Cross-System Business Processes

The Significance of Cross-System Business Processes


Let's start by defining cross-system business processes, using common situations

as examples.

For example, it may be the case that within a company, the human resources

system is separate from the rest of the business software system. Obviously, the

systems cannot be completely separate, since the accounting system needs the

employees' wage data. In this situation, you need cross-system business processes

to exchange the relevant data.

Cross-system business processes are used, for example, if two companies

collaborate closely and send joint orders to a vendor. The companies' business IT

systems need to communicate with each other to consolidate the quantities to be

ordered. In this case, the business process does not just cross system boundaries,

but also company boundaries.

An additional example is the transfer of a limited quantity of specific data, for

example, the electronic transfer of account statement data from a bank to a

company.

Recent developments suggest that the significance of cross-system business

processes will continue to increase rapidly.

Application Link Enabling (ALE)

Application Link Enabling is a means of creating and operating distributed

applications. The basic concept of Application Link Enabling is to ensure

operation of a distributed, yet integrated system landscape. This involves

business-controlled message exchange using consistent data across loosely linked


application systems. The applications are integrated through synchronous and

asynchronous communication, not through a central database.

Systems that use ALE to exchange data can be located at the same company, or

they may belong to different companies. One of the characteristics of ALE is

that different systems are linked in business terms through secure and consistent

data transfer.
You could also describe ALE as being composed of the elements: who exchanges


which data when, with whom, and by what means.

Implementing ALE therefore requires that you clarify the following points in

detail:

1. Identify the business process and the objects involved

2. Identify the information to be transmitted

3. Specify the format for the data to be transferred

4. Decide on the transfer technology to be used

5. Decide on the transfer type

6. Specify the destination of the data transfer

The following table contains examples for implementing ALE:
Process Internet Sales with mySAP CRM


Identify the information

to be transmitted

Order data from the SAP CRM System, which is to be

passed to an ERP backend

Format of the data IDoc format

Transfer technology by RFC

Transfer type asynchronously, every 60 seconds

Objective Provide goods and/or services for sale in the Internet

The data is often identified within the SAP system using a business object and its

Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs). A BAPI is a method of a

business object, for example, the material master record. A permissible method

could be creating or changing the material master data. BAPIs normally enable

you to edit all data belonging to the object.

The IDoc format describes the structure of “intermediate documents”. There

are various kinds of IDoc formats for different types of data to be exchanged.

Alternatively, you can use ALE to transfer data in an agreed XML format.

You can select your preferred data transfer technology within the constraints

imposed by the system. For example, you can transfer data by Remote Function

Call (RFC) or using HTTP or HTTPS.

There are two basic transfer types: synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous

transfer means that the data is transferred at the time of creation or change. You

can start asynchronous transfers at intervals of your choice.

There are very few restrictions on the systems that can be linked. The systems

involved must have the technical capability to receive the communications

(RFC-enabled, HTTP-enabled) and interpret the format transferred (IDoc, XML).

SAP systems of different releases can be linked using ALE.