Use

One of the first steps that you have to carry out when setting up the SAP system, is normally the transfer of material data from an old system. This step is required because the large number of materials used means that it is not usually practical to create new materials manually in the system.

If you use a distributed system, you also need to exchange data within this system itself. The following situations also require the distribution of material master data:

Transfer of material data from an R/2 system

Distribution of changed and/or newly-created material data between SAP systems (whereby a system could be on another computer)

Supply of old or non-SAP systems with changed or newly-created material data

Transfer of data from data pools

Targeted distribution of materials (manual distribution)

You can use ALE in the IDOcs for a material master to send the variant configuration for a material variant, either directly, or via a change pointer. You can find details under Distribution of Material Variants .

Integration

You can transfer materials of the following types from old systems:

·        Via direct input

See the component CA – Data Transfer Workbench , under Information Sheet for the Transfer of Material Master Data (Industry) .

Via Application Link Enabling (ALE)

You can find a detailed description of ALE, including supported functions, and the procedure, in the following components:

BC – ALE Implementation and Administration

BC – ALE Introduction

Creating Material Master Data

Distributing Material Master Data

CA – ALE Programming Guide

Master Data Distribution

The initial data transfer from variant configuration into the material master from old systems can lead to inconsistencies, and is not supported by SAP.