Installing the ERP Connector on Project Server

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The ERP Connector Solution Starter for Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 includes a setup application that installs the ERP Connector components, configuration files, and developer documentation on a Project Server computer. The procedures in this topic are for a test installation of Project Server.

The procedures to install the ERP Connector are:

1. Preparing the Project Server Computer

2. Installing the ERP Connector

3. Verifying the Installation

There are additional configuration steps you must do before testing the installation. For more information, see Configuring the ERP Connector.

To uninstall ERP Connector, see Uninstalling.

Preparing the Project Server Computer

Before you install and use the ERP Connector, you must prepare Project Server 2007 to enable the ERP Connector to function properly. You must be an administrator on the Project Server computer and an administrator for Project Web Access to install and configure the ERP Connector.

You can run the ERP Connector as a Windows service, which watches the request drop folder, or you can run the ERP Connector manually for testing.

Procedure 1. To prepare the Project Server computer for the ERP Connector

1. On the Project Server computer, run Windows Update to ensure that you have the most recent security updates and Windows Installer components.

2. Ensure that Project Server operates properly and that a Project Web Access instance is available on your network.

3. Use or add a Windows account in the Administrators group of the computer where Project Server is installed.

   For example, use the account domain\username.

   Note
   The Windows account that you use to set up and configure the ERP Connector must also be in the Administrators security group in Project Web Access.The ERP Connector 2007 Service requires a Windows account with system administrator and Project Server administrator permissions.

4. Add the Windows accounts of users who need to run the ERP Connector manually to the Administrators security group in Project Web Access.

Installing the ERP Connector

The Project 2007 SDK download includes the files that you need to install the ERP Connector on a test installation of Project Server. The default path to the setup files in the installed SDK is C:\2007 Office System Developer Resources\Project 2007 SDK\Code Samples\ERPConnector\Setup\Debug\Image.

The setup.exe application runs ERP Connector 2007.msi to install the ERP Connector components, the ERP Connector 2007 Service, configuration files and folders, sample developer documentation, script and installation hint files for installing the mySAP™ modules, and links in the Windows Start menu. The ERP Connector 2007.msi installer also runs applications that allow you to set Windows credentials for the ERP Connector 2007 Service and to configure the Project Web Access URL and logon account for the ERP Connector.

Procedure 2. To install the ERP Connector

1. Copy the setup.exe and ERP Connector 2007.msi files from the Project 2007 SDK to the Project Server computer.

2. On the Project Server computer, run setup.exe (or right-click ERP Connector 2007.msi, and then click Install). Follow the instructions in the installer.

3. Accept the default installation folder (C:\Program Files\ERP Connector Solution Starter\) and users (Everyone), to avoid problems when you use the test installation of ERP Connector.

   Figure 1. Default settings of the ERP Connector installer

   

4. Set Windows credentials for the ERP Connector Service (Figure 2).

   The ERP Connector Service uses the credentials to log on to the Project Server system and to run the ERP Connector when a request XML file is copied to the drop folder.

   Note
   Because the ERP Connector logs on to Project Server and uses the PSI Web services to create and update lookup tables, it must be executed by an account in the Administrators security group of Project Web Access.

   Figure 2. Windows credentials for the ERP Connector Service

   

5. Configure the connection to Project Server. You must specify the URL of the Project Web Access instance and the type of authentication (Windows or Forms). The default is Windows authentication. We recommend that you use Windows authentication for reasons described in Step 6. To change to Forms authentication, click the Windows link, and then click the UserName link to change the user name and password. To change back to Windows authentication, click the Forms link.

   In the ERP Connector 2007 Setup dialog box (Figure 3), the empty pane below the Test button is a WebBrowser control. If you check Debug commitment of modifications to Project Server, when you run ERP Connector manually, it shows a DebugView dialog box with the contents of datasets before committing changes to Project Server.

   Figure 3. ERP Connector 2007 Setup dialog box

   

6. Click Test to test the connection to Project Web Access.

   If the URL is valid, the button changes to Save and the WebBrowser control shows the LoginWindows or LoginForms Web reference. For example, Figure 4 shows a successful logon using Windows authentication.

   Figure 4. Validating the Project Server connection

   

   If the URL is invalid, the WebBrowser control shows a standard Internet Explorer error page, with the message "This program cannot display the webpage".

   Note
   In the sample implementation, the ERP Connector 2007 Setup dialog box shows a successful connection for Forms authentication when you use either the URL for Forms authentication (such as http://ServerName:81/pwa) or the URL for Windows authentication, and an incorrect user name and password. To successfully run the ERP Connector, we recommend that you configure it to use Windows authentication.

   If the connection test fails a second time using the same URL, the button changes to Ignore and Save. You can edit the URL to change the button back to Test, or keep the information and manually configure the connection later. For more information, see Configuring the ERP Connector.

7. Click Save (or Ignore and Save) to save the connection information, and then exit the installer.

Verifying the Installation

When installation is complete, click the Windows Start menu, click All Programs, and then click ERP Connector Solution Starter. Figure 5 shows the menu options.

Figure 5. Windows Start menu for the ERP Connector

Following are the menu items and their functions.

• Documentation. The submenu includes links to the ERPConnectorComponents.chm file for the sample developer documentation, and to the installation hints text files—in English and German—for installing modules in the mySAP system.

• Example Requests. The submenu items open the installed folders of XML request files for the CO, FI, and HR tests. For example, the HR test files are in [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\tests\HR. For more information, see Testing the ERP Connector.

• Configure Server Connection. Runs the Connector tool with the setup option (ConnectorTool.exe /setup), which starts the ERP Connector 2007 Setup dialog box. The ConnectorTool.exe file is in [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\bin.

• Connector Tool. Runs the Connector tool with no options, to manually process XML request files. The Connector tool checks and updates the Project Server lookup tables and custom fields for the ERP Connector if necessary, and then processes files in the XML request drop folder.

• Default ERP Requests Drop Folder. In Windows Explorer, opens the folder for XML request files. The default folder is [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\bin\ERP Requests Drop.

  Note
  If you edit the ERP Connector 2007 Service configuration file to change the default drop folder location, you must also update the path properties of the Requests Drop Folder and Connector Tool menu items. For more information, see Configuring the ERP Connector.

• mySAP System Files. In Windows Explorer, opens the folder that contains files for creating and installing modules on the mySAP system. The folder is [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\src\SAPSystem.

• Start Connector Service. Starts the ERP Connector 2007 Service by running the simple start.cmd file in [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\bin. When you install ERP Connector, the service is stopped by default. You should complete the configuration and manually complete initial testing before you start the service.

• Stop Connector Service. Stops the ERP Connector 2007 Service by running the simple stop.cmd file in [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\bin.

• User-Level Configuration. In Windows Explorer, opens the folder that contains configuration files for the current user of ERP Connector. The folder is [Documents and Settings]\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\ErpConnector.

Before you test the ERP Connector, you need to complete some additional configuration steps and check the configuration files. For more information, see Configuring the ERP Connector.

Uninstalling

To uninstall ERP Connector, in Control Panel on the Project Server computer, open Add or Remove Programs. Click ERP Connector 2007 Solution Starter in the list of currently installed programs, and then click Remove. Uninstalling removes all ERP Connector files and menu items from the computer except processed requests in the drop folder and configuration files in the user profiles.

To remove ERP Connector completely, manually delete the following folders:

• [Program Files]\ERP Connector Solution Starter\bin\ERP Requests Drop (or the drop folder specified in the configuration file)

• [Documents and Settings]\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\ErpConnector

• [Documents and Settings]\All Users\Application Data\ErpConnector

See Also

Concepts

ERP Connector Solution Starter for Project Server 2007

ERP Connector Architecture

ERP Connector System Requirements

Installing the Components for mySAP ERP

Configuring the ERP Connector

Other Resources

Testing the ERP Connector