During inbound processing, IDocs are transferred to the interface and stored in the R/3 System. The document data is generated in a second step, also in the course of a workflow.
The upstream system transfers an IDoc to the IDoc interface through the R/3 System port. For this reason, you are not required to specify a port in the inbound partner profiles. The IDoc interface must only "recognize" the upstream system as a port. A port definition, which provides a unique ID for the upstream system, must be available for the port. The technical parameters of this port definition can (and usually are) overwritten by the upstream system.
The IDoc is "accepted," that is, saved in the database, if the upstream system is recognized. If your partner is defined with the corresponding message in your partner profiles, the IDoc is then processed further. This is done independently in a second step. This ensures that the external system can receive the data quickly and reliably (automatically).SAP Remote Function calls require no system setup other than the Connection Target Parameters. If you do not intend to send IDocs to the SAP system, you may skip this chapter.
In inbound IDoc processing, the adapter reads an XML document and creates an SAP Standard format IDoc. The adapter can optionally transform incoming data into the standard format through XML transformation or SAP ALE transformation. After assembled as an IDoc, the file is sent to SAP for inbound processing. Multiple IDocs can also be assembled into a larger document for efficient processing. For more information, see the SAP documentation.
ALE IDocs used for transmission of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messages require information about the intended target and method of transmission stored on the SAP application server.
An IDoc consists of a Header that contains sender, processing type, receiver and other information, and multiple data segments, which contain the information to be processed. To store the parameters for processing of the IDoc messages, SAP requires a "logical system" entry for each transmission system. The Logical System stores type information about the Partner and the kind of messages expected from the partner.
The Partner Profile defines the kind of message and the type of SAP function called to process that particular IDoc in an application. SAP also requires a filtering model, whether or not it is used for a particular message, called a Distribution Model that defines a message type and applies optional segment filters. After these are established, Inbound ALE/IDoc processing can begin.
The Control Section or reference structure file EDI_DC40 (defined in SAP ERP), must be completed and contains all the identifying information about the IDoc. The assembled header and data records are sent to SAP by the adapter. SAP does not require an incoming port to be specified. It takes the incoming RFC stream and assigns a port designation. In the Partner Profile, a function module must be identified to process the IDoc in the ERP system.
Usually, IDocs are written directly to the database and slowly read by the application (for example, Purchasing for Purchase Orders). This can take time depending on the type of data and the application. The adapter can "post to the database and return" or "post and wait." This is defined in the Partner Profile on the host system. In either case, you may send a status IDoc message to obtain the status of your IDoc or use appropriate transaction codes in SAP to view the IDocs online.
You must perform the following steps to configure SAP for inbound IDoc processing:
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