The pharmaceuticals industry does it, retail does it — even Hollywood does it: EDI using SAP. Written in an entertaining, narrative style, this book teaches developers and system architects everything needed to plan for, design, and — most importantly — implement a complex SAP-EDI scenario. Enter the glamorous world of Hollywood and see how they make their money through SAP-EDI architectures!

1 Designing the architecture
Follow the transition to the new world of EDI by analyzing processes and documenting the legacy systems. A detailed blueprint of the to-be architecture will prepare you for the project.

2 The technical standards
Learn everything about EDI data exchange, the SAP IDoc interface, and the tools for building custom IDocs and modifying the standard.

3 Building the SAP EDI system on IDocs
Watch the implementation step by step: You’ll benefit from functional and technical specifications for each interface used, mappings, custom development objects, and lots of code.

4 Preparing and ensuring production
Development is complete, now get ready for go-live: Chapters on testing, troubleshooting, and system recovery arm you for the intricacies of daily business.

5 The storyline: A real-world scenario
This book doesn’t just tell you what could be possible — it shows how you do it. Using a real-world order-to-cash scenario with three business partners that begins on the first page, you’ll follow the implementation phase by phase.

Highlights

• EDI and IDoc basics
  • Architectural design
  • Standards
  • Adapters
  • The IDoc interface
  • IDoc tools
  • Building Custom IDocs and IDoc Extensions
• Implementing order-to-cash
  • Functional, technical, and mapping specifications for all interfaces
  • EDI configuration in SAP
• Testing, troubleshooting, and recovery
  • Test strategy
  • Monitoring and recovery tools
  • Identifying key points of failure

About the Author(s)

Emmanuel Hadzipetros is an ABAP developer and IDoc and EDI specialist who has been fascinated with data flows and systems integration throughout his 15 years of SAP project experience.
»SAP and EDI together are the heart, bones, arteries, and brains of modern business organizations«

Table of Contents

... Prologue ... 19

1 ... Acme Pictures: Hollywood’s Queen of the B Movies Looks to SAP and EDI ... 29
... 1.1 ... SAP and EDI: Getting to Know Each Other ... 30
... 1.2 ... A Brief History of Fame: Our Imaginary Dream Factory ... 31
... ... 1.2.1 ... A Bird’s Eye View of the Business ... 33
... ... 1.2.2 ... Enter Plan Q: A New Project Is Born ... 36
... ... 1.2.3 ... We Define Our Scope ... 37
... 1.3 ... Defining Some Basic Ground Rules ... 38
... ... 1.3.1 ... The Technical Environment ... 39
... ... 1.3.2 ... The EDI System ... 39
... ... 1.3.3 ... Nothing But IDocs ... 41
... ... 1.3.4 ... Batch Processing of Large Files ... 43
... ... 1.3.5 ... File Ports ... 44
... ... 1.3.6 ... Partner Profiles ... 44
... ... 1.3.7 ... EDI Mapping Strategy ... 45

2 ... The Blueprint: Discovery and Documentation ... 47
... 2.1 ... A Business Process Overview ... 48
... ... 2.1.1 ... The As-Is Purchasing Process Flow ... 48
... ... 2.1.2 ... The As-Is Sales and Distribution Processing Flow ... 53
... ... 2.1.3 ... Selling the Dream with Vendor Management Inventory ... 56
... 2.2 ... Legacy Systems, Data Flows, and Interfaces ... 60
... ... 2.2.1 ... Title Master and DVD Repository ... 62
... ... 2.2.2 ... Release Planning and Promotions Systems ... 62
... ... 2.2.3 ... Legacy SD ... 63
... ... 2.2.4 ... Manufacturing ... 63
... ... 2.2.5 ... Finance ... 64
... ... 2.2.6 ... VMI ... 65
... ... 2.2.7 ... EDI ... 65
... 2.3 ... Legacy EDI Data Flows ... 66
... ... 2.3.1 ... Replicating Success: Outsourcing Production ... 67
... ... 2.3.2 ... Order-to-Cash and Legacy EDI ... 72

3 ... Designing the New SAP EDI Architecture ... 77
... 3.1 ... The To-Be Systems and Interfaces Emerge ... 78
... ... 3.1.1 ... The Resource Integration Manager ... 78
... ... 3.1.2 ... Let’s Get Technical: A More Intimate Look at the RIM ... 81
... 3.2 ... Laying the Foundations for EDI: Master Data ... 85
... ... 3.2.1 ... A Brief Word on Conversion Strategy ... 85
... ... 3.2.2 ... General Ledger Chart of Accounts and Cost Centers ... 86
... ... 3.2.3 ... Customer Master Sold-To ... 87
... ... 3.2.4 ... Customer Master Ship-To ... 88
... ... 3.2.5 ... Vendor Master ... 88
... ... 3.2.6 ... Material Master ... 89
... ... 3.2.7 ... Customer Material Info Records ... 90
... ... 3.2.8 ... Bill of Materials ... 91
... ... 3.2.9 ... Pricing Conditions ... 92
... 3.3 ... The Typical Life Cycle of an Order from Gordy ... 93
... ... 3.3.1 ... VMI Sales Orders ... 94
... ... 3.3.2 ... Catalog Planning ... 98
... ... 3.3.3 ... Purchasing/Manufacturing ... 101
... ... 3.3.4 ... Delivery ... 103
... ... 3.3.5 ... Billing ... 105
... ... 3.3.6 ... Payment ... 107
... 3.4 ... Interfaces in the Order-to-Cash Cycle ... 109
... 3.5 ... Considering the Project Plan ... 110

4 ... EDI: The Ugly Stepsister of E-Commerce ... 115
... 4.1 ... EDI Follows the Money ... 116
... ... 4.1.1 ... E-Commerce is Mostly Business Selling to Business ... 117
... ... 4.1.2 ... Big Numbers Booked for EDI ... 119
... ... 4.1.3 ... Manufacturing ... 120
... ... 4.1.4 ... Merchant Wholesale ... 121
... ... 4.1.5 ... What the Numbers Mean for EDI ... 122
... 4.2 ... A Brief History of EDI ... 123
... ... 4.2.1 ... The Berlin Airlift and the Supply Chain ... 123
... ... 4.2.2 ... Transportation and the Birth of Cross-Industry Standards ... 125
... ... 4.2.3 ... The Transportation Data Coordinating Committee ... 126
... ... 4.2.4 ... The Birth of ASC X12 ... 127
... ... 4.2.5 ... Global Trade and E-Commerce: UN/EDIFACT ... 129
... ... 4.2.6 ... Other EDI Standards ... 134
... ... 4.2.7 ... Value Added Networks, the Internet, and EDI ... 137
... 4.3 ... The Anatomy of an X12 Interchange ... 140
... ... 4.3.1 ... Building an Outbound EDI ... 142
... ... 4.3.2 ... Unwrapping an Inbound EDI ... 144
... ... 4.3.3 ... The Envelope Segments ... 145
... ... 4.3.4 ... Structure of the Transaction Set ... 149
... ... 4.3.5 ... Dissecting Gordy’s 850 to Acme ... 151

5 ... Real World Business Process Integration with EDI ... 167
... 5.1 ... The Basic EDI Interface ... 168
... 5.2 ... Trading Partner Management ... 169
... 5.3 ... The Impact of VMI Collaboration Through EDI ... 172
... 5.4 ... The Role of Acme’s EDI RIM ... 173
... ... 5.4.1 ... Outbound Services ... 173
... ... 5.4.2 ... Inbound Services ... 183
... ... 5.4.3 ... Archiving EDI Data ... 189
... 5.5 ... Reporting EDI Status to SAP ... 191
... ... 5.5.1 ... SAP Status Codes ... 191
... ... 5.5.2 ... Creating Custom Messages ... 194
... ... 5.5.3 ... Mapping the STATUS IDoc ... 195
... ... 5.5.4 ... So How Do We Get the Enveloping Data? ... 199
... ... 5.5.5 ... The Status Interface BPM ... 202
... ... 5.5.6 ... The 997 Functional Acknowledgement Interface ... 206
... 5.6 ... Putting All of the Pieces Together ... 210
... ... 5.6.1 ... Inbound ... 211
... ... 5.6.2 ... Outbound ... 213

6 ... EDI Architecture in SAP: The IDoc Interface ... 217
... 6.1 ... Intelligent Messages: The Anatomy of an IDoc ... 218
... ... 6.1.1 ... IDoc Terminology ... 218
... ... 6.1.2 ... Logical Message Type ... 219
... ... 6.1.3 ... IDoc Record Types ... 220
... ... 6.1.4 ... IDoc Basic Type ... 232
... ... 6.1.5 ... IDoc Extended Type ... 234
... ... 6.1.6 ... IDoc ... 234
... ... 6.1.7 ... IDoc File ... 235
... 6.2 ... Building IDoc Architecture in the Data Dictionary ... 236
... ... 6.2.1 ... Domains ... 236
... ... 6.2.2 ... Data Elements ... 238
... ... 6.2.3 ... Fields ... 238
... ... 6.2.4 ... Segments ... 239
... ... 6.2.5 ... IDoc Basic and Extended Types ... 239
... 6.3 ... Base EDI Configuration with IDocs in SAP ... 240
... ... 6.3.1 ... EDI User Name ... 241
... ... 6.3.2 ... Logical System ... 241
... ... 6.3.3 ... Connecting Systems to SAP ... 242
... ... 6.3.4 ... File Port ... 243
... ... 6.3.5 ... Message or Output Control ... 246
... ... 6.3.6 ... Partner Profiles ... 257
... 6.4 ... EDI Reference Data in SAP ... 262
... ... 6.4.1 ... Getting to Know EDPAR ... 262
... ... 6.4.2 ... EDSDC: Sales Org ... 267
... ... 6.4.3 ... KNMT: Customer Material Info Record ... 268
... ... 6.4.4 ... ZEDIXREF: EDI Trading Partner IDs ... 271
... 6.5 ... The SAP EDI Inbound Process Flow ... 272
... 6.6 ... The SAP EDI Outbound Process Flow ... 279
... ... 6.6.1 ... Building Output ... 280
... ... 6.6.2 ... Writing the IDoc to the Database ... 282
... ... 6.6.3 ... Sending the IDoc to the EDI RIM ... 285

7 ... Building Custom IDocs and IDoc Extensions ... 287
... 7.1 ... IDoc Development and Configuration Tools ... 288
... ... 7.1.1 ... SE11 — Data Dictionary ... 289
... ... 7.1.2 ... WE31 — Segment Editor ... 290
... ... 7.1.3 ... WE30 — IDoc Type Editor ... 291
... ... 7.1.4 ... WE81 — Logical Message Type ... 291
... ... 7.1.5 ... WE82 — Message to Basic Type Link ... 292
... ... 7.1.6 ... SE37 — Function Editor: Function Groups ... 292
... ... 7.1.7 ... SE37 — Function Editor: Function Modules .