Business Application Program Interfaces allow developers to integrate third-part

y software into SAP's R/3 product. Consultants who have clients with SAP systems
must be familiar with BAPIs and their role in an ERP system.
SAP R/3 is typical of enterprise
eptualize the way information is
rt become the keywords, and data
iving thing, flowing through the

platforms in that it forces its users to reconc

used in a company. Integration and data transpo
ceases to be treasure in the vault it becomes a l
company like water.

Think of the pre-ERP universe as a series of small lakes, some connected, some n
ot. Each lake (company) is filled with data. Occasionally, boats venture from th
e shore to the middle of the lake for some data. Occasionally, one of these boat
s transfers data from one lake to another.
With the advent of ERP, a canal system SAP R/3 is installed. A vast network of bidir
ectional waterways takes the place of the lakes. Small, powerful ships and barge
s populate these waterways, keeping data in constant motion.
For the SAP consultant, IDocs are the barges. And Business Application Programmi
ng Interfaces BAPIs are the small, powerful ships that keep these barges of data mov
ing.
First in a series
This is the first installment in a series that examines the significance of Busi
ness Application Programming Interfaces, how to use them, and their role in desi
gning applications.
Building canals for the client
An understanding of how SAP changes the structure of a business is the first con
ceptual step in becoming an effective SAP consultant. A solid knowledge of SAP s d
ata-handling mechanisms, of which BAPI is the most central, is the first practic
al step.
BAPI is the most powerful tool in the SAP consultant s toolkit. Think of a BAPI as
a business object say, a master record, such as a client profile, or a transactio
nal record, such as an invoice. It s easy to confuse a BAPI with an IDoc (another
central SAP data transport feature). The difference is that IDocs are about movi
ng data between systems or modules; BAPIs are about calling data in and out of S
AP in the first place.
Their place in SAP and your toolbox
SAP R/3 arrives with a bundle of BAPIs ready for your immediate use. There are s
everal hundred of them, in categories such as accounting, human resources, and l
ogistics. They perform a vast array of functions, from creating jobs in SAP to l
aunching IDocs, from posting sales orders to changing passwords, from listing em
ployee benefits to tracking a shipment. They can be used out of the box or modif
ied to create new business objects specific to your client s needs.
BAPI is one of a set of tools at your disposal for interfacing with an SAP R/3 s
ystem. It s important to understand its role among them, and to have an idea of wh
at each does in relation to the other.
SAP Assistant
This stand-alone program is, in essence, the toolbox you carry with you as a han
ds-on SAP consultant. Its contents give you access to SAP R/3 s objects. All the i
nformation you need for setting up remote function calls from outside SAP is fou
nd here. Most importantly, SAP Assistant holds your set of keys to SAP s business
objects, allowing you access to what s there, and enabling you to create what you
need (see Figure A).
Figure A

Where BAPI fits in among SAP automation components

Remote Function Calls
BAPI is ultimately a mechanism for getting data out of SAP R/3. If a BAPI is a s
hip pushing a barge (data), the engine of that ship is a Remote Function Call (R
FC). An RFC is a function module in a system that is called from some other syst
em. This, of course, covers a great deal of ground. The two systems can both be
SAP, or they can be different platforms, or an RFC may be used on the spot in re
al time by any party making an inquiry of an SAP system from the outside (includ
ing you, sitting at your laptop).
How do RFCs relate to BAPIs? An RFC is the means by which the business object re
presented by a BAPI is implemented. A BAPI is a business object; an RFC is funct
ional code.
The Business Object Repository
A great deal goes on in the Business Object Repository (BOR), and you must know
it well. It s not overstating the case to say that the BOR is the core of SAP. If
an SAP R/3 system can be described as the animation of otherwise lifeless data,
the BOR describes the living cells of this new body. Cells come in many differen
t types, and that s what the BOR holds: all the different types of data comprising
an SAP system of databases.
The BOR s contents essentially define the implementing company s business model. The
information it holds includes the definitions of all business objects internal
to the company, as well as the defining information of all interfaces to other c
ompanies.
Another new language
BAPI is, like many aspects of SAP R/3, another new lexicon of concepts, terms, a
nd tools a consultant must absorb to be effective. However, it will rapidly be c
lear to even a less experienced consultant that these concepts are firmly rooted
in the object-oriented methodology that is now every IT professional s stock-in-t
rade.
It is critical that you, as an SAP consultant, understand the dynamic nature of
data handling in an SAP environment, the manner in which this mutates business p
rocesses, and most importantly, the way in which BAPI and related tools interfac
e with this new, living database. Once you understand these concepts, the handson skills to create applications become simple.