2476758 - Using documents in the SAP Solution Manager 7.20 - Questions concerning document management systems and sizing

Embedded Search in different deployment options of a Knowledge Warehouse used by a SAP Solution Manager 7.20 system

There are different options to handle documents in SAP Solution Manager 7.20. The most common option is to run the Knowledge Warehouse in the SAP Solution Manager 7.20 system itself and to store the documents there, using a HANA database. But there are different other options which are discussed here. These options have specific advantages or disadvantages.

It is essential to have a fast access to documents using the "Embedded Search" infrastructure. This infrastructure can work with a HANA database directly, but it also can work with a TREX server, if no HANA database is available. The graphics below shows you the main three variants to run a Knowledge Warehouse with a SAP Solution Manager 7.20 system.

Variant 1 uses a HANA DB for all data in the SAP Solution Manager 7.20. and the KW system runs in the Solution Manager system itself. The Embedded Search infrastructure has access to all data including KW documents. Embedded Search has a deep integration into the HANA database, for that reason we recommend this variant. However, customers are sometimes concerned that storing the KW documents in a HANA database might result in high costs for HANA database memory. These concers are discussed below. Please note that the KW document content itself will not consume HANA memory.

Variant 2 uses a different system for the KW and only the Solution Manager runs on HANA, the KW system runs on a different database. In this option, the HANA database is connected to the embedded search infrastructure. As the KW system runs on a different kind of database, the Embedded Search infrastructure builds an index of the KW documents. Only this index, not the whole document content, is stored in the HANA database and used for fast access to the documents.

Variant 3 is a SAP Solution Manager that runs on a non-HANA database. In this case, a TREX server is needed for the Embedded Search infrastructure. All documents will be read from the database and an index is built by the TREX server to allow a fast access to the KW documents and to all other indexed content.

Questions concerning other non-SAP document management systems

If customers want to use other document management systems instead of KW, they have to use the element type "Document URL" in the process documentation UI. This gives the customers the possibility to store any kind of link. The link itself is stored in the KW, but it points to a document outside the KW. You have the possibility to assign the usual document attributes such as "Document Type", "Status" and "Language" also to these links. However, using such links without storing the document content in the KW implies various disadvantages:
- The documents are not indexed by the Embedded Search. This means that you will not be able to find the documents if you use the search functionality in the process management UI
- Digital signature is not available for such documents, as they are stored outside the SAP system
- "Lifecycle management" does not work the same way. This means that document changes will not produce new versions in the branch, as the node itself (which contains the link) remains unchanged all the time
- History information is not available in the Solution Manager. Changes of the document are not reflected in the "timestamp" and "last changed by" attributes of the respective node in the process documentation UI. Historic versions of the document itself cannot be accessed from the process documentation UI.

If you want to have the full integration of documents into the SAP Solution Manager and its process documentation UI, we recommend to use the Knowledge Warehouse to store your document content. Only in this case you have the full functionality concerning history, lifecycle management and digital signature as well as the full search capabilities, as only then the document content is fully indexed by the Embedded Search.

Question concerning license costs for HANA database in SAP Solution Manager 7.20

Please refer to the following links for any questions concerning license costs for HANA database in context of SAP Solution Manager 7.2

SAP databases for SAP Solution Manager included in SAP support agreements

For further details, see https://support.sap.com/usagerights.

Question concerning upgrade to SAP Solution Manager 7.20 and at the same time moving the documents to another content server

Some customers want to change the content server storing their documents and wonder whether they should move the documents to another content server before or after the upgrade.
Moving documents to another content server is a special question that is discussed in SAP notes of the respective product. Those notes handle the way how a new content server is connected to a system and how documents are transferred. Please refer to SAP notes 710711 and 389366 for details.
However,  we want to give one recommendation here concerning this question, as there is also one step that handles the documents during the content activation. Some basic settings concerning documents have also changed in SAP Solution Manager 7.20. For that reason, we see a clear advantage if you first do the upgrade and then move the documents to your new content server. Even though both options will be possible, the option that does the upgrade fist, with the old content server connected, causes less effort. The reason is that connecting the new content server before the upgrade will cause the effort to configure this new content server twice -  once for the 7.10 storage (area IWBSOLAR) and once for the 7.20 storage (area SMD). This effort can be minimized by proceeding as recommended above.

Question concerning authorizations for documents
please refer to KBA number 2455291

Questions concerning the necessity to use TREX (only in case you have  NO HANA database)
please refer to KBA number 2455461

KBA , trex , trex solman , trex solution manager , trex hana , SV-SMG-IMP-BIM , Business Blueprint / Solution Documentation , How To