Change Notification Service and Agent Framework
The Agent Framework supplements the functions of the Change Notification Service. The following section provides an overview of the relationships between these two applications.
Term explanations
The Change Notification Service differentiates between change pointer generating applications and change pointer receiving applications.
In the Agent Framework the applications generating change pointers are the applications in which the event occurs and to which an agent has to react. Here, these are called sending applications.
In the Agent Framework change pointer receiving applications are the applications that are to receive information from an agent. Here, these are called receiving applications. The receiving applications are the ordering parties for the agents.
The Change Notification Service represents an Agent Framework Event (such as a limit change to an account) in the form of a change pointer. Each change pointer is based on an export object. The latter is uniquely identified by an export object key, an export object category, and an application ID . These Change Notification Service terms are used in the Agent Framework application on the selection screen Agent Identification of the Execute Agents report.
Customizing
You must register and activate applications for which you want to use the Agent Framework as change pointer generating or change pointer receiving applications in Customizing for the Change Notification Service. This is also where you define the export object categories and their assignment to applications that later play a role in the Agent Framework in the form of events.
To enable the receiving applications to later be informed about events by the agents, you must have assigned the responsible agents to these applications in Customizing for the Agent Framework. You do this in the Customizing activity Declare Recipient as Agent. This registers the agents to events and ensures that an agent in the order of a receiving application later reacts when a certain event occurs. For more information about individual requirements for Customizing settings in the Change Notification Service and the Agent Framework for the implementation of agents, see Set Up Agents in Customizing.
In the implementation of the agent for each of the receiving applications, you define how the agents prepare and forward the read change pointer data for the export objects or the events and which message channels you want to use for this. The Agent Framework has no influence on this. For more information about programming an agent, see Programming Agents.
The following is a simplified representation of a process showing the relationship between the Agent Framework and the Change Notification Service.
The administrator registers an agent in Customizing for the Agent Framework to an event in SAP Application A by declaring a receiving application of the Change Notification Service as an agent of the Agent Framework.
The event to which the agent is registered occurs.
SAP Application A generates a change pointer using the Change Notification Service and provides it to the Agent Framework to be called up.
The Agent Framework calls up the change pointer data from the Change Notification Service, executes the agent assigned to this even and provides the agent with the data for further use. You define how often this takes place when you schedule the agent in Customizing for the Agent Framework or in Customizing of the external tool.
According to its implementation, the agent checks whether it needs to send a message and processes the change pointer.
It gets all information relevant to the ordering party's agent from the database specific to SAP Application A, prepares the data and calls up an outbound service.
a) The outbound service sends the message to SAP Application B for further use.
b) The outbound service sends the message to PI.
c) The outbound service sends the message to external application C.