SAP BAPI


SAP BAPI, a Tested Way to Integrate with SAP

Interoperability of software applications has become a critical requirement for business processes ever since SAP evolved from being a monolith to becoming the central core of an increasing number of third-party solutions. Many top vendors for specialized business applications offer ways for their software to work in tandem with SAP ECC and SAP Business Suite.

SAP itself has enabled this through its SAP Business Application Programming Interfaces (SAP BAPIs). These are standard interfaces that enable software vendors to integrate their software into SAP Business Suite. In programming terms, a standard BAPI is a Business Object type that encapsulates a set of methods and parameters, with an a “Extension” parameter to pass custom data that is specific to a company. For example, standard BAPI for purchase orders and sales orders can be enhanced.

SAP BAPI, a Tested Way to Integrate with SAP

Interoperability of software applications has become a critical requirement for business processes ever since SAP evolved from being a monolith to becoming the central core of an increasing number of third-party solutions. Many top vendors for specialized business applications offer ways for their software to work in tandem with SAP ECC and SAP Business Suite.

SAP itself has enabled this through its SAP Business Application Programming Interfaces (SAP BAPIs). These are standard interfaces that enable software vendors to integrate their software into SAP Business Suite. In programming terms, a standard BAPI is a Business Object type that encapsulates a set of methods and parameters, with an a “Extension” parameter to pass custom data that is specific to a company. For example, standard BAPI for purchase orders and sales orders can be enhanced.

BAPIs are technically implemented using RFC (Remote Function Call) enabled function modules inside SAP systems. Such a trusted RFC connection allows creation of trusted-trusting relationships between systems, both SAP and non-SAP. BAPIs also can be called through ALE/IDoc (Application Link Enabling/Intermediate Document) technology.

BAPIs are defined in the Business Object Repository (BOR) as methods of SAP Business Objects that perform specific business tasks. They allow integration at the business level, not technical level. This makes it much easier to find suitable BAPIs compared to non-BAPI-based function modules.

There are different ways in which application developers may integrate workflows:

  1. Integration of third-party applications with an SAP System.
  2. Integration of custom business applications with an SAP System.
  3. Integration of additional SAP components into the SAP system.
  4. New user interfaces to an SAP System for occasional SAP users.
  5. Web-based access to an SAP System through Internet or Intranet applications.
  6. Mobile, cloud or IoT (Internet of Things) access to an SAP system.

Here is one example of how SAP BAPI is used for reporting.

As many SAP customers move to SAP S/4HANA in the cloud, one of the most vital requirements is to integrate existing or new on-premise applications with SAP S/4HANA. Released BAPIs can be used to connect SAP S/4HANA Cloud with SAP on-premise applications only.

For other integrations, such as cloud-to-cloud and cloud with non-SAP solutions, SAP recommends using Public APIs which use OData (Open Data Protocol) or SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), Business event handling and other SAP Cloud products.

There are many sophisticated ways that SAP solutions can be integrated with other applications. Boomi has an intelligent iPaas (Integration Platform as a Service) with many connectors that seamlessly integrate workflows.

While SAP BAPI has many advantages, SAP customers have to assess the right set of intelligent approaches for their landscape based on their needs.

5 results

  1. Take Your Mobile SAP Systems Further with Sybase Unwired Platform

    Published: 11/October/2010

    Reading time: 26 mins

    Discover Sybase Unwired Platform, a mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP), and how you can use it to mobilize your systems. SAP provides this platform with the co-innovation architecture of SAP NetWeaver Mobile 7.1. This is the first time that SAP has supported the mobilization of all major mobile device types with a single technology. Key...…

  2. Tips and Tricks for Using BAPIs in Accounting Documents

    Published: 08/February/2010

    Reading time: 16 mins

    Posting accounting documents with BAPIs can be somewhat tricky — generating a simple accounting document turns into a report with several hundred lines of code. Accounting functionality is highly dependent on company specifics and legislation, so to make your program more stable against accounting business changes, you have to be able to derive automatically as...…

  3. Excel-Based Upload Tool Easily Updates the Standard Price for Multiple Materials

    Published: 11/January/2010

    Reading time: 13 mins

    Discover how to use a custom Microsoft Excel upload tool rather than out-of-the-box functionality to update the standard price of a raw material for inventory valuation. Learn about additional functionalities and system validations the custom tool offers to create a more efficient and accurate business process for updating the standard price of raw materials. Key...…

  4. Test Your BAPIs for Safe Data Transfer to the FI/CO Interface

    Published: 15/February/2007

    Reading time: 6 mins

    Before running a Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) in your programs, you should test it. See how to test your BAPI and how to get a report that shows you its details. Key Concept A Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) is a standard interface that facilitates the integration of R/3 or mySAP ERP Central Component...…

  5. Automate CO Data Loads with BATCHMAN

    Published: 15/May/2005

    Reading time: 8 mins

    An SAP R/3 Enterprise functionality called BATCHMAN enables the easy upload of selective CO data, including activity rates and statistical key figures for allocations and reporting. Key Concept Most SAP CO implementations need CO data periodically entered in SAP R/3. That could be loading the activity prices for use in calculation of standard costs or...…