WhatIsChangePointer

ExplainaboutchangepointerinSAP.

Wecomeacrosschangepointertechniquewhiledealingwithmasterdatadistributionthru
ALE/IDOCs

Whenwewanttoreflectchangesmadetomasterdata(i.ecustomermaster,vendormaster,
materialmaster)visibletootherclientslistedincustomerdistributionmodel,wefollow
changepointertechnique.

Whatiscustomerdistributionmodel?

Acustomermodeldepictsvariousmessages(masterdata,transactionaldata)exchanged
betweenthesystemsandestablishesasenderandreceiverofdata.

Acustomermodelisalwaysmaintainedonanysystemfortheentiredistributednetworkof
SAPsystems,soitmustbedistributedtovarioussystemsinthedistributednetwork.

Thesearesomedetailsregardingchangepointertechniquewhichyoumayfindituseful.

Thechangepointerstechniqueisbasedonthechangedocumenttechnique,whichtracks
changesmadetokeydocumentsinSAP,suchasthematerialmaster,customermaster,vendor
master&salesorders.changesmadetoadocumentarerecordedinthechangedocument
headertableCHDHR,andadditionalchangepointersarewrittenintheBDCPtablefor
changesrelevanttoALE.BDCPStablestoresthestatusofchangeddocumentsprocessedor
not.

Theprocessfordistributingmasterdatausingchangepointersinvolvesthefollowingsteps.

Theapplicationwriteschangedocuments.SAPmaintainschangedocumentsforseveral
objectsinthesystem,suchasmaterials,customers,invoices,andbankdata,toprovidean
audittrailforchangesmadetoanobject.Achangedocumentobjectrepresentsasetoftables
forwhichchangesarerecorded.Forexample,thechangedocumentforthematerialmasteris
namedMATERIALanditcontainsthevarioustablesofthematerialmasterobject,suchas
MARAandMARC.

Whenanapplicationtransactionmakeschangestoanobject,theapplicationwriteschange
documents,whicharestoredintheCDHDRandCDPOStablesforeachchangemadetoan
object.

Tip

ExecutetransactionSCDOtoseealistofchangedocumentobjectsandtheirtables.

TheSMD(SharedMasterData)toolwriteschangepointers.Whenchangesaremadetoan
object,theSMDtoolcheckstheALEsettingsandconsultstheALEdistributionmodelto
determinewhetherareceiverisinterestedintheobjectthatwaschanged.Ifthesystemfinds
anappropriatereceiver,thesystemcreateschangepointersintheBDCPtablethatpointto
changedocumentsintheCDHDRtable.

TheALEprogramsanalyzechangepointersandgenerateIDocs.SAPprovidesstandard
functionmodulesthatreadthechangepointertableandgenerateIDocsfortheobjectsthat
werechanged.Theseprogramsaredesignedtoignoremultiplechangesandcreateonlyone
IDoc.Forexample,ifamaterialischangedfourtimesbeforethefunctionmoduleisinvoked,
onlyoneIDocwiththelatestdatafromthematerialmasterdataiscreated.Thefunction
modulesareinvokedbyastandardreport,RBDMIDOC.Theselectionparametersofthis
reportallowyoutospecifythemessagetypeforwhichchangepointersaretobeanalyzed.
Configurationyoumustcarryoutthefollowingconfigurationstepstoenablemasterdata
distributionbasedonchangestotheobject.

Step1:EnableChangePointersGlobally

Transaction:BD61

Thisoptionenablesthechangepointerprocessglobally.Makesurethattheflagischecked.

Step2:EnableChangePointersforaMessageType

Transaction:BD50

Thissettingisrequiredforactivatingchangepointersforaspecificmessagetype.Makesure
thattheActiveflagischeckedforyourmessagetype.

Step3:SpecifytheFieldsforWhichChangePointersAretoBeWritten

Transaction:BD52

Forstandardmasterdataobjectssuchasthematerial,customer,andvendorobjects,SAP
alreadyprovidesalistoffieldsforwhichchangepointersarewritten.Ifyouaresatisfiedwith
thestandardsetoffields,youcanskipthisstep.Ifyouwanttoaddnewfields,youmustadd
entriesfortherequiredfields.IfyouarenotinterestedinIDocsbeinggeneratedforchanges
toaparticularfield,youcanremoveitfromthelist.Forexample,ifyoudonotwantto
distributethematerialmasterforchangesmadetotheCatalogProfile(RBNRM)field,you
candeletethisentryfromthetable.

Step4:ChangingaFieldintheMasterData

Changeafieldinthemasterdataobjectforwhichthechangepointerisenabled.Forexample,
ifyouchangethenetweightofamaterialinthematerialmasterdata,achangepointeris
written.

Tip:Youcanverifyachangedocumentandchangepointerbyviewingentriesintables
CDHDRandBDCP,respectively.

Step5:ExecutingProgramRBDMIDOCtoProcessChangePointers

ExecuteprogramRBDMIDOCtoinitiatetheprocessofgeneratinganIDoc.Ontheselection
screen,specifythemessagetype.Forexample,youcanspecifyMATMAS.Afteryouexecute
theprocess,itdisplaysthenumberofentriesprocessed.

Note:

Normally,youschedulethisprogramtorunfrequentlyandstartIDocgenerationfordifferent
messagetypes.

Step6:ViewtheidocsinWE02/05
Readalso

StepsForCustomIdocForOutboundandInbound
PopulateSegmentE1EDK02InOutgoingIDOC
CompanyCodeCannotBeDeterminedForLI

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