Learning path to SAP XI/PI/PO

A report on how you got started with SAP Integration

2015

PICourse.com
Created by Daniel Graversen
March 2015
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Background of the Current Survey................................................3

Background of the Survey Participants........................................4

Learning Path..................................................................................7

Current Learning and Experimenting..........................................11

Conclusions...................................................................................14
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Background of the Current Survey

The motivation behind the creation of this survey was the need to understand how people started
using SAP PI/PO. I see that in the future we will have a lot more PI developers. Companies will
integrate their existing systems and new cloud-based systems in order to create more streamlined
enterprises. This will require a new generation of developers - a generation that is able to work with
both cloud-based technologies and on-premises technologies.

My goal with this survey was to learn what is the best method to become a better developer. How
do you obtain that magical ingredient that makes you a better developer and grants you excellent
integration skills?

In the survey I was asking about SAP PI, but this designation also covers SAP XI and SAP PO.
The products are used similarly and learning how to use them is the same. I just wanted to make
the survey an easy read.

The survey was created by Figaf ApS. Figaf deals with creating courses and teaching SAP
developers how to advance with PI/PO.

Background of the Survey Participants

The survey was conducted in March 2015. It generated 139 responses, and it has been shared
with members of my SAP/XI/PI/PO e-mail list and my readers from picourse.com and scn.com.

Not everybody responded to all the questions, therefore the answers may not add up to 139 for
every question. Sometimes the possibility of selecting more options was available, so the answers
might add up to more.

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Where do you work?

It's interesting to see where people work, what kind of organization they're coming from. You have
different learning options if you are working for an SAP customer than if you're working as a
consultant.
If, for instance, you are working for an SAP customer, you may not have as many colleagues and
may not see such diverse development options. These subtle differences make the analysis of
professional backgrounds essential.

Occupation Count
Independent consultant 26
SAP customer 39
SAP partner 45
Other 10

Years of SAP PI Experience

I wanted to know how many years have people been working with SAP PI/PO. This was their
response. As you can see, there is a large number of newcomers, as well as people with 5+ years
of experience. I am quite amazed at the large number of people who stick with these integration
products even after the 5-year landmark. I think this shows us that working with SAP is truly
enjoyable and that even seasoned professionals can learn new things as the years go by.

Years of SAP PI Experience

20

18

16

14

12

10

0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

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Skill Level
When people were asked to rate the amount of knowledge they had on these integration products,
the responses were mainly in the intermediate/advanced range. As you can see, quite a lot of
respondents (44, to be precise) rated their skill level as ‘advanced’.
Of course, there are some who don’t work full time with SAP products - it is only natural that some
developers will acquire more experience than others.

Skill Level Count

Haven’t started yet 4

Beginner 12
Intermediate 60
Advanced 44

If we correlate this with the number of years worked, we get the following graph. It shows that it will
take at least 3 years to rate yourself as ‘advanced’. I thought that not many people would rate
themselves as beginners after 3 years of working with SAP PI/PO. However, some respondents
rated themselves beginners even after 3 years of work experience. For them, working with SAP
PI/PO might not be a full time occupation. Another explanation could be that they use SAP for a
side project, while their efforts are concentrated elsewhere. There were variations in the
‘intermediate’ section as well - some felt that they reached this level after one year, while others
rated themselves ‘intermediate’ after 9 years of SAP work experience. As an SAP expert myself, I
can say that those who work with SAP PI/PO on a full time basis can be considered advanced after
approximately 3-5 years.

The self-rating system can be a bit challenging, since we might have different views on what
exactly constitutes ‘intermediate’ or ‘advanced’ knowledge.

The obvious conclusion is that the more you work with SAP PI/PO, the more you advance in your
career as a developer.

Years of
experience Not started Beginner Intermediate Advanced
1 3 7 6
2 4 4
3 2 10 1
4 5 3
5 13 6
6 7 6
7 10 5
8 4 15
9 5 3
10 10

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How many developers are active in your organization?

Whether you're working on something new or simply learning, it is important to talk to someone
and share your ideas. This is why I asked the next question, which refers to the number of
developers who work at the same companies as the respondents. I think that being alone as a new
developer might have a negative impact on your career (at least when you’re starting out).

As we can see from the answers, more than half of the organizations employ only 1 to 3
developers, while 27% have 4 to 10 developers on board. Fewer companies employ more than 10
developers (12%) and only 9% have more than 100 developers working for them. This large
discrepancy is an interesting aspect of the SAP PI/PO universe - it points to an enormous
difference between business models and company sizes.

How many developers in your

Number of answers Percent
organization
1 22 22%
2-3 29 30%
4 - 10 26 27%
11 - 100 12 12%
100+ 9 9%

Responses by Country
Here are the 5 countries that generated most responses. As expected, there is a large number of
Indian developers among the respondents. They are rather active in the PI space!

Top 5 response by responder country

30000
All Measures
response

25000

20000
response

15000

10000

5000

0
India United States Spain Brazil Netherlands

responder country
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Learning Path

In this section we will explore how people started using SAP PI. This is where we will figure out
what is the best way to learn how to use the necessary tools.

How did you learn SAP PI?

I was surprised when faced with the diversity of the responses. They mostly revealed that SAP
skills are not acquired exclusively through standard methods – in fact, only 29 respondents
learned SAP through a standard course. 31 respondents stated that they learned SAP through an
in-house course – these courses are mostly favored by large companies. Other respondents
learned SAP as customers, being mentored by consultants (31 answers) or colleagues (25
answers).

There were 27 people who learned SAP with the use of scn.sap.com, help.sap.com and SAP
Service Marketplace – these websites are valuable sources of information, especially for
beginners. However, receiving too much information can be confusing at times. A starting point
must be set in order to properly develop one’s skills.

Let’s not forget about humanity’s most popular learning tools: books. Interestingly enough, people
are not afraid to learn IT skills from them, since 23 survey participants acquired their skills aided
by an SAP PI book.

Where did you learn PI? Count

As an SAP customer, a consultant taught me 31

As an SAP customer, my colleagues helped me 25
I participated in an in-house course of a consulting company 31
Non-SAP course 10
Other 24
SAP certification 11
SAP PI book 23
SAP standard course 29
Scn.sap.com, help.sap.com and Service Marketplace 27
On-the-job training 7

If we split the data based on the amount of time it took people to be able to develop their skills and
compare it to their learning methods, then we get the results shown below. The table shows how
many people have found that they were able to develop themselves after certain time periods,
compared to the full group. In 6 months, 41% of the respondents were able to advance with the
help of consultants, while 46% were helped by their colleagues.

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It seems like the non-SAP courses performed better than the SAP standard course for up to 1
year. The SAP standard course did perform better than the in-house courses. The book did not
perform well, only 29% of the respondents were able to learn PI within the first 6 months, where
the average of all learning methods is 39%.

Learning
1 month 6 month 1 year 2 years Total
method
Consultant 9% 41% 75% 100% 32
taught me
Colleagues 14% 46% 71% 100% 28
helped me
In-house course 3% 36% 61% 100% 36

Non-SAP course 10% 50% 80% 100% 10

SAP certification 10% 50% 90% 100% 10

SAP PI book 8% 29% 71% 100% 24

SAP standard 15% 33% 70% 100% 27
course
Average 10% 39% 69% 100% 192

I’m not sure if the statistical data is solid enough to say one method is better than the other.

Most of the developers only learned from one source. This is good if you have the right approach
to learning, but it may also be a good idea to mix more methods in order to reach even better
results. A course or a book will only take your knowledge to a certain point, then you have to start
learning by yourself. I believe that the best combination out there is constituted by a course
followed by the help of a mentor.

Method Count

1 85
2 23
3 13
4 7
5 1
6 1

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When first using SAP PI, did you receive help and advice from someone?
It seems that most respondents received help and advice through one-on-one sessions with
consultants or other employees working at the same company. The small count of those who did
not receive or need any help and advice (3) reflects a harsh reality: using SAP on your own can be
difficult at first. Most people need some extra advice to get to the core of the issues they encounter.

Response Count

Yes, a consultant 38
Yes, another employee at my company 37
No, but needed it 8
No, but did not need it 3
Other, please specify below* 4
*The other answers often included scn.sap.com

What questions did you ask?

It's interesting to know what questions you have to ask in order to advance. It did not seem like
there were any differences in the number of responses for each question, so there was no way of
telling which of these was most important. I cannot state that there is one certain question you
need to ask, since methods and projects differ greatly. Many questions were related to technical
and administration issues. I guess some of these could be related to the company’s internal
policies and the methods of managing different situations.

My guess is that it all depends on your background and learning methods, not to mention the
complexity of the projects you have to work on.

Although the survey did not ask for specifics, it revealed that every aspect of SAP has been
explored by those who were not afraid to ask. Every detail has been discussed, from technical to
administrative issues.

Question Options Number of answers Percent

Usage of specific adapters 49 21%

Mapping techniques 67 30%
Architecture discussions 54 24%
Troubleshooting 51 23%
Other 6 3%

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When did you feel you no longer needed design advice from others?
The survey revealed that it takes some time to do things on your own. Most respondents needed
advice for at least 6 months – it seems that people need between 6 months and 2 years to master
SAP PI. Only few respondents stated that they were confident without further design advice after
approximately 1 month.

Question Options Number of answers

after approximately 1 month 8
after approximately 6 months 23
after approximately 1 year 27
after approximately 2 years 29

Did the help of another person make you learn faster?

An overwhelming percentage of the respondents (91%) stated that the help of another person has
helped them accelerate the learning process, therefore we can deduce that it is an advantage to
be surrounded by people who are ready to talk to you.

Question Options Number of answers Percent

Yes, noticeably so 82 91%

Not particularly 8 9%

Why does it take a lot of time to learn SAP PI?

It takes time to learn and become a good SAP PI developer – SAP is a complex technology and
an expert must be able to understand and efficiently use all the tools and techniques that are
associated with it. There are few commonalities between projects: oftentimes, an SAP expert has
to think out of the box. Here are some of the answers from the participants of the survey, which
cover a lot of ground.

It takes 2 weeks to learn SAP, it takes a year to understand SAP PI, and creating technical
solutions for business improvements/requirements, takes years. - Guido Koopmann

Mastering SAP takes a lot of time because it is very powerful, and for every new project there are
several fitting solutions. The first development might be easy, but after having analyzed the
process further, you might change the approach to achieve better mapping, better performance,
and to rule out errors. There are many ways, and no real standard solution. You build many of
the mappings and configurations based on your experience, not based on the handbook. This is
probably the reason why many respondents felt that the courses they took weren’t good enough.
The courses failed to prepare them for all the issues and possibilities that would arise later on.

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Have we mentioned the complexity of SAP? You need to known ABAP, Java and xCBL for
mappings, RFCs, iDocs and proxies. Later, you’ll need to know all about: SOA, blacklists,
whitelists, certificates, security, SQL and TCP/IP for each specific adapter. After that, you will also
need to delve into the business side, in order to improve the interface’s functionality and
understand what is really required, while also recognizing which are further features that are
needed.

Current Learning and Experimenting

This section of the survey focused on how SAP professionals strive to become even better, day
after day. After all, learning never stops. We always need new ideas in order to create optimal
solutions. It is also good to share ideas and give/receive feedback. A new perspective can inspire
you – a colleague’s opinion might just give you the momentum you need when you feel stuck.

Who do you bounce development ideas off of?

The results of this question are rather unsurprising. Most of us turn to our colleagues when
discussing projects. It is only natural to feel more connected to our coworkers. They have a better
understanding of our way of thinking than an outsider. This type of knowledge, paired with solid
SAP skills, can lead to innovative solutions.

However, the role of a consultant should not be minimized. Consultants are available for
heavy-duty work and they usually possess very specialized knowledge. Many respondents stated
that they usually share ideas with SAP consultants.

Question Options Number of answers Percent

Colleagues 38 42%
Consultants 26 29%
Others from my network 11 12%
No one, but I would like to 13 14%
Not required 2 2%
People also mentioned getting feedback on scn.sap.com, which provides a great learning area.

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What did you do last time you had to develop something you
hadn’t worked with before?
The responses to this question revealed that we like searching for answers on the Internet before
asking a fellow developer. Maybe someone else has encountered the same problem; maybe they
even posted the method of solving the particular issue you are facing. The most popular websites
used by developers to look for advice are scn.sap.com and help.sap.com.

Question Options Number of answers Percent

Asked other developers 37 11%

Looked it up on scn.sap.com 73 23%
Used help.sap.com 60 19%
Searched the Internet 57 18%
Tried to solve the issue on my own 49 15%
Searched OSS 22 7%
Created OSS 5 2%
Found a work-around 15 5%
Other 4 1%

It's interesting how people tend to look things up by themselves, before asking other people if they
have experienced the same issues. I believe that we don’t want to ask others because we are
afraid. What will they say? Will their impression of us change in some (negative) way? Will they
still see us as good developers?

It could also be that we don’t want to waste someone else’s time, which is admirable in most
situations. However, in some cases it might just be a waste of time to research something that
could have been solved through a brief conversation.

I think that when you're going to open or search an OSS, you have found something that is on the
limit of what SAP PI supports. In that case, asking other developers won’t help.

It's also interesting to know that people are three times more likely to find a workaround than
create an OSS. Obviously, it's much easier to find a workaround instead of waiting for support to
come up with a solution to the problem.

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Do you review your own integrations?

It is generally accepted that feedback is an important element of development in any area. I

believe that getting feedback on your development is good indeed. Receiving and providing
feedback gives you the opportunity to learn a lot more and figure out what you could do better next
time.
It is nice to see that around two-thirds of the respondents have a procedure of reviewing their own
integrations. The procedures mentioned by respondents are diverse and they include:

• Peer reviews
• Presentations
• Validation through checklists
• Unit and system testing
• Testing of mapping and performance
• Technical & business monitoring
• Review documents
• Functional and technical documentation
• Reading SCN posts to get ideas for improving

Question Options Number of answers Percent

Yes 61 67%
No 30 33%

The results have shown that advanced developers review their work more often. I guess this
means they are used to getting more feedback and live in a location where they learn more. Even
if you feel that you are good, you will still need feedback.

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

No 3 18 8
Yes 5 32 26
Review pct 63% 64% 76%

The organization’s size also has an influence on reviews. The more PI developers are in your
organization, the more likely it is that you review your own work.

1 2-3 4 - 10 11 - 100 100+

No 13 11 6 2
Yes 9 18 26 10 8
Review pc 41% 62% 76% 83% 100%

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Conclusions

First of all, I want to thank all the respondents for participating. Some of the results were as
expected, others were quite surprising. The survey has been completed by SAP enthusiasts and
professionals from all over the world.

It does take some time before you are able to be a completely independent developer. It will take
around 1-2 years for most developers. And to be able to consider yourself an advanced developer,
you will need around 3-5 years. After all, there are developers who only consider themselves
intermediate developers after 5 years of SAP PI/PO work.

Learning SAP PI doesn’t happen in one particular way only. People got started with lots of different
methods. The data indicates that some methods helped developers get started more easily, but I
don’t think this is significant. The people who reported that they were able to talk with other
developers also reported that those conversations made them better developers faster.

For solving problems we try to find the right solutions ourselves, on different SAP sites, before we
ask other developers. This does make sense, but sometimes there may be ways to save time, if a
colleague/consultant has the right answer at the right moment.

Doing reviews is really not just for beginners. It is done even by the most advanced developers,
and they do it more frequently. Also, the more PI developers you have in your organization, the
more likely it is that you do PI development.

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 About PICourse

PI Course is a project by SAP Mentor Daniel Graversen. The purpose

is to make it easier to learn how to make the use of SAP PI/PO. Daniel
have been working on with SAP XI/PI/PO for more than 10 years and
is focusing his experience to how we can make it easier for people to
get aboard and learn SAP integration.

As there survey states there is a number of people that have been

tough SAP PI by non standard SAP PI courses. They can provide a
good supplement or a good basis for starting to develop pi content.

Check out the course at http://picourse.com/pi