SAP NetWeaver PI is SAP’s implementation of Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) middleware and
facilitates the integration of business processes that span different departments, organizations, or companies. We will start by introducing the term process component which will accompany us throughout this handbook. A process component is part of the value chain of a business application or a business process. If we assume that a business application ranges over different departments of one company, then a process component usually represents one part of the process that is performed in one department. The following figure displays an integration scenario and shows the separation of a business application into its process components (blue icons), as well as the connections between the process components. In the example outlined in the figure, the process components run in three different departments of a company: A, B, and C. Process components can run on different systems, can be hosted in different departments of a company, or can be implemented in completely different companies that have a business relationship to each other. The process components exchange data with each other and thereby ensure that the value chain of the business process as a whole is maintained.
Figure 1: Integration scenario showing the interaction of process components
The focus of SAP NetWeaver PI is not on the inner life of the individual process components or how the
business logic is implemented within a process component but rather on how the process components
exchange data with each other. Process integration is all about the choreography of data exchange between
process components.
