Design  

Purpose

The development of a cross-business business process begins with its design (see: Design Time). The Integration Builder provides you with an environment with which you can describe Business Scenarios, interfaces and mappings independently of a system landscape. These objects are stored in the Integration Repository and are associated with software component versions that belong to a product that is to be shipped (see: Shipment and Versioning).

Prerequisites

Software component versions are the smallest delivery units that can be shipped using the objects of the Integration Repository. To be able to develop within a software component version, they must be maintained in the software catalog of the System Landscape Directory (SLD). SAP products and the corresponding software component versions are already maintained in the SLD. It is also possible to include external products and software component (versions) in the SLD (see: Software Catalog).

Process Flow

The following steps are usually carried out in the design phase:

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       1.      To save objects in the Integration Repository, you import the software component versions in which the objects are developed (see: Importing Software Component Versions). The development manager normally has the authorization required for this.

       2.      To document the business process on a more abstract level, create a Business Scenario. This can be done regardless of whether interfaces and mappings are already available or not. If objects are available, you can reference them directly. If they aren’t, you can add further information once you have created them. A Business Scenario helps you to understand the entire process (see: Designing Business Scenarios).

       3.      To define the contents of a message and the communication type, create new message interfaces in the Integration Repository or import existing interfaces from another system (see: Interface Design). If interfaces do already exist, you can simultaneously design mappings and develop in the business systems.

       4.      To map the structure of a message to another message, use a message mapping or import an XSLT or Java archive. You can then specify for which messages a mapping is required in two interfaces, by using an interface mapping (see: Designing a Mapping).

       5.      To create executable substitutes for message interfaces, use Proxy Generation. The proxies you generate are used at runtime (see: Proxy Runtime).

Result

The objects in the Integration Repository are assigned to software component versions and can therefore be shipped with the product associated with the latter. Before they can be implemented in a system landscape at runtime, you must first configure the contents of the Integration Repository (see: Configuration).