Setting Up Communication with SAPconnect

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to explain the role of SAPconnect for external communication

Overview of the Message Flow in SAP Systems

An ABAP-based SAP system offers application developers many ways to create and process messages. For example, the user might need to send a confirmation message to the sold-to party after the creation of a sales order.

Business Communication Services (BCS) are important in message processing. The services allow application developers to freely integrate sending messages internally and externally in their applications. In addition to controlling sending and receiving, BCS takes on extensive status handling and makes all sending information about an application object available. The overview of the message flow is shown in the figure "Message Flow in the AS ABAP".

The sending of messages from SAP applications can be performed directly using BCS. Alternatively, the Post Processing Framework (PPF) can be addressed first. The PPF provides a uniform interface for generating actions in response to certain conditions (such as printing delivery notes, faxing order confirmations, or triggering approval processes). The PPF is the successor to message control and provides a greater range of functions, simpler connection to the applications, and greater flexibility than its predecessor. BCS can also be used from the SAP Smart Forms tool (and its predecessor, SAPscript) and for PDF-based Print Forms (SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe).

In addition to automated message creation and processing, you can create messages manually using the Business Workplace (previously known as SAP Office). The Business Workplace (transaction SBWP) provides a standard working environment in which every SAP user can perform their part of the business and communication processes in the company.

For the administration of Business Communication Services, transaction SCOT – SAPconnect is available. Using this transaction, you can access a collection of settings, reports, views, and further functions in the area of BCS. BCS forwards external messages to SAPconnect. The figure "Transaction SCOT: BCS Administration and SAPconnect" shows the entry screen of this transaction.

SAP S/4HANA Output Control

SAP S/4HANA introduces a new style of output management. The new output management is going to be the successor of all other output management frameworks (SD Output Control, FI Correspondence, FI-CA Print Workbench, CRM Post-Processing). However, all other frameworks are still available and can be used. It is not mandatory to use the new output management. The output management for SAP S/4HANA comprises all functionalities and processes that are related to the output of documents. This includes the integration of output management functions into the business applications, the reuse component output control, as well as the SAP NetWeaver technologies and the technical infrastructure.

In the case of SAP S/4HANA Output Control, the figure above concerning the message flow needs to be changed to be as follows:

  • SAP S/4HANA Output Control uses the basic output management services (like printing, form rendering and emailing) and adds more features (such as parameter determination, output of attachments and output history) for applications that require advanced output scenarios. The applications can communicate with business receivers using print, e-mail, or electronic data interchange (EDI).

  • Form Data Provider offer a dynamic data interface for output forms based on Core Data Services (CDS) and Gateway services including standard extensibility. The data interface describes the data that is passed to the form rendering service at runtime.

  • Output Forms (Gateway interface) can be used to create pixel-perfect documents based on a layout definition and application data in a defined output format. The document is rendered by the service SAP Forms Service by Adobe in the requested format. Possible output formats are, for example, PDF, PCL and Postscript.

Note

For more information, see

  • SAP Note 2228611 – Output Management in SAP S/4HANA
  • SAP Note 2791338 –FAQ: SAP S/4HANA output management
  • SAP Note 2470711 – S4TWL - OUTPUT MANAGEMENT
  • SAP Note 3097507 – Output Management in SAP S/4HANA On-Premise with an attached document containing guidance for the SAP S/4HANA Output Management
  • the blog Output Management in SAP S/4HANA (https://blogs.sap.com/2021/04/26/output-management-in-sap-s-4hana/) and
  • the online documentation for SAP S/4HANA (Product Assistance), area Cross Components → SAP S/4HANA Output Control.

SAPconnect Features

SAPconnect is the central interface for external communication in SAP systems. SAPconnect supports the use of telecommunication services such as fax, text messages (pager or SMS), e-mail, and X.400, as well as sending data to printers and between different SAP systems.

SAPconnect allows you to connect external communication components to an ABAP-based SAP system. SAPconnect provides a direct connection to the Internet using the SMTP plug-in of the Internet Communication Manager (ICM).

As presented in the figure "SAPconnect: Communication Options", there are different ways of producing the same result (such as sending mail over the Internet) when using SAPconnect. It has been possible to use external communication systems for many years; however, the use of plug-in technology requires the Internet Communication Manager process (ICM).

Note that the use of RFC destinations for SAPconnect is deprecated. In case RFC destinations for SAPconnect are required (for example, because an external communication system does not offer HTTP or SMTP connectivity), configure SAPconnect in transaction SCON. It offers a user interface similar to transaction SCOT in former releases of AS ABAP.

Note

For more information about the support for the RFC interface and SAPconnect, see the SAP note 1236270 – Support for SAPconnect RFC interface.

Communication Steps in SAPconnect Process

  1. A message is created, for example, as a Web Flow item, in the Business Workplace (transaction SBWP), or by an application.
  2. The message is assigned to a node based on the selected communication type and address area stored in the queue.
  3. The send process (report RSCONN01, which should run periodically in the background) starts, reads the message from the queue, and transfers it to the SMTP plug-in (or an RFC destination).

Administration of SAPconnect

To be able to send messages using a communication type, the following criteria are required:

  1. One configured (communication) node for the communication type is needed if you want to use it to send documents.
  2. All external programs that might be needed must be available and configured.

You have the following options to configure and monitor SAPconnect:

  • Transaction SOADM (requires AS ABAP 7.02 or higher)
  • Transaction SCOT (corresponds to transaction SOADM, directly enters path Settings → SMTP Connection → Outbound Messages → SMTP Nodes)
  • Transaction SCON (supports all communication types, is outdated)

The first two options are recommended. Use the outdated transaction SCON only for communication types different from SMTP and HTTP.

Troubleshooting SAPconnect

Various troubleshooting tools are available, some of which are mentioned as examples in the following list:

  • For outbound messages, use routing tests to check whether the error during the node determination was caused by the recipient address. This test checks whether routing for outgoing messages runs correctly in the communication environment. The test provides information on how the appropriate node is determined using the specified recipient address and whether fax and paging numbers are converted according to the rules for recipient number adjustment.
  • A trace can be activated for incoming and outgoing messages.
  • The messages that are sent can be evaluated according to their current status. For example, all documents with transmission errors can be displayed and resent. This can be used to create overviews of the documents that have been sent in the current client. Overviews can be limited according to send times, communication methods, and send status. The entire send history of each document can also be called up. Overviews enable recipients to be notified and documents to be sent again.

Additional Information on SAPconnect

For more information on setting up communication with SAPconnect, see the online documentation for SAP S/4HANA (Product Assistance) following the paths

  • SAP S/4HANA → Enterprise Technology → ABAP Platform → Other Services → Services for Application Developers → Generic Business Tools for Application Developers (BC-SRV-GBT) → Business Communication Services - Sending to SAP Applications
  • SAP S/4HANA → Enterprise Technology → ABAP Platform → Other Services → Services for Business Users → SAPconnect (BC-SRV-COM)

In addition, the following SAP notes might be helpful:

  • SAP Note 455127 – E-mail (SMTP) in different SAP releases
  • SAP Note 17194 – Telefax in various SAP Releases
  • SAP Note 455129 – Paging/SMS in different SAP releases
  • SAP Note 312690– SAPconnect: Collective note
  • SAP Note 455140 – Configuration of e-mail, fax, paging or SMS using SMTP
  • SAP Note 455142 – SAPconnect: Configuration paging/SMS via HTTP
  • SAP Note 598718 – SAPconnect - Performance
  • SAP Note 1236270 –Support for SAPconnect RFC interface
  • SAP Note 1637415 – S/MIME integration in SAPconnect
  • SAP Note 2841986 – Sending messages via Whatsapp using SAPconnect
  • SAP Note 1917416 – SMS via HTTP: New functions

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