Integration of APO and R/3 

Possible Uses

SAP APO can be used either as a stand-alone APS solution, or together with heterogeneous system environments. It is important to differentiate between two different integration concepts:

  1. Connection to non-R/3 and legacy OLTP systems. The required interfaces are designed as BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces).
  2. Connection to R/3 (one or more systems). The required integration level is called the APO Core Interface, the details of which are explained below.

Introductory Notes

The SAP APO Core Interface (APO CIF) is a standardized interface solution which enables you to integrate the mysap.com component APO Release 3.0A with the following R/3 release levels:

As an R/3 extension, APO-CIF is part of the R/3 Plug-In. The R/3 Plug-In is the common plug-in which interconnects all mySAP.com components with R/3.

For further information, see R/3 Plug-In.

You should never exceed the Support Package level supported for an R/3 plug-in import. The support package level relevant for an R/3 plug-in is not necessarily identical to a standardized support package for R/3 without the R/3 Plug-In.

For further information see Support Package Strategy.

Ensure that you fully understand the R/3-specific maintenance strategy before applying APO CIF.

For further information, see Maintenance Strategy

Integration

The APO Core Interface is applied to the R/3 System. Using various Customizing steps, you set up a reciprocal system connection which enables data relevant to the planning process to be transferred from the executing R/3 System to SAP APO, and the results of the planning process to be returned to R/3.

See Checklist for Setting Up the System Infrastructure for further information.

Features

The main roles of the APO Core Interface include: