Architecting EDI with SAP IDocs

Book excerpt: Welcome to Hollywood Follow the saga of the Acme Pictures movie studio as it exchanges information with its vendor and its primary customer to put low-budget sci-fi movies on shelves. This entertaining case study showcases the requirements, standards, and capabilities for building an SAP EDI system and optimizing electronic information exchange via IDocs. From configuring IDocs, to generating purchase orders and goods receipts, to customizing IDocs with ALE, to processing invoices, this script teaches you how to make your EDI system a star. 1. Cross-Industry Standard See what makes IDocs in SAP and EDI the heart, bones, arteries, and brains of modern businesses and government organizations. 2. The Full Picture Build the EDI system step by step, from generating the purchase order, to building outbound order confirmation, to processing the inbound payment advice using IDocs. 3. Custom IDocs Using ABAP, ALE, and XML, explore custom utilities that extend standard SAP functionality. 4. Test Your System Learn how to achieve success and diagnose failure by using monitoring tools to troubleshoot. 5. Updated and Expanded In this second edition, find new custom tools and utilities, a renewed focus on the business context, and new interfaces from the purchasing cycle. Highlights include: Business process integration IDoc architecture and configuration Custom IDocs and extensions Mapping specifications Message control Customer purchase orders Replication services Inbound goods receipts and invoices Outbound advance shipments and invoices Custom IDoc tools EDI and IDocs troubleshooting and recovery