Offline Approval in SAP ECC 6.0

Question

Hello experts,
Requirement: Approvers should be able to approve SAP workitems from Outlook mailbox without directly logging into SAP.
From my searches in SDN, I understand that Extended Notification along with Single Sign On will take care of most of the requirement, except that the approvers still need to have SAP login credentials and they will actually be executing the SAP workitem from the shortcut in the Outlook email.
Although Extended Notification provides a number of advantages over RSWUWFML2 in terms of HTML support, Web UI Support, consolidation and forwarding of workitems and such; the core functionality is still the same i.e. providing SAP workitem shortcuts in an external email.
Is there any way, we can get actual offine approval functionality in ECC like it works in SRM? The following wiki describes the steps required.
http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/SRM/Offlineapproval-generalconfiguration
This is not available in ECC but is there something similar?
Or can a similar functionality be developed on the ECC side?
Has anyone attempted some development on similar lines?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advices.
Regards,
Supratim

Answer 1

HI Could you please check the details below this all is present in the Basic settings guide which you could find in the SAP help portal
An alternative method of setting up mail via SMTP is described in SAP Note 455140.
As of SAP Web Application Server 6.10, the SAP system's kernel supports SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) directly, meaning that e-mails can be exchanged between the SAP system and any SMTP-compliant mail server without the need for any additional external components. In the outbound
direction, the SAP system passes the mails to a single mail server, whereas in the inbound direction mails can be received from any number of mail servers.
As of SAP Web Application Server 6.20, faxes and text messages (pager/ SMS) can also be exchanged via SMTP. For this purpose, the faxes and messages are packed into e-mails. For sending, the mail server refers to the domain of their recipients' addresses and forwards the e-mails either to an internal fax/text message server (for example, [email protected]), or to an external provider (for example, [email protected]). For receiving, the fax/text message server or provider sends e-mails to addresses with the SAP system's domain (for example, [email protected]).
Prerequisites
The mail servers involved must be SMTP-compliant.
If you want to use text messaging in the SAP system, then you must define names for the messaging services to be used, such as SMS, with transaction SA14.
Procedure
Setting the Profile Parameters (Transaction RZ10)
You must adapt the SAP Web Application Server’s profile if the SMTP functionality is to be used. The SAPconnect send job can only be scheduled for servers on which SMTP is active, so ideally you should activate SMTP on all of the SAP system’s application servers.
You must set the profile parameters below. The placeholder <*> stands for the sequence number (starting with zero) of parameters that occur several times.eicm/plugin_<*> = PROT=SMTP,PLG=<prog>
This loads the SMTP plug-in. It is a dynamic library that implements the SMTP protocol. <prog> specifies the file name of the SMTP plug-in.
The program is located in the execution directory of the SAP Web Application Server instance, has the name smtpplugin and the extension typical for your operating system (.so, .dll, and so on).eÈhTÙï icm/server_port_<*> = PROT=SMTP,PORT=<port>
This opens a TCP/IP port for the reception of mails by the SMTP plug-in. <port> specifies the number of the port that is to be used. This port must not be occupied by any other program on this host. If no mails (including status notifications) are to be received in this SAP system, you can set <port> to 0.
You can use TIMEOUT to define an optional maximum time (in seconds) that is to be waited for a response from the mail server.eÈhTÙï is/SMTP/virt_host_<*> = <host>:<port>,<port>,...
This defines a virtual mail host for the reception of mails. If all inbound mails (including status notifications) are to be received and processed in a single client of the SAP system, this parameter is not required and is/SMTP/virt_host_0 = *:*; is taken as the default. If several clients are to receive, a virtual mail host must be created for every client. <host> specifies the name of the host
to which inbound mails are addressed. You can specify * here if the mails are to be distributed independently of the host addressed. <port> specifies the number of a port to which inbound mails are addressed.
User Administration (Transaction SU01) You must create a service user to process the inbound mails in every SAP system client in which mails (or status notifications) are to be received. You use transaction SU01 to create a user of the type Service and assign the profile S_A.SCON to it
Client Assignment (Transaction SICF)
Each SAP system client in which inbound mails (or status notifications) are to be received and processed must have an SMTP server. In transaction SICF, there should be one SMTP server (called SAPconnect) supplied in every SAP system. You use this one for the first client then create an additional SMTP server for each additional client. You make the following settings on the SMTP server
Host data -- You enter the sequence number of a parameter is/SMTP/virt_host_<*> from the profile. If you only have one client and therefore did not enter a parameter of this kind, you enter 0.
Service data-- You enter the client to which the mails received via this virtual mail host are to be forwarded, as well as the logon data of the system user created for inbound mails.
Handler list You enter CL_SMTP_EXT_SAPCONNECT as item 1.
SCOT :
Default domain--- Under SettingsDefault Domain, you define the domain of this SAP system client. This is used for the following purposes
   The SMTP plug-in logs on to the mail server using the domain as ID.0ˆN=?ü
   The message ID of outbound e-mails is compiled with this domain.0ˆN=?ü
   If an SAP user who has no Internet mail address maintained sends an e-mail, a sender address    composed of the SAP user name and this domain is generated
Node----There is always one SMTP node in each client. This node is created by the SAP system and cannot be deleted. To configure the node for sending Internet mail, you:
1.Ensure you are in the Node view.
2.Double-click on the node name.
3.Select Node in use.
4.Specify the mail server to which outbound mails are to be passed in Mail Host and Mail Port.
5.Choose Set adjacent to Internet.
6.Specify the address areas of recipient addresses that are to be reached via this node. This is usually * if all e-mails are to be sent using SMTP.
7.Enter output formats for SAP documents. The following settings are recommended here:SAPscript/Smart FormsPDFABAP ListHTMBusiness Object/LinkHTMRAW TextTXT
8.Confirm.
Send job
E-mails sent from an SAP application are merely put into a queue. A periodic background process, known as the SAPconnect send job, takes the e-mails from this queue and sends them via the Internet. To schedule this job from SAPconnect administration, you:
1.Choose ViewJobs.
2.If there is not already a job scheduled, choose JobCreate.
3.Enter a job name and confirm.
4.Select the variant SAP&CONNECTALL by placing the cursor on it.
5.Choose Schedule Job.
6.Choose Schedule Periodically.
7.Enter an appropriate time period, such as 10 minutes.
8.Choose Create.
Inbound
If you want inbound e-mails to a specific address or with a specific content to automatically start a program that processes these e-mails, you can configure this under Settings>>Inbound Processing.
If you want inbound e-mails to a specific address or from a specific sender to be automatically redirected to another recipient or distribution list, you can configure this under SettingsInbound Distribution