EDI in SAP ( Electronic Data Interchange )

EDI in SAP: this post is an overview of SAP EDI.

It answers the most questions about EDI and IDoc in SAP: Acronym, Architecture, IDOC in SAP …

Difference between EDI and IDOC

EDI in SAP : Overiew

EDI stands for Electronic Document Interchange.
SAP support EDI with the SAP IDOC ( intermediate Documents ).

EDI allows business documents exchange between different electronic systems of different business partners.
The EDI uses a standard format in the communication between SAP parties and none SAP Parties.

The objective of EDI use is to have paperless business process and reduce the human defect by reducing the human interference in the process.

Each EDI has a corresponding Message Type. Check the following links for more information on EDI in SAP:

• SAP EDI transactions: List of EDI Codes
• Mapping EDI Code and Message Types in SAP
• EDI 846 : Inventory Inquiry/Advice in SAP

SAP IDOC

IDOC stands for Intermediate DOCuments.
SAP IDocs are the container SAP uses to exchange Data between two systems or even two parties.

EDI in SAP is based on IDoc

What is an IDOC in SAP ?

Up to wikipedia,

IDoc, short for Intermediate Document, is an SAP document format for business transaction data transfers.

Alternatively, IDoc can also refer to an IRise document. Non SAP-systems can use IDocs as the standard interface (computing) for data transfer.

SAP IDOC Structure

For each SAP IDOC, it should define:

• an IDoc number: is the key to identify the Documents
• a Processing Type: Defines the direction of SAP IDoc regarding to the SAP system
  • INBOUND Processing: the SAP IDoc will be integrated in SAP.
  • OUTBOUND Processing: the SAP IDoc is created in the SAP System and have like destination an other party.
• a Control Record: defines the type of IDoc, the processing Type, the message types , the SAP IDoc Port, …
• Date Record: contains the Data transferred by the SAP IDoc and passed through EDI.
• Status Record:

Check more information about IDoc : SAP IDoc tables, SAP

• SAP IDoc Tables and SAP IDoc Tcodes: Most important Idocs Tcodes and Idocs Tables
• SAP IDoc Qualitfier : SAP IDOC Qualifier Overview and List
• SAP IDoc Qualifier List SAP IDOC QUALifier List with description

Some Important IDoc in SAP

Find here a collection of posts dealing with Idoc Processing in SAP:

• Process Order IDoc in SAP: SAP Process Order IDoc LOIPRO (Outbound)
• Good Movement IDoc in SAP: SAP Good Movement IDocs
• Invoice Idoc in SAP: Overview of IDoc INVOIC02 for Outbound Invoice/Billing document
• Purchase Order Idoc in SAP: Trigger IDOC immediately Purchase Order changed

More details can be found about the difference between EDI and IDOC in this article.