PilotFish Interface Exchange (PIE)

The XCS eiConsole is a graphical Integrated Development Environment created for the express purpose of developing, deploying, managing, and maintaining interfaces. The XCS eiConsole with support for SAP IDoc integration offers specific capabilities designed to slash the time required to parse, produce, and map IDoc data formats. These capabilities, developed in the process of deploying real-world interfaces, address the subtleties of working with SAP IDoc.

Clients of SAP are familiar with the "intermediate document", or IDoc, used to facilitate data exchange between SAP and non-SAP applications or trading partners. Hundreds of unique IDocs are available "out of the box" with an SAP installation, each customizable to meet the unique needs of the implementer. Efficient production and consumption of this rich data format is a critical element of a successful integration strategy.

Existing tools and technologies for managing IDocs can be both prohibitively expensive and unwieldy. Conversely, non-specific integration tools can lead to extended development timelines, soaring maintenance costs, and rigidity.

To address these concerns, PilotFish now offers the XCS eiConsole with specific features and capabilities to support SAP IDoc integration:

The XCS File Specification Editor includes an SAP IDoc importer. In less than 10 clicks - and without a single keystroke - a developer can:

* Load any plain text IDoc specification

* Parse an instance document into a comparable XML representation

* Generate a well-formed IDoc from a correctly-formatted XML data stream

The XCS Data Mapper includes an SAP IDoc format reader. With this tool, an IDoc specification can be used as the "source" or "target" in the XCS eiConsole's mapping interface. As a result, a developer or business analyst can:

* Browse a tree-based view of the segments and fields in the IDoc

* Search associated field-level documentation

* View lists of allowed values for enumerated fields

* Drag and Drop segments and fields to map to any other data format

In addition to these facilities, the XCS eiConsole support for the IDoc format includes an option to use "friendly names" for IDoc segments and fields. These descriptive names appear instead of the often abstruse system names, leading to more readable interface artifacts.

When combined with the existing capabilities of the XCS eiConsole, these features provide a compelling alternative to any other SAP integration solution available today.

Prerequisites:

Must license the XCS eiPlatform to be able to promote interfaces to production.