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1. What is ALE?
Application Link Enabling (ALE) is a set of business processes and tools that allow applications on
different computer systems to be linked. This can be done between different SAP systems as well as
between SAP and non-SAP systems.
In a single SAP system different applications are integrated via a single database (e.g. finance, sales,
production, human resources). However, many companies do not have just one integrated system
but a distributed environment with different applications running on different systems. To run the
whole business in such an environment the distributed applications have to be linked. This can be
done through Application Link Enabling (ALE).
ALE provides distributed business processes that can be used to link the applications on different
platforms. There are some ALE business processes delivered in the standard SAP system.
Furthermore, there are tools that can be used to change the existing ALE business processes or to
implement new distributed business processes.
Besides the business processes there are special ALE services that are required to set up and control
a distributed environment. These services include a distribution model, business object
synchronization and tools for monitoring or error handling.
ALE is a major part of SAP's Business Framework Architecture. Besides the basis middleware, that
provides the communication between components, and the interfaces (BAPIs), ALE business
processes and ALE services enable the cooperation of the single components within the framework.
That makes ALE the glue of the Business Framework.
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ALE should be used in a company if the benefits of ALE for this company outweigh the reasons
against distribution. For this you always need to carry out a company specific investigation, in which
you also should consider the culture of the company. ALE is good for some companies but not for all.
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However, these standard solutions may not fit 100% for a company. There may be differentiation in
the business process or a required distributed business process is not supported in the standard. If
this happens, ALE provides tools that can be used to adapt a standard ALE business process or to
create a new distributed business process.
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6. Which ALE services are available and what do they do?
To integrate distributed systems you need more than a communication infrastructure and interfaces.
Some additional services are required that are provided by ALE:
Business process harmonization:
Within system overlapping business processes multiple functions running on multiple systems are
involved and connected through multiple interfaces. The processes are combinations of functions
(sub-processes) running on the single systems.
(Example: A business process for customer order management involves functions in sales,
manufacturing, warehouse management, finance, and so on. It is possible that the sales functions
are carried out on another system than the manufacturing, the warehouse management or the
accounting. Furthermore, some information exchange with the customer, a supplier or a bank may
be involved in the process.)
ALE helps to coordinate the whole business process by defining it within a global model. In this
model the business rules for the distribution are defined. Via the model the sub-processes get to
know which part of the overall process they have to do themselves and when they have to pass the
process over to another system. Through this the whole business process gets harmonized.
Receiver determination:
For distributed business processes a sub-process on one application (client) has to start another sub-
process on another application (server). It is important that the new sub-process is started on the
right server. Which server is the right one can not be defined by technical values, it depends on the
business content of the process.
(Example: A sales system forwards customer orders to two different production systems. To which
system a special sales order is forwarded depends on the entries in the sales order (this may
depend, for instance, on the ordered material or on the customer). One sales order may also be split
into two or more different orders that may be forwarded to different production systems.)
To notify the client which system is the receiver of the communication (server), ALE uses a
distribution model. From this model the applications get the information about the right server.
There are special ALE BAPIs and function modules available for this. The receiver determination
makes sure that the information is sent to the right places.
Business object synchronization (semantic synchronization):
If business processes run across distributed systems, they have to share some data to be
harmonized. This is data like business information data, master data or customizing data. If this data
is changed in any of the distributed systems, other systems have to be informed about the change.
There has to be some kind of subscription of the data.
ALE provides a special service for this data synchronization. This service can detect data changes
and distribute the information to those systems that need to know about the change. This service
also defines which data is shared. You can determine which fields of a data object shall be common
and which fields may vary locally.
Consistency checks:
For a business process running across two distributed applications there has to be some
harmonization of the sub-processes in the single applications. For making sure that the sub
processes are harmonized there are special ALE consistency check tools. These tools help to find
and repair inconsistencies. By this it can be ensured that the whole ALE business process works in
the right way.
Monitoring:
For the monitoring of distributed processes it is not enough to monitor all activities on the single
systems. The overall business process has to be monitored. The ALE monitoring services provide
detailed information about the communication process, the sub-process on the other systems and
its results. Database links are created between the business objects in question on the client and the
server. This is especially important for loosely coupled applications with asynchronous links. In this
case the server can not give return values back to the client directly so that the ALE monitoring is
the only channel for feedback.
Error handling:
Another problem with asynchronous communication is error handling. If an error occurs on the
server the calling process on the client may have finished already. So the server can not return the
error message to the client. A special error handling process required. This process is one of the ALE
services. It uses workflow functionality to identify the error and to start the required error handling.
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