Download - 112651012 How ALE and IDocs Affect SAP in House Cash Configuration

7/22/2019 112651012 How ALE and IDocs Affect SAP in House Cash Configuration

1/15

How ALE and IDocs Affect SAP In-House Cash Configuration

by Juergen Weiss, SEPA-Now Consulting (March 200!

Become familiar with the configuration of the Application Link and Enabling (ALE) settings of SAP In-ouse !ash"#ollow a step-b$-step technical implementation of ALE to enable the structured e%change data &ia Intermediate'ocuments (I'ocs) within SAP In-ouse !ash" Become familiar with the most important I'oc t$pes and their usein SAP In-ouse !ash" nderstand how $ou can test the correct ALE configuration within the SAP s$stem"

!ategories !ash *anagement+#S!*+#inancials

Key Concept

SAP In-House Cash allows corporate cash and treasur$ management departments to set up a pa$ment factor$and to centrali,e their pa$ment flows" ne of the challenges is that the business processes of SAP In-ouse!ash span multiple financial components and re.uire a broad set of business and technical skills"

SAP In-ouse !ash can help corporate treasurers or cash managers get a faster o&er&iew of their li.uidit$ positionand achie&e a higher degree of transparenc$ of their cash flows" *ultinational organi,ations can centrali,e theirgroup cash flows and establish an in-house bank" In most cases SAP In-ouse !ash is deplo$ed on a separateinstance than SAP E/P #inancials and has to be connected to &arious other SAP s$stems within the group" 0oenable the structured e%change of data between distributed SAP (or non-SAP) s$stems+ SAP In-ouse !ash usesApplication Link Enabling (ALE)" It is the technical basis for SAP In-ouse !ash+ but &er$ few SAP professionalsare familiar with this technolog$ and the necessar$ settings to configure SAP In-ouse !ash" I1ll pro&ide a step-b$-step introduction to e%plain these settings and make $ou familiar with some of the ALE and Intermediate 'ocument(I'oc) basics to better understand the configuration of SAP In-ouse !ash"

Note

#or another reference about SAP In-ouse !ash and in-house banks+ see A$lin 2orkma,1s article 3In-ouse !ash!enter *anages Pa$ment Processes+4which was posted to the "inancials E#$ertknowledgebase in *a$ 5667"

Some ALE and IDoc asics

0here are essentiall$ two wa$s to technicall$ link two SAP s$stems &ia ALE

8" If the s$stems are independent+ $ou implement a loosel$ coupled technical integration" In the case of acommunication error or if the called s$stem is una&ailable+ the calling s$stem can continue to work" In thiscase+ s$stem-to-s$stem communication is happening largel$ on an as$nchronous basis and messagesare e%changed between the s$stems" 0he data format that the SAP s$stem uses for the as$nchronousALE communication is called I'oc" 0he technical communication between SAP s$stems is based on

transactional /emote #unction !alls (t/#!)"5" If $ou decide to establish a narrow coupling between SAP s$stems $ou re.uire the called s$stem to

alwa$s be a&ailable" 0he technical basis is s$nchronous calls of a remote-capable function module in thetarget s$stem" Such s$nchronous calls are suitable for &erif$ing or reading data in other s$stems"

Since the SAP In-ouse !ash business scenarios are not suitable for the narrow coupling shown in option 5+ I1llfocus on the first option in this article"

SAP In-ouse !ash is based on as$nchronous communication that takes place between SAP In-ouse !ash+ theSAP s$stem with the general ledger of the head.uarters+ and the SAP s$stems of the subsidiaries with the
http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=cash%20managementhttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=cash%20managementhttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=fscmhttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=fscmhttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=fscmhttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=financialshttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=financialshttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=financialshttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/article.cfm?session=&id=2274http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/article.cfm?session=&id=2274http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/article.cfm?session=&id=2274http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/article_printable.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&id=5114http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=fscmhttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=financialshttp://www.financialsexpertonline.com/article.cfm?session=&id=2274http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/article.cfm?session=&id=2274http://www.financialsexpertonline.com/tag.cfm?session=1f71b933-e60c-42b2-9a49-8f6a7f40f324&tag=cash%20management


2/15

respecti&e financials s$stems" Some of these s$stems ma$ not e%ist in $our s$stem landscape (e"g"+ if $ou decideto run the SAP In-ouse !ash s$stem and the general ledger on a single instance)+ but the basic ALEconfiguration is alwa$s the same"

0he data format that is used for as$nchronous ALE communication between logical SAP s$stems is the I'oc" AnI'oc represents a configuration of an I'oc t$pe that determines the I'oc structure and indicates the SAP dataformat that is used to transfer the data for a business transaction" Each I'oc consists of a header+ se&eral data

segments+ and status records" 0he I'oc header contains the contents+ structure+ sender+ recei&er+ and currentstatus of the I'oc"

Each data segment contains a standard header consisting of a se.uential segment number+ a description of thesegment t$pe and a 8666 character long string field containing the actual data of the segment" 0he status recordsshow the histor$ of the s$stem processing steps applied to the I'oc so far" 0he format is identical for each I'oct$pe"

9ou can displa$ I'oc t$pes b$ following this menu path 0ools : ABAP ;orkbench : ALE : ALE 'e&elopment :I'oc 0$pes" 9ou use the following I'oc messages and message t$pes for the communication between SAP In-ouse !ash and other SAP s$stems

#I


3/15

!igure " 0ransaction SALE with all ALE configuration settings

0o configure ALE settings+ carr$ out the following configuration steps in the SAP In-ouse !ash s$stem in thisorder

Step 8" 'efine the logical SAP s$stems and assign them to a client

Step 5" 'efine the target s$stems for /#! calls

Step @" *aintain the ALE distribution model

Step 7" >enerate partner profiles

Step " 'istribute the ALE model &iew

Step " *aintain the partner profiles for business partners

In the following sections+ I describe these si% steps in detail" 0he onl$ prere.uisite for this configuration is that $ou

ha&e alread$ created the SAP In-ouse !ash business partners (e"g"+ clearing partner)"

Step "# Define the Logica$ SAP Systems and Assign %hem to a C$ient

9ou need to define logical s$stems because the$ uni.uel$ identif$ SAP s$stems within an ALE distribution model"ne logical s$stem corresponds to a client" nce $ou ha&e assigned a logical s$stem $ou can1t change theassignments an$more" 9ou ha&e to maintain logical s$stems (e"g"+ the de&elopment+ .ualit$+ and producti&es$stems) for $our entire SAP landscape and $ou can1t transport these entries between the SAP s$stems" A naminge%ample for a logical s$stem could be I!'!L


4/15

s$stems &ia transaction SALE or transaction S!!7 (!igure &)" If $ou want to identif$ the logical s$stem of $ourown client+ look up field L>S9S in table 0666"

!igure & *aintain logical s$stems

Step Define the %arget Systems for '!C Ca$$s


5/15

Because SAP s$stems communicate &ia t/#! $ou ha&e to maintain appropriate /#! destinations for the SAPs$stems of $our subsidiaries" If the head office1s #I s$stem is not in the same client as SAP In-ouse !ash+ $ouneed to create a /#! destination for #I as well" /#! connections are maintained b$ following the I*> menu pathSAP


6/15

!igure ( !reate /#! destinations

Enter the client as well as the /#! user and its password under the Logon D Securit$ tab" nce $ou1re done withthis $ou can test whether this user is &alid on the target s$stem b$ clicking the !onnection 0est button"

Step (# )aintain the ALE Distri*ution )ode$

9ou need to assign the &arious logical s$stems and the message t$pes that are e%changed within an ALEdistribution model" 'o this b$ following I*> menu path SAP


7/15

!igure + Add I'oc message t$pes to an ALE distribution model

0he sender and recei&er depend on the message t$pe" In the case of bank statement #I


8/15

!igure >enerate partner profiles

Step # Distri*ute the ALE )ode$ .iew

>o back to transaction B'7 and select the change &iew of the ALE distribution model" *ark $our model &iew andselect Edit : *odel &iew : 'istribute and mark the subsidiar$ s$stem as target s$stem" Afterwards+ check thesubsidiar$ s$stem to see whether the ALE distribution model has been distributed" #or technical purposes+ theSAP s$stem generates the message t$pe S9

Step /# )aintain the Partner Profi$es for usiness Partners

In the final configuration step $ou manuall$ maintain the partner profiles" #ollow menu path 0ools : ALE : ALEAdministration : /untime Settings : Partner Profiles or use transaction ;E56" In this case+ focus on partner t$pes>P (business partner) and LS (logical s$stems) because the$1re the rele&ant ones for SAP In-ouse !ash" #irst+$ou ha&e to create an entr$ for the business partner" Select >P and click the create icon (!igure /)"


9/15

!igure / !reate a business partner profile

*aintain the following settings

Partner number (number of the business partner of the head.uarters)

Partner t$pe S (user)

Agent (enter the I' of the user who should be informed &ia workflow if an I'oc has errors)

Language (language of the user)


10/15

%a*$e " Inbound parameters for the message t$pes PA9E=0 and 'I/'EB

!lick the plus icon below the table of the outbound parameters and enter the &alues in%a*$e &for the messaget$pe #I


11/15

!igure 0 *aintain the outbound #I


12/15

%a*$e ( Inbound parameters for the message t$pes PA9E=0 and 'I/'EB

If $our head office1s #I s$stem is not in the same client as SAP In-ouse !ash+ $ou must also maintain theinbound parameter shown in %a*$e +"

%a*$e + Inbound parameters for the message t$pes #I'!!8 and #I'!!5


13/15

#or the outbound parameters+ $ou ha&e to maintain for the message t$pes 'I/'EB and PA9E=0 the entriesshown in %a*$e "

%a*$e utbound parameters for the message t$pes PA9E=0 and 'I/'EB

#or the third outbound parameter+ enter one more entr$ for the message t$pe S9


14/15

%a*$e 0 utbound parameters for the message t$pes #I'!!8 and #I'!!5

ALE Configuration in the SAP System of the Su*sidiary

0he same si% steps that I showed $ou are re.uired to configure the ALE settings in the SAP s$stem of thesubsidiaries that communicate with SAP In-ouse !ash" 9ou ha&e to make these entries for inbound andoutbound message t$pes for each subsidiar$ compan$ that communicate with SAP In-ouse !ash"

0he first fi&e steps are similar" 0he onl$ difference is that $ou enter all settings for the subsidiar$ instead of thehead office" In step $ou need to create onl$ one partner profile for B (bank)" 9ou ha&e to create the in-housebank with transaction #I!" 9ou can1t create these partner profiles for the in-house bank if $ou ha&en1t first createda house bank with transaction #I85" 0he partner t$pe settings for B are the same as abo&e with BP" 9ou need tocreate an inbound parameter for the message t$pe #I


15/15

%a*$e 2 utbound parameters for the message t$pes PA9E=0 and 'I/'EB

0he settings for the business partner t$pe LS (logical s$stem) are the same as for the business partner t$pe B and$ou can simpl$ cop$ them" If the subsidiar$ is in the same s$stem as SAP In-ouse !ash+ $ou basicall$ send

I'ocs to the same SAP s$stem" In this case+ the message t$pes PA9E=0+ 'I/'EB+ and #I