POS Interface - Outbound: Outbound Processing 

Use

You use this function to supply current master data from the SAP system to the POS systems in the stores. Data is prepared individually for each store, so each store only receives those articles and prices relevant to it.

Integration

In POS outbound processing, the system uses ALE technology for data distribution, and the standard messages defined in this, to distribute data from the central SAP system to the POS systems. This means that you only need to maintain master data in the central system.

The ALE tool enables all messages that can be exchanged between SAP systems to be sent to external store systems, too.

Prerequisites

The following settings must be made in SAP Retail so that POS interface - outbound processing can be carried out successfully:

In addition, a number of settings must be made for the POS converter. For further information on this, see the documentation on your POS converter.

Features

The SAP system prepares the following special data for distribution via the POS interface - outbound.

The POS master data provides the store systems with all the master data required for smooth and efficient trading.

The assortment list provides store systems with their article master data and any changes made to it. This enables store retailing systems to support business processes independently in the stores.

Special messages and intermediate documents (IDocs) for POS systems are defined for the following objects.

Some of these objects are time-dependent, which means that their data can change within the lead time. Other objects have data that do not change during the lead time. The lower-level sections of this documentation contain a short description of the objects and the conditions that need to be met before the object can be transferred to the POS systems.

The messages are tailored to the individual systems in place in the stores. The complex data structures in SAP Retail are simplified so that they can be read by the receiving systems in the stores. These messages are subject to a receiver-specific preparation check and their status can be tracked in the POS interface monitor.

The following graphic illustrates the flow of information in POS outbound processing:

The SAP system prepares the data in IDoc format at POS outbound and transfers it to the ALE layer.

If the recipients were not defined by the application, they can then be defined in the ALE layer via the distribution model. The data can also be filtered.

The ALE layer transfers the IDocs to the IDoc interface. Here, they are saved to the IDoc database and transferred to the assigned port. Customizing settings are made for each port to determine whether the IDoc is saved as a file in the file system or transferred directly to the recipient system.

The files in the file system are picked up by a converter that prepares them for the store system and transfers the data to the store. The converter reports the status to the SAP system when the whole process is completed.

 

See also:

POS Converter

ALE - Introduction and Administration