Procedure for POS Outbound Processing (SAP Library - POS Interface

Procedure for POS Outbound Processing

Use

POS outbound processing is used for distributing changes to master data among stores. Normally, the system distributes data in the background at regular intervals, for example, every night.

Prerequisites

You have successfully initialized the POS outbound processing for the stores concerned (see Initializing POS Outbound Processing).

You have planned the program for evaluating change messages to be executed at regular intervals in the background (see Change Message).

You have maintained the technical communication parameters for the IDoc interface, EDI ports and EDI partner profiles.

You have made the following settings in Customizing under Sales ® POS Interface:

One or more communication profiles are created in the Outbound section. You assign these communication profiles to the stores when you maintain sites. A POS-outbound profile is usually valid for a number of stores that have the same settings.

The condition type is defined and the system takes this into account when data is prepared or when changes are analyzed. You can enter one or more categories of the condition types that are allowed.

The conversion is defined. A number of conversion tables are defined that the system can use for converting SAP data to POS system data. Conversion takes place in enhancement WPDA0001. Sample coding exists for the user exits contained in this enhancement. You can activate the coding in an enhancement project.

You make the necessary settings in the POS converter. For more information, see the documentation on your POS converter.

Procedure

In the course of a working day, you make changes to mySAP.com master data as and when needed (new articles are added, prices are changed, and so on). Every time a master data record is changed, the SAP R/3 system creates a change pointer (that is, a reference to the data record is created).

After close of business, the SAP R/3 system reads and analyzes the change pointers, is able to identify the master data records concerned, and prepares them in IDoc format.

So that you can judge whether condition changes, for example, are relevant to a store, the system carries out the following activities and checks:

Does the start or finish fall during the analysis time frame and has the value of an existing condition changed?
If conditions have changed, the system determines the variants of the generic articles, as the conditions for the generic article can also be relevant to the variants.
For every condition change, the system determines which stores are affected. If condition records that occur earlier in the access sequence exist for these stores, the system ignores these stores, as the condition does not apply to them. Prices can exist at different organizational levels.
When IDocs are prepared, the system checks whether the article was listed in the store at an earlier period or whether it is currently on sale there.
If the period during which the article is on sale expires, that is the article is no longer to be sold, the SAP system sends a deletion request to the POSs.

Note

The data for the individual objects in an IDoc is always given in full. If a relevant attribute for an article changes, a completely new data record is prepared for this article in the IDoc.

The SAP system transfers the IDocs to the IDoc interface and stores them as files in a directory to which both the SAP system and the POS converter have access. Alternatively, the IDocs can be distributed using the ALE distribution model. The IDoc data is transferred by Remote Function Call (RFC).

Note

IDocs are store-specific files. If a change is made to article A, and the article is carried in stores 1 and 2 but not in store 3, then two IDoc files are prepared for article A: one for store 1 and one for store 2. Store 3 does not receive an IDoc for article A, as the change is not relevant to that store.

Once all the relevant IDocs have been created for a particular store, the outbound interface creates a trigger file (see Transferal of Data). This file sends a signal to the Store Connection System (SCS) once all the data for a store is ready for transferal. Then the POS converter starts creating IDoc files for the next store.

The POS converter monitors the trigger file directory. If it finds a trigger file for a specific store, it converts all the IDoc files for that store into files that can be read by the POS system in the store.

At a time specified by the user in the POS converter, the POS converter creates a communication link to the POS server in the store, and transfers the newly formatted files to this server. The converter sends messages at regular intervals to the SAP system regarding the transfer status until the last step has been completed.

The POS servers in the stores copy the files to their own databases. The POS systems and other store systems then have access to the current data.

Result

The changes made in the course of the day to the master data are available after the POS outbound processing is complete in the stores concerned.

In the POS interface monitor you can display status information and any errors that occur during IDoc creation or in the POS converter.

See also:

POS Converter

POS Interface Monitor

Automatic Update of Documents Based on Condition Changes