SAPTECUnit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies 1 Unit 5 Communication and Integration Technologies Supakorn Kungpisdan supakorn@mut.ac.th.

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Unit 5Communication and

Integration Technologies

Supakorn Kungpisdansupakorn@mut.ac.th

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The Significance of Cross-System Business Processes

Cross-system business processes are used in the following situations: Two companies collaborate closely and send joint

orders to a vendor Transfer of a limited quantity of specific data, e.g. the

electronic transfer of account statement data from a bank to a company

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Application Link Enabling (ALE)

A means of creating and operating distributed applications

To ensure operation of a distributed, yet integrated system landscape

Involve business-controlled message exchange using consistent data across loosely linked application systems

Applications are integrated through synchronous and asynchronous communication, not through a central database

Who exchanges which data when, with whom, and by what means

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Application Link Enabling (ALE)

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ALE (cont’d)

Implementing ALE requires clarification of the following points in details:

1. Identify the business process and the objects involved2. Identify the information to be transmitted3. Specify the format for the data to be transferred4. Decide on the transfer technology to be used5. Decide on the transfer type6. Specify the destination of the data transfer

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Remote Function Calls and BAPIs

Business Example You need to integrate existing applications with

SAP applications. The interfaces available in the standard system are of particular interest here

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Overview of Interfaces

SAP systems have interfaces at different communication levels.

All higher interfaces, those access business objects or processes, use the same technology, the Remote Functions Call (RFC)

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Remote Function Call

RFC is based on TCP/IP and CPI-C Simplify programming of communication processes

between different systems Enable you to call and execute predefined functions in a

remote system – to within the same system Describe an interface not the programming language in

which the function runs

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Remote Function Call

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Remote Function Call in Details

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BOR and BAPIs

Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) is a standardized programming interface that facilitates internal and external access to business processes and data in SAP systems

Defined in the Business Object Repository (BOR) as methods of SAP business objects

Functions that can be called using BAPIs are normally implemented and stored in the ABAP Workbench Function Builder as RFC-enabled function modules

View BAPIs in the BOR using T-code SWO1 Viewing BOR using T-code BAPI

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BOR and BAPIs

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Web Services

Business Example Your company wants to technically realize

online services using Web Services

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Web Services – A Short Introduction

SAP Web AS is also a development platform for Web Services

A Web Service which is made available via Internet protocols and , as a rule, it can be operated using an Internet browser

Existing function of an application can be addressed via standard access protocols and contents can also be exchanged in a structured form

In SAP Web AS, the following basic standards for Web Services are implemented:

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Web Services

eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

A protocol that you can use to call up Web Services in distributed system landscape

SOAP uses HTTP as a transport protocol Web Service Description Language (WSDL)

A meta language used to describe the function of a Web Service Functions, parameters and return codes are described in a machine-

readable form WSDL is standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) A directory service for dynamic Web Services Provided via SOAP interface Check out uddi.org, webservicex.net

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Web Services and SAP Web AS

Web Services can already be developed in the SAP system from SAP Web AS 6.20

A Web Service is a module that can be used flexibly in different applications

The remote-capable function module from the Function Builder can be transformed (T-code SE37) into a Web Service

The creator publishes the Service in a publicly accessible UDDI directory.

The customer can then search directly for Web Services in the UDDI directory

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Web Services and the SAP Web AS

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Web Services and the SAP Web AS

The service provider generates the Web Service from a function module. Furthermore, a URL and the WSDL file are generated

The service requester creates a proxy object, which refers to the URL of the Web Service. Next, an ABAP class that matches the proxy object is generated and a logical port is assigned

The proxy object is written in and integrated into an executable program, for example, in ABAP, and called up there

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SAP Business Workflow

Business Example The leave request process is a good example

of how workflow can be used

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SAP Business Workflow Basics

A workflow model breaks a process down to its individual steps, which are then assigned to various people, or rather, to their roles within the company

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A Workflow and its Participants

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A Workflow and its Technology

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Workflow Application Areas

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Thank you

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Exercise 10

Remote Function Calls and BAPIs

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Exercise 11

Leave Request as Workflow

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