Hi,

I would like to know more about OCI (Open Catalog Interface). This is
a topic I hear more and more about.

On www.sap.com there is a pdf-file, that explains the topic quite well:
http://www.sap.com/partners/icc/scenarios/srm/b2b-opi.aspx
"The Open Partner Interface (OPI) incorporates external business
partner directories in SAP SRM Server applications. This way, data
that is required in order to create a business partner in SAP SRM can
be transferred directly from the external directory to the SRM Server
application. The interface uses the transfer mechanisms of Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and uses similar architecture to the Open
Catalog Interface (OCI). Producers of business partner directories can
use this interface to seamlessly integrate their service with SAP SRM,
which will ultimately benefit the data integrity in the customer
system."

My main areas of interest are:
1. What is the background of OCI? Please also provide a short to the
point executive summary of what OCI really is! Pros and cons versus
other ways to connect companies electronically?
2. Is the SAP way to do it (OPI) really the industry standard today?
Are there other "standards" as well?
3. Are there any statistics available on number of companies using
OCI? Case studies? Turn over numbers?
4. What is the typical effort (mandays) to implement a OCI solution?

Question 1 and 2 are most important to me, but I thought when you are
hunting for this information you might find something on questions 3
and 4. These can be handled as new questions, if they turn out to be
difficult/time consuming.

Thanks in advance for a quick answer!
tornell

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 19 Dec 2004 14:56 PST

Hello tornell-ga,

I have come across another resource from SAP that i think you may also
find interesting. It describes OCI in the context of an OPI solution:

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/documents/a1-8-4/Open%20Catalog%20Interface.pdf

I will take a shot at answering your second question, but it by no
means comprehensive. This technology, offered exclusively by SAP, is
by definition not an industry standard. This is due to the fact that
it is only being offered by a single vendor, which protects the inner
workings of the technology very closely. As a result, I would think
that there are at least a few other alternatives to OCI/OPI available
from other leading commercial vendors. Considering the complexity and
value of selling this type of solution, there is no equivalent "open
source" equivalent readily available.

My responses above may have answered your question, but as I want to
confirm that before posting anything officially I am providing this as
a clarification. Should you want anything more specific in relation to
#1 and #2 please let me know and I'd happily look into that for you.

I would suggest that #3 and #4 each be re-posted as seperate questions
- discrete information on either of these topics is going to be
extremely difficult, assuming it even exists in the public domain.

Thanks,
answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by tornell-ga on 20 Dec 2004 13:56 PST

Hi,

thanks for taking on this tricky question! The enclosed document is a
newer version of the one I referred to. Now I have read thru it more
in detail and the solution itself is quite clear to me.

Please try to answer the following questions:
- What is the background of OCI? 
- Other vendors than SAP? Differences in the solutions? Market shares? Customers?

The questions 3 and 4 from the original question you can see as bonus
questions, which will generate a tip based on the information you
find.

Regards,
Tornell

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 21 Dec 2004 00:51 PST

Hi tornell-ga,

I've looked a little deeper, but it seems that this topic is held very
closely by SAP, and as a result there is little readily available and
accredited information beyond SAP themselves (especially
market-related info).

I may be a bit out of my realm here, so if there are any other
researchers interested in taking a shot at this that is fine.

Best of luck!

answerguru-ga