Enabling the Infrastructure for Printing in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud System

In this example we set up a print queue so that purchase orders are sent to this new print queue. First define the print queue using the Maintain Print Queues app. Then maintain the output parameter determination table using the Output Parameter Determination app. In the last step install and configure the SAP Cloud Print Manager.

To define the print queue, use the Maintain Print Queues app. In the app, select the output format and a communication user.

The Maintain Print Queues app always includes a print queue called DEFAULT. It’s the only print queue provided by SAP and serves as a sample queue that can't be used for productive output as it can’t be connected to the SAP Cloud Print Manager for Pull Integration.

Therefore, to connect to your physical printers, you must create one or more custom print queues.

Keep in mind that you can't define custom retention time for items in the DEFAULT queue. Also, to avoid misuse, SAP may adapt the standard retention time at any point. The DEFAULT print queue should also not be used as storage for all documents that are printed from the system, as SAP might restrict the given quota at any time to avoid misuse. A cleanup job will delete all items in the DEFAULT print queue after eight days, regardless of their status. This will not affect the behavior of other print queues.

The Maintain Print Queues screen displays the URL for SAP Cloud Print Manager. You need this information to connect the SAP Cloud Print Managerto the print queue.

In our example, we will check the rules for the purchase order. Open the Output Parameter Determination app and select the document type for which you want to show or maintain the rules. Select the type Purchase Order. Next, check the various determination steps for the selected document type.

The determination step OUTPUT_TYPE defines the output type (Purchase Order) and the DISPATCH_TIME. The DISPATCH_TIME specify if the document is printed immediately or if the output to is generated via a background job.

The determination step Channel defines the output channel. This can be print output, Email or an XML document.

The determination step Receiver defines the output channel. This can be print output, Email or an XML document.

The determination step Printer Settings defines the print queue to route these purchase orders to.

The SAP Cloud Print Manger can be downloaded directly from the SAP Support Portal or from the SAP S/4HANA system itself using the Install Additional Software app. The installation must be performed with administrator rights because once you install the SAP Cloud Print Manger several additional services for which administrator rights are needed were installed.

After the installation, launch the SAP Cloud Print Manger with administrator rights. Then connect it to the print queue of the SAP S/4HANA system on one side and to the local printer on the other side.