Writing and Testing a Conversion Program 

Prerequisites

A conversion program transfers the data from your legacy system to the initial transfer file and then converts it into the appropriate structure for the R/3 System.

SAP does not provide a special tool for this step. Therefore either you must create a conversion tool yourself, or use a commercial conversion tool that helps you with assigning and converting different file formats.

The Data Transfer Workbench supports this step by enabling the data definitions of the transfer file or individual structures to be exported into one of the following programming languages:

You can also write the conversion program using ABAP. If you are using a mapping tool, this step does not apply.

Procedure

  1. Write a conversion program in one of the programming languages that you use.

    2. Note the structuring rules that apply to a data transfer object.

    You should initialize fields that should not be filled in the transfer file with the NODATA value.

  2. If you are using one of the programming languages, you can export your data definitions accordingly. Choose Goto ® Structure for prog. langs.
  3. Test the conversion program.
  4. If necessary, make any corrections to the conversion program.
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the conversion program converts the data correctly into the appropriate structure.

Result

You have created a conversion program that converts data from your legacy system into the R/3 System target structure.