If you’re looking for a way to integrate your SAP and non-SAP platforms across your enterprise application system, you’ve probably come across SAP PI/PO.
If you’re unsure about the meaning and benefits of SAP PI and SAP PO, this helpful article explains everything you need to know. We’re taking a deep dive into the features of SAP PI/PO, why businesses use it, and the best alternatives on offer. Let’s get started.
The difference between SAP PI and PO in a nutshell
SAP platforms are widely used by enterprises across the world, often being the backbone of a company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
SAP Process Integration (PI) is the integration middleware provided by SAP; it’s the system that allows you to connect your SAP ERP to modern applications.
SAP Process Orchestration (PO) was introduced in 2012. While there are a few technical differences when comparing SAP PI vs SAP PO – helping to improve its productivity and integrate Business Process Management operations – they’re essentially the same systems. Today, the system is often just referred to as SAP PI/PO to keep everyone in the loop.
What is SAP PI/PO?
SAP PI/PO is used by enterprises to integrate their legacy systems and applications with their SAP/PI stack. This allows them to build and monitor interfaces between different systems in their digital architecture. It also enables companies to synchronize data across these different systems, so that non-SAP platforms can remain up-to-date with your SAP ERP.
Features of SAP PI/PO
SAP PI/PO comes with a range of features designed to enhance data management and streamline operations. This includes:
- Data transfer. SAP PI/PO connects different systems, routing messages using communication protocols such as sFTP and SOAP. This means that data can be transferred between different databases, as well as alternative applications and systems.
- Integration. SAP PI/PO is used by enterprises to integrate their entire tech stack, allowing data and operations to be synchronized. Businesses can have a unified platform that’s simple to navigate, regardless of the system that is being used.
- Centralization. Rather than having lots of conflicting systems and operations, SAP PI/PO creates a centralized process that connects a variety of different systems through one SAP platform.
- Automation. SAP PI/PO means that data transfers between systems are automated, ensuring that your data is always synchronized in all locations.
How does SAP PI/PO work?
SAP PI/PO operates through a collection of systems and components to facilitate integrations across various systems. It achieves this through a series of integration scenarios, which are coordinated via process orchestration. These scenarios are created by integration specialists using the ESR, who define which data will be exchanged and the process by which this data will be transformed.
Once a scenario has been designed, developers map out this data graphically, outlining the movement of data from one system to another without the need for direct coding. These maps are then implemented through an Integration Directory (ID), where processes are set up to respond to defined triggers.
An important part of SAP PI/PO is the Advanced Adapter Engine Extended (AEX), which includes adapters connecting external systems to the SAP PI/PO. Once a process is executed through the ID, this AEX comes into operation. The AEX is also used to communicate messages to the external systems, which involves translating data.
Why do businesses use SAP PI/PO?
Think about all of the transactions and operations that take place in the day-to-day operations of your business, including connections between your enterprise and other external businesses. Now think about how many of these rely on legacy systems – for most businesses, this will be many!
As such, it becomes impractical to try to complete all of these connections using point-to-point communication. Using a tool that integrates these multiple processes, ensuring legacy application integration with modern applications, is therefore incredibly important. SAP PI/PO is one of these integration solutions, helping to deliver the following benefits:
1. Unified data within the organization
The most obvious reason enterprises use tools like SAP PI/PO is because they allow data to flow between modern and legacy applications, ensuring the right information is made available to everyone and for every purpose.
This ensures that workflows are optimized to be as efficient as possible, as data can easily flow throughout all of your operations. Businesses are therefore able to have an interconnected and streamlined digital architecture.
2. Connection between businesses
Another huge reason why SAP PI/PO is popular among enterprises is that it allows them to connect their ERP to external systems. This is particularly beneficial to smaller businesses that might not have access to an enterprise’s price range of software. SAP PI/PO is useful in this regard as it includes such a large range of integration processes.
Processing this type of data integration can help to synchronize operations between partnership organizations, while also simplifying crucial business processes such as sales and delivery.
3. Stronger decision-making
By making it easier for all stakeholders to access accurate and current data, SAP PI/PO can help to improve decision-making. Being able to rely on data-driven insights rather than making uninformed guesses, ultimately leads to more strategic and effective management as the organization grows and evolves.
This ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions based on reliable data empowers businesses to respond proactively to market demands and operational challenges.
4. Improved customer experience
Tools such as SAP PI/PO also make it easier for you to produce a high-quality understanding of customer needs. By eliminating integration barriers, all departments have access to unified and accurate customer data. This allows you to gain deeper insights into your customer’s needs so you can deliver tailored and targeted customer experiences.
Are there alternatives to SAP PI/PO?
The benefits of using an integration tool are clear for all enterprises. However, SAP PI/PO certainly isn’t the only solution on the market. This is especially important as SAP PI/PO is currently set to be obsolete by 2030, meaning that growing enterprises can’t afford to rely on it as a platform.
One alternative, provided by SAP themselves, is the SAP Integration Suite. This is a cloud-based variant of SAP PI/PO, which shifts many of the integration processes onto the cloud.
However, the SAP Integration Suite isn’t right for all businesses. Rather than being forced to follow SAP’s cloud migration timeline and abandon your legacy SAP systems that use PI/PO, OpenLegacy’s integration solutions allow you to integrate your digital systems with the right amount of flexibility towards integrating non-SAP products:
OpenLegacy Hub
A great solution for SAP integration is OpenLegacy Hub, which offers many of the benefits of SAP PI/PO and more. With OpenLegacy, you can use AI tools and pre-built integration processes to build easy ERP and SAP integrations without needing to write huge amounts of code.
Get your SAP integrations up and running faster than ever, integrating your legacy applications with modern cloud software in just a few days. This will also help to reduce costs and reallocate expenses elsewhere in your organization.
One of the downsides of solutions like SAP PI/PO or the SAP Integration Suite is that they’re designed to be used with SAP applications. While this is not a huge issue if you primarily use these systems, OpenLegacy Hub has been created with all legacy systems in mind. This means that you can easily integrate with non-SAP products.
OpenLegacy Hub also brings the benefits of the cloud to your enterprise operations, without forcing you to suddenly abandon your existing SAP and ERP systems. This hybrid approach brings the best of both worlds.
You’ll be able to see the advantages of the cloud – such as boosting ease of access, preparing for growth and future changes, and ensuring a more flexible digital infrastructure – without having to migrate all of your operations to the cloud.
All of this means that OpenLegacy Hub is an increasingly popular alternative to SAP PI/PO among enterprises looking to modernize their integration systems, all offered in a simple and affordable subscription package.
OpenLegacy AI Powered Chat for SAP
As well as OpenLegacy Hub, you can also use OpenLegacy’s new SAP integration solution: OpenLegacy AI Powered Chat for SAP. This leverages the many benefits of modern AI developments to refine your integration systems.
Let’s say that you want to find out which orders are out of stock. Rather than working with a complex integration to retrieve this answer from your legacy SAP system, simply ask an intelligent assistant to find that answer for you. That’s exactly what OpenLegacy AI Powered Chat for SAP provides.
With an intelligent and nuanced chat and voice interface – such as those used in AI assistants like Copilot or ChatGPT – this solution provides accurate answers to questions based on the data within your legacy SAP systems. It can also be used to produce data-driven insights and execute transactions – all through an easy-to-use interface.
OpenLegacy AI Powered Chat promises to overhaul your SAP operations and bring huge benefits to your digital architecture:
- Speed. Optimize your existing SAP services quickly without investing extensive implementation time.
- Scalability. It can be used for a wide range of ERPs and data sources, and can also be deployed on any cloud system.
- Intuitiveness. It responds to natural language questions and instructions, so you can easily find data and execute SAP operations without the need for complex expertise or training.
- Maximizing existing investments. Rather than having to change your ERP systems, you can bring them up to date to the new AI era, allowing you to make the most of your existing IT assets.
With OpenLegacy AI Powered Chat for SAP, you can significantly improve your legacy application integration and SAP systems – all without migrating your systems to the cloud and abandoning your useful legacy applications.
Understand SAP PI/PO and why it may not be your best SAP integration option
Although connecting your legacy SAP systems to your more modern digital framework is crucial in any enterprise, SAP PI/PO is not always the best solution. This is largely due to the limited amount of time in which SAP PI/PO will be fully operational, with SAP’s replacement system proving unsuitable for many businesses with their own cloud migration timescales.
This means that OpenLegacy Hub – alongside the huge benefits offered by OpenLegacy AI Powered Chat for SAP – is a highly effective and innovative alternative when it comes to integrating your SAP systems.
You can migrate to the cloud at your own pace, allowing you to continue making the most of your legacy SAP applications, while also boosting productivity through OpenLegacy’s specialist AI solutions. So, what are you waiting for? Start using OpenLegacy Hub today to take SAP integration to the next level.
We’d love to give you a demo.
Please leave us your details and we'll be in touch shortly