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This article appeared in the Oct n Nov n Dec 2008 issue of SAP Insider and appears here with permission from the publisher, Wellesley Information Services (WIS), www.WISpubs.com.

Companies seeking system adaptability — often a

crucial competitive differentiator — profit from SAP’s

Switch and Enhancement Framework even if they do

not use it in their own development. In my last Under

Development column,� I delved into the exciting tech-

nology of the Enhancement Framework, and explained

how it empowers customers who adapt SAP objects in

their own development projects and why enhance-

ments have a great advantage over classic modification

technology. In this column, I will focus on the Switch

Framework and how it empowers the integration of

SAP industry solutions (ISs) into the core ERP system.2

With the release of SAP ERP 6.0, all ISs are now

developed in the latest ERP system and delivered on

one set of DVDs. This integration results in several

benefits for customers:

You can now install the IS you like based on the

latest SAP ERP release — you need not wait for

conflict resolution transports (CRTs).� This means

that you can run your IS on the latest ERP release

and install all SAP ERP support packages just as

you would in a pure ERP system (without any IS).�

You can use the latest SAP ERP technology in your

IS — some new logistics features in the IS Oil and

Gas, for example — whereas before you needed

two systems: one for the IS and another system

running the latest version of SAP ERP.

� See“Modification-FreeAdaptationsofSAPPrograms?WithEnhance-ments,They’rePossible—AndHere’sHow”intheJuly-September2008issueofSAPInsider (www.SAPinsideronline.com).

2FormoreinformationontheSwitchandEnhancementFrameworkandonthebenefitsofusingindustrysolutions,see“ANewandImprovedApproachtoSAPIndustrySolutions,”anUnderDevelopmentcolumnbyKarlKesslerintheJuly-September2005issueofSAPInsider(www.SAPinsideronline.com).

�Conflictresolutiontransports(CRTs)resolveconflictsthatcanarisebetweensupportpackagesforSAPERPandanSAPIndustrySolutionoranotheradd-oncomponent.

�Ofcourse,thereareadditionalsupportpackagesfortheISs.

Accordingly, you now need fewer systems in your

landscape — this, in turn, means a lower TCO.

To some extent, you can reuse functionality of one

IS in another IS. For example, you can use some

retail functionality in the IS Oil and Gas.

For any SAP customer upgrading to SAP ERP 6.0,

already using the new release, or planning an

upgrade, it’s important to understand what the

Switch Framework is, how it works, and how it enables

these benefits.

Switching: An OverviewA switch controls the visibility of development objects

at runtime. Using switchable development objects,

you can develop different add-on functionality for

one application in the same system. You can then

transport the application — plus all the code and

objects for the different add-ons — to different

systems and switch on just the add-on you want.

In a nutshell, this is the way the integration of SAP

industry solutions into the SAP ERP core system works.

Industry Solutions Are Now Integrated into the SAP ERP CoreHow the Switch and Enhancement Framework Makes It Possible

Thomas Weiss (thomas.weiss@sap.com) has a Ph.D. in analytic philosophy and worked as a professional writer before he joined the SAP NetWeaver Product Management Training team in 2001, where his responsibilities included the e-learning strategy for ABAP. After becoming increasingly more involved in writing ABAP material himself, he is now a member of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server Product Management team. The Switch and Enhancement Framework has been one of Thomas’s major interests for quite some time.

Technical column | Under DevelopmentThomas Weiss, SAP AG

Due to the power

of the Switch and

enhancement Frame-

work, all SaP industry

solutions are, with

the release of SaP

eRP 6.0, developed

and delivered in the

same system. This

brings important

benefits for customers.

The Switch Framework: Key Concepts and QuestionsIn this article, you will learn the answers to these important concepts:

What is the Switch Framework? How does it work?

What does it mean to switch a development object?

How do you switch objects?

Why and how would you synchronize the switch states of many objects?

What is the relationship between the Switch Framework and the Enhancement Framework?

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Switches encapsulate all the additional functionality

and changes that are required by the different ISs —

everything that is added to or that substitutes part of

the core objects. It is only when you switch on an IS

that the additional functionality becomes active.

Business Functions

Business functions ensure that you can switch

objects on a semantic level and that you need

not worry about multiple technical switches. A busi-

ness function contains many switches and is the

unit you can activate. Once you activate a busi-

ness function, all dependent switches are also

activated. All business functions belonging to

one industry solution are bundled in a business

function set.

Switches and Enhancements

With this basic understanding of switches and busi-

ness functions, we can now investigate some key

questions. How do enhancements relate to the Switch

Framework? Are all enhancements switchable? If so,

how do you switch them? Why would you do this? And

what would be the result?

In simple terms, enhancements are packed in their

own “boxes.” At runtime, they are processed in the

appropriate position — that is, at the position where

they enhance the original code. But what happens to

the code within this enhancement box once it’s

activated in a system? Is it always processed? Or

could you decide whether it should be processed or

not, thereby allowing you to develop and store

different flavors of an application in one system?

This is precisely what the Switch Framework is for.

Suppose you want to enhance a table control in a

Web Dynpro ABAP view so that you can transport the

application in one system — where it runs with an

additional column — into another system where the

UI table does not need the additional column (see the

“Important Note” sidebar).

It is relatively easy to understand what a switch

does from a technical perspective: All enhancements

are designed to be switch ready. Developers just need

to attach a switch to an enhancement and wire up the

switch in the proper way. If an enhancement is not

switched on, then it is not compiled; at runtime, the

program will behave as if the enhancement was not

there. This way, objects that are not switched on

won’t slow down an application in any way (see

sidebar on the next page).

Let’s now consider a detailed example of how

this works. Figure 1 shows how to switch enhance-

ments by unit — that is, in a way that switches

meaningful semantic units. In this figure, you should

note that:

Important Note: One Enhancement Necessitates OthersThis article takes a simplified look at enhancements and ISs. In practice, however, one enhancement nearly always necessitates other enhancements.

For example, if you attach an enhancement that adds a column for a table control, you’ll still need some other entities to make that column display data (and this is surely what you want). Accordingly, you will need an addi-tional attribute in the Web Dynpro context that stores the new data to be shown. You will also need enhancements in the method that gets the data from the application layer, in the method that retrieves the data from the database, in the relevant interfaces, and in the dictionary and database objects (note that these two object types are still enhanced using the classic append technology).

an enhancement

The business function is what you ac-tually switch; activating the business function turns on all dependent switches

The blue areas represent two packages — eh_WD and eh_aPPl — that are each assigned to a switch

Dictionary appends

a switch

Figure 1 u Switching

enhancements within a

business function

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The Web Dynpro component and the application logic are each located within

different packages.

You switch enhancements (and appends) by attaching a switch to the package.

The small switches shown at the enhancements just reflect the switch state of the

switch attached to the package.

A business function can be comprised of many different switches; the state of the

business function (whether it is switched on or not) determines the switch state of

these dependent switches.

The large horizontal traffic light with the hand icon reflects whether the business

function is switched on or off.

Developers want to ensure that all enhancements and appends within each package are

switched in sync — and that both packages are either switched on or off. You should avoid

a situation in which the Web Dynpro enhancements are switched on and the application

logic enhancements and appends are switched off. There are several reasons for this —

because the Web Dynpro enhancements presuppose the enhancements in the other

package, for example.

It’s also important to remember that if you activate a business function, then all dependent

switches are switched on, and the only way to turn on a switch is to activate (switch on)

the business function it belongs to — developers cannot turn on dependent switches

individually. They must always activate the more comprehensive business function.

The Switch Framework’s Different Layers ExplainedThe Switch Framework is organized in several levels (see figure below). The top layer of the Switch Framework is comprised of a business function set that corresponds to an industry solution, and a business function set is made up of many business functions. Because any one business function can be assigned to different business function sets, the relation between them is defined as n to m in the figure.

In the same way, a business function can be assigned to many switches, and a switch can be assigned to many business functions since different business functions may need to switch the same object.

Switches control some objects (like enhancements) by package and other objects (like screen elements, menu entries, and IMG nodes) by direct assignment. One switch can control many objects and packages. On the other hand, an object or a package is uniquely assigned to a switch. It is the switch of an object that indicates if it is switched on or off. So there can be only one switch for an object.

p The different layers of and objects controlled by the Switch Framework

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Before You Start Switching:

Important Considerations

Having learned the basics about switches and enhance-

ments, you now know all the general concepts needed

to understand the principles of integrating SAP

industry solutions into the ERP core.

Despite all the advantages of the integration that I

mentioned before — fewer systems in your landscape,

no more waiting for CRTs, and some reuse of function-

ality from other ISs — there are also some inherent

limitations to this approach (see Figure 2):

You can activate only one IS at a time. You cannot

use two different ISs on one system — only the one

you switch on.

You cannot switch off an IS; once you activate one

IS in a system, you cannot undo it.

Figure 2 represents the state of affairs in an

extremely simplified way. In reality, though, you

cannot get the whole IS Oil and Gas add-on, for

example, in one clump of code. Instead, additions

and changes — such as an additional field in a struc-

ture, a broader interface, another select statement,

an additional check, or changes to the user interface

— are spread all over the application. So an IS often

looks more like what you see in Figure 3.

How the Framework’s Layered Structure Hides

the Technical Details from the Customer

Industry solutions are comprised of many business

functions, thus another container is needed to cover

and control them all. This container is the business

function set. Figure 4 shows what this structure

looks like. So in the Switch Framework, we have four

different levels:

Figure 4 p an example business function set and its elements

Figure 3 p objects that are directly assigned to a switch, and objects that are

switched by package

Figure 2 p activating an industry solution in SaP eRP

In addition to enhancements, many other types of objects are switchable. These objects, which are switched by package (that is, by assigning the switch to the package) include appends, includes for dictionary structures, fixed value appends to domains, secondary indexes, append search helps, and business configura-tion sets. Other objects can be switched by directly assigning a switch to them; these objects include screen elements, flow logic, menu entries and functions, IMG nodes, and customizations.

SAP adapts the classic Dynpro of an SAP ERP application by assigning its respective UI elements to switches. This way, an IS can have other labels — more fields and buttons, for example —

but, of course, it may also have fewer screen elements. In this way, the Switch Framework makes for an easy adaptation of ERP standard UIs in the ISs.

I’d like to address a common misunderstanding. You may wonder what happens to classes, reports, and function modules that are in a package assigned to a switch when it is switched off. Is the whole class then switched off? No. Classes, reports, and function modules are not affected by the switch state if their package is assigned to a switch. Why? Because switches assigned to a pack-age only control the switchable objects in this package — that is, objects of the types listed above.

Which Types of Objects Can Be Switched?

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On the lowest level, we have the objects, which

can be switched either by package or by direct

assignment to a switch.

On the next level are the switches.

These switches are assigned to or organized by

business functions. In general, SAP delivers busi-

ness functions in a deactivated state. It’s up to the

customer to activate the ones that are needed.

Business functions are large, semantically coherent

parts of a business function set or industry solu-

tion. You can only switch on a business function if

its industry solution is activated. Keep in mind that

some functionality can only be switched at the

business function level.

Due to the layered structure of the framework, you

need only care about the business level when you

want to activate an IS in the system.

Activating an Industry Solution

Because there are many different ISs in a system,

developers first have to decide which IS their company

needs. Then, they can follow these steps:

Simply activate or switch on the industry solution

you want (see Figure 5).

Next, decide which business functions within the

set you want to activate and activate them (see

Figure 6). The Switch Framework’s tools will guide

you so that you can only switch on the relevant

subset of the business functions in the system (this

will be explained in more detail later).

In the example, we have chosen Business Function

Set � and then activated the Business Functions F�

and F2. This means that the dependent switches �, 2,

and � are also switched on. These switches control

two packages (with all their switchable content, includ-

ing enhancements of the Enhancement Framework,

dictionary appends, and secondary indexes), some

IMG nodes, and Element � of Screen �. The transac-

tion to activate or switch on business function sets

and business functions is SFW5. Figure 7 shows us

what the steps above look like in this tool. As you can

see, the Switch Framework hides a lot of complexity

and enables you to switch on ISs at a business level.

reusing Business Functions in Different industry Solutions An important benefit of IS integration is that, to some

extent, it allows you to reuse business functions from

�.

2.

Figure 5 p Switching on and activating a business function set; in this example, the

business function set is also the industry solution

Figure 6 p The different layers of the Switch Framework after activating two busi-

ness functions (marked with check boxes) within a business function set; the

orange boxes indicate the objects and the packages that are switched on

choose the relevant industry solution by selecting a business function set

Depending on this choice, you will see a set of business functions, allowing you to choose the ones you need

click the activate changes button to put your changes into effect

Figure 7 p how to activate a business function set and the business functions it

contains with transaction SFW5

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present them as options that you can activate once

you have activated any of these business function

sets. Additionally, some business functions can be

used irrespective of the IS — these are the former

enterprise add-ons, which can, in principal, be

used in all ISs or in the pure SAP ERP system (see

Figure 8).

Summary and Outlook The Switch Framework and its different layers make

the integration of SAP industry solutions into the

SAP ERP 6.0 core possible. Since all ISs are now

developed in the latest ERP system and delivered on

one set of DVDs, this means lower TCO for you as a

customer; where you used to need two systems,

you now only need one. What’s more, you can reuse

business functions from other ISs — at least to

some degree.

All changes and additions, all additional code, and

all UI changes are encapsulated by switches. Objects

that are switched off are not compiled, so you can be

sure that any switched-off objects will have no impact

on the running system.

My previous article covered the functionality of

the Enhancement Framework, which allows develop-

ers to make modification-free adaptations to their

SAP system. Here, I’ve explained the Switch Frame-

work, which allows customers to activate the exact

ISs and business functionality they need. In an

upcoming column, I will explain how the Switch and

Enhancement Framework empowers yet another

important SAP development: the new enhance-

ment package strategy of SAP ERP, which enables

you to stay on one stable release and still get

new functionality. n

one IS while you have activated another IS. For exam-

ple, as of SAP ERP enhancement package �, those

customers using IS Oil and Gas can also reuse the

entire functionality of the IS Utilities. This enables

customers to not only calculate the mineral oil tax

and plan the storage and transport of oil and gas, but

also handle mass billing for the end customer — all in

one system.

You may be wondering how this is possible —

especially since I already mentioned that you can

only switch on one IS within a system. However, since

business functions can be assigned to one or many

business function sets, the SFW5 transaction will

Figure 8 u how reusable

business functions work

This business function can be switched on within both the iS oil and Gas and the iS Retail

This business func-tion is available for all iSs, as well as for a pure SaP eRP system without any activated iS

Both of these business functions belong uniquely to one iS; their functional-ity cannot be reused in other iSs

Since all iSs are now

developed in the latest

eRP system and

delivered on one set

of DVDs, this means

lower Tco for you

as a customer; where

you used to need

two systems, you now

only need one.

...from

“A New and Improved Approach to SAP Industry Solutions — How the

Switch and Enhancement Framework Now Consolidates SAP Industry

Solutions with the ERP Core,” an Under Development column by Karl

Kessler (SAP Insider, July-September 2005, www.SAPinsideronline.com)

“Modification-Free Adaptations of SAP Programs? With Enhancements,

They’re Possible — And Here’s How” by Thomas Weiss (SAP Insider,

July-September 2008, www.SAPinsideronline.com)

“Introducing the switch and enhancement framework — consolidating

industry solutions with the mySAP ERP core” by Karl Kessler

(SAP Professional Journal, March/April 2006, www.SAPpro.com)

“Introducing the Enhancement Framework — a new way to enhance

SAP programs without having to modify them” by Thomas Weiss and

Michael Acker (SAP Professional Journal, January/February 2008,

www.SAPpro.com)

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