Axel Angeli & Robi Gonfalonieri 
SAP R/3(R) Guide to EDI and Interfaces [PDF ebook] 
Cut your Implementation Cost with IDocs(R), ALE(R) and RFC(R)

Where Has the Money Gone? 1.1 Communication ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 More than 80% of the time of an EDI project is lost in waiting for answers, trying to understand proposals and retrieving data nobody actually needs. 1.2 Psychology of Communication ………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Bringing developers together accelerates every project. Especially when both parties are so much dependent on each other as in an EDI project, the partners need to communicate without pause. 1.3 Phantom SAP Standards and a Calculation ……………………………………………………….. 4 SAP RI3 delivers a serious of predefined EDI programs. Many project administrators see them as standards which should not be manipulated or modified. The truth is, that these IDoc processing functions are recommendations and example routines, which can be replaced be own routines in customizing. 1.4 Strategy ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5 Do not loose your time in plans. Have prototypes developed and take them as a basis. 1.5 Who Is On Duty? ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Writing interface programs is much like translating languages. The same rule apply. 1.6 Marcus T. Cicero ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 Some may have learned it in school: the basic rules of rhetoric according to Cicero. You will know the answers, when your program is at its end. Why don’t you ask the questions in the beginning?Ask the right question, then you will know. Wltat Are SAP RI3 ‘Docs? 2.1 What Are IDocs? ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 IDocs are structured ASCII files (or a virtual equivalent). They are the file format used by SAP R/3 to exchange data with foreign systems.