SAP EDI EDPAR Table Walkthrough – How to Cross Reference SAP Customer Number to External Customer Number (Part 1)

When creating IDOCs in SAP to send Invoices to customers via EDI you will likely have to send the customers their internal partner numbers on the EDI ANSI X12 810 Invoice Document.  In almost all cases this will not be the same as the SAP partner numbers.  So how can we set up a cross reference of SAP and external partner numbers?  Well, the answer is simple because SAP has set up a utility to handle this for you.  All you need to do is populate the EDPAR table in SAP using the VOE4 transaction.  Once this is completed the IDOC_OUTPUT_INVOIC function module will read the EDPAR table when the Invoice document output is processed and populate the LIFNR element of the E1EDKA1 or E1EDPA1 segments of the INVOIC IDOC with the external partner number.  Entries in EDPAR can be set up for multiple partners including the Sold-to, Ship-to, and Bill-To numbers so that external customer number cross-references can be passed on the IDOC if needed.

Let’s look at how this process works.  Let’s say we have created an invoice document in SAP.  In this case, the Sold-to, Ship-to, and Bill-to partners are all SAP customer number 15.  If we want to create an INVOIC02 IDOC on which the external customer numbers are populated for all three of these partners we would have to set up three EDPAR entries as displayed on the below screen shot.  The Customer field will contain the SAP partner number (Sold-to, Ship-to, Bill-to).  The Ext. Function field will contain the Partner Function (SP = Sold-to, SH = Ship-to, BP = Bill-to).  The External Partner field will contain the external partner number that the customer is expecting on the EDI file.  And the Int. no. field will contain the SAP partner number (Same as the Customer field).

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How To: SAP PI Data Type Enhancements

I have worked with SAP PI since it was called SAP XI (version 3.0).  SAP XI was pretty rough around the edges and was not what I would call an enterprise class integration tool.  Each successive SAP PI release and enhancement pack has steadily added functionality such that the latest version of SAP PI is finally starting to resemble a fully functional EAI platform.

One such example of additional functionality is the ability to enhance delivered integration content.

Recently, I had to make some modifications to an integration scenario where an SAP ERP system was sending data to an external custom solution.  The good news was the SAP ERP and PI objects were built and delivered by SAP!

SAP ERP Delivered Content

SAP ERP Delivered Content

The bad news was that the interface, as designed, did not meet the business’ need…

How to add fields to delivered content?

How to add fields to delivered content?

So, the $64,000 question is, how do we add fields to delivered SAP PI content?
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Simplify SAP PI Mapping Logic with FixValues Mapping

I was trying to think of something to write about this weekend, when I happened to stumble upon this gem:

After I stopped laughing, I started to cry, because I realized that this happens all the time in SAP PI–it just looks a little different…

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DataXstream to Host September ASUG Event in Virginia

 

SAP Learning Seminar

When: Fri. Sept. 24

7:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Where: Holiday Inn – Williamsburg, VA

Cost: Free

Register for the Event

Can’t make it to Las Vegas for TechEd this year?

Join us September 24 in Williamsburg, VA as we host an SAP Learning Seminar for the VA/NC ASUG chapter. ASUG, DataXstream, and event sponsors have scheduled a full day of  presentations by industry experts and local SAP users, panel discussions, and interactive breakout sessions and workshops; all intended to give you a great learning experience and stay abreast on everything current in SAP. DataXstream’s sessions include:

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SAP PI CTS+: Letting CTS+ Out of the Bag to Get Better Change Management

Anybody familiar with older versions of SAP XI/PI understand that transporting interface development and configuration changes is often a prickly situation.  Standard change management in PI relies on the manual packaging and processing of changes into files.  These files have many issues:

  • No documentation
  • A different means of transport than standard SAP transports (need some training people used to ABAP transports)
  • Manual audit accountability (what do you do if you lose an exported PI .tpz file)

To help resolve these issues, SAP released CTS+.  But, what is CTS+ and how can it help?

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What’s in a Naming Convention?

It doesn’t take long for a PI implementation to become a complete mess if standards are not put in place before development occurs.  Even among seasoned developers, opinions vary as to the best way to name and organize the IR (ESR) or ID (IB), depending on different backgrounds and previous project experience.  In the next few blogs I would like to touch upon some of the best practices that we utilize in our implementations at DataXstream, which we have arrived at though our project experiences and  discussion, both internally and with other middleware experts.
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Troubleshooting the Services Registry

Recently I set up the services registry for PI 7.1 EHP1 for a client of ours. Although it seemed like it would be a simple process, I ran into a 401 authorization issue and another issue where  web services were not publishing to the services registry. Looking online there are a lot of people who ran into the same issues as I did, so I am providing, here, the steps to perform if your services registry isn’t working.

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Changed RFC Structure Not Propagating to XI/PI Runtime

In support of an synchronous XI interface (SOAP->XI->RFC), I changed the underlying structure of one of the RFC parameters.  I appended some fields to the end of a return structure in ECC.  I re-imported the RFC meta data to the Integration Repository as always and mapped the fields accordingly.  When I executed the interface, the fields that I added did NOT appear in the XML.  This is because the XI runtime cache did not have the updated metadata for the RFC.

To update the runtime cache (called CPA Cache), enter the following URL in your web browser http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache/refresh?mode=full. XI will do the rest of the work for you. After the CPA cache is refreshed, the new RFC meta data reflects the newly added fields.

These other CPA Cache URLs may also be helpful:

CPA Cache Monitoring: http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache

Delta CPA Cache Refresh: http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache/refresh?mode=delta

Full CPA Cache Refresh: http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache/refresh?mode=full

Allow Additional Mapping Types in SAP XI/PI

SAP PI is a powerful integration engine that allows developers a variety of methods for implementing transformation logic.  As a long-time ABAP developer, one of my favorite methods to implement transformation logic is using ABAP.  This transformation option is not enabled in SAP XI/PI out of the box.  While information regarding how to enable ABAP transformations can be found in SAP help, I have found it easier to have step-by-step instructions.

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SAP Exchange Infrastructure – JMS for Oracle AQ Setup Instructions

By: Timothy Yates and Wess Tobler

Description:

This document gives step-by-step instructions on how to install, setup, and configure the JMS adapter to communicate with Oracle AQ Messaging.  Oracle AQ and the SAP XI adapter are not compatible as delivered by SAP and Oracle.

DataXstream adapter software was developed to bridge the incompatibilities between the SAP JMS adapter and Oracle AQ.

SAP Exchange Infrastructure – JMS for Oracle AQ Setup Instructions