In the SAP spool system, unlike most other spool systems, the print process has two parts:

1. In the first part, a print file is created (the spool request). The spool request contains device-independent print data.
2. The output request is not created until the print file has been assigned to be printed on a specific device. To do this, the system converts the device-independent print data in the spool request into the appropriate printer language understood by the output device (for example, POSTSCRIPT, PCL-5).

The following graphic illustrates how print data is sent to the output device.

Situation a: Spool request and output request are created simultaneously (print immediately).

Situation b: An output request is created for a spool request immediately after the spool request is created. This output request is then printed on a device. Later, a user creates two additional output requests for the same spool request. These two outputs request are printed on two different devices.

Situation c: Only a spool request is created, as nothing is to be printed.

This means you can print a spool request at a later time without having to recreate the print data.