Integration of EDI with a SAP system is often seen as a costly exercise, especially after the huge investment already made in SAP. The integration of EDI often comes as an afterthought and is consequently implemented in a loosely coupled environment. With the Data Interchange SAP module, tight integration of EDI is provided at a fraction of the cost typically associated with a SAP / EDI integration.
The SAP Module allows integration with your SAP system with minimum fuss and builds on the excellent workflow capabilities of ODEX Enterprise and EPIC. It is a highly cost-effective solution to SAP integration and a great alternative to many of the over-the-top solutions available elsewhere.
The SAP Module is an ‘out-of-the-box’ EDI solution which is extremely easy to use and configure with a simple GUI interface. It has integrated workflow jobs which directly interact with SAP.
SAP Remote Function Calls
The SAP Remote Function Call (RFC) is the standard SAP interface for communication between a SAP system and a non-SAP system. It is also used for communication between different SAP systems and (less often) within the same SAP system.
SAP functionality available in ODEX Enterprise and EPIC
There are two methods available to connect to SAP and the Data Interchange SAP Integration Module:
- Startrfc
Startrfc is a generic program supplied by SAP. It is a line interface to SAP which allows you to start any SAP function module, either built-in or user-created, that is RFC-enabled. Startrfc is used to trigger the SAP system from the EDI subsystem i.e. ODEX or EPIC. Typically files are placed in a directory and SAP is triggered, taking your inbound file and creating an IDoc in the SAP database. Status messages are passed back to SAP to ensure that an interested SAP system user has full visibility of how any given message, imported or exported, has progressed. Startrfc is fully configurable within the Data Interchange SAP Module, allowing parameters to be entered into the GUI as well as providing an alternative command line interface.
- Transactional RFC (tRFC)
ODEX Enterprise and EPIC allow you to directly send or receive data with SAP. Transactional RFC ensures ‘transaction-like’ processing of processing steps that were originally autonomous. Data can be transferred, reliably and safely, directly between two systems supporting tRFC. tRFC is asynchronous and ensures that data that is sent more than once, due to network problems for instance, can be recognized at the server side, by assigning a Transaction Identifier (TID). This allows you to prevent data being processed more than once, leading to erroneous information in the application. Due to the asynchronous processing, however, parameters can only be transferred from the client to the server in this case. ODEX Enterprise and EPIC provide comprehensive support for the tRFC interface. The options for tRFC include the capability both to send and receive files from SAP. ODEX Enterprise and EPIC can act as both a client and a server for a SAP tRFC connection.
Other configurable details in the SAP Module
The SAP Module also has options where you can provide configuration details and indicate how IDocs and status records will be exported to your SAP system.
Configurable parameters include:
- IDoc directory. The directory in which the IDocs will be placed for exporting to the SAP system.
- Status records directory. The directory in which the status records will be placed for exporting to the SAP system.
- Number of IDocs to accumulate before exporting. This field allows you to specify how many IDocs you want to accumulate before exporting them. This is simply a way to make the exporting of IDocs as efficient as possible, by sending several at once.
- Status records This section allows you to choose which types of status records are to be transmitted to the SAP system. By default, all are selected. You may deselect any that are not required by your SAP system.
Workflow options
The SAP Module enables the following workflow jobs within ODEX Enterprise and EPIC:
- SAP (Associate) which associates a file typically arriving in a monitored directory with a previously defined SAP system. This causes status records to be exported to SAP as the file is constructed and transmitted.
- SAP (Export) which Queues an IDoc file to be exported to SAP.
Translation and Mapping
As SAP deals with IDocs rather than EDI data formats such as EDIFACT, ANSI X12 and TRADACOMS, workflows will also invoke maps created with our powerful any-to-any mapper XLATE Evolution, that can map any file format into any other file format.
SAP Module configuration GUI
Below is a screenshot showing the various menu items available, some of which have been mentioned above.
