and you are in business. Even if you ultimately decide to go for one of the automated interfaces, what you will learn by creating a "manumatic" Excell interface in terms of what data to transfer etc., will be invaluable.

Thanks for the pointers guys, this gives me a few leads to follow up.