ABAP Development for Sales and Distribution in SAP

Exits, BAdIs, and Enhancements

Michael Koch

• Publisher: SAP PRESS
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781592294206
• eBook ISBN: 9781592296033
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

This book explains solutions to the most common enhancement scenarios in SD, and provides insight on how to implement light and flexible enhancements. You'll follow along with specific examples of when the standard SD system doesn't meet business requirements, including sales orders and billing, and understand how to find the right enhancement and implement the solution. Learning about ABAP development for Sales and Distribution in SAP has never been so practical—jump in with a book that explains the whys and hows! 1. No-Nonsense Enhancement Advice Understand when enhancements should be used, and what impacts they'll have on your SAP system in the short and long term. 2. What Enhancement Will Work? There is no "best" enhancement—learn how to compare the pros and cons of different enhancement methods and understand how they can tailor your standard SD functionality. 3. Detailed Scenarios See specific examples that illustrate where enhancements are necessary, then how to find and implement custom enhancements to meet a company's specific SD needs. 4. Practical SD Topics Sales order processing, delivery processing, and billing: Find enhancement scenarios and solutions in the book by these common topics. 5. Comprehensive Appendices Find detailed listings of BAdIs and exits for sales orders, delivery, invoicing, transport documents, and more, as well as complete coding examples.

Highlights:

• Explicit and implicit enhancements
• Persistent objects and classes
• Enhancement and Switch Framework
• Enterprise services
• VOFM routines
• Repository Infosystem
• Validations
• Remote function calls (RFC)
• Customer-defined routines
• KPI reporting

The Enhancement and Switch Framework, along with exits and routines, are used to enhance SAP Sales and Distribution systems. In this chapter, you’ll learn the differences between each of the enhancement techniques and where to find them.

1 Introduction to Enhancements in Sales and Distribution

Before introducing the different ways you can enhance the existing Sales and Distribution (SD) functionality with ABAP code, you need to understand that any customization applied to the SAP standard code should always be the last resort and the end result of vigorous contemplation. Why?

SD is standard software, like many enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Most businesses introduced SD to reap the benefits of standard software. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the typical benefits a business can gain from using SD:

• Stability
• Cost efficiency
• Upgradability
• Leveraging best practices

In other words, by creating custom code enhancements to your SD component, you are introducing new software objects that might have a detrimental effect on some or all of the benefits just listed. Therefore, it’s important to analyze, understand, and communicate the potential impact of any code customization.

Before undertaking any custom enhancements using ABAP code, developers need to consider the following five important questions:

1. Could SAP standard functionality solve your problem?
2. Have you searched SAP Marketplace (http://service.sap.com) for SAP Notes, which might help you with your problem?
3. Can the same be achieved using Customizing?
4. Is there already an existing customization object, in which the envisaged change could be incorporated?
5. Have you discussed the problem with functional consultants and other team members?

Important

You should only implement code customizations if you’re satisfied that the answers to these questions do not suggest an alternative solution.

Routines, user exits, and customer exits (in some parts) leave a fair amount of responsibility with the customer. User exits, for example, have no defined interfaces, meaning all fields and tables are available to the developer. Therefore, any incorrect use of the available fields and tables can lead to undesired results.

It’s important for developers to explore alternatives before embarking on the implementation of any customer-defined routine or user exit. Developers must keep the checkpoints in mind that were laid out in the introduction of this chapter before proceeding with implementing an enhancement.

Tips & Tricks

For further information, refer to SAP Note 381348, “Using User Exit, Customer Exit, VOFM in SD.”

1.1 Enhancing Standard SD Functionality

SAP offers more than one method or technology to customize and enhance its off-the-shelf SD functionality. To give you an overview, Figure 1.1 shows a mind map of these methods and technologies. A flag indicates that the particular method is covered in this book.

As shown in the mind map, the main emphasis of this book is on exits, the Enhancement Framework, and customer-defined routines. This is not to say that all other techniques shown (Customizing, personalization, and business transaction events) are of no importance. However, in terms of custom code enhancements, these methods are not as relevant as exits, BAdIs, and customer-defined routines. Also, there are situations where modifications cannot be avoided (see Chapter 2 and Chapter 13 for details).

Figure 1.1 SD Enhancements Mind Map

In the following sections, we introduce exits, the Enhancement Framework, and customer-defined routines in more detail. This chapter will conclude with a comparison of enhancement techniques, which should help you make the right enhancement choice in your own projects.

1.1.1 Exits

Up to SAP release 4.6, exits were the only way to truly enhance SAP standard coding. (From release 4.6A onward, business add-ins (BAdIs) were introduced, which are discussed in Chapter 2, Section 2.3.)

SAP created exits when it developed the standard code and put these into places where customers need more flexibility. Exits are empty or inactive when delivered and can be completed by customers as needed. Exits provide the following advantages, especially when compared to modifications:

• Developed objects do not affect standard coding and are held separately, in their own customer namespace.
• During an upgrade project, most exits remain and do not affect the upgraded system (there are some exceptions, see the comparison tables in Section 1.4 of this chapter for details).

In the following sections, we’ll discuss the different types of exits and distinguish them by explaining their implementation and features.

More often than not, user exits and customer exits are mixed up or even regarded as the s...

Table of contents

• Notes on Usage and on the Screen Presentation
• Table of Contents
• Dear Reader
• Preface
• 1 Introduction to Enhancements in Sales and Distribution
• PART I Enhancements in Sales Order Processing
• 2 Validating Sales Order Data
• 3 Capturing and Saving Additional Data Fields in Sales Order Processing
• 4 Creating an SAP CRM Activity after SD Order Billing
• 5 Filtering Pricing Data within a Web Service
• 6 Using a Custom Field in SD Pricing
• PART II Enhancements in Delivery Processing
• 7 Setting a Delivery Block on the Header Level
• 8 Using a BAdI to Keep Track of Delivery KPIs
• 9 Using a Customer Exit to Enhance the Outbound Delivery Monitor
• PART III Enhancements in Billing
• 10 Invoice Splitting Using a VOFM Routine
• 11 Changing Invoice Reference and Numbering Range during Document Creation
• PART IV Conclusion
• 12 Finding the Right Enhancement Technique
• 13 Future Outlook
• A Exits and BAdIs in Sales and Distribution
• B Code Listing for Class ZCL_SURVEY
• C The Author
• Index
• Service Pages
• Legal Notes