What is SAP R/3? and What Makes SAP R/3 different?

 What is SAP R/3?

SAP is the leading Enterprise Information and Management Package worldwide. Use of this package makes it possible to track and manage, in real-time, sales, production, finance accounting and human resources in an enterprise.

What Makes SAP R/3 different?

Traditional computer information systems used by many businesses today have been developed to accomplish some specific tasks and provide reports and analysis of events that have already taken place. Examples are accounting general ledger systems. Occasionally, some systems operate in a "real-time" mode that is, have up to date information in them and can be used to actually control events. A typical company has many separate systems to manage different processes like production, sales and accounting. Each of these systems has its own databases and seldom passes information to other systems in a timely manner.

SAP takes a different approach. There is only one information-system in an enterprise, SAP. All applications access common data. Real events in the business initiate transactions. Accounting is done automatically by events in sales and production. Sales can see when products can be delivered. Production schedules are driven by sales. The whole system is designed to be real-time and not historical.

SAP structure embodies what are considered the "best business practices". A company implementing SAP adapts it operations to it to achieve its efficiencies and power.

The process of adapting procedures to the SAP model involves "Business Process Re-engineering" which is a logical analysis of the events and relationships that exist in an enterprise's operations.

SAP Application Modules

SAP has several layers. The Basis System is the heart of the data operations and should be not evident to higher level or managerial users. Other customizing and implementation tools exist also. From a manager's viewpoint the heart of the system are the application modules. These modules may not all be implemented in a typical company but they are all related and are listed below:

• FI Financial Accounting--designed for automated management and external reporting of general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable and other sub-ledger accounts with a user defined chart of accounts. As entries are made relating to sales production and payments journal entries are automatically posted. This connection means that the "books" are designed to reflect the real situation.
• CO Controlling--represents the company's flow of cost and revenue. It is a management instrument for organizational decisions. It too is automatically updated as events occur.
• AM Asset Management--designed to manage and supervise individual aspects of fixed assets including purchase and sale of assets, depreciation and investment management.
• PS Project System--is designed to support the planning, control and monitoring of long-term, highly complex projects with defined goals.
• WF Workflow--links the integrated SAP application modules with cross-application technologies, tools and services
• IS Industry Solutions--combine the SAP application modules and additional industry-specific functionality. Special techniques have been developed for industries such as banking, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, etc.
• HR Human Resources--is a complete integrated system for supporting the planning and control of personnel activities.
• PM Plant Maintenance--In a complex manufacturing process maintenance means more than sweeping the floors. Equipment must be services and rebuilt. These tasks affect the production plans.
• MM Materials Management--supports the procurement and inventory functions occurring in day-to-day business operations such as purchasing, inventory management, reorder point processing, etc.
• QM Quality Management--is a quality control and information system supporting quality planning, inspection, and control for manufacturing and procurement.
• PP Production Planning--is used to plan and control the manufacturing activities of a company. This module includes; bills of material, routings, work centers, sales and operations planning, master production scheduling, material requirements planning, shop floor control, production orders, product costing, etc.
• SD Sales and Distribution--helps to optimize all the tasks and activities carried out in sales, delivery and billing. Key elements are; pre-sales support, inquiry processing, quotation processing, sales order processing, delivery processing, billing and sales information system.

SAP R/3 Application Modules

Each of these Modules may have sub-modules designed for specific tasks as detailed below.

System-Wide Features

SAP uses certain system wide features that should be understood at the outset. These are used to logically, safely and flexibly organize the data in a business enterprise.

• Customizing-- is the configuring of the system to represent your organization's legal structure, reporting requirements and business processes. Internal reporting is a managerial tool in the daily operations. External reporting is required by governmental units controlling the legal structure of the corporation.
• Organizational Elements
• Financial--
• client is a legal and organizationally independent unit at the highest level in SAP
• company is an independent legal entity within a client
• business areas are used to produce profit and loss statements and balanced sheets across marketing lines
• Materials Management
• Purchasing units
• Plants
• Sales and Distribution
• Sales Organization
• Distribution channel
• Division
• Master Data is records that remain in the database over an extended period of time. Examples:
• Customer Master
• Vendor Master
• Material master
• Account Master

This structure eliminates redundant data and is shared by all SAP Modules. It is a critical aspect of the robustness of the system.

• Employee Self Service--your employees have access to the own HR records over the Internet.
• Classification is the assignment of objects to a class. Each class has standard characteristics.
• Matchcodes are query tools used to find specific information using search methods.
• Security is administered for objects, profiles and authorizations. Users are only authorized to see or change the parts of the system required by their job responsibilities.

Business Processes and SAP Functionality

In order to understand a system like SAP a thorough understanding of the events and relationships that take place in a business is required. It is not enough to just realize the Sales, Production, Finance and Accounting have jobs to do in a business. The exact details of each action, the timing of that action and its interrelationships with every other process must be understood. In many large operations there may be no person that has a complete grasp of the situation. Before an operation can be automated or computerized a thorough study of the business must be undertaken. This task is called Business Process Engineering.

Sequential Walk Through

• Sales
• Pre-sales activity--planning and availability support for the sales personnel
• Sales Order--The actual entry of the sales order into the system done by the salesperson at the point of sales perhaps using a PC and Internet connections.
• Determining where the most efficient source of the ordered product is in inventory and shipping it.
• Delivery
• Customer Billing
• Customer Payment
• Production
• Sales and Operations Planning SOP where the sales forecasts are used in a production planning model to check feasibility.
• Master Production Scheduling MPS--The actual plan for the whole production process
• Material Requirements Planning MRP--Where the production plan is actually converted into raw materials input requirements.
• Planned Order--When materials are available and capacity exists this plan is created and then converted into a
• Production Order.
• Shop Floor Control where the actual production takes place and is registered into the system as finished goods.
• Purchasing
• Requisition--Once the Production manager plans to manufacture something a requisition for the raw materials required but not on hand must be prepared.
• Vendor Selection--made by the purchasing department
• Purchase order sent
• Goods receipt increasing inventory
• Invoice verification as it is received from vendor
• Payment to vendor.
• Finance and Accounting
• Sales events must be captured at the proper time into the ledger system
• Inventory must be adjusted to match goods shipped
• Inventory must be adjusted to match raw materials received
• Inventory must be adjusted to move value from raw materials to work in process
• Inventory must be adjusted to increase finished goods when they are produced
• Accounts Payable must be set up for purchases
• Accounts Receivable must reflect goods billed but not yet paid for

Business Process Engineering must not only identify all these steps but must also find the most efficient way to minimize redundant actions. For example, when sales are made, inventory and manufacturing plans should be automatically updated. When manufacturing plans are updated raw materials should be automatically ordered from vendors. When finished goods are shipped customers should be automatically billed at the same instant. Real situations are far more complex than the simple explanation above.

 

 

Tricks: Are you working in S/4HANA MDG and unable to change the Material Ledger moving price? Try this workaround.

 1. In SE37, open the function module SE16N_INTERFACE and update the moving price in table MBEW for the required material.

2. Copy the PostCstgNo. and save the record.

3. Using the SE16N_INTERFACE function module, delete records from the following tables where KALNR = PostCstgNo: CKMLPR, CKMLPP, CKMLCR, CKMLHD.

4. Set a breakpoint in the function module FCMLHELP_PASSCODE_CHECK.

5. Execute transaction code /NFCMLHELP.

6. Select HelpDesk for Master Data.

7. Choose FCMLHELP_MLMASTER_CREATE.

8. Enter the Material and Plant.

9. Select Process and the options EBEW, QBEW, OBEW, then execute.

10. When the breakpoint is triggered, pass the value X.

SAP CPI : Content Modifier – Message Header

Introduction

In this second part of the CPI Basics series, we will focus on one of the most used steps in an iFlow: the Content Modifier.

The Content Modifier allows us to enrich and control the message as it passes through CPI. In this document, we will specifically explore the Message Header function:

• Message Header → used to pass dynamic values to external systems. For example, extracting a value from the incoming payload and using it in an OData query filter.

To make this exploration practical, we will implement a simple integration scenario:

• The SOAP Sender Adapter will be used as the entry point of the message, simulating an external system sending a request to CPI.

• The OData Request Reply Adapter will be used as the target system, where the message header will be applied in the query filter to fetch data.

By the end of this document, you will clearly see how a Message Header can influence the request and response payload in a real integration flow.

1. Create IFlow

Step 1: Create a New Integration Flow

• Open your CPI tenant → Design → Create new iFlow.

• Give IFlow name and description

 

Step 2: Add Sender (SOAP Adapter)

The SOAP adapter is used when the source system communicates using

the SOAP protocol. It is common in SAP environments and in integrations with legacy systems that expose SOAP-based web services.

Benefits:

• Widely supported in SAP and non-SAP systems.

• Well-suited for structured XML messages.

• Supports secure communication (HTTPS, certificates, WS-Security).

Constraints:

• Limited to SOAP/XML format (no native JSON).

• Payloads can be verbose and less flexible compared to REST/OData.

• Transformation may be required if the target system expects a different structure.

Configuration steps:

1. In your iFlow, drag the Sender element from the palette to the canvas.

Choose SOAP 1x

2. Configure the SOAP Adapter:

o Open tab Connection and set the endpoint name (e.g.,/ContentModifier).

o Message Exchange Pattern: Request-Reply mean a synchronous pattern where the sender sends a request and waits for the response before continuing.

Step 3: Add Content Modifier

The Content Modifier is used to set or change values in the message during processing. It provides three functions: Message Header, Message Properties, and Message Body. This time we will focus on Message Header.

Configuration steps:

1. In your iFlow, drag the Content Modifier step between the SOAP Sender and the

Request Reply.

2. Double-click the Content Modifier and configure:

Message Header

• Add a new header, for example:

o Name: OrderNo

o Source Type: xpath (XPath is A query language to navigate XML documents).

o Source Value: //in (‘//’ known as relative path, meaning it will search for the element <in> anywhere in the XML, not from the root).

o Data Type: java.lang.String (The Java data type for text, used here to store the extracted value as a string)

• So  in  this  Message  Header,  you’re  basically  telling  CPI: “Look into the incoming XML, find <in>, take its value as text, and store it in a header named OrderNo.”

• This header will be passed to the OData adapter and used in the query filter.

Step 4: Add Receiver (OData Request Reply Adapter)

The OData Request Reply Adapter is used to connect CPI with an external system that exposes OData services. In this step, we will send a request with the header value (OrderNo) as a filter and get the response payload back.

Benefits:

• Standard protocol widely used in SAP and non-SAP systems.

• Supports querying, filtering, and CRUD operations.

• Integrates easily with SAP systems like SuccessFactors, S/4HANA, or SAP Gateway.

Constraints:

• Requires a valid OData service endpoint.

• Query options must match the service metadata; otherwise, requests fail.

• Limited for complex business logic (might require multiple calls).

Configuration steps:

1. In your iFlow, go to external call and drag a Request Reply step after the Content Modifier.

2. Drag a line from the Request Reply to a new Receiver.

3. Select OData Adapter for the Receiver connection, choose OData V2.

4. Configure the adapter:

-         Address: https://services.odata.org/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc (Provide the OData service endpoint)

- Click tab Processing, and then click select button

- Click button Step 2

- Click search button at field Select Entity and chose Orders.

- Click Select All Fields

- Click Step 3

Click search help at field Filter By and choose OrderID

-         Choose Equal and Write ${header.OrderNo}

Click Finish button

- Save and deploy the iFlow

Step 5: Check Deployment Result

After deploying the iFlow, you need to make sure it runs without errors.

Steps:

1. Go to Monitor → Manage Integration Content in your CPI tenant.

2. Find your iFlow (e.g., Z_IF_CONTENT_MODIFIER).

3. Verify the status:

o Started → The iFlow is running successfully and ready to process messages.

o Failed/Stopped → Open the log to review error details (e.g., adapter configuration, authentication).

4. If the status is not Started, fix the error and redeploy.

2. Subscribe Process Integration Runtime

Before testing the iFlow, ensure that a Process Integration Runtime is available in your subaccount.

Steps:

1. Go to your SAP BTP Cockpit → Subaccount.

2. Navigate to Instances and Subscriptions.

3. Choose Process Integration Runtime and click Create button.

4. Choose integration-flow for field Plan

5. Input instance name (e.g., Z_LEARN_CPI) and click Create.

6. Confirm and wait until the instance is provisioned.

3. Create Service Key

To enable external tools to call your iFlow, create a Service Key for the Process Integration Runtime instance.

Steps:

1. In BTP Cockpit, go to your Subaccount → Instances and Subscriptions.

2. Select your Process Integration Runtime instance.

3. Go to the Service Keys tab and click Create button.

4. Give service key name (e.g., Z_CPI_ACCESS_KEY) and click Create button.

5. The system will generate a JSON object containing authentication details (Client ID, Client Secret, Token URL, etc.).

6. We will use clientid and clientsecret for authentication when testing the iFlow.

4. Test the iFlow via SOAP UI

Now that the iFlow is deployed and started, we can test it using SOAP UI.

Download link: https://www.soapui.org/downloads/soapui

Steps:

1. Download WSDL from the iFlow

o In CPI, go to Monitor → Manage Integration Content.

o Select your iFlow (Z_IF_CONTENT_MODIFIER) and Under Endpoints, click on the button download for WSDL without policies.

2. Import WSDL into SOAP UI

• In SOAP UI, create a new SOAP Project.

• Browse and select the WSDL file you just downloaded.

• SOAP UI will generate the correct request structure for the iFlow.

3. Prepare the SOAP Request

In the generated request, add the <in> value (e.g., <in>10248</in>).

4. Add Authentication

• Click Auth button

• Under Authentication, choose Basic Authentication.

• Enter clientid from service key for username and clientsecret for password.

• See the response payload as the result

• We also can check the message from Monitor Message Processing