Sap R/3 Ale & Edi Technologies (Sap Technical Expert Series)

The book begins with a quick introduction to Application Linking Enabling (ALE) and the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the SAP R/3 package. By using SAP tools, ALE/EDI developers can query data, move it around within distributed systems, and even create reports with third-party tools. The powerful SAP R/3 package contains data fields that can automate virtually any manufacturing or business scenario. The author introduces Intermediate DOCuments (IDOCs), which provide message-based delivery of data.

Further sections investigate master data distribution (which involves requesting IDOC for particular fields). Throughout the book, the author enumerates the steps required within SAP R/3 to generate data (including screen shots of the R/3 tool at work). He also covers both outbound and inbound processing and how to customize IDOC messages. (This can be done to improve performance, for instance.)

Later the book turns to EDI and explains how to generate electronic reports (such as invoices), as well as how to submit data into R/3 via EDI. The book offers tips and techniques for optimizing data processing within distributed systems and features an appendix listing R/3 message codes and IDOC types (which all go by short mnemonic codes).

Written for the reader who already understands the basics of SAP R/3 but wants to learn more, this book can fill a useful niche for the enterprise developer who wants to see this powerful package at work. --Richard Dragan