Organization of Shipment Contents 

From the point of view of software logistics, a product is a shipment unit that can exist in different versions. A product comprises one or more software components that in turn can also have different software component versions. The System Landscape Directory stores the information about which version of a product requires which software component versions (also see: Software Components and Software Products). Software component versions and product version are located in the Integration Builder:

In this example, the product version SAP APO 1.1 comprises the software component versions BW 1.2B and APO 1.1. The corresponding information about the product version can be found in the System Landscape Directory. To now be able to edit software component versions, they are imported into the Integration Repository and are then displayed in the navigation tree of the Integration Builder. The graphic shows the expanded hierarchy for software component version APO 1.1. The development of objects in the Integration Builder is therefore primarily linked to software component versions.

After you have imported a software component version, create one or more namespaces for it so as to separate the repository objects within the software component versions into more manageable development units. Note that the object references within the Integration Repository are restricted to ensure that objects that belong together are consistently shipped together.

The product version is not visible in the navigation tree, unlike the software component version. This is because the software component versions that make up a product version have already been defined in the System Landscape Directory. However, you can create a reference to product versions when describing a Business Scenario. When creating an application component (as a communication partner) you can assign a product version to it.