SAP-BODS integration using IDOCS

SAP-BODS integration using IDOCS

1.Introduction:  

Imagine you want to build a Reporting Solution, not a Data Warehouse in pure terms. So somebody opens the balance sheet report and does not like the way it looks. So a booking in SAP is created to correct it and then....he has to wait the entire night until the Data Warehouse gets refreshed. Another option would be to configure SAP so it sends all changes to the reporting database immediately. And that is what IDOCs are for.

On the downside though, to configure SAP to actually send changes is quite a challenge. If an IDOC is provided by SAP already it is not that bad, but if you want to distribute changes for data SAP never thought about, you have to write your IDOC from scratch and hook it into every single application dealing with that data.

The basic problem is the IDOC design. It is not like a database triggers that is independent from all the applications and fires no matter who and how a change happened. It is happening on application level, so there is a common ABAP call that has to be done at every single application.

Inside SAP, a couple of settings have to be made, this configuration is mandatory for both sending and receiving IDOCs. The following configurations steps are involved to send IDOCs from BODS to SAP ECC.

1.     Define Logical Systems

2.     Define RFC Destination

3.     Defining RFC Port(Transactional RFC)

4.     Define Partner Profile

Let us see in brief how to configure the above steps:

SAP-BODS Integration using BAPI

SAP-BODS Integration using BAPI

1. Introduction:  

We can call SAP ERP or R/3 Remote Function Call (RFC) enabled functions, including Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) functions, from queries inside data flows. A Remote Function Call is really what the word suggests: You call a function but it is remote rather than part of your code. This is the standard way how 3rd party’s tools access SAP, both for read and write. All RFCs meant to be used for business reasons, their function name starts with the text BAPI_XXXX like BAPI_ABSENCE_CREATE or BAPI_ABSENCE_GETDETAIL, both meant to create or display employee’s absence records in HR.  

If you design data flows with BAPI calls against one version of SAP ERP or R/3, then change data stores to a later version of SAP ERP or R/3. Data Services allows this without the need to re-import the BAPI. Any new parameters added to the function call, including additional columns in table parameters, are added automatically to the call and filled with NULL values. Thus Data Services allows you to design jobs that are portable between SAP ERP or R/3 systems. After you import the metadata for an SAP ERP or R/3 function, the function is listed in the Functions category of the ERP or R/3 data store. You will also see the function in the function wizard, listed under the data store name.  

Data Services supports tables as input and output parameters for SAP ERP or R/3 RFC and BAPI functions. The function import process automatically includes the metadata for tables included as function parameters.

2. BAPI Call:  

After you import the metadata for an SAP ERP or R/3 function, the function is listed in the Functions category of the ERP or R/3 datastore. You will also see the function in the function wizard, listed under the datastore name. To call a BAPI depends on the requirement; here in this document we have considered an example of creating a CONTRACT using ‘BAPI_CONTRACT_CREATEFROMDATA’. For this BAPI, we need to send mandatory input and Tables parameters to create a CONTRACT.