Unicode in SAP Systems

Nils Burckel studied physics at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, and joined SAP AG in January 1999 in the technical-consulting department. By the time his trainee program ended, his focus was already on the area of globalization. He has provided technical support for many large customers while they were integrating new countries, giving him a great deal of relevant customer experience.In 2002, he moved to SAP Globalization Services. That was just as Unicode was delivered for the first time by SAP. Nils was a member of the Unicode Task Force convened to support the introduction of Unicode. Unicode has become established, but the conversion of complex system environments is still full of challenges. For this reason, Nils leads consultant and customer training and workshops and helps customers with Unicode conversion projects. He also works in the back office for Unicode consultation within SAP. After his studies in electrical engineering and completion of an engineering doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, Alexander Davidenkoff joined SAP AG at the end of 1992. He started in R/3 basis support and technical consulting and soon concentrated on international topics such as language and code-page technologies in SAP products. He began collaboration with the national organizations in Eastern Europe and Russia, supported colleagues, customers, and partners in numerous activities and projects, and contributed significantly to the improvement of language support in SAP R/3. Since the late 1990s, he has been working closely with the countries in the Asia Pacific region.In 1996, Alexander moved to International Development/Globalization Services at SAP, where he is responsible for project management of country versions, as well as globalization, localization, and translation issues. He now works in SAP Globalization Services as a solution manager for the Unicode rollout, global solutions, time zones, global integrated solutions using SAP NetWeaver, the architecture of complex system environments, and related topics. He also supports, advises, and trains numerous colleagues, clients, and partners in many countries. Dr. Detlef Werner earned his doctorate in 1989 from the University of Hamburg, Germany, as a chemist, where his work included computer-supported analytics. After an international career at medium-sized companies, Detlef joined SAP AG in 1998, working first on construction and conversion of the Internet Business Framework. Other work areas at SAP have included global partner management, the design of marketplaces for customers and partners, and support for customers on issues involving international implementation of business processes and related IT structures.Detlef is currently working as a Solution Manager in SAP Globalization Services, where the introduction of Unicode in SAP has been a core topic for many years. Since 2003, he has taught at the International University of Bruchsal, Germany, as a Visiting Professor for international management and e-business.

1. Introduction ... 13 ... 1.1 Globalization and Localization ... 13 ... 1.2 Language Support in IT Systems ... 16 ... 1.3 Unicode ... 19 ... 1.4 Summary ... 25 2. Language Support in SAP Systems ... 27 ... 2.1 From Single Code Page Systems to Unicode ... 27 ... 2.2 Combination of Languages in a System ... 36 ... 2.3 Unicode in the SAP System ... 48 ... 2.4 Transition to SAP NetWeaver and Enterprise SOA with Unicode ... 52 ... 2.5 Summary ... 55 3. Implementing Unicode in SAP Applications ... 57 ... 3.1 Unicode Architecture ... 57 ... 3.2 Unicode Conversion ... 60 ... 3.3 Upgrades and Unicode Conversion ... 109 ... 3.4 ABAP and Unicode ... 128 ... 3.5 Communication and Interfaces ... 154 ... 3.6 Expansion into New Countries with Unicode ... 217 ... 3.7 Summary ... 228 4. Guidelines for Unicode Projects ... 233 ... 4.1 New Installation ... 233 ... 4.2 Unicode Conversion ... 234 ... 4.3 Release Changes and Unicode Conversion ... 248 ... 4.4 System Consolidation ... 251 ... 4.5 Summary ... 252 5. Languages and Translation ... 253 ... 5.1 Language and Translation Management ... 254 ... 5.2 Customer-Specific Translations ... 257 ... 5.3 Summary ... 273 6. Summary ... 275 A. Code Page Tables ... 279 B. Languages in an SAP Unicode System ... 287 C. Literature References and Other Support ... 299 D. Glossary ... 305 E. The Authors ... 311 Index ... 313