Preface – This post is part of the SAP Ariba series.

Introduction

Before going into the SAP Ariba Integrating Transactional Data we will understand what is transaction data, what type of business information comes under transaction data and some important T-codes in sap related to transaction data.

Transaction data is a business document that is created out of master data like material master data, vendor master data and keeps changing on a daily basis. A daily transaction detail, production details come under transaction data.

SAP Ariba Integrating Transactional Data

In SAP Ariba transaction data includes invoice, receipt, purchase order.

Important transactions for Transaction Data:

• Invoice : MIRO
• Goods receipt : MIGO
• Purchase Order: ME21n, ME22n, ME23n
• Sales Order: VA01, VA02, VA03

Methods for integrating transaction data:

1. File channel option
2. Web services channel
3. User interface option
4. Mediate connectivity integration

Integration Using File Channel option

You import or export the data using scheduled integration events or run the code manually from Ariba Administrator. Executable program code is defined for each file channel integration event and is scheduled to run which extracts the CSV file from Ariba and exports it to the ERP system.

Data integration process flow chart using file channel integration

As we have mentioned the transaction data is downloaded using integration events in CSV file format. The process is followed up by a data transfer tool. Data transfer tool pushes these downloaded CSV files to the ERP system. In the SAP ERP system, custom RFC programs are designed to read the data from the CSV file. Further RFC/BAPI programs create the data in SAP ERP and send it back to Ariba Procurement Solution.

Integration Using Web Services Channel

The web services channel uses SOAP URL configured by Ariba Administrator for integration purposes. For outbound events (like request) SOAP URL is generated automatically to be present in generated WSDL and also it needs to be explicitly configured by Ariba Administrator.

<IncomingHttpServerURL> / <ContextRoot> / soap / <realm name> / <event name>

where,

IncomingHttpServerURL and ContextRoot: fetched from AppInfo.xml file

soap: static alias for Web Servlet Services

event name: name of event

Integration Using User Interface Option

In SAP Ariba Procurement Solution buyers can easily integrate transaction data using Direct Connectivity.

Data integration process flow chart using User Interface integration

In the user interface integration process, SAP ERP sends the SOAP request to SAP Ariba containing the entire essential informations wrapped in a request header for the successful extraction of transaction data. The main prerequisite for user interface integration is to download the transport requests in the SAP ERP system.

Integration Using Mediate Connectivity

In SAP Ariba Procurement Solution buyers can integrate SAP ERP and SAP Ariba systems using SAP Process Integration layer through Mediate Connectivity. There are two ways through which buyers can connect to SAP Ariba.

The first way is to use client certificates. SAP PI Keystores stores the certificates and keys that the user creates in SAP PI. The view can be used to group the certificates and keys.

The second way is to use shared secret authentication. To use this method users must configure the shared secret in the Communication channel of SAP PI.