SAPconnect Communication Interface 
SAPconnect provides a standard interface for external communication, which supports sending using telecommunication services, such as FAX, text messages (pager/SMS), Internet mail and X.400, as well as sending to printers and between different SAP systems. It enables external communication components to be connected to the SAP system.
Prerequisites
SAPconnect provides a direct connection to the Internet through the SMTP plug-in of the SAP Web Application Server. This enables you to send and receive Internet mails, faxes, and text messages (pager/SMS) directly, without having to use additional external communication systems. For detailed configuration instructions, see SMTP Configuration Guide.
You can also send packed text messages (pager/SMS) to external servers or providers as URLs. For detailed configuration instructions, see HTTP Configuration Guide.
Certain settings are necessary in the relevant components to enable external sending in the SAP system. For information about the settings that need to be made in SAPconnect, address management, Business Workplace and so on, see External Sending in the SAP System.
Architecture
The following graphic shows the different communication paths that Internet mails, faxes and SMS messages can travel to and from the SAP system:
The following communication paths are available:
Two SAP systems exchange messages through SAPconnect and an RFC connection.
An SAP system uses SAPconnect and RFC to communicate with an external communication system (fax server, text message (pager/SMS) server, SMTP- or X.400-Gateway) that forwards Internet mails, faxes, SMS or X.400 messages.
An SAP system uses SAPconnect and the SMTP plug-in to communicate with the Internet directly to send e-mails, or with a paging/fax server or provider that forwards SMS messages and faxes.
An SAP system uses SAPconnect and the HTTP plug-in to communicate with a paging provider that forwards SMS messages.
For detailed information on the process flow for sending and receiving in the SAP system, see Process Flow for External Communication.
Tools
The two tools described below have been specially designed for communication administration.
Transaction SCOT: Administration interface that you can use to set up external communication systems and monitor sending. You can select various views of your communication environment.
Transaction SOST: Overview of the send requests, allows you to display and manage all messages sent using SAPconnect.
Tasks
The following administrative tasks are performed on a daily basis in the communication interface.
Task |
Description |
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The send requests overview (transaction SOST) enables you to display and manage all messages sent using SAPconnect. |
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You can use the routing test to check whether routing for outgoing messages runs correctly in your communications environment. The test provides information on how the appropriate node is determined using the recipient address you specified and whether fax and paging numbers are converted according to the rules for recipient number adjustment. |
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You can stipulate that a receipt confirmation is not expected for certain recipients. |
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Inbound distribution enables you to distribute incoming documents sent from an external source (for example, over the Internet or by fax) according to certain rules. |
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You can use the reorganization report RSBCS_REORG to reorganize data that is created when sending documents when using SAPoffice/Business Workplace. |
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To enhance performance for busy message periods, you have the option of parallelizing the SAPconnect send process. This enables send requests to be processed on multiple work processes that can run on different application servers. Only one background job is executed, which starts multiple work processes. This divides the send requests into packages and sends them in parallel over different servers. |
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You can use various views of the communication environment to monitor current send operations. You can use the alert monitor to obtain an overview of the current operating statuses of your external components, SAPconnect administration also provides various troubleshooting tools. |
More Information
For more information about the communication interface, see SAPconnect.