How to Contribute

With over 2 million members, SAP Community Network offers you an opportunity to grow your knowledge around SAP products and services and participate in the community by sharing your expertise. SAP knows the value of contributing regularly and encourages you - the contributor - to stay active by developing skills through regular blog, forum and wiki posts that not only help fellow members but help you build your reputation.

Still don't see how it can help you? Take a look at what other active SCN members have to say about how being an active contributor enhanced each of their careers:

"The SCN community is a great place to learn, share, and network. You can ask questions in the forums, you can answer them too - to help others who may experience the same challenges you have faced. You can build a virtual network of people with the same interests. SCN is a fabulous network of spirited individuals whose passion goes beyond any specific geography or technology." -Susan R. Keohan, SAP Workflow Specialist, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and SAP Mentor since 2007

 "I received an offer from SAP Press by email to author a book on SAP MII... Initially I thought it was someone playing a prank on me. The editor of SAP Press was following my blogs and articles, and felt that I could write a whole book on the same topic. This was beyond my imagination." -Dipankar Saha, Senior System Analyst, IBM India Pvt. Ltd.

The SCN Recognition Program is designed to reward you for your contributions to the community. See what's in it for you.

When you contribute to SCN, you not only gain knowledge and a sense of community, you earn points and build your reputation at the same time. Therefore, It's important to identify yourself by your real full name on SCN. This way you establish trust among your online peers. Don't be shy; the Community understands if you are a beginner, as long as you respect the rules established by the community.

There are different ways to contribute regularly including forums, blogs, wiki and articles.

Take a look below at the various ways you can contribute and get started!

In the forums, you can ask and answer questions, make comments, and read questions and answers from fellow SAP developers and business process experts "in the trenches." To contribute a question or a comment to a forum, simply go to the forums and start posting. (Note: Posting requires registration. If you are not registered yet, sign up here.)

See Rules of Engagement to get started, and read this blog for tips on how to ask the right questions to get good answers.

To become a blogger, you first create your blogger profile. To do so, go to the Create/Update Author page, fill in the form and submit it. You will be given blogging status, and will receive an email explaining the process. Once you have published a few blogs and gained experience with the online tools, you can become an expert blogger.
It is recommended to promote your blog posts on sites such as Twitter, Facebook or your own web site. It helps you reach a broader audience and promote your contributions on SCN.

You might wonder what the difference is between a blog and wiki. Here's a good guide to follow: If the content will be updated, enhanced, or changed in the future, if the content provides simple (or even not so simple) instructions for doing something, then the wiki is the place to be. If you are sharing personal experience and insights - including your theories, strategies or thoughts - then the blog area is the right place. Read also David Branan's blog about the difference between a blog and a wiki: St. David Slays the Wiki-Weblog Dragon.

The wiki is designed to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing across multiple groups. You can browse, add, and change pages, or even rearrange, reorganize, and restructure entire sections of content. The ideal wiki content is information that can be extended or enhanced, or is subject to frequent changes. An extensive editor community already uses the wiki to edit content or collaborate on new ideas or projects.

For more information on the wiki, please see the Wiki FAQ and Getting Started with Wikis.

For a quick overview of how to submit content using the Content Submission System, see the How to Contribute tutorial.

For the SAP Developer Network (SDN) category, content includes everything from brief articles that explain how to use certain features of the APIs, to in depth how-to documents and case studies. We also like annotated code samples that show interesting techniques, and narratives detailing how a technical problem or implementation issue was resolved.

For the Business Process Expert (BPX) Community category, content includes everything from case studies that describe how you or your company solved a particular business problem at the business process level, to brief articles that explain how to work with BPX tools, to whitepapers addressing how best to use SAP solutions for industry-specific scenarios.

For the University Alliance Community (UAC) category, content includes any classroom related content that may be used by other educators including case studies, exercises, presentation materials, recorded demos or podcasts, best practices and so on.

To contribute an article, whitepaper, or tutorial:


• Write your article using the SCN article template. 

• Save your completed file as a Microsoft Word file (.doc).

• Submit the file to the Content Submission System (site registration required).

To contribute rich media, such as a streaming videos and presentations, developer spotlights, video blogs, recorded web conferences, or podcasts, check the eLearning Submission Guidelines to learn about accepted file formats, then submit the file to the Content Submission System (site registration required).

Now you see the value in regular contributions, but where do you start? Get a sense for the community that best suits your professional needs. You can choose SDN, BPX, BOC and/or UAC. Check out the descriptions below, then get started!

 SAP DEVELOPER NETWORK (SDN)
Whatever your development expertise, you'll find a home for it on SDN. We're interested in topics related to SAP NetWeaver and its components and general technology as it relates to SAP, including Java, Web services, open source platforms, and scripting languages. We focus on the most obvious to the most abstract aspects of technologies surrounding SAP. With the help of the community we continue to expand and explore every area. Learn more on Getting Started: SDN.

 BUSINESS PROCESS EXPERT COMMUNITY (BPX)
We're interested in topics related to the tasks of a business process expert, such as modeling, process architecture and design, process-driven project management, BPM methodology, end-to-end process descriptions, and industry-specific process improvement scenarios. In addition, we welcome content describing sustainability, governance, analytics, and customer relationship management. Case studies outlining how you or your company tackled and solved a business challenge are also welcome. Learn more on Getting Started: BPX.

 BUSINESS ANALYTICS COMMUNITY

The business analytics community helps members gain accurate business insight quicker through exclusive expert content, peer-to-peer collaboration and best practice sharing. Members are looking for information on business intelligence (BI) client solutions, including Crystal Reports Design, Dashboard Design (formerly Xcelsius), SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, and Interactive Analysis tools. Share your blogs, sample reports and dashboards, best practices articles, and participate in forums and wikis. Learn more on Getting Started with the Business Analytics Community.

 UNIVERSITY ALLIANCES COMMUNITY (UAC)
The University Alliances Community (UAC) is seeking to build a repository of faculty-developed classroom materials that will help educators from around the world incorporate SAP concepts and ERP technology successfully into their classes, as well as best practices and related research. Some examples include: student case studies, hands-on exercises, classroom presentation, a recorded demo or lecture and answers to curriculum-related questions. Faculty are invited to take an active role in contributing to our forums, wiki and blogs. Learn more on Getting Started: UAC.