Procedure documentationImporting Knowledge Bases

 

You can transfer the knowledge base of a product model that has previously been created in SAP CRM, to a different CRM system or to a different client in the same CRM system. This means that you do not need to set up product modelling again. You can create and test the product modelling in your development system or consolidation system first, and then transfer it to your production system with the help of this function.

Note Note

The knowledge base is not visible in SAP CRM on the WebClient UI; there it corresponds to the product model. The product model is the UI object of product modeling, whereas the knowledge base is the technical object in which the data of product modeling is collected.

End of the note.

Note Note

When you load a saved product configuration during configuration comparison, various messages can appear if a new knowledge base is used. These messages give you information about which parts of the saved configuration could not be loaded or have errors. In Extended Configuration Management (XCM), you can use the parameters messagearea.loadingmessages.show and behavior.forwardtocomparison to define whether and how these messages are displayed.

End of the note.

Procedure

Creating Products

Create all products of the product model/knowledge base in your target system.

Releasing and Activating Product Models

On the overview page of the product in assignment block Product Models, set the status of the product model to Released, and activate the released, but still inactive, version of the product model, using Apply Changes.

Note Note

The key is changed when the knowledge base is transferred. The logical system part of the key (logical system, name and version) is thereby assigned to the logical system name of the target system, so that the transfer overwrites an existing knowledge base with the same key.

We recommend that you create the knowledge base in your consolidation system and then transfer it to your production system afterwards. You should create and maintain the knowledge base in one system only, and then transfer it to the required system.

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Defining the Logical System for the Target System

You make the settings for this in SAP CRM Customizing, under Start of the navigation path Customer Relationship Management Next navigation step CRM Middleware and Related Components Next navigation step Communication Setup Next navigation step Set Up Logical Systems Next navigation step Define Logical System End of the navigation path. The name of the logical system usually has the following form: <System ID>CLNT<Client>.

Defining RFC Destinations for the Logical System

You make the settings for this in SAP CRM Customizing, under Start of the navigation path Customer Relationship Management Next navigation step CRM Middleware and Related Components Next navigation step Communication Setup Next navigation step Define RFC Destinations End of the navigation path.

  1. Select HTTP Connections to ABAP System.

  2. Enter the target host and the path prefix.

  3. You can get to the required data for both fields by navigating to the target system, and calling transaction SMICM. Choose Start of the navigation path Goto Next navigation step Services End of the navigation path. Here you can find the target host name.

Call transaction SICF to determine the path description.

  1. Choose hierarchy type SERVICE and execute the program with the standard parameters.

  2. Navigate to Start of the navigation path default_host Next navigation step sap Next navigation step bc Next navigation step soap Next navigation step rfc End of the navigation path.

  3. Display the service. You can find the required path description in the Path field, and the service name in the Service Name field. The path prefix is made up of these two pieces of information, minus the host name.

    Example: If the path is /default_host/sap/bc/soap/, and the service name is rfc, then the path prefix is /sap/bc/soap/rfc.

  4. To make further settings, go to the Logon Data tab page.

  5. In the Security Requirement group box, select the value Standard.

  6. In the Authentication group box, select the value Standard SAP User.

  7. Enter the logon data for the target system.

Note Note

You can test the new RFC destination with the Connection Test pushbutton. You must enable cookies to do this. Select Accept All Cookies.

If the test is successful, it shows a test result of Status HTTP-Response:500. If the test fails, the message ICM_HTTP_CONNECTION_FAILED appears on the user interface. The test does not include a valid SOAP document, so you can ignore the message regarding this.

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Defining Sites and Subscriptions

You make the settings for this in SAP CRM Customizing, under Start of the navigation path Customer Relationship Management Next navigation step CRM Middleware and Related Components Next navigation step Exchanging Data with External Components Next navigation step XIF Adapter Setup Next navigation step Outbound Direction Next navigation step Create Sites and Subscriptions End of the navigation path (transaction SMOEAC).

  1. Create a site with any description.

  2. Choose type External Interface for XML.

  3. Under Site Attributes, assign the RFC destination.

  4. Save your entries.

    If you have already assigned the publication Product Configuration (MESG) (delivered as standard by SAP) to a subscription, you can assign the appropriate subscription on the Subscriptions tab page by using the Assign icon. If not, perform the following steps:

    1. Create a subscription in the same transaction (SMOEAC).

    2. Select the object type Subscription. Create a subscription; this starts the subscription wizard.

    3. Choose a meaningful name for the subscription.

    4. Select the publication Product Configuration (MESG).

    5. Assign the site you created to the subscription. Select Assign, and choose the newly created site.

Assigning Site and BDoc Type to the Interface Type

You make the settings for this in SAP CRM Customizing, under Start of the navigation path Customer Relationship Management Next navigation step CRM Middleware and Related Components Next navigation step Exchanging Data with External Components Next navigation step XIF Adapter Setup Next navigation step Outbound Direction Next navigation step Assign Site and BDoc Type to Interface Type End of the navigation path.

  1. Switch to change mode and select New Entries.

  2. Enter the site name.

  3. Enter CRM_CFG_MDBOC as the BDoc type.

  4. Enter CRMXIF_KNOWLEDGE_BASE_SAVE as the interface name.

Defining Request Objects

  1. Call transaction R3AR2.

  2. Switch to change mode and select New Entries.

  3. Enter a request name, and choose the value CONFIGURATION in the Adapter Object field.

  4. Choose Request detail.

  5. Choose New Entries.

  6. Enter the criteria with which the knowledge base that you want to transfer can be selected.

    Possible criteria are:

    • Table name: COMM_CFGKB

    • Field names: LOGSYS; KBOBJNAME; VERSION; ACTIONFLAG; ACTIVE; CHANGEDATE; CHANGER; CLASSICDEP; CREADATE; CREATOR; ECMNR; FROMDATE; KB_TYPE; KB_USAGE; KLART_DOWN; LANG_DOWN; ORGID; ORGTYPE; STATUSID; STORAGE; TODATE

    Note Note

    You can find the values of the named fields for the transfer of the knowledge base in the source system, in table COMM_CFGKB (transaction SE16).

    End of the note.

  7. Save your request.

Starting Requests

  1. Call transaction R3AR4.

  2. Enter a name in the Request Name field.

  3. Enter CRM in the Source Site Name field.

  4. Enter the name of the target site.

  5. Start the request.

Checking the Execution of the Request

  1. Check the execution of the request by using transaction R3AR3.

  2. Check whether the knowledge base was correctly transferred to the target system. Call transaction SE16 in both the source system and target system, and compare the entries in the tables COMM_CFGHIER and COMM_CFGKB.