SAP Service
The SAP Service in Adeptia enables your organization to exchange business documents with SAP systems, so that data flowing through your integrations can be sent to or received from SAP without manual intervention.
What the SAP Service does
Adeptia connects to SAP to exchange business documents in the IDoc (Intermediate Document) format. IDocs are the standard SAP document type used to carry structured business data, such as orders, invoices, and delivery notices, between SAP and external systems. The SAP Service handles both directions: Adeptia can send IDocs to SAP, and it can receive IDocs that SAP pushes to Adeptia.
How the integration is structured
Adeptia uses two complementary configuration objects to represent the SAP connection:
| Configuration object | Purpose |
|---|---|
| SAP Client | Represents Adeptia acting as a client that connects outbound to an SAP system to send IDocs |
| SAP Server | Represents Adeptia acting as a listener that receives inbound IDocs pushed from SAP |
You configure one or both depending on whether your integration sends documents to SAP, receives documents from SAP, or does both.
What you configure
When setting up an SAP Client, you provide the connection details that allow Adeptia to reach your SAP system. These include the SAP system address and logon credentials, as well as connection pool settings that control how Adeptia manages concurrent connections. You can also configure secure network communication settings.
When setting up an SAP Server, you configure Adeptia to listen for inbound IDoc deliveries from SAP. You associate the server with an SAP Client so that Adeptia can reach the SAP system.
SAP Client configurations support credential management through Adeptia's configuration vault, so sensitive values such as passwords do not need to be stored in plain text within the integration definition.
Sending IDocs to SAP
When a process flow sends an IDoc to SAP, Adeptia:
- Establishes a connection to the SAP system using the SAP Client configuration.
- Parses the IDoc document and records it for tracking purposes before transmission.
- Transmits the IDoc to SAP and confirms delivery.
- Updates the tracking record with the IDoc number assigned by SAP and the final delivery status.
If a transmission error occurs at any stage, Adeptia records the error details alongside the IDoc data so that you can investigate and retry.
Receiving IDocs from SAP
The SAP Server can be activated and deactivated as needed.
Reliable delivery and transaction tracking
Every IDoc exchange, whether inbound or outbound, is tracked using a transaction identifier (TID). Adeptia records the full lifecycle of each transaction, from initial receipt or dispatch through to final confirmation or error. The tracked states are:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Created | The transaction has been registered but not yet processed |
| Executed | The transaction has been submitted for processing |
| Committed | The transaction has been committed successfully |
| Confirmed | SAP has confirmed receipt and the transaction is complete |
| Rolled back | The transaction was reversed due to an error |
For each IDoc within a transaction, Adeptia also records the IDoc type, sender and receiver details, the IDoc content, and the status. If an error occurs, the error details are stored alongside the record. This tracking information gives you a complete audit trail of every document exchanged with SAP.
Building IDoc schemas
Before you can map data to or from an IDoc, you need an IDoc schema. Adeptia can retrieve IDoc type definitions and extensions directly from a connected SAP system by querying that system for available types.