In an era where enterprise integration capabilities can define competitive advantage, the National Bank of Canada took a methodical approach to implementing SAP Integration Suite. The financial institution needed to unify a complex network of SAP systems — approximately 100 APIs exposed, around 150 external APIs consumed, and an expanding ecosystem to manage.
ASUG recently sat down with Sai Krishna Kalivarapu, SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) Integration Dev Manager and Architect, to discuss how the organization executed a carefully orchestrated transition that balances immediate business requirements with long-term strategic objectives.
The Need for a Robust Integration Platform
National Bank of Canada’s SAP ecosystem encompasses an array of solutions, including SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and SAP BW/4HANA for mortgage and credit card origination and servicing, SAP S/4HANA Finance for general ledger and Financial Products Subledger (FPSL) processes, SAP Ariba for procurement, and more recently, SAP Datasphere. Its ecosystem called for an integration initiative that could bridge SAP and non-SAP systems while providing the agility to support future digital initiatives.
Building a business case for SAP Integration Suite came naturally, considering this intricate environment. With 400 existing interfaces in its SAP API on-premise solution, the National Bank of Canada recognized SAP Integration Suite as their future integration platform. Together, its initial business-to-business (B2B) integration requirement, API management needs, and long-term process integration (PI) migration strategy created a compelling case for implementation.
The bank’s journey with SAP Integration Suite kicked off in January of 2022. Rather than defaulting to traditional solutions like SAP PI with a dedicated application server, Kalivarapu’s team saw an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive integration strategy.
“We had a couple of options where we could use SAP PI with a specific application server, but we wanted to use a new technology that would be easier to integrate,” Kalivarapu said. After evaluating several options, SAP Integration Suite emerged as the clear choice for its development capabilities. “We chose SAP Integration Suite because of its flexibility,” added Kalivarapu. “When we started looking into it, it was easy to develop. It’s a no-code, low-code solution.”
B2B integration was just the beginning. “We have some OData APIs in SAP that we want to expose,” he said. “We want to expose them to the external teams via the API layer of SAP BTP. That was another driver for using the API management component.”
The team took a measured approach to implementation. While they were certain SAP Integration Suite would become their primary integration platform, they started with specific use cases to prove its value. “We are aware that SAP Integration Suite is the future solution for SAP API,” said Kalivarapu. “We wanted to start small, knowing that in the long run, we’re going to use it more and more.”
Implementing SAP Integration Suite: Challenges and Successes
Getting different systems to talk to each other is never simple. To address this challenge, National Bank of Canada carefully crafted integration architecture that leverages multiple protocols and adapters.
The team deployed proxy and SOAP technologies for SAP system integration, although not without hurdles. “It’s easier to do it with the proxy, but proxy currently has some limitations," explained Kalivarapu. "Fault message types cannot be handled. That’s why we went with the SOAP protocol.”
The integration landscape has evolved to encompass multiple communication protocols. For non-SAP systems, the National Bank of Canada uses HTTP as its API adapter and HTTP protocol for any kind of API. The bank also employs SOAP adapters with SAML signatures for secure external communications.
The implementation of event-driven architecture was another sophisticated aspect of its strategy. “We have Kafka communication in the bank, using Kafka as an event platform from Confluent cloud,” said Kalivarapu. “We use a Kafka adapter for SAP Integration Suite to communicate with the external systems.” Additionally, the bank leverages AMQP adapters for advanced event mesh communication.
While some organizations might have turned to external integrators, the National Bank of Canada chose a different path, opting to handle all integration work in-house, a choice that demanded significant investment in its team’s capabilities.
The team knew SAP PI and Java inside and out, but SAP Integration Suite required learning JavaScript and the Apache Groovy script. The team invested heavily in upskilling, ensuring developers could handle both traditional Java modules and SAP Integration Suite’s script-based development. Initially, this all-internal development strategy meant longer ramp-up times, but it created a more sustainable, self-sufficient integration practice.
The bank’s strategy for cloud integration is rooted in leveraging SAP Integration Suite’s capabilities. The organizational implementation of SAP Ariba exemplifies this, utilizing integration content from SAP Discovery Center. “We’re using out-of-the-box content for the Ariba integration toolkit,” Kalivarapu noted. “It’s a cloud solution that’s really easy. We implemented it in a couple of weeks.”
By leveraging pre-built integration content, the team reduced development time compared to custom-built integrations. This success with standard content influenced their broader integration strategy, encouraging the use of pre-built solutions where available while maintaining the flexibility to develop custom integrations when necessary.
The path to transformation wasn’t without its obstacles. One early challenge involved transitioning from separate cloud integration and API management services to the unified SAP Integration Suite platform.
“We needed to migrate all content into SAP Integration Suite,” said Kalivarapu. “It wasn’t a new development; it was migrating existing tenants to new tenants.” The consolidation required careful planning to maintain system integrity and service continuity and extended beyond simple content migration.
PI interface migration brought its own complexities. “Sometimes everything is easy, but sometimes you have a function library, you have a Java module... we needed to redesign and rethink things,” said Kalivarapu. The PI migration tools weren’t always sufficient at the outset, requiring the team to perform code fixes and architectural redesigns.
Infrastructure sizing and performance optimization emerged as critical considerations. “Initially, SAP Integration Suite comes with specific infrastructure components—specific memory allocation, database connections, and all the features from an infrastructure perspective,” Kalivarapu notes. The team encountered specific challenges with memory exhaustion, database connections, and file issues that required careful attention.
Working closely with SAP, the team conducted comprehensive tests to determine optimal tenant configurations. “We have to do performance testing before we go to production to make sure we’ve sized the integration tenant correctly,” said Kalivarapu.
While not yet leveraging the full API documentation features of Integration Suite, the bank has innovated its technical documentation processes. The team's current focus on business process model and notation (BPMN)-based documentation has proven effective for internal knowledge sharing and process visualization.
“Whenever we develop anything in cloud integration, it automatically generates a BPMN standard model,” explained Kalivarapu. “That modeling notation can be easily exported and shared across the team.”
Lessons Learned and Future Outlook
For organizations considering their own SAP Integration Suite implementation, Kalivarapu offered pragmatic advice: “As soon as you have one SAP system with a non-SAP system, SAP Integration Suite is the solution.” However, he emphasized that success requires more than just technical implementation.
His team’s development strategy emphasizes reusability and efficiency. “I recommend having common, general scripts,” he said, suggesting organizations build a framework of reusable scripts that can be leveraged across multiple integration scenarios.
Meanwhile, instead of just moving old processes to a new system, the team rebuilt them from scratch. It made all the difference. “It’s not just a migration,” said Kalivarapu. “We did a lot of redesign from the architecture perspective.”
While the National Bank of Canada’s current standard account limits access to some of SAP Integration Suite’s newest capabilities, such as its AI features, the foundation has been laid for continued innovation. The bank’s roadmap includes several key focus areas, including the anticipated IBM MQ adapter planned for 2025.
The bank’s measured yet forward-thinking approach offers a blueprint for organizations balancing immediate operational needs with long-term digital transformation goals. Finally, the National Bank of Canada makes one thing clear: more than just good developers are needed. A plan, patience, and team members who are willing to learn new skills are essential for continued success.