Easy Reporter now allows integration to SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI)
Easy Reporter now allows integration to SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI) https://spinifexit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2023-Easy-Reporter-CPI-blog-featured-image-1024x683.jpg 1024 683 SpinifexIT SpinifexIT https://spinifexit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2023-Easy-Reporter-CPI-blog-featured-image-1024x683.jpgEasy Reporter now allows integration to SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI)
Whilst Easy Reporter may be considered a great Reporting Solution that is used by many of the largest companies around the world, it is also used by most of these companies to create interfaces into many other systems.
These systems could be internal or external systems, including Bank Files, Business Intelligence or many other environments.
All of this can be built using simple Drag and Drop Functionality without the need of creating custom code or manual manipulation of data.
We live in a complex world
As security increases across many of the environments that we are interfacing to, it is becoming more complex to connect and transmit data between systems (Including 3rd parties). In many cases, the customer has restricted the ability to send external files or emails via any other method than SAP CPI.
The most common approach suggested by SAP, is to use the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) solution Cloud Platform Integration (CPI). The SAP CPI solution allows for secure connections to be made between a SAP System and a 3rd party solution. Through this you can build complex connections in an iFlow.
Some examples of this could include:
- A customer needing to pass data to a Business intelligence System
- The need to transmit an interface to a vendor.
- The need to push data onto a Secure FTP server, that can then be accessed externally.
There are many cases, but the challenge with many of these is getting the data you require and in the format you need to send to the external systems.
Most customers already have SAP Cloud Platform Integration in their landscape, so it makes logical sense to use this where possible.
Easy Reporter – A new Integration via SAP Cloud Platform Integration
In order to align to this recommended approach that many customers are using, SpinifexIT has recently built an integration to SAP Cloud Integration.
This new integration allows an Easy Reporter output file to be sent to a CPI iFlow, which can then handle the connection to any 3rd party application (Whether this is a SFTP server, a BI solution or any 3rd party solution requiring complex integration).
Since we are also using CPI, it also allows for further steps to be built into the process, including file encryption.
For example: The following is a very simple iFlow for writing to a Secure FTP (SFTP) system. This could however be much more complex with decisions, branches, encryption etc. Of course, for many scenarios, the iFlow can be quite simple when called from Easy Reporter, because the transmission file can be completely built within Easy Reporter and the iFlow is just used to perform the transmission.

How does this work?
- Step 1: Create a CPI iFlow for the transmission.
The iFlow will accept a file as part of the body of the iFlow. The iFlow will depend upon the customers requirements but might encrypt the file, connect to the 3rd party and transmit the file. If there are any controlling parameters required (Such as a password for the encryption, or a file location), these can be setup as Parameters to the iFlow.
- Step 2A: Build an Easy Reporter Report to read the HXM data.
For example: A Benefits interface will be required to read the Payroll Results and the Benefit infotypes from SAP.
- Step 2B: As part of the Report built above, the report will be set to create an output file.
This can be of different formats such as simple Tab delimited files, to complex interface files with headers/footers, to XML files.
- Step 2C: Rather than selecting the file in Step 2b to be sent via Email or save to a local file, instead select to send to the CPI solution.
Here, we would select the iFlow to pass this to, and enter any parameters needed to control this (These are optional).
The following is an example of how we would send a file to the iFlow to store onto a SFTP server. We simply select the iFlow, give it a filename, and add any parameters required to control this.

Execution of the Report and Sending to CPI
The report can then be executed as a normal Easy Reporter report. This will read the data requested, and build the required output file. Then Easy Reporter will automatically:
- Connect to the CPI solution - this uses an oAuth authentication to establish a secure connection
- Pass the file to the selected iFlow
The CPI iFlow will then take over and depending upon what is in the iFlow, will process the file and if needed move it to the remote environment.
Why this is important?
As we live in a more and more connected world, this interface allows the customers a simple method to get access to their complex HXM data (Including SuccessFactors if using the Easy Reporter SuccessFactors Connector), and to easily create the data required to be sent to 3rd parties.
But by using CPI, we can ensure a secure connection between the customer and 3rd parties.
By using Easy Reporter, these transmissions can be automatically scheduled in SAP to occur on a regular bases, can be run manually, or can be even included as part of a Payroll Control Center execution.
All of this without any technical knowledge on the SAP HXM side.
Future Enhancements
This solution is built into the core Easy Reporter solution, and as such will be included in future enhancements. As part of the SpinifexIT future roadmap, all transmitted files will be tracked via our new Easy Reporter Web front end. The plans are to allow the customer a simple way to see the reports that have been run, the transmission files created and for CPI iFlows, we would be looking to include the current Status of the transmission and ability to see any logs from this – All directly from the Easy Reporter Web front end.
Availability of this solution
This solution will be made available to customers later this year as part of Easy Reporter. There will be a small additional uplift in the cost for this feature.

Darren Souter
SpinifexIT Co-Founder and Easy Suite Product Chief Technology Officer
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