Why Extend Data from SAP to MS Office Application
Despite large investments in SAP, most business users continue to be frustrated with it because data from SAP is not easily accessible in their favorite desktop productivity tools -- Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word.Since Microsoft Office Applications are not connected to SAP, users are forced to

• Use error-prone cut-copy-paste to populate their Excel spreadsheets.
• Switch screens from Outlook to gather data and take decisions as they respond to e-mails.
• Manually update data from Excel Spreadsheets to enterprise applications.

There are several business processes that are deployed using Microsoft Office Applications,  but its disconnect from SAP and other enterprise data stores causes real worry for process auditors and regulators since there is little control on how data comes into MS Office documents and how it gets updated. The information supply chain feeding into MS Office documents remains ad hoc and without any centralized IT control, carrying with it the following operational risks:

• Risks with data-integrity due to the required manual steps of data collection.
• Risks of taking sub-optimal decisions by using stale data in the frozen MS Office Documents.
• IT can not guarantee data freshness and consistency once the data reaches the MS Office documents.

Benefits of Extending Data from SAP to Microsoft® Office Applications
Extensio extends data from SAP to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word using a SOA based Information Delivery Server and Microsoft Office Add-ins, and provides the following benefits:

• Eliminates cut-and-paste based data collecting mechanism from SAP to Microsoft Excel.
• Enables users to get real-time data from SAP within Excel with a single-click Refresh.
• Enables users to query and update SAP transactions from within Outlook screens.
• Allows the users to update SAP from within Excel, Outlook and Word.
• Avoids any data-integrity issues with copying and reduces compliance issues.

With Extensio, business users get data from SAP on their favorite desktop interfaces and save time, decrease operational risks, and improve data accountability. Further, it works with Microsoft Office 2000+ onwards, and requires no upgrades!

Additionally, with its SOA based architecture, customers can connect MS Office interfaces with not only SAP, but also with other data sources such as CRM, databases, flat files, HTTP sources and XML sources.

Who Benefits from the Extensio Desktop Connectivity Solution for SAP-MS Office users
Extensio bridges the gap between SAP and MS Office Applications, and provides the best of the two worlds to business users.The users that can leverage the Extensio Extender for SAP-Microsoft Office include:

• Production and Logistics Managers who want to create Excel reports from latest SAP data.
• Managers who want to track projects and status automatically as they receive status e-mails.
• Analysts who want to combine data from SAP and other enterprise data stores for budgeting purposes.

Key Components of the Extensio Desktop Connectivity Solution for SAP-MS Office users
The Extensio Desktop Connectivity Solution for SAP-MS Office users is a bundle of Extensio software components, namely:

1. Extensio Information Delivery Server: The SOA based server that serves data from SAP and other information sources as information services.
2. Extensio SAP Adapter: The Java based Connector that connects to SAP and delivers data from and into SAP.
3. Extensio Extender for Microsoft Excel: An Excel Add-in that provides data from SAP into Excel.
4. Extensio Extender for Microsoft Outlook: An Outlook Add-in that provides data from SAP into Outlook.
5. Extensio Extender for Microsoft Desktop: A Microsoft Desktop Application that provides data from SAP in to all Office documents.

Customers can also buy additional adapters for other information sources within their enterprise, and extend the benefits of desktop connectivity to all data sources.

Deploying Extensio Desktop Connectivity Solution for SAP-MS Office users
Customer's IT department uses the SOA-based Extensio Information Delivery Platform and its browser-based Extensio Studio to build information services that connect the Extensio Information Server to the SAP application, extract appropriate data, assemble them and deliver them on MS OFfice interfaces as per the user requirements.

Once Extensio Information Services have been built for Microsoft Office interfaces, the same information can be directly delivered on multiple user channels such as Desktop Gadgets, Web Widgets, Web Services, Partner Applications, and Mobile devices.