Unit 5 Communication and Integration Technologies

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

2. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

3. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

4. Application Link Enabling (ALE) Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

5. ALE (cont’d) • Implementing ALE requires clarification of the following points in details: • Identify the business process and the objects involved • Identify the information to be transmitted • Specify the format for the data to be transferred • Decide on the transfer technology to be used • Decide on the transfer type • Specify the destination of the data transfer Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

6. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

7. 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) Overview of Interfaces Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

8. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

9. Remote Function Call Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

10. Remote Function Call in Details Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

11. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

12. BOR and BAPIs Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

13. Web Services • Business Example • Your company wants to technically realize online services using Web Services Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

14. 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: Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

15. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

16. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

17. Web Services and the SAP Web AS Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

18. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

19. SAP Business Workflow • Business Example • The leave request process is a good example of how workflow can be used Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

20. 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 Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

21. A Workflow and its Participants Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

22. A Workflow and its Technology Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

23. Workflow Application Areas Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

24. Thank you Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

25. Exercise 10 Remote Function Calls and BAPIs Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

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30. Exercise 11 Leave Request as Workflow Unit 5: Communication and Integration Technologies

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