The future of SAP Archiving - Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS)

What is CMIS? Definition and background

Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) was developed to solve the challenges of interoperability in document management. The standard defines a common API that makes it possible to connect different content management systems together. This promotes data exchange between different platforms.

CMIS was launched by OASIS in 2008 and has since found widespread acceptance, particularly among large companies and software providers. The background of CMIS lies in the need to allow content systems to communicate with each other more efficiently. Traditionally, these systems were often isolated. With the introduction of CMIS, the content management landscape has changed by overcoming system boundaries and facilitating integration.

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How does CMIS work? Technical principles and protocols

CMIS provides a unified API that facilitates communication between different content management systems. The standard uses both SOAP and REST as communication protocols to ensure maximum flexibility. These logs provide access to documents, metadata, and other content.

The technical basis of CMIS comprises several core components. First, CMIS provides a cross-domain data model. Second, there are a number of content management services. Finally, CMIS specifies two bindings:

• AtomPub binding for RESTful integration
• SOAP binding for web services
• JSON support for specific implementations

Through these principles, CMIS can significantly improve the interoperability of different systems. Developers can focus on functional logic instead of struggling with the idiosyncrasies of different platforms. Standardizing these aspects also makes it easier to migrate and scale content.

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Benefits of CMIS integration with SAP and other systems

Integrating CMIS with SAP offers companies significant benefits. CMIS enables access to SAP documents and data through a uniform interface. This simplifies business processes by smoothly transferring information between SAP and other platforms.

CMIS interface benefits include:

• Seamless connection of SAP documents with other applications
• Reduced reliance on proprietary interfaces
• Efficient access to business-relevant information

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CMIS Implementation Challenges and Best Practices

CMIS can be complex to implement. Companies often face technical challenges, particularly when integrating into existing systems. Careful planning and comprehensive analysis of the IT infrastructure are essential to overcome these hurdles.

Best practices for successful CMIS implementation include:

• Thorough evaluation of existing systems
• Training employees in how to use CMIS
• Ensuring compliance between CMIS and business requirements

By following these principles, CMIS can be effectively integrated into business processes. The result is optimized document management and increased efficiency in the organization.

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CMIS at kgs

With Apache Chemistry, a CMIS library can be used to implement a client application or a CMIS server. kgs has developed tia® CMIS based on the “Java OpenCMIS” library:

CMIS for Java (OpenCMIS) is an API (=programming interface) that can be used based on various protocols (=bindings), such as browsers, Atompub, web services (SOAP). kgs has implemented the “browser binding” so far.

In August 2022, the tia® CMIS interface was the first on the market to be officially certified by SAP.

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