Plaça de Sant Jaume, Barcelona

I drew this based on a photograph that my wife took while at Barcelona a few years back. The picture was taken with a wide angle lens. That is why the columns in the buildings are not perpendicular. However, the buildings are beautiful and the pattern on the ground is very interesting too. I like drawing the people walking around and the minute details like their bags, their clothes and their shoes. Those details, while may not be noticed, improve the quality of the sketch.

I will finish this sketch in the coming days and post an updated version. I might even post multiple work-in-progress sketches to show how it progressed. Since I do not have very long blocks of time like before to sketch, I sketch in multiple time slots. 

The English name of this place is St James Square. This is the finished sketch with the details added and textures completed.

After I shared this a friend of mine asked me to add some color. I usually do not add color to my sketches. But this time I gave it a try. Used the air brush tool and then used the eraser to remove some of the color. I love the way the sky turned out. 

Ariba Deployment Models

SuccessFactors has Full Cloud HCM and Talent Hybrid deployment models for its solutions. When I mentioned this to the Ariba integration product management team, they pointed out to me that they too have
two main deployment models for the solutions Ariba provides. I think of the first deployment model as the Full Cloud Procurement deployment model, even though the Ariba team does not explicitly call it that. At least not yet.

My colleagues pointed out to me that the second deployment model is were customers run part of their procurement process in the cloud with Ariba and part of the process on-premise.

You may or may not have heard the term 'Hybrid Procurement' in the official Ariba material. However, think about this model as Hybrid Procurement.

There are two main scenarios in the Hybrid procurement model. The first scenario is where customers find the things they want to buy using Ariba, but order and pay using on-premise software.

In the second hybrid procurement scenario, customers find and order things in the cloud using Ariba software but pay using on-premise software.

My product management colleagues were quick to point out that while these are the main scenarios, theoretically there could be more combinations. I have decided to stick with these two scenarios for the sake of my own understanding and for the sake of simplicity.

If you are an Ariba expert, please let me know what you think.

Bags On A Hook

Ariba Solutions Overview

On of the perks you get working at SAP is the opportunity to learn from many experienced colleagues in areas that are new to you. Today I was talking to my Ariba colleague John Lark and he explained the Ariba Cloud solutions to me. Based on his inputs, I assembled this diagram from existing Ariba material.

Ariba cloud solutions are the Ariba Network and Ariba applications. The Ariba Network connects buyers and sellers. Ariba applications help buyers and sellers become more efficient across their buying, selling, and cash management processes.

Like SuccessFactors Full Cloud solutions and Talent Hybrid solutions, Ariba Cloud solutions also have Full Cloud Procurement solutions and Hybrid Procurement solutions. I will share more about these deployment models later.

Budapest Castle Hill

When I was designing SAP Career OnDemand, part of the development team was in Budapest. I stayed near the Castle Hill for a while. I was fascinated by this arch overlooking the Danube river.