Data from the archive and from the database
The Document Relationship Browser (DRB) is used to display linked busi-ness objects. Usually these are documents that were created during a common business transaction or that are part of a common process. DRB is not limited to a special application, but rather displays linked docu-ments from different application areas. In addition, with DRB it is easy for the end user to integrate other programs outside the SAP system, such as different ALE scenarios (Application Link Enabling).
Another strength of DRB is that it can display archived objects, although DRB is just as effective when displaying data that has not yet been archived. In this chapter, we would like to discuss the capabilities of DRB with regard to archived data in particular. See SAP Note 492938 to find out where you can get further information on DRB.
Archive Informa-tion System as base
The file accesses made through DRB are always automatic accesses, almost always based on the Archive Information System. It is therefore not necessary to know if the data is in the archive. However, you can use DRB to find out if this is the case.
DRB is a service DRB is not an independent application, but rather a service which is called up for a single entry object. From the applications, you can connect to DRB for a single entry object via different transactions and reports.
Most of these functions are summarized in the “Document Relationship Browser” (SAP_DRB) role. In addition to some simple lists for finding doc-uments, these functions also include the document display in financial accounting (transaction FB03) and the line item reports of overhead cost controlling.
The Document Relationship Browser 147 After entering DRB via a business object of a certain type, such as a sales order, as shown in Figure 4.7, you can see which business objects are linked with the entry object. The applications provide the business objects that are directly linked with the entry object in question. What this means in detail has been determined within the respective applica-tions. The links between the business objects have no further semantics;
it is therefore not possible to detect whether one object is the predeces-sor or succespredeces-sor of another object. The display in DRB shows only that there is a link between the objects.
Objects linked more than once are displayed only once
In order to avoid a cyclic, and thus an unnecessarily complicated, display of the linked business objects, each object is displayed only once within the respective business process. This is also the case if an object is directly linked to several objects. The consequence is that not all direct links are actually shown. The display can also vary depending on the entry object you select and the order in which you navigate through the link tree.
However, the total number of displayed objects remains the same, regardless of the order of the individual navigation steps. In the first step of the DRB display, only those objects that are linked directly with the entry object are displayed. If further objects are in turn linked with these objects, you can display them as well by navigating through the displayed
Figure 4.7 Business objects linked with a sales order
link tree. In Figure 4.7, the sales order 4972 was selected as the entry object. In the link tree, you can see all of the business objects that are linked with this sales order.
You can call up the object display by double-clicking on an object key—
usually the document number. What this display looks like in detail depends on the respective application and the type of business object.
The components of DRB
DRB is divided into a general Basis core and further application-specific components, such as Sales, Materials Management, and Accounting. The Basis core is responsible for the display of the links shown above and for forwarding the functions to the respective application, depending on the type of object. The application components are responsible for determin-ing the links and for displaydetermin-ing the individual business objects, among other things.
File accesses are necessary for precisely those functions that are executed by the application components. Therefore, it is not the Basis core of DRB that accesses the archived data, but the respective application. The way in which the archive access is executed and the requirements that apply in each case thus depend on the type of business object.
However, in order for DRB to be able to access archived data, you must select the appropriate settings in the Archive Information System for all object types. In most cases this includes the building of infostructures for certain standard field catalogs (“SAP_...”). A considerable part of the doc-umentation on DRB deals with the details of these settings.
Calling up DRB from the SAP_
DRB role
As previously mentioned, DRB is not able to independently execute all functions for finding and displaying the linked business objects. It needs the support of applications—for finding the entry object selected by the user, for example. This function can be performed with the functions of the “Document Relationship Browser” (SAP_DRB) role, already men-tioned above. All functions contained in this role provide automatic archive access.
The way in which a certain business object is displayed in the DRB view is also application-specific. Whether an archived object is displayed differ-ently than a corresponding object from the database also depends on the application and the business object type.
The Document Relationship Browser 149 4.7.1 Connected Object Types in Detail
This section deals with some important business object types connected to DRB, which will be examined more closely. We will look at the prereq-uisites that must be fulfilled so that DRB can find and display the archived data of these object types. Furthermore, we will discuss the links between these object types and how they are presented in DRB. You will find details on additional object types in the Document Relationship Browser documentation.
Overview
Table 4.2 provides you with an overview of which SAP R/3 Enterprise business object types are connected to DRB.
Application Business Object Types Sales and Distribution Customer inquiry
Customer quotation
Subsequent delivery free of charge Customer delivery
Sales support document
Individual customer billing document Invoice list
Table 4.2 Object types connected to DRB
Please note that not all object types listed here are connected to DRB in the same way. For example, in the system, not every object type has a function that calls up the respective object as an entry object in DRB.
Also, object types may appear in DRB that are not listed in the table. This is because some functions for determining relationships are based on generic characteristics of the relationship in question. For example, the system always finds the source document (see Section 4.7.1.1) of an accounting document with the same mechanism, regardless of the object type of the source document. In this way, it is possible to find source doc-uments even if their object type is not explicitly connected to DRB and, as a result, does not appear in the table. In general, however, these objects cannot be displayed if they are already archived.
4.7.1.1 Accounting Document
Source document In Accounting, the principle of the source document applies. This means that each business transaction visible in accounting has a document that triggered the action—the source document. This document does not have to be located in Accounting. If, for example, a billing document is posted in Sales and Distribution (SD), an accounting document and a cost accounting document (as well as additional accounting documents, if applicable) are usually also created. The source document of this business transaction is the billing document, even though it is not actually located in Accounting. For the purpose of DRB, all accounting documents are now considered linked with their source document and vice versa. In the above example, the cost accounting document is thus not linked directly with the accounting document, but both are linked to the billing docu-ment. Via the billing document, a two-stage relationship can then be established between the cost accounting document and the accounting document.
Materials Management Line item invoice Incoming invoice Purchase requisition Purchase order Goods receipt Production Planning and
Control
Production order
Production order completion confirmation Application Business Object Types
Table 4.2 Object types connected to DRB (Cont.)
The Document Relationship Browser 151
Prerequisites for display in DRB
The jump from the document display to the Document Relationship Browser was described in greater detail above. No further prerequisites are needed, except that it must be possible to display the document in question in the document display (transaction FB03). For archived docu-ments, this means either that the application-specific archive index for the archiving object FI_DOCUMNT (table ARIX_BKPF) has been built or that an active and established infostructure for one of the field catalogs SAP_FI_DOC_001 or SAP_FI_DOC_002 exists. Using transaction FB00, you can then set the document display so that archived documents are also found and displayed in DRB.
The “Document Relationship Browser” role (SAP_DRB) also contains another program that can be used to enter DRB from an accounting doc-ument. You can jump to DRB by double-clicking on the desired docu-ment in the output list of this program. As with the cost accounting line item reports described above, you can select whether the program should read from the archive or from the database. The mechanism we described earlier, which is controlled via the table ASACCESS01, also works with this program; you only need to make the corresponding entry for the program RDRBFI00.
Connecting archived account-ing documents
To carry out a complete connection of archived accounting documents to the Document Relationship Browser, you should proceed as follows:
왘 Suppose you would like to use the program RDRBFI00, contained in the “Document Relationship Browser” role, and you would also like to make selections via the Posting Period (BKPF-MONTH) and Reference (BKPF-XBLNR) fields. For this, you should use an infostructure for one of the field catalogs SAP_FI_DOC_001 or SAP_FI_DOC_002 that also contains the Posting Period, Posting Date, Document Type, Refer-ence Document Number, ReferRefer-ence Process, ReferRefer-ence Key, and Log-ical System fields.
왘 If you do not want to use the program RDRBFI00, you do not require automatic file access in the program, or you do not want to select via the mentioned fields, it is sufficient that you use the application-spe-cific archive index (ARIX_BKPF), which the program usually builds any-way.
왘 Set the document display in transaction FB00 so that reading from the archive is done with the help of the archive index.
4.7.1.2 Cost Accounting Document
Distribution to archives
Dealing with archived cost accounting documents in DRB is more compli-cated than, dealing with, say, accounting documents. This is due to the way in which the line items are distributed in the archives. Cost account-ing documents can be archived with different archivaccount-ing objects, such as CO_ITEM, PP_ORDER, CO_COSTCTR, and SD_VBAK. Another problem is that the cost accounting documents are not archived document-by-document. In the case of a posting in which a production order and a cost center are involved, part of the document can be stored in a PP_ORDER archive while the other part is still in the database. Therefore, it is not possible to determine exactly which archive file a cost accounting docu-ment is located in, nor can it be determined whether the cost accounting document has already been archived or not. This can be determined only for individual document line items.
Several field catalogs and infostructures
Because an Archive Information System field catalog depends on the archiving object, several field catalogs, and thus infostructures, may be needed. For access to cost accounting documents, field catalogs for the different archiving objects are supplied. The names of these catalogs begin with “SAP_COBK_”. Therefore, in order to connect archived cost accounting documents to DRB, you need an infostructure for the corre-sponding SAP_COBK field catalog for each archiving object with which you archive cost accounting line items. To determine the links, these infostructures must contain the field REFBN. Infostructures of this kind are part of the standard SAP system delivered to the customer. Their names also start with “SAP_COBK_”. It is usually sufficient to activate and build up these infostructures. However, if you add the REFBT, AWTYP, and AWORG fields to your infostructures, the program runtime will be improved. The downside is that the infostructures then require more storage space in the database. This has to be weighed against the runtime advantage.
Because of the way in which cost accounting documents are archived, the number of entries in the necessary infostructures corresponds approxi-mately to the number of line items. However, the important things here are the line items from archive files for which the corresponding info-structure was built. Since this type of infoinfo-structure can be very large, you should think carefully about whether the display of archived cost accounting documents is necessary.
With cost accounting documents (as with other accounting documents), only the respective source documents are linked. The objects in which
The Document Relationship Browser 153 the costs are collected, such as orders and cost centers, are not consid-ered to be linked to the cost accounting document. Otherwise, several million documents could be linked with one object, exceeding the capa-bilities of DRB.
4.7.1.3 Sales Order
In Sales and Distribution, a link between two documents corresponds to the relationship that, in the document flow, is referred to as predecessor or successor. However, the semantics of the relationship disappears in DRB and it is no longer evident which document is the predecessor and which is the successor. To connect archived sales orders and other sales documents that are archived with the archiving object SD_VBAK to DRB, all you need is an active and filled infostructure for one of the field cata-logs SAP_SD_VBAK_002 or SAP_SD_VBAK_002.
For sales documents, the “Document Relationship Browser” role has a special program that can be used to enter DRB (see Figure 4.8).
Here, in addition to the document number in the Sales Document field, you can also use other fields as selection criteria. It is a good idea to include these fields in the infostructure.
Figure 4.8 Entering DRB via sales documents
Search options Also note the three selection buttons on the selection screen, which you can use to control where the program searches for the sales documents.
왘 Search DB
If this option is selected, only the database is searched for the sales documents. Archived sales documents are ignored.
왘 Search DB and SAP AS
If you select this option, the program searches for sales documents in the database and in the infostructures of the Archive Information Sys-tem specified above. However, the archive is not accessed. Conse-quently, not all fields in the results list may be filled and not all desired records may be found, because the program views any fields that are not contained in the infostructure as empty, and does not continue to search for the missing data.
왘 Search DB, SAP AS and Archive
When selecting this option, the program searches for sales documents in both the database and the infostructures of the Archive Information System. For documents found in the infostructures, any missing data is read from the archive. Therefore, the only documents read are the ones that are contained in a suitable infostructure.
Known pitfalls This selection controls only what is displayed in the results list of the pro-gram, and not the linked documents that DRB will find later. Archived documents may therefore be displayed as linked objects in DRB, even though the option Search in DB was selected. In many cases, only the two options Search in DB and Search in DB, SAP AS and Archive should be used. The Search in DB and SAP AS option may often be faster than the latter option, but it may give confusing results because the end user usually does not know which fields are contained in the infostructures and what effect this has on the selection.
Display of archived logistics documents
Unlike in accounting, in logistics DRB does not display archived docu-ments in the same way as docudocu-ments that are still in the database. How-ever, the display transactions for archived documents were designed to be similar to the corresponding display transactions for documents that still reside in the database. In addition, all the important fields are played. If the documents are still in the database, the usual document dis-play transactions, such as VA03, are used.
All further logistics object types are connected to DRB in a manner similar to sales orders. The only differences are in the case of the field catalogs used, and in the case of those fields that can be used to make selections
The Document Relationship Browser 155 and that can be integrated into the infostructures. For more information, refer to the documentation on the application-specific components of the Document Relationship Browser.
4.7.2 Configuring the Document Relationship Browser Up to now, discussion of DRB concentrated mainly on how the Archive Information System and other data archiving functions use DRB to access archived data. The main configuration topic was the definition of info-structures. However, in addition to this main option for making settings, there are also other options available for optimizing access to archived data and for adapting the functions to the needs of the end user.
In this context, the following configuration options should be addressed:
왘 Presetting the entry programs
왘 Choosing entry list fields
왘 Choosing object types to be displayed
왘 Choosing fields in DRB
All settings can be user-specific. All settings, except for the setting for choosing which object types are to be displayed, are not actually specific to the Document Relationship Browser, but originate from the tools used in it. However, since these settings are extremely useful for adapting DRB to data archiving, we will now discuss and demonstrate how you can make the access to archived data even more convenient for the user.
4.7.2.1 Presetting the Entry Programs
By default, the “Document Relationship Browser” role contains some programs that can be used to enter DRB. However, these programs are set up in such a way that they cannot access files. For logistics programs,
By default, the “Document Relationship Browser” role contains some programs that can be used to enter DRB. However, these programs are set up in such a way that they cannot access files. For logistics programs,