Integrated Communication Interface 
The Integrated Communication Interface (ICI) supports the integration of non-SAP communication products with SAP components that use communication services. The ICI is intended in particular for scenarios involving multiple communication channels such as telephony, e-mail, and chat, but it can also be used in single-channel scenarios. It enables activities such as an agent accepting an inbound phone call or deflecting an inbound chat request, or a supervisor monitoring a queue. The ICI is only one of several components required to implement communication scenarios of this kind.
Note
An example scenario is the integration of communication management software systems with the interaction center (IC), specifically the IC WebClient and IC manager dashboard, provided by SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM). For illustration purposes, this example is used throughout this documentation.
The graphic below represents a simplified view an example scenario without detailing the interfaces. The scenario is made up of functionality from three distinct sources – an application component, a technology component, and an external (non-SAP) component.
Note
For test purposes, you can simulate external communication management software using the Communication Management Software Simulator (CMSS). For more information, see Communication Management Software Simulator.
Integration
The ICI is based on Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and eXtensible Markup Language (XML); they are non proprietary, Web-oriented, open interface technologies. HTTP is used at the transport level.
The system architecture required to connect the interaction center with external communication management software using the ICI is made up of several components. The system architecture of the interaction center example scenario in a live environment is shown below:
Live System Architecture
Abbreviation |
Explanation |
|---|---|
ICI |
Integrated Communication Interface |
BCB |
Business Communication Broker |
BSPs |
Business Server Pages |
SAM |
Simplified ABAP Messaging |
BCB Components
The BCB, BCB API, and SOAP dispatcher components enable the CMSS. The messages passed between the application component and the external component are passed via the ICI.
Note
CMSS Customizing for IC WebClient is done via transaction CRMM_BCB_ADM.
Application-Specific Components
The application-specific components are linked to the ICI-specific components via the Business Communication Broker Application Programming Interface (BCB API). This is the API for application customizing.
In the interaction center example scenario, the application consists of the IC WebClient, which provides an ABAP-based user interface for interaction center agents. For more information, see the documentation for the IC WebClient that you can find on the SAP Help Portal under SAP Customer Relationship Management.
The IC server sends actions to the communication management software via the ICI-specific components and receives events back from the communication management software also via the ICI-specific components. The actions might include agent logon, initiate outbound phone call, or remove chat line from chat session. The events might include new inbound phone call, or new posting in chat session.
External Components
These are non-SAP communication systems. In this scenario, the external product is the communication management software, which is a multichannel communication product. This is responsible for merging requests from different media, routing requests to specific agents or agent groups, queuing requests, signaling inbound requests to the IC, and so on. The external products communicate with SAP via the ICI using SOAP and XML.
Certification
A certification process is implemented to verify the connectivity of external communication products with SAP using the ICI. An external product does not have to support the ICI in full. Partial certification is possible to enable the connection of single-channel communication products, such as telephony products.
Features
Many application components use external communication services. Integrating an external communication product with an application component using the ICI can provide:
Integration of multiple communication channels such as phone, e-mail, and chat
Active reporting of new, changed, or completed phone calls, e-mails, or chat sessions (known generically as items)
Monitoring and statistics
Note
Multichannel management (that is, the synchronization and serialization of incoming communications) is not part of this SAP functionality. The ICI is a server-to-server interface. It does not support direct communication between the SAP client and the external communication product.