SAP Console or Auto-ID Infrastructure?
Clearing the Air on RFID for SAP

By Sam Sliman
President, Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.

Fear is often a greater motivator than opportunity. Case in point, the lion’s share of RFID initiatives to date have been mandate-driven, slap-and-ship projects with compliance as the sole end goal. Be safe, minimize risk, and live to ship another order.

For many businesses facing RFID compliance, SAP Console affords a relatively quick fix. Introduced in 1999, SAP Console was SAP’s first foray into mobile computing. It shipped with R/3 4.6B and was primarily used for barcode and handheld-RF applications in the Logistics Execution System (LES) arena. With a bit of customization by a team of ABAP developers, the SAP Console approach to RFID data collection can satisfy compliance mandates.

To be sure, SAP Console is a solid and reliable tool for data collection and can help when it comes to limited RFID pilots. That said, SAP Console was not developed as a solution to help businesses realize the maximum potential and value of RFID. At its heart, SAP Console is a translator that converts SAP screens into character-based screens, enabling barcode data to pass to SAP. It was not intended to support the development of more complex functionality. SAP Console serves well on the data collection side of RFID but is limited in its ability to take action based on that data.

Ultimately, RFID is about an unprecedented level of visibility into the supply chain. From a technology perspective, its promise lies in the ability to integrate with back-end systems and drive enterprise-wide efficiency gains.

To this end, SAP introduced technology to support a total RFID solution in 2004. The core of this solution is SAP’s Auto-ID Infrastructure (AII), a sophisticated middleware layer capable of collecting, analyzing and managing high volumes of real-time information from tagged items, environmental sensors and real-time locating systems. AII is built on SAP's Web Application Server (WAS), which is part of the company’s NetWeaver integration and application platform. With NetWeaver, businesses can connect RFID readers to AII and AII to enterprise applications such as mySAP SCM, Warehouse Management, BW, etc., as well as applications sold by SAP's competitors.

Auto-ID Infrastructure includes a repository for reader data that helps companies track what is happening in the real world of merchandise, products, parts, etc., and a configurable rules engine that allows end users to automate myriad business processes and create custom applications. In conjunction with Event Manager and Enterprise Portal, SAP’s RFID solution enables businesses to automate common warehouse tasks such as sending advance shipping notices and inventory replenishment alerts, among other process and productivity improvements. Moving forward, as businesses learn more about the capabilities of AII, more sophisticated data mining and business intelligence applications will almost certainly emerge.

RFID is a relative newcomer on the enterprise technology scene, so an RFID rollout is still complex, requiring a combination of products and services that integrate numerous software and hardware components. In addition to providing out-of-the-box functionality to fulfill requirements for RFID compliance, SAP’s Auto-ID Infrastructure enables businesses to take a more sophisticated approach to deploying RFID that ties these components together in addition to leveraging the full capabilities of SAP.

Although compliance may be the short term objective, Auto-ID Infrastructure deserves a close look. As the RFID market evolves, SAP customers will build the case for value-driven RFID implementations. With AII already in place, the journey to a total RFID solution will be much smoother.