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SAP RFC activity

Introduction

An SAP RFC activity, using its SAP connection, executes a Remote Function Call (RFC) in SAP and is intended to be used as a target in an operation.

Note

SAP RFCs that declare tables using CHANGING parameters are not supported. Tables must be declared using TABLES parameters.

Create an SAP RFC activity

An instance of an SAP RFC activity is created from an SAP connection using its RFC activity type.

To create an instance of an activity, drag the activity type to the design canvas or copy the activity type and paste it on the design canvas. For details, see Creating an activity instance in Component reuse.

An existing SAP RFC activity can be edited from these locations:

Configure an SAP RFC activity

Follow these steps to configure an SAP RFC activity:

Step 1: Enter a name and select an RFC function

In this step, provide a name for the activity and select an RFC function. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

SAP RFC activity configuration step 1

  • Name: Enter a name to identify the activity. The name must be unique for each SAP RFC activity and must not contain forward slashes / or colons :.

  • Select an RFC function: This section displays RFC functions available in the SAP endpoint.

    • Selected RFC function: After an RFC function is selected, it is listed here.

    • Search: Enter any column's value into the search box to filter the list of RFC functions. The search is not case-sensitive. If RFC functions are already displayed within the table, the table results are filtered in real time with each keystroke. To reload RFC functions from the endpoint when searching, enter search criteria and then refresh, as described below.

    • Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to reload RFC functions from the SAP endpoint. This may be useful if RFC functions have been added to SAP. This action refreshes all metadata used to build the table of RFC functions displayed in the configuration.

    • Selecting an RFC function: Within the table, click anywhere on a row to select an RFC function. Only one RFC function can be selected. The information available for each RFC function is fetched from the SAP endpoint:

      • Name: The name of the RFC function.

      • Description: Displays the name of the RFC function.

    Tip

    If the table does not populate with available RFC functions, the SAP connection may not be successful. Ensure you are connected by reopening the connection and retesting the credentials.

  • Save & Exit: If enabled, click to save the configuration for this step and close the activity configuration.

  • Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

  • Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Step 2: Review the data schemas

Any request or response schemas are displayed. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

SAP RFC activity configuration step 2

  • Data schema: These data schemas are inherited by adjacent transformations and are displayed again during transformation mapping.

    For information on RFC schema fields, refer to the SAP Help Portal or engage with your SAP administrator or SAP consultant.

    Important

    If a custom RFC is selected, you must set the request field BAPI_COMMIT to true to commit the transaction.

  • Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to regenerate schemas from the SAP endpoint. This action also regenerates a schema in other locations throughout the project where the same schema is referenced, such as in an adjacent transformation.

  • Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

  • Finished: Click to save the configuration for all steps and close the activity configuration.

  • Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Next steps

After configuring an SAP RFC activity, complete the configuration of the operation by adding and configuring other activities, transformations, or scripts as operation steps. You can also configure the operation settings, which include the ability to chain operations together that are in the same or different workflows.

Menu actions for an activity are accessible from the project pane and the design canvas. For details, see Activity actions menu in Connector basics.

SAP RFC activities can be used as a target with these operation patterns:

Operations that contain an SAP activity can only have one SAP activity and cannot also contain any NetSuite, Salesforce, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceMax, or SOAP activities. Note that there is currently a known issue where operations that contain more than one of these types of activities appear to be valid and are able to be deployed without error. However, the operation will fail at runtime.

To use the activity with scripting functions, write the data to a temporary location and then use that temporary location in the scripting function.

When ready, deploy and run the operation and validate behavior by checking the operation logs.

Troubleshooting

If you receive the error JCoException occurred No RFC authorization for function module BAPI_TRANSACTION_COMMIT when executing a custom function, follow these steps:

  1. Ensure the RFC function module BAPI_TRANSACTION_COMMIT is remote-enabled.
  2. In a request transformation preceding the activity, set the field BAPI_COMMIT to true.
  3. Check that the SAP user used in the SAP connection has the S_RFC authorization permission for all related function groups.