SAP Enterprise Portal Interview Questions & Answers

Question 1. What Is Sap Enterprise Portal?

Answer :

SAP Enterprise Portal(EP) offers users role-specific, Web-based and secure access to all relevant information, SAP applications and SAP services. Employees only need a desktop and a Web Browser, and can begin work once they have been authenticated in the portal.

Question 2. What Components Does Sap Enterprise Portal Contain?

Answer :

SAP Enterprise Portal contains the Net Weaver components Portal, Knowledge Management, and Collaboration. In addition, SAP provides pre-defined content. At the moment the portfolio contains more than 100 business packages, which are shipped in multiple languages.

Question 3. What Is The Relationship Between Web Dynpro And Sap Enterprise Portal? What Are Iviews And Web Dynpro Competing Technologies?

Answer :

Web Dynpro is Sap’s programming model for developing professional and interactive Web user interfaces for business applications.

An iView is a logical portal content module representing a visual application or part of one. One or more iViews are combined on a portal page, which is then assigned to users by the role definition. Web Dynpro UIs are integrated in SAP Enterprise Portal with iViews.

Question 4. What Personalization Functions Does Sap Enterprise Portal Provide?

Answer :

Portal roles are a central element of SAP Enterprise Portal. They structure the content and are defined for specific end users.

A role is a collection of task-specific content. Roles are defined based on responsibilities and areas of interest, and are created by a role administrator. A user can be assigned one or more roles (for example, the roles employee and staff). The roles define the content of the portal navigation as well as the content of the portal. Role assignment can therefore be seen as a pre-personalization of the portal - a personalization that is performed by the administrator and not by the user (personalization level 1). Depending on their permissions, users can also adjust the look and feel of the portal, maintain user-specific attributes (personalization level 2), change portal pages by adding or deleting iViews (personalization level 3), and personalize individual iViews (personalization level 4).

Question 5. What Tools Does Sap Provide For Creating Portal Content?

Answer :

SAP provides tools for creating and developing portal content – depending on the target group and the complexity of the applications.One distinguishes between

Portal Content Studio: An administration environment integrated in SAP Enterprise Portal that is used for code-free development of portal content using wizards.

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer: Model-based development of portal content by simply using graphic tools.

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio (Web Dynpro perspective): Based on the powerful Web Dynpro programming model, application developers can develop Web user interfaces for professional business applications.

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio (J2EE + PDK perspective): The SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio offers complete support when developing Java projects.

SAP ABAP Workbench: The ABAP Workbench provides the Business Server Page (BSP) technology for creating Web user interfaces.

All the portal content created using these tools can be seamlessly integrated in SAP Enterprise Portal using the portal services already presented.

Question 6. What Are The Key Features Of The Portal?

Answer :

Typical examples for the integration technology are:

Client Eventing: Enables iViews to communicate with one another at the client side and to communicate with the portal itself.

Work Protect: Function providing an infrastructure for handling unsaved data in portal applications, for example if users navigate in the portal without first having stored their entries in an application.

Session Management: Contains in particular the session persistence to retain the last session status of the user (for example when navigating to another portal page) as well as a server session termination function for releasing resources on the back-end system (for example when closing the browser).

Portal Navigation: SAP Enterprise Portal offers more than simply navigation between individual portal pages, in particular.

Object-based navigation (OBN): It provides users with a navigation feature based on the actual business objects from productive back-end systems.

Drag & Relate: iViews can contain objects representing business elements of a back-end application (for example customer). If users pull such an object, as with Drag & Drop, and relate it to another object in the Drag&Relate target object area, they can navigate between different applications containing similar, but not identical business objects.

Dynamic Navigation: The portal enables you to assign navigation objects to pages and iViews as context sensitive dynamic navigation iViews. This means that navigation targets are provided dynamically depending on the action selected.

Question 7. Which Security Features Does Sap Enterprise Portal Offer?

Answer :

The portal offers the following security features to help keep your portal secure.

Authentication: When users access the portal, they must provide some form of identification in the form of user ID and password, client certificates, and so on. The portal supports authentication with user ID and password, X.509 certificates, integrated Windows authentication, external Web access management tools.

Single Sign-On: Once users have successfully logged on to the portal, they can access all information, applications, and services without repeatedly having to log on.

Authorization: ACL-based permissions ensure that users can only access portal objects for which they have the required authorization. Authorization for applications integrated in the portal is handled by the systems on which the applications run.

User Management: Existing corporate LDAP directories in your system landscape can be leveraged by the portal. Alternatively user data can be retrieved from a SAP Web Application Server ABAP or from a database.

Secure Communications: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Secure Network Communications (SNC) can be used to build a secure channel between the user's Web browser, the portal server, and back-end systems.

Secure network architecture: Recommendations for secure network architecture for the portal are available in the Portal Security Guide.

Security logging: Security-relevant events such as user logon, or changes to permissions, are logged.

Question 8. How Is User Management Implemented In Sap Enterprise Portal?

Answer :

The portal uses the 'User Management Engine' (UME) which is an integral part of SAP Web Application Server Java. The UME manages user and user-related data (roles, groups) which can be retrieved from an LDAP directory, a SAP Web Application Server Java, a database, or a combination of these. Administration tools allowing you to manage users, groups, and roles are integrated in the portal user administrator role. A configuration tool for configuring the UME is integrated in the portal system administrator role.

In addition, the UME provides many features such as self-registration with approval workflow, notification emails, and so on.

Question 9. How Can I Integrate The User Management Of The Portal With That Of Other Systems?

Answer :

The portal user management is very flexible and allows you to use a variety of repositories for storing and retrieving user data. In particular, it allows you to leverage existing user repositories in your system rather than having to set up a new user repository.

For example, if you are using your portal in a system landscape that includes many non-SAP systems, you can provide a central user base using an LDAP directory and configure the portal to use the LDAP directory as its user repository.

On the other hand, if you are using your portal in a system landscape that consists of SAP systems only, you can set up Central User Administration (CUA) on one of the ABAP-based systems and configure your portal to use the ABAP user management as its user repository.

Question 10. What Are Enterprise Portal Client Framework Levels ?

Answer :

0: No EPCF ServiceThis level generates no JavaScript or Java applet framework functions. Communication between iViews is not possible.

1. JavaScriptThis level generates framework functions for JavaScript.
2. JavaScript and AppletThis level generates framework functions for JavaScript and Java applet.

Question 11. What Are The Features Of Portal Services In The Portal?

Answer :

1. Portal services are way to provide functionality to portal component.
2. Portal services implement no user interface
3. Portal service may be accessed from out side portal framework

Question 12. Why Do We Need Custom Portal Services In The Portal Sap Ep?

Answer :

• Can be used by other Portal Application
• Provide commonly used Functionality
• Can be exposed as webservice

Question 13. Sap Recommends Not To Modify The Sap Code, Then What Are The Process To Customize The Code ?

Answer :

1. Copy the existing file and rename it according to customer name space
2. Create new custom component

Question 14. Where Can I Find More Information About User Management And Security In The Portal?

Answer :

Visit Sap’s security pages in SAP Service Marketplace at service.sap.com/security. You can find the Portal Security Guide with recommendations on how to secure your portal at service.sap.com/securityguide. Documentation on security and user management is available on the Help Portal at help.sap.com/nw04.

Question 15. What Is The Relationship Between Web Dynpro And Sap Enterprise Portal? Are Iviews And Web Dynpro Competing Technologies?

Answer :

Web Dynpro is Sap’s programming model for developing professional and interactive Web user interfaces for business applications.

An iView is a logical portal content module representing a visual application or part of one. One or more iViews are combined on a portal page, which is then assigned to users by the role definition. Web Dynpro UIs are integrated in SAP Enterprise Portal with iViews.

Question 16. Accessing A Portal Component In The Default Mode?

Answer :

doConent ();

Question 17. Extending Class When Developing Your Portal Components?

Answer :

AbstractPortalComponent.

Question 18. Portal Runtime Calls The Methods In The Life Cycle?

Answer :

init (), service (), destroy ()

Question 19. What Are The Parameters That We Have To Pass To Doconent ();?

Answer :

IPortalComponentRequest, IPortalComponentResponse;

Question 20. How Do You Access A Resource From A Request Object?

Answer :

request.getResource ();

Question 21. Personalization Concept What Are The Data Type Attribute Supported?

Answer :

String, Date, Select, Boolean.

Question 22. How Do You U Get The Property From The Iportalcompenentprofile?

Answer :

get Property (String)

Question 23. What Is The Method Has To Be Overridden By The Class That Extends From Pageprocessorcomponent?

Answer :

get Page ();

Question 24. Give The Sequence Of Methods Execution Of Dynpage?

Answer :

1. doInitialization ()
2. doProcessAfterInput()
3. doProcessBeforeOutput()

Question 25. Sequence Of Method Calls When An Event Occurs?

Answer :

1. doProcessAfterInput()
2. On
3. doProcessBeforeOutput()

Question 26. How Do U Get The Getcurrentevent();

Answer :

IPageContext myContext = PageConectFactory.createPageConext(request, responce);

Event = myContext.getCurrentevent();

Question 27. Onclientclick() And Onclick() Are Specified Then Which Method Will Be Called First

Answer :

onClientClick ();

Question 28. What Type Of Approach Jspdynpage Uses?

Answer :

Model View Controller

Question 29. The Two Properties In The Component Profile Indicate That A Jsp Need To Be Compiled Into Portal Component?

Answer :

Property name = “JSP”

Property name = “ComponentType”

Question 30. How Do You Call A Jsp File?

Answer :

setJspName();

Question 31. If Java Script Is Used Which Tag Is Necessary For The Page?

Answer :

Page tag

Question 32. What Is The Scope Of The Bean?

Answer :

Session

Question 33. Give The Objects That Are Extend Forms The Iprincipal?

Answer :

IGroup, IRole, IUser, IUserAccount, IUserMaint.

Question 34. What Is The Central Object From Which All Ume Object Factories Are Obtained?

Answer :

UMFactory

Question 35. How Do U Retrieve Log On Information?

Answer :

umdata.enrich(map);

Question 36. What Is The Return Type Of Map.get (“”);?

Answer :

String

Question 37. How Do U Load The Data In The Client Eventing Across The Iviews?

Answer :

EPCM.loadClientData();

Question 38. What Is The Object Available In The Pages?

Answer :

EPCM

Question 39. What Problems Does Htmlb Overcomes On The Servlets?

Answer :

Visualization and business logic are not separate

Development has to take care of different web clients and versions

NamesSpace conflicts with form elements

Question 40. Stored Data Is Identified By The Key …..?

Answer :

Namespace+name

Question 41. What Are The Frame Work Levels?

Answer :

Level = 0 ….. Not supported by both JavaScript, Java

Level = 1 ----only by browser (java Script)

Level = 2 ----both JavaScript and Java

Question 42. Why Do We Need Custom Portal Services In The Portal?

Answer :

1. Can be used by other Portal Application
2. Provide commonly used Functionality
3. Can be exposed as webservice

Question 43. To Build A New Portal Service Which Interface Must Be Implemented?

Answer :

IService

Question 44. Portal Service Name Is Myservice …what Would Be The Name Of Interface That Extends Iservice?

Answer :

IMyService

Question 45. Connectorframework Is Sap Extended Api From Cci. All Methods In Connector Framework Have Methods With Suffix As Ex ()….

Answer :

False. only some methods

Question 46. What Is The Method Used To Get Connection In The Java Connectors?

Answer :

Service.getConnection();

Question 47. How Do You Get The Locale From The Request Object?

Answer :

Request.getLocale();

Question 48. What Is The Return Type For The Table Type Structure?

Answer :

IRecordSet.

Question 49. Give The Name Of The Method That Returns Resource Bundle For The Current Locale?

Answer :

getResourceBundle()

Question 50. What Is The Data Type That Returns By The Method Getstring (key)?

Answer :

String

Question 51. How Do U Access The Key In The Properties File Xyz = Abc?

Answer :

getString (“xyz”)

Question 52. What Type Of Objects Can Be Translated?

Answer :

Text

Question 53. The Portal Translation Process Is Supported By Tools?

Answer :

Translation worklist coordination

Worklist translation

Question 54. To Customize The Logoff Screen To The Portal Which File Is Used To Change?

Answer :

masthead

Question 55. Sap Recommends Not To Modify The Sap Code, Then What Are The Process To Customize The Code?

Answer :

1. Copy the existing file and rename it according to customer name space
2. Create new custom component

Question 56. How Can We Customize The Company Branding?

Answer :

1. Masthead
2. Through customize application.
3. By having the Logo change.

Question 57. What Are The Components That Are Added To Portal Desktop?

Answer :

• Default Frame work
• Themes

Question 58. What Is The Jsp Name That Contains Log On Page?

Answer :

umLogonPage.jsp

Question 59. Authschemes.xml Is Modified To Get Custom Log On Component?

Answer :

True, Authschemes.xml is modified to get custom log on component.

Question 60. How Do You Access Portal Services From Webdynpro Applications?

Answer :

WDPortalUtils

Question 61. Cached Objects Are Retrieved Using Which Method?

Answer :

get(key)

Question 62. How Can The Portal Service Access To External Web Service?

Answer :

• Generate java proxy out of WSDL file with PDK
• You can execute the java proxy as portal service

Question 63. What Is An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

An external-facing portal is an implementation of the SAP NetWeaver Portal as a public Web site.

An external-facing portal is open to the internet, providing content to anonymous users, internal employees and business partners and enabling users to self-register in order to access additional content and to personalize the portal.

An external-facing portal uses features of the portal that provide Web-like behavior (for example, use of the browser navigation buttons) and reduce the amount of resources required to view portal pages.

Although not always appropriate for certain resource-rich applications, the external-facing portal can boost ROI by using the same platform for the company's internet and intranet implementations.

Question 64. What Version Of Netweaver Do I Need To Implement An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

SAP NetWeaver ’04 SPS 14 or higher, or SAP NetWeaver 2004s SPS 6 or higher.

Question 65. Where Can I Find The Limitations Of Implementing An External-facing Portal Using Sap Netweaver Portal?

Answer :

SAP Note 877188 and SAP Note 853509.

Question 66. Why Shouldn’t I Use The External-facing Portal For Internal Implementations?

Answer :

It is recommended not to use this solution for internal use because some functionality that is commonly used for internal implementations is not supported.

Specifically, session management and WorkProtect mode are not supported as they require the use of the client framework JavaScript. Therefore, some standard SAP content – such as Web Dynpro, SAP business packages and KM (especially collaboration) – that uses these features are also not supported.

In addition, to get the full benefit of the performance improvements in an external-facing portal, the content must be “light” and supported by the light framework page. Content in internal implementations generally does not meet these requirements. For more information on recommended content for an external-facing portal, see the Content section.

Question 67. Should I Use The Provided Light Framework Page For My External-facing Portal Implementations?

Answer :

Your external-facing portal should use the light framework page, but we recommend that you customize or replace the out-of-the-box navigation iViews within the light framework page. You can easily do this with the Navigation and Framework tag libraries.

Question 68. What Content Is Recommended For An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

Content within an external-facing portal must be supported by the light framework page. And in order to get the full performance benefits of an external-facing portal, content should also be “light”.

Question 69. What Content Is Not Supported By The Light Framework Page?

Answer :

The following types of content are not supported:

• Web Dynpro
• SAP business packages
• Collaboration rooms (see below for more information on Knowledge Management)

These applications and business packages make use of the session termination and WorkProtect mode features of the portal, which are not supported in the light framework page.

Question 70. What Content Is Considered “light”?

Answer :

Content that does not use a lot of resources is considered “light”.

The following are guidelines for creating “light” content:

• Use static content as much as possible.
• Avoid HTMLB.
• Avoid client-side eventing (specify in the portalapp.xml an EPCFLevel value of 0 for no eventing).
• Use the navigation tag library for navigation links.
• Use page layouts with custom iView trays. The default iView tray uses HTMLB.
• Do not create Related Links for iViews and pages, as the Related Links iView is considered "heavy" content.
• Make sure that any dynamic navigation iView for your content is also light.
• Avoid the out-of-the box Knowledge Management iViews.
• Avoid using EPCM.doNavigate Links; use ?NavigationTarget= links instead, to avoid loading the EPCM framework.

Question 71. What Content Is Considered “heavy” And Not As Suitable For An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

The following types of content are considered “heavy”:

• HTMLB
• Knowledge Management iViews

Question 72. Can I Still Use Htmlb And Client-side Eventing In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

Yes, however, the portal will not enjoy the performance benefits from the light framework page. The performance impact from HTMLB is much more significant than from client-side eventing.

Question 73. Can I Still Use Knowledge Management (km) In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

Yes, but with the following restrictions:

• KM iViews are considered “heavy” content. Although you can run KM iViews in the light framework page of an external-facing portal, a portal running these iViews does not enjoy the performance benefits of the light framework page.
• Browser functionality (that is, the use of the browser’s navigational buttons, such as Back, Forward and Add to Favorites) is not supported within KM iViews.
• KM content may not be indexed by search engines.
• KM content cannot be accessed via the quick links implementation.

Question 74. Are Collaboration Rooms Supported In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

No.

Question 75. Can I Run .net Iviews In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

Yes, but some HTMLB and other JavaScript files will be loaded automatically, making such iViews not as light.

Question 76. How Is Navigation Different In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

In an external-facing portal, the light framework page displays portal pages in a single frame.

When a user clicks on a navigation link, the following occurs:

• The browser retrieves new content for the entire browser window.
  
  With the standard framework, new content is generally retrieved for the desktop inner page only.
  
  
• The URL for the current page is displayed in the browser address field.
  
  With the standard framework page, the URL for the portal’s home page is generally displayed.

Question 77. How Is The Light Framework Page Assigned To Users?

Answer :

Administrators create desktop rules to assign desktops to different users.

A desktop is a combination of a framework page and a theme. Desktops can be assigned based on such parameters as the user name, the user groups to which the user belongs, the portal alias in the URL, or the bandwidth of the user's connection.

Question 78. Is It Possible To Switch Between The Light And Standard Framework Page While A User Is Logged In (for Example, In Order To Display Static Content In The Light Framework Page And Km Or Web Dynpro Content In The Standard Framework Page)?

Answer :

No.

As display rules are used to provide a user with the relevant desktop when logging on, the user receives a framework page that cannot change until the user logs off. If the user then logs on again, the user could receive a different framework page if a different user name or URL is used.

However, it is possible to provide a light desktop containing the light framework page to all anonymous users and, then, provide the standard framework page when the user logs in.

Question 79. Will The Pages In My External-facing Portal Be Indexed By Internet Search Engines?

Answer :

Yes. Since navigation links in an external-facing portal include a complete URL that uniquely identifies a specific navigation node, search engines will be able to index portal pages.

However, KM content contained within KM iViews is not indexed.

For further information on how to make your portal searchable, refer to the search engines Web master guides.

Question 80. Can I Use Styles That Are Set In The Theme Editor With My Light Navigation Iviews?

Answer :

The default light navigation iViews that come with the portal contain styles that can be customized using the Theme Editor. These styles are listed in the Theme Editor under Light Top-Level Navigation and Light Detailed Navigation.

You can create your own light navigation iViews by copying the default light navigation iViews and making modifications, while keeping the styles already defined in these iViews.In your light navigation iViews, you cannot use styles set in other areas of Theme Editor, nor can you create your own styles and link them to the Theme Editor.

Question 81. Can I Use The Navigation, Framework And Layout Tag Libraries To Create Navigation Iviews And Custom Layouts For The Standard Framework Page?

Answer :

Yes.

Question 82. How Is User Management Configured In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

User management is configured just as in a standard portal implementation, except that anonymous users are given access to content.

In an external-facing portal, administrators must do the following:

• Enable anonymous users by opening the portal to the internet and configuring the portal to accept anonymous users. Anonymous users can access the portal with the by default, anonymous users are given access to the portal.
• Map anonymous users to a specific user defined in the portal Guest is the default anonymous user, and this user is part of the Everyone, Anonymous Users and Guests groups.
• Assign content to this user, or to the Anonymous Users group.
• Map registered users to groups. By default, self-registered users are assigned to the Everyone group. You can configure the system to assign registered users to one or more specific groups.
• Assign content to the groups to which self-registered are assigned.

Question 83. How Is Performance Improved In An External-facing Portal?

Answer :

An external-facing portal makes use of the light framework page, which displays portal content in a single frame. This framework page includes navigation iViews that do not use HTMLB or client-side eventing, eliminating the need to download relatively large resource files.

The following portal features were developed to improve the performance of an external-facing portal but can be used in any portal implementation:

• Navigation Cache: The portal can cache navigation hierarchies and nodes. For a user with the same navigation hierarchy as a previous user, the portal can retrieve the hierarchy from the cache instead of creating it again. This saves time and improves performance.
• Short (hashed) URLs: In navigation links, navigation nodes are specified by short GUIDs instead of the entire navigation path, which can be very long.
• Resource-Sensitive Page Builder: The page builder only downloads the JavaScript that is required by the current page or iView.

Question 84. I Have Implemented An External-facing Portal, But My Performance Is Not Much Better Than When I Used The Standard Framework Page. How Come?

Answer :

The performance gains in an external-facing portal are due to reducing the resources required by the framework page and navigation iViews inside the framework page.

However, performance is also dependent on the iViews that are run in an external-facing portal and the resources they require. If resource-intensive (“heavy”) applications are run in an external facing portal, the performance gains may not be as noticeable.

In addition, the Related Links navigation iView uses HTMLB and client-side eventing, so any page with a Related Links iView will not be "light".

Question 85. Can I Use The Features Of An External-facing Portal To Improve Performance In My Internal Portal?

Answer :

The performance gains from the use of the navigation cache, short URLs and resource-sensitive page builder can be used in any portal implementation.

The light framework page is designed for use in an external-facing portal.

Question 86. What Functionality Do I Lose As A Result Of The Performance Improvements?

Answer :

The light framework page does not support the WorkProtect mode and session termination features.

Therefore, applications that require these features – including Web Dynpro applications – may not operate properly in an external-facing portal.