Intermediate Documents

(IDOCs)
What is an IDoc

An IDoc is simply a data container that is used to
exchange information between any two
processes that can understand the syntax and
semantics of the data.

IDoc is not a process.




Intermediate Document
IDOCs are stored in the database. In the SAP
system, IDOCs are stored in database tables.

IDOCs are independent of the sending and
receiving systems.

IDOCs are independent of the direction of data
exchange.
Process
The two available process for IDOCs are

Outbound Process
Inbound Process

Outbound Process
Sending out the data from our system. The IDOC
which is called as Outbound IDOC.
Application Object
Appln data
Selection Program
IDoc_output_<messagetype>

Outbound Trigger Program
Idoc in text format
idoc
Inbound Process
When the data is coming in, the process is called
Inbound Process and the IDoc is known as Inbound
IDoc.
Application Object Appln data
Posting Program
Idoc_inbound_<messagetype>
Inbound trigger program
idoc
Idoc in text format
IDoc Applications
Several SAP applications use the robust IDOC
interface. IDocs serve the basic purpose of
transferring data from one application to another.
EDI Integration
ALE Integration
Legacy System Integration
Third-party Product Integration
Workflow Integration
SAP R/2 Integration
Internet Integration
Idoc Applications
OCR Application Integration
OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
is a technology that scans and
interprets printed matter using
pattern recognition. We can integrate
an OCR application with SAP via
IDOCs. Documents in a standard
format can be scanned to generate
IDOCs, which then can be transferred
to the SAP System for processing.

Idoc Applications
ICR Application Integration

A barcode system is an example of ICR
(Intelligent Character Recognition) technology.
Data encoded using barcodes can be captured
and stored as an IDOC which then can be passed
to SAP for further processing.
Idoc Components

There are basically two types of IDOCs.

Basic IDOCs
Extended IDOCs
Idoc Components
Basic Idoc
Basic IDOC type defines the structure and format of
the business document that is to be exchanged
between two systems.

Extension Idoc
Extending the functionality by adding more segments
to existing Basic IDOCs.

Creation of IDoc
To Create Idoc we need to follow these steps:

Create Segment ( WE31)
Create Idoc Type ( WE30)
Create Message Type ( WE81)
Assign Idoc Type to Message Type ( WE82)
Creating a Segment
Go to transaction code WE31
Enter the name for your segment type and click on
the Create icon
Type the short text
Enter the variable names and data elements
Save it and go back
Go to Edit -> Set Release
Follow steps to create more number of segments
Create IDOC Type
Go to transaction code WE30
Enter the Object Name, select Basic type and click
Create icon
Select the create new option and enter a description
for your basic IDOC type and press enter
Select the IDOC Name and click Create icon
The system prompts us to enter a segment type and
its attributes
Choose the appropriate values and press Enter
The system transfers the name of the segment type
to the IDOC editor.
Create IDOC Type
Follow these steps to add more number of segments
to Parent or as Parent-child relation

Save it and go back

Go to Edit -> Set release
Create Message Type
Go to transaction code WE81
Change the details from Display mode to Change
mode
After selection, the system will give this message
The table is cross-client (see Help for further info).
Press Enter
Click New Entries to create new Message Type
Fill details
Save it and go back
Assign Message Type to IDoc Type
Go to transaction code WE82
Change the details from Display mode to Change
mode
After selection, the system will give this message
The table is cross-client (see Help for further info).
Press Enter.
Click New Entries to create new Message Type.
Fill details
Save it and go back
Runtime Components
There are three types of records
Control Record
Data Record
Status Record

Control Record - contains the key information like
destination, IDoc type, message type, port and
sender information.
Control records are of EDIDC type of structure
Runtime Components
Data Records - This contains two parts
Administrative Section and Data Section
Administrative Section consists of Idoc number,
Segment Name, Segment number, Version, Segment
Hierarchy etc.
Data Section contains the data of respective
segment
Data records are of EDIDD type of structure
Runtime Components
Status Record - whenever a process is taken place,
system will generate status records.
We can identify the process with the number of status
record.
01 - 49 for Outbound Process
50 - 75 for Inbound Process
when IDoc is processed the messages are:
01 - IDoc is created
30 - IDoc is ready for dispatch
03 - IDoc is processed
Runtime Components
We need to write a Selection Program to create a
Physical structure of IDoc
Import Parameters
Define a parameter of type NAST
Define a parameter of type EDIDC (for control record)
Export Parameters
Define a parameter of type WFAS1-ASGTP
Define a parameter of type EDIDC (for control record)
Tables
Define a parameter of type EDIDD (for Data record)




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