SAP BODS and SAP ECC integration for Vendor data

[Former Member]

Hi Folks,

I have a requirement to extract vendor data from SAP ECC into SAP BODS. Could you please suggest me a best approach for extraction of vendor data from ECC into SAP BODS.

I really appreciate your prompt response.

Thanks,

Kumar.

[Former Member]

You don't so much extract ECC data (of whatever sort) "into" BODS as "with" BODS. You first need to make a connection -- a datastore -- in BODS, pointing at/connecting to your SAP ECC system. If you've never done that before, you'll want to make sure you read the BODS manual having to do with SAP (and you'll want to make sure to be on friendly terms with your local SAP Basis folks ;-). Once that connection is made, you'll be able to see, from within BODS, SAP tables (along with other things, but, in this case, tables are fine -- vendor master data is fairly simple). You'll want to import a number of tables, most likely -- KNA1, KNB1, etc. You create dataflows within which you create ABAP dataflows within which you pull from the ECC tables in question. QED. In short, once you've got the SAP datastore setup correctly in BODS, and all the necessaries setup in SAP itself, the rest is pretty easy -- SAP tables just appear from within BODS as sources from which you can pull data, vendor or otherwise.

Best wishes,

Jeff Prenevost

[Former Member]

Hi Jeff Prenevost,

Thanks for your response. Could you please let me know how do I extract the identified vendor raw table fields in ECC into my local repository. I was told not to use ABAP FLOW transform or BAPI/RFC's. Is there anyother approach to extract the fields into my local repository.

Thanks,

Kumar

[Former Member]

Once you've established your connection to BODS <> SAP connection, import the LFA1 table into your SAP datastore; suggest doing the import "by name," specifying "LFA1". Create a dataflow and put the LFA1 table there as a source. Pull your data out and put it wherever you want. It's SAP ECC, yes, but it's not magic -- it's still "just a table," at least in this case. There are a number of other vendor-related tables, but LFA1 will get you started. The sticky part of this work is typically getting the BODS <> SAP connection setup correctly. Once that's done, the rest is pretty easy.

Not sure why someone would have told you to not use an ABAP dataflow. Seems odd. It's what you typically do, especially if you want to be able to push-down some filtering, group by, or sort to SAP itself (which is often a helpful thing to do). Seems like asking you to fry an egg without using the spatula. Odd.

You don't import "data" into your "repository." In DS, the word "repository" is typically reserved to refer to the special databases that hold Data Services code. You will import metadata about the LFA1 table into a DS repository. Using that metadata, you can then use DS to transfer data per se to or from the table (although it's rare to send data directly into SAP ECC tables).

Best Wishes,

Jeff Prenevost

[Former Member]

Hi Jeff Prenevost ,

Thanks for a very helpful answer. I have a similar question related to extracting Customer Data from CRM system.Do we still use the same approach of using ABAPFLOW for CRM tables as well.

Thanks,

Nagendra

[Former Member]

I'm afraid I've yet to work with CRM, but I'd think so...

[Former Member]

Note, too, that if you can use BODS 4.0, you can start talking directly to Business Content (vs. tables), which may simplify matters greatly for you. Some sorts of data (like BOM's) can get tricky to extract working with the tables directly. Vendor and Customer master data are pretty simple in ECC itself -- don't know about CRM.

[Former Member]

ABAP dataflow isn't mandatory, you can directly import table in your datastore initially, then use that as your source in the new data flow. Using query transform map it to the new temp table. Once you execute the job, it should be good.

[Former Member]

Hi CP

Thanks for the information. And would appreciate if you could help me with some more details which i have been looking for.

On BODS 3.1 : We have also tried to pull R/3 tables directly without a ABAP flow.

And so far so good with the entire job since 2 weeks.

But everywhere, when we look at the documentation of extracting SAP data, there is more mention of ABAP flow, Why so ?

Is there any reasons as to why it is recommended, that one should ALWAYS go thro R/3 Abap flow - to extract data from R/3 tables in BODS.

Or what are the pros and cons of using a ABAP flow (vs) a Direct pull from the sap table thro a query transformation to a tgt table ?

Can you please help me understand this whole concept.

Many Thanks.

Kind regards

Indu

[former_member190533]

This message was moderated.

[kalpesh_pandey]

I don't remmber exact place but I have read that If we are not using ABAP dataflow and want to fetch data directly from SAP tables then there is a possibility that few records get truncated while pulling data i.e. integrity of data may be compromised. In case of ABAP data flow it takes care of those records. If it is working fine in your system then you can use it.

When we import SAP tables then it is with red dlag which means be careful.