Mapping of Application Addresses (SAP Library - Business Address Services (BC-SRV-ADR))

Mapping of Application Addresses

Depending on the addressee of an address, an address is made up of different components. For a contact person in a company, for example, you need not only the company address, but also the name of the contact person and possibly the name of the department. This is why it makes sense to distinguish between different types of addresses.

The BAS provide three address types:

Company addresses (address type 1)
Personal addresses (address type 2)
Workplace addresses (address type 3)

In the case of address types 2 and 3, persons are assigned to the address data.

Address Type 1: Company Addresses

Short description	Example
Addresses of companies, plants, subsidiaries, and so on, can be mapped to this address type.	SAP America Inc. 3999 West Chester Pike Newtown Square, PA 19073 USA

You can create an address of this type without reference to an application object.

Note

All addresses that you create in Customizing (definition of the organizational structure) are of this type.

Example

In the customer master, the first address belongs to this address type.

Address Type 2: Personal Addresses

Short description	Example
Private address of a person. The address consists of address-relevant personal data and the postal address.	Mr. Richard Jones 54 Oakwood Ave Los Angeles, CA 06319

The person represents a separate object within the Business Address Services. A person can have one or more postal addresses (see graphic):

Normally, you always maintain one postal address for a person (there are no standard dialogs available to create a person without an address.)

An address is assigned to one person only. No two persons can have a link to the same address. For two persons with the same address, you must create two personal addresses. The personal address as a whole (person and postal address), however, can be used more than once.

Note

For more information on the relationships between application objects and addresses, see Preparing to Work with the BAS.

Address Type 3: Workplace Addresses

Short description	Example
Company-specific address of a person. The address consists of address-relevant personal data, workplace data (department, room number, extension, and so on) and the company address.	SAP AG Marketing Department Ursula Smith 17 Shaftsbury Ave Los Angeles CA 06924
	James Smith Sales Manager ABC Software 17 Charles Ave Los Angeles CA 06312

This address type consists of three subobjects: the person, the workplace data and the company address (address type 1):

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text

As with address type 2, a person can have more than one workplace.

For this address type, you cannot have a link to a personal address (address type 2) instead of to the company address, that is, combine address type 3 with address type 2. Instead, you have to create a new personal address for the same person.

You can create an address of this type without reference to an application object.

Caution

If the term address is used in the following, the information given about this object is also applicable to the person object unless stated otherwise.

Comparison of the Address Types

In contrast to the other two address types, addresses of address type 1 (company address) are not linked to a person.

Addresses of address types 2 and 3 are linked to a person. From a technical point of view, the following differences exist between the address data:

A workplace address (type 3) refers to an existing company address (type 1).
The address data of personal addresses (type 2) constitutes attributes of exactly one person. In the BAS data model, these attributes are not independent and can therefore not be referenced more than once (that is, by multiple persons).

These characteristics affect the maintenance of where-used lists, for example (see Where-Used Lists and Maintenance of Where-Used Lists).