SAP R/3 integration with (Manual) Third-party App

[Former Member]

Hi All

I am working on a scenario in which Third Party application has functionality which actually refines & correct the data upto the accuracy of 99%. So for this end-user needs to enter bit of information on their front-end then application will return the data on the basis of that information.

Now the problem has different parts -->

*) If I choose that SAP R/3 will initiate the ( Synchronous ) process then ABAPers raised the concern that they will not be able to display the response data on correct SAP screen also how to actually access the front-end of Third party.

Third-Party is ready to replace the Front-end with the web-service but then end-user will not be having the functionlity to select different options which is the strong part of Third-party application & also client is not agree to that.

Do you think I should use BPM in above solution with correlation on some field to identify the SAP screen.

*) If I choose Third Party application to initiate the ( Asynchronous ) process then again ABAPers raised the concern that how to display it on the correct SAP screen & how they know that data is coming at this point of time & they need to display it. Also Third Party said in this case they don't have expertise to customize their Front-end application & which will lead to additional cost to hire other developers.

Now can you suggest some good solutions for this kind of scenario in which an application needs the Manual intervention & needs to be integrated with SAP R/3. Also suggest from which direction I should initiate the process.

Thanks

- Lalit Chaudhary -

[ravi_raman2]

Lalit,

You have to initiate it at the thirdparty app, make one trip to the sap system and back, can you also give some more info on this.

Or you can use scheduling..to trigger it from the sap r/3 system..Your choice of initiator should depend on the source of the data.......!

Regards

Ravi Raman

Dont forget the points...

[Former Member]

Raman

Third Party or SAP R/3 doesn't require any acknowledgement from either sides.

My issue is how to relate the screens of SAP R/3 with Third-Party Front-end application.

Thanks

- Lalit -

[Former Member]

Hi Lalit !

Could you clarify more what is the goal? with front-end do you refer to SAP R/3 ? Which ways has the Third-Party app to connect with (file, database, jms, etc.). Which are the parties or systems you are dealing with?

What is the purpose of this third-party app ? just to receive data, validate it and return it once it is corrected ? like a web service?

Regards,

Matias.

[Former Member]

Matias

<<<< with front-end do you refer to SAP R/3 ?

No Matias with Front-End I meant Third Party is providing the web-page where end-user can enter the details & those will be refined & corrected by the Third-Party Application.

<<<<< Which ways has the Third-Party app to connect with (file, database, jms, etc.).

Third-Party App is providing Java Classes & Web-Services for integration but we don't want to access them directly, first of all we would like to invoke/access the Front-end application.

<<<< What is the purpose of this third-party app ? just to receive data, validate it and return it once it is corrected ?

Actually in this Front-end user can enter the data on given fields & data will be keep on refining while he is entering the more information into that given field. For e.g if the field says "City" & user enters "DE", a drop-down will come with all the cities in the world starting with "DE" like Delhi, Denmark etc.Once all the fields are populated with correct data user will click on "Submit" button which will send the data to SAP R/3 ( which we wish to do ).

Now in this case when user will click on Submit button ( means Third-party will initiate the process ) & data will be send to XI using ( for e.g ) HTTP sender then ABAPer's raised concern that how they will be able to show it in the right screen without using proper thread ID.

Pls. let me know in case you require any further information. My problem is this how to relate the Third-Party data with correct screen of SAP.

Thanks

- lalit -

[Former Member]

Hi Lalit !

I need to know the main goal or objetive of this scenario, to be able to determine which party should initiate the communication, and if your scenario needs to be sync or async.

If you want to enter data in third party application (web page) and send it to SAP R/3 thru XI, then you should be able to capture the data entered in the front-end to be sent to XI.

The data could be sent by the application to XI (e.g. webservices, plain http) or XI could be the one who tries to gather it using a time interval (file adapter, jdbc adapter, etc.)

Then once the data passes thru XI, it will be entered to SAP R/3 as an ABAP Proxy server call. Inside that abap proxy server, ABAPers should store the incoming data in the proper tables or use that data as parameters for executing other BAPI or function modules, to make something with this data that come from XI. Then your SAP R/3 transactions that have screens should be able to access the previously stored data. This last action is independent from the XI scenario. One thing is moving data between systems, another thing is accessing this data via each system transactions or forms or screens.

How are you planning to take the data from third party application to send it to XI ?

Regards,

Matias.

[Former Member]

Matias

This Third-Party application actually refines the customer details when some executive starts entering details of the user in this Front-end application then it will automatically starts providing the (nearby) values as dropdown, so no question of commiting mistake.

Now this data we need in SAP R/3, so in first look we can have this scenario as Asynchronous as SAP doesn't need to provide any acknowledgement to Third-Party Application.

Now the solution in which you suggested to enter the data in SAP Table, I actually suggested same kind of solution to ABAPers but then they have concern that multiple users can actually access the Front-end at one point of time. So I asked them to enter the data in User-specific table but in this case too they are not sure whether it will work or not and with its efficiency & also in this case user can open two screens of Front-end & start entering details there at one point of time.

I am still in discussion with ABAPers regarding this solution but keeping the same ( user-specific table ) solution in mind, what do you say this will create any issues or not.

Regards,

- Lalit Chaudhary -

[Former Member]

Hi Lalit !

It all depends on the complexity of the scenario. There has to be a way to solve it without problems for concurrent users, using as you suggested, some fields to relate each info with each user. Also depends on the ABAP process that reads that stored data and makes what is necessary to show it in SAP screens. If you don't need ack, then the async scenario is the way to go. You have to store the incoming data from third-party app in some place that the ABAP programs can read them and use them, and the place can give the better performance are abap tables.

Regards,

Matias

ps: please award points if helpful.

[Dorian]

Seems to me that you DO need a synchronous process to validate that the third-party data was acceptable to SAP.

My suggestion would be to make the third-party data generate an Idoc for the object being maintained on the SAP side, and send back the Idoc processing status to the third-party application.

Regards,

D.

[Former Member]

Matias

Being an Integration consultant I was also looking for other ideas to integrate the SAP other then XI & I actually find out that Third Party has one certified SAP product for this integration which is far more efficient & need less resources to put it into the system. Sales Team was not able to provide us that solution as they were not technical.

I guess we will go for that.

Thanks for being the part of this thread & suggesting your ideas.

Thanks

- Lalit Chaudhary -

[ravi_raman2]

Lalit,

What was the third party app..can you let us know..

Regards

Ravi