New-and-improved SAP connector is now generally available
Published date: 07 May, 2019
The SAP connector for Logic Apps enables bidirectional integration of data between SAP and other LOB applications or SaaS. The connector works with SAP's classical releases such R/3, ECC systems on-premises. The connector also enables integration with the SAP's newer HANA based SAP systems such as S/4 HANA, wherever they are hosted - on premises or in cloud. The SAP connector supports message or data integration to and from SAP systems through Intermediate Document (IDoc) or Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) or Remote Function Call (RFC).
The SAP connector communicates with SAP system through SAP .NET Connector (Nco) library, which is published by SAP and supplied by the user licensed to use the SAP system. The connector provides three key operations:
- Send to SAP - This operation can be used to send IDOCs or call BAPI or RFC in the target systems. The transaction payload is in the XML format. On completion, the operation returns a GUID and/or response configured in the SAP system. If the Send operation was unsuccessful, the response includes error code and details.
- Receive from SAP - This is a webhook based operation, which registers the Logic Apps with data gateway and is triggered when the gateway receives an IDOC or BAPI function calls from the target SAP system.
- Generate Schemas - SAP connector sends and receives XML messages and this operation can be used to generate the schemas for IDOC or RFC or BAPI from the target SAP system.
For all the above operations, SAP connector supports basic authentication through username and password. The connector also supports Secure Network Communications (SNC), which can be used for SAP Netweaver Single Sign-On or for additional security capabilities provided by an external security product.
The SAP connector integrates with on-premises SAP systems through the data gateway. In Send scenarios, for example, when sending a message from Logic Apps to a SAP system, the data gateway acts as an RFC client and forwards the requests received from Logic Apps to SAP. Likewise, in Receive scenarios, the data gateway acts as an RFC server that receives requests from SAP and forwards to the Logic Apps.