Import SAP properties to SharePoint Server (Duet Enterprise)

 

Applies to: Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP

This article shows how to import SAP properties from the SAP system into the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 User Profile Store.

Note that Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP does not automatically map any SAP properties to user properties in SharePoint Server 2010. You must use the procedures in this article to map each property that you want to import from SAP to a property in SharePoint Server.

This article makes the following assumptions:

In this article:

  • Before you begin

  • Prerequisites

  • Procedures

  • Verifying property import

Before you begin

Before you perform the steps in this article, we recommend that you configure and run role synchronization for Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP as described in Synchronize profiles and roles (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=205815). After you enable role synchronization, you can use SAP roles to set the policy settings on properties (Edit User Profile property page in Central Administration) rather than granting permissions to individual users or SharePoint groups.

To complete the procedures in this article, you must first identify the properties that you want to import from the SAP system. You must also identify the properties in the SharePoint Server 2010 User Profile Store to which you want to map the imported properties.

Note

You can choose to create new properties in the User Profile Store as a separate procedure from mapping the properties, or you can do both at the same time. This article assumes that the custom properties do not already exist in the SharePoint User Profile Store.

For more information about how to plan profiles, see Plan user profiles (SharePoint Server 2010) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=214369).

Prerequisites

As you configure profile synchronization, you will need the information that is described in this section and a SharePoint Server 2010 farm that is already partly configured. The subsections within this section explain the prerequisites that you must have before you proceed to the Procedures section later in this article.

In this section:

  • Grant account permissions

  • Configure the farm

Grant account permissions

The farm account authenticates transactions between the server running SharePoint Server and the SAP system during the profile synchronization process. To configure profile synchronization, you must give the farm account to the SAP administrator and the SAP administrator must grant the farm account the appropriate permissions on the SAP system.

Tip

The farm account must be granted permissions to each object in SAP that will be synchronized.

BatonHandoffIcon

If you are using the Deployment worksheet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=205392), type the farm account in the “Farm account” row of Table 1 of the worksheet.

If the farm account does not have the correct permissions on the SAP system, you might not know that the permissions are wrong until you have progressed part of the way through the configuration procedure.

Note

Incorrect permissions are the most common cause of errors when you configure profile synchronization.

Farm account

The farm account is the account through which SharePoint Server connects to its configuration database. This account was specified when SharePoint Server was installed and configured.

Note

The farm account is not the same as the farm administrator account. To determine the farm account, from Central Administration, click Configure service accounts, and then click Farm account.

The farm account must have the following characteristics:

  • The account must be able to log on locally to the application server on which the User Profile Synchronization Service is running.

    An administrator of the application server on which the User Profile Synchronization Service is running can grant permission to log on to the server.

  • The account must be granted access to each object in the SAP system that will be synchronized.

External content types

Before you can import properties from the SAP profile store, you must have the external content type that represents items in the SAP system. Many external content types are provided with Duet Enterprise. If the external content type for the items that you want to import does not exist, you must create it. For more information about how to create an external content type, see How to: Create External Content Types (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=202149).

Procedures

There are three required phases and one optional phase to import properties from the SAP system. You must perform the following procedures in the listed order.

  • Phase 1: Create a profile synchronization connection

  • Phase 2: (Optional) Define exclusion filters for a synchronization connection

  • Phase 3: Create and map user profile properties

  • Phase 4: Start profile synchronization

Note

You must be either a farm administrator, an administrator of the User Profile service application, or both to perform these procedures. If you are an administrator of the User Profile service application but not a farm administrator, start each procedure by using the Manage Profile Service page.

Phase 1: Create a profile synchronization connection

During this phase, you create a profile synchronization connection and select the external content type that you want to use for this connection. Note that you must create a separate profile synchronization connection for each external content type that you will use to import properties.

To create a profile synchronization connection

  1. On the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application.

  3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Synchronization section, click Configure Synchronization Connections.

  4. On the Synchronization Connections page, click Create New Connection.

  5. On the Add new synchronization connection page, type the synchronization connection name in the Connection Name box.

    For example, Duet Enterprise Employee Properties.

  6. In the Type list, select Business Data Connectivity.

  7. In the Connection Settings section, click the Select External Content Type picker.

  8. In the External Content Type Picker dialog box, select the external content type that you want to use for this connection, and then click OK.

    For example, select the “Employee” external content type that is associated with the “Employee” external data source.

    Note

    The Employee external content type is provided with Duet Enterprise.

  9. In the Return items identified by this profile property list, select AccountName.

    Note

    The AccountName profile property should be selected when you use the "Employee" external content type that is provided with Duet Enterprise. The property that you use could be different if you selected a different external content type in step 8.

  10. Click OK.

    The synchronization connection that you just created appears on the Synchronization Connections page.

Phase 2: (Optional) Define exclusion filters for a synchronization connection

In this optional phase, you define filters for the synchronization connection to indicate which profiles to exclude from synchronization. For example, you can define a filter that excludes disabled accounts.

To define exclusion filters for a synchronization connection

  1. On the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application name.

  3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Synchronization section, click Configure Synchronization Connections.

  4. On the Synchronization Connections page, right-click the connection for which you want to configure Profile Synchronization connection filters, and then click Edit Connection Filters.

  5. On the Edit connection filters page, in the Exclusion Filters for Users section, select the user property for which you want to apply a synchronization filter from the attributes list.

  6. Select All apply (AND) to require all of the filter conditions to be met, or select Apply any (OR) to require only one of the filter conditions to be met. Configure the filter parameters for that property, and then click Add.

  7. When you have finished adding Profile Synchronization connection filters, click OK.

Phase 3: Create and map user profile properties

Perform this procedure to create one or more new properties in the SharePoint User Profile Store for which you want to map an SAP property. The procedure then maps an SAP property, also called an item, to the SharePoint user property. In most cases, this will be a one-to-one mapping. For example, one SAP property is mapped to one property in the SharePoint User Profile Store.

If the property does not already exist in the User Profile Store, you must first create it. Note that this procedure assumes that a property does not already exist in the User Profile Store to which you want to map an SAP property. Perform these steps for each property that you want to create and map.

The following table lists the SAP properties that are most commonly mapped. Note that each of these SAP properties is associated with the "Employee" external content type that is provided with Duet Enterprise. The “SharePoint User property name” column shows recommended names that you can use when you create these specific properties in the SharePoint user profile. You do not have to use these exact names when creating these properties.

Table 1 – Commonly mapped properties

SharePoint User property name SAP attribute (property) Description

SAP employee ID

EmployeeIDDesp

Unique ID for the employee

SAP position ID

IwemporgpositionCode

Position ID for the employee

SAP position description

IwemporgpositionCodeText

Employee’s position or title

Hire date

IwemporgstartDate

Date the employee was hired

Birth date

IwempbasbirthDate

Date of birth

To create and map properties

  1. On the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application name.

  3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the People section, click Manage User Properties.

  4. Click New Property.

  5. On the Add User Profile Property page, in the Property Settings section, do the following:

    1. In the Name box, type a name for the new property.

    2. In the Display Name box, enter the name that you want to be displayed for the new property.

      For example, SAP employee ID.

    3. Select the property type for this property from the Type list or accept the default value of string.

    4. Optionally enter the length that you want for this property or accept the default value.

  6. Scroll down to the Add New Mapping section and select the synchronization connection that you created in the previous procedure from the Source Data Connection list.

  7. Select the SAP property that you want to import from the Attribute list.

    Note

    This list displays only the attributes, also known as items, that are associated with the source data connection that you selected. For example, if you are mapping the property for the SAP employee ID, select the EmployeeIDDesp attribute.

  8. Ensure that Import is selected in the Direction list.

    Note

    Only the import direction is supported when using a Business Data Connectivity service connection. A direction of Import means that the value of the attribute in the SAP system will be imported to SharePoint Server and used to set the value of the SharePoint Server 2010 property.

  9. Click Add to add the property mapping.

    The property mapping that you just created appears in the Property Mapping for Synchronization section of the Add User Profile Property page.

  10. Click OK.

  11. If you want to create and map additional properties, repeat steps 4 through 10. See Table 1 for other user properties that are commonly created and mapped. Otherwise, proceed to step 12.

  12. When you have finished creating new properties and mappings, close the Manage User Properties page.

Phase 4: Start profile synchronization

Use this procedure to synchronize profile information between SharePoint Server 2010 and all external systems for which you have created profile connections.

To start profile synchronization

  1. On the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application name.

  3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Synchronization section, click Start Profile Synchronization.

  4. On the Start Profile Synchronization page, select Start Full Synchronization if this is the first time that you are synchronizing or if you have added or modified any synchronization connections or property mappings since the last time that you synchronized. Select Incremental Synchronization to synchronize only information that has changed since the last time that you synchronized.

  5. Click OK.

    The Manage Profile Service page is displayed.

    Note

    A full synchronization can take a long time. If you refresh the Manage Profile Service page, you will see the progress of the synchronization job on the right side of the page. Be aware that profile synchronization consists of several stages, and profiles will not be imported immediately. The Manage Profile Service page is not refreshed automatically as synchronization progresses.

Verifying property import

At a minimum, the values for the SAP properties that you mapped earlier and synchronized should be present in the SharePoint User Profile Store. If My Sites are configured for the SharePoint Server farm, the properties that you created, mapped, and synchronized might also appear in My Sites. Whether or not the new properties that you created will appear depends on how My Sites are configured. For more information about My Sites, see Plan for My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010) (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262500.aspx).

You can use the procedures in this section to verify that the properties that you mapped have been imported into the SharePoint User Profile Store. We recommend that you perform the following procedures in the listed order.

In this section:

  • To verify that properties were imported into the User Profile Store

  • To view properties in MySites

Note

You must be a farm administrator to perform the following procedure.

To verify that properties were imported into the User Profile Store

  1. In Central Administration, in the Quick Launch, click Application Management.

  2. On the Application Management page, in the Service Applications section, click Manage service applications.

  3. In the Name column, click the name of the User Profile Service Application.

  4. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the People section, click Manage User Profiles.

  5. In the Find profiles box, type a user name and then click Find.

  6. In the Account name column, point to the profile that you want to view and click Edit My Profile on the drop-down list that appears.

  7. On the Edit User Profile page, verify that values exist for the properties that you created and mapped. If they do not exist, the values were not imported from the SAP system.

  8. Click Cancel and Go Back to close the Edit User Profile page.

After you have verified that the values of the mapped properties appear in the User Profile Store, you can optionally verify whether they automatically appear in My Sites.

To view properties in My Sites

  1. In a browser, go to a My Site page.

    Note

    You have to login to the My Site page as a user for which a profile exists.

  2. On your My Site page, click My Profile.

  3. Click More Information.

  4. Determine whether the new properties that you created and their values appear. If they do not appear in the More information section and you have verified that they are in the User Profile Store, then you may need to configure My Sites before the properties will be displayed on My Sites. For more information, see Plan for My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010) (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262500.aspx).