IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Services and service-related functions > Access external services with adapters > Configure and using adapters > IBM WebSphere Adapters > SAP Software
SAP interfaces
The SAP interfaces enable business process integration and asynchronous data communication between two or more SAP systems or between SAP and external systems.
The following interfaces exist for SAP software:
- BAPI interfaces
- BAPI work unit interface
- BAPI result set interface
- ALE interface
- ALE pass-through IDOC interface
- Query interface
- Advanced event processing interface
- The BAPI interfaces
WebSphere Adapter for SAP Software supports outbound processing and inbound processing for simple BAPIs. In outbound processing, the client applications call BAPIs and other RFC-enabled functions on the SAP server. In inbound processing, the SAP server sends an RFC-enabled function (such as a BAPI function) through the adapter to an endpoint.- The BAPI work unit interface
WebSphere Adapter for SAP Software supports outbound processing for BAPI units of work. A BAPI work unit consists of a set of BAPIs that are processed in sequence to complete a task.- The BAPI result set interface
The WebSphere Adapter for SAP Software supports outbound processing for BAPI result sets. In outbound processing, client applications call BAPIs and other RFC-enabled functions on the SAP server.- The ALE interfaces
The SAP ALE interface enables business process integration and asynchronous data communication between two or more SAP systems or between SAP and external systems. The data is exchanged in the form of Intermediate Documents (IDocs).- The ALE pass-through IDoc interface
The ALE pass-through IDoc interface enables business process integration and asynchronous data communication between two or more SAP systems or between SAP and external systems. The data is exchanged in the form of Intermediate Documents (IDocs).- The Advanced event processing interface
The Advanced event processing interface of the WebSphere Adapter for SAP Software is used for both inbound and outbound processing. For inbound processing, it polls for events in SAP, converts them into business objects, and sends the event data as business objects to IBM BPM or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus. For outbound processing, the adapter processes events sent from an application to retrieve data from or update data in the SAP server.