IDoc
Encyclopedia : I : ID : IDO : IDoc
The SAP R/3 IDoc (intermediate document) is the standard data structure for data exchange between SAP systems or between an SAP application and an external program.
IDocs are the mechanism for data transfer in the SAP ALE System(Application Link Enabling).
IDocs are asynchronous transactions with each IDoc generated existing as a self-contained text file that can then be transmitted without connecting to a central database.
An IDoc encapsulates data so that it can be exchanged between different systems without conversion from one format to another and thus supports data exchanges between disparate environments.
IDoc types define different categories of data, such as orders, invoices or materials movements which may then be broken down into more specific categories called message types. Greater specificity means that an IDoc type is capable of storing only the data required for a particular transaction.
An IDoc can be generated at any point in a transaction process. Any single transaction could generate one or more IDocs are generated in the sending database and passed to the ALE communication layer.
The communication layer performs a RFC (Remote Function Call) using a defined system port and RFC destination specified for the predefined RFC queue of the system.
The IDoc is transmitted to a target destination which may be an SAP system or some external system like a TIBCO message server.
See also
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