SAP ERP Integration Overview with Other Systems - SAP Basis Administration - page 69

An IDOC acts as a data container facilitating the exchange of business information between
SAP systems and non-SAP systems. The basis of IDOC generation is the message types.
Message types identify the usage of specific business data. One example of a SAP standard
message type is “CREMAS.” CREMAS is the vendor master data distribution message
type. Transaction code WE81 shows all the message types that have been delivered along
with the SAP standard install and customer-created ones as well.
SAProuter
SAProuter is an SAP program that is used to securely connect to the SAP support. There is a
SAProuter program running on both the customer site and the SAP support organization
site. The SAProuter program is installed inside the firewall and acts as an “application level
gateway.” This adds another layer of network security for both the SAP customer and SAP.
More specific details will be discussed in Chapter 20 .
SAP EPR Integration with Other Business Suite Applications
This group of SAP business applications includes SAP Business Suite 7 (SAP ERP 6 with
EhP4, SAP SRM 7.0, SAP CRM 7.0, SAP SCM 7.0, and SAP PLM 7.0). SAP ERP 6 integ-
rates with the other SAP Business Suite applications, primarily with the RFC connections.
Each of the Business Suite applications in this group has special interfaces, but the underly-
ing communication mechanism is via RFC connection over TCP/IP protocol.
SAP ERP Integration with Other NetWeaver Applications
SAP ERP 6 integration with other NetWeaver applications, such as SAP BW 7.0, SAP
NetWeaver Portal 7.0, and SAP PI 7.1, is based on RFC connections as well.
SAP ERP Integration with Other Third-Party Enterprise Applications
SAP ERP 6 integrates with a number of third-party solutions, each performing an
enterprise-wide service. RFC connections are used to integrate these tools with SAP ERP 6
systems, and SAP usually provides the interfaces to these third-party tools. Third-party
vendors also work closely with SAP, who provides certification of their products. Some of
the SAP-certified third-party products include
• Tivoli This is an IBM product certified with SAP for performing activities such as
backup and monitoring capabilities.
• Autosys This provides enterprise-wide job scheduling functions.
• FileNet This provides archiving capabilities.
• Open View This provides enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting capabilities.