Brief discussion on SAP XI and its' Integration with SAP MDM.

Question

Hi,
I have never worked on SAP XI.
I am discussing it on brief, please give your valuable replies.
SAP XI consists of System Landascape Directory(SLD).
SLD Consists of Business System and Techinical System.
Technical System contains all information about the software
component. The Business System consists of Inbound and Outbound Business
System which are used as logical names for data transfer.
There is communication Channel for Receiver and Sender Business System and n agreement
is signed between Sender and Receiver.
Outbound Interface defined for Business System Outbound and Techical System associated
with the Business System,
Inbound Interface defined for Business System Inbound and Techical System associated
with the Business System.
In SAP NetWeaver XI Integration Directory, we have defined the Integration Scenarios,
Actions, Interface Objects, Mapping Objects, Adapters Objects.
Mapping Object defines the Structure and Value Mapping.
Adapter Objects defines the Adapter program which implements RFC Adapter, FTP Adapter logic.
FTP Adapter is used for XI-MDM Communication.
RFC Adapter is used for XI-ECC Communication.
Integration Repository: Both Outbound and Inbound Interfaces are Mapped with Value mapping and
Structure Mapping inside Integration Repository.
The File Adapter takes the File from the Outbound port of MDM System
and sends it as IDOC to Receiver Business System.
Value Mapping must be done between Sender and Receiver interfaces.
Value Mapping is done by XSLT or Java based program.
SAP NetWeaver XI Integration Server at runtime:
Message Split, Interface Determination, Receiver Identifaction, Mapping, Techincal Routing
and Call Adapter Proccess are done.
In SAP XI 3.0 and MDM 5.5:
Step 1: Create busines system as service.
Step 2: Create communication channel for each business service. If the system can communicate
through different channels, then create all possible channel types if necessary.
Step 3: Create receiver agreement between the systems.
Step 4: Interface determination:
- Here you see for the first time the software component mentioned;
there are some special requirements regarding this software component in relation to the customizing ID mapping.
- To modify this software component, the customer needs to copy the SAP standard delivered software component
into its own namespace. The customer is able to modify to create archives
for the customized ID mapping.
Receiver determination.
Configure an FTP Server on the MDS.
Create a send folder for outbound messages using outbound port(s) for
remote systems(s).
Create receive folder inbound messages using inbound port(s) for remote systems.
This ia all about concept of SAP XI Infractsture and its' Integration with SAP MDM 5.5.
Regards
Kaushik Banerjee

Answer 1

Hi Kaushik,
You must be aware of File types that MDM Import Manager can Import i.e. we have XML, Excel etc. Now there are two transactions to extract data from R3
1. MDMGX -
         - For lookup table extraction
         - Output in XML format which MDM can import without using XI.
          - FTP can be configured to put the file in the desired folder which will be then picked by Import Server.
2. MDM_CLNT_EXTR -
          - For Main table records.
          - Output is in Idoc format which MDM doesn't understand hence we need XI in between which converts Idoc file received from R3 into XML which can then be imported using Import Manager or Import Server. For this we need to implement XI Scenario that consists of Source System, Receiver System, Type of Data etc.
Just a basic understanding...
Regards,
Jitesh Talreja