Connection to External Systems Using CRM Middleware

Caution Caution

You establish the connection to external systems using CRM Middleware only for FS quotations!

For banking customer quotes, you establish the connection to external systems using consumer proxies. For more information, see Connection to External Systems Using Consumer Proxies.

End of the caution.

In the account origination process, you can use functions that are in external systems and not in SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM). To be able to use these functions, you need to replicate data between systems. You can transfer data synchronously and asynchronously.

Prerequisites

Settings in Back-End Systems

Note Note

The technical implementation of the Account Origination scenario requires at least one contract system for the operational management of contracts. Before you configure your system landscape for the technical implementation of the scenario, check the existing limitations of the contract system you plan to use as the back-end system for the operational management of contracts in combination with account origination.

For more information, see SAP Service Marketplace at service.sap.com/notes.

End of the note.

Before you can use the functions in SAP back-end systems, you must make the corresponding settings in the back-end systems. For more information about the configuration of the ContractOrigination and LoanContractOrigination business scenarios, see SAP Solution Manager.

Settings for Asynchronous Connection in SAP CRM

Before you can use the asynchronous connection to replicate loan and collateral data for FS quotations, you must make the following settings:

To connect SAP CRM and SAP NetWeaver Process Integration, you have created for SAP CRM a site with the type External Interfaces for XI. To enable the exchange of data, you have created subscriptions for the site with the type All Business Transactions.
For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under CRM Middleware and Related Components Exchanging Data with External Components XIF Adapter Setup Outbound Direction Create Sites and Subscriptions .
You have assigned a BDoc type and one of the following interfaces to the site:
- CRMXIF_COLLAT_CONST_CONF_SAVE
- CRMXIF_COLLAT_CONST_CREA_SAVE
- CRMXIF_LOANC_CONFIRM_SAVE
- CRMXIF_LOANC_CREATE_SAVE
For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under CRM Middleware and Related Components Exchanging Data with External Components XIF Adapter Setup Outbound Direction Assign Site and BDoc Type to Interface Type .
You have defined which items of a document you want to distribute to the external settings using the XIF adapter.

For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Asynchronous Configure Status Management for XI Adapter .

Connection to Loans Management

When you release financial service quotations (FS quotations) in SAP CRM, the system copies the data to the connected loans management system:

You have assigned the corresponding payment methods for the connected loans management system to the payment methods defined for each country in CRM.
For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Asynchronous Connection to Loan Management Assign Payment Methods .
You can use a Business Add-In (BAdI) to modify how data is updated when it is transferred from financing transactions to loans management.
For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Asynchronous Connection to Loan Management BAdI: Create Financial Services .
You can use a BAdI to modify how data is updated for financial transaction confirmations from loans management.

For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Asynchronous Connection to Loan Management BAdI: Process Confirmation of Financial Services Contract .

Connection to Collateral Management

When you release an FS quotation in SAP CRM, the system copies the data relating to the collateral constellation to the connected collateral management system:

You can use a BAdI to modify the message that the system transfers to collateral management when it creates the collateral constellation.
For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Asynchronous Connection to Collateral BAdI: Create Collateral Constellation .
You can use a BAdI to modify the message that confirms the creation of collateral in collateral management to meet your requirements.
For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Asynchronous Connection to Collateral BAdI: Post Confirmation of Collateral Constellation .

Settings for Synchronous Connection in SAP CRM

Before you can use the functions that are synchronously connected to SAP CRM, you must make the following settings:

You have integrated the functions that are synchronously connected to SAP CRM by using actions in business transactions. In account origination, you can also define a sequence in which the system is to perform the actions (action choreography).
For more information about the settings for actions, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Basic Functions Actions Actions in Transaction .

For more information about the settings for action choreography, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Synchronous Reset Calculation Status/Define Action Choreography .
You have used a BAdI to define how to filter out the data to be transferred from the business transaction and how to transfer the results to the business transaction.

For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Synchronous BAdI: Define Data Retrieval from Transaction/Results Transfer to Transaction .
For credit standing queries between SAP CRM and the Credit Management server, you can use a BAdI to change the Credit Management return values or generate error messages.

For more information, see Customizing for SAP CRM under Financial Services Basic Functions Connection of External Systems Synchronous Connection to Credit Management System BAdI: Process the Credit Server's Return Values .

Integration

You need at least one contract management system to map the account origination scenario.

Note

The standard system contains examples of settings for initiating secured and unsecured loan contracts. These settings are aligned with SAP back-end systems. However, you can also use back-end systems from other manufacturers.

End of the note.
You use CRM Middleware to control the replication of documents for asynchronous connection.
For more information, see CRM Integration Services.
You use SAP NetWeaver PI to handle synchronous and asynchronous communication between SAP CRM and external systems.

For more information, look for Process Integration in the documentation of SAP NetWeaver at http://help.sap.com.
SAP offers integration scenarios in SAP NetWeaver PI for the account origination scenario. These integration scenarios describe all objects that you need for the semantic and technical integration of loan origination, for example interfaces and data types. You can use the integration scenarios as a template for setting up a connection to external systems.
For more information about the configuration of the ContractOrigination and LoanContractOrigination business scenarios, see SAP Solution Manager.

Features

In conjunction with account origination, asynchronous and synchronous connections to external systems are required.

Asynchronous Connection

An asynchronous connection is required to replicate inventory data for the following account origination functions:

Creation of loan contracts in loans management (FS quotation)
Creation of collateral constellations in collateral management (FS quotation)

If you connect SAP CRM to external systems asynchronously, you use both CRM Middleware and SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI) for data distribution: The CRM system generates a business document (BDoc) that it transfers to CRM Middleware. In CRM Middleware, external interface adapters (XIF adapters) convert the data to XML and select the data to be transferred. Data is then exchanged using SAP NetWeaver PI, where further mapping is possible if required.

Communication takes place with a time delay, which means that the back-end system does not return the result to SAP CRM immediately. You use the asynchronous connection when you create stock data in the back-end systems, for example contracts.

Synchronous Connection

A synchronous connection is required to exchange transaction data for the following account origination functions:

Calculation of the payment schedule for loans in loans management (FS quotation)
Credit rating of business partners in credit management (FS quotation)
Transfer of existing collateral from collateral management (FS quotation)

If you connect SAP CRM to external systems synchronously, data distribution takes place using SAP NetWeaver PI alone; CRM Middleware is not involved.

Communication takes place in real time, which means that the back-end system returns the result to SAP CRM immediately. You use the synchronous connection when you use calculation functions in the back-end system, such as the calculation of a payment schedule for a loan.