<s>
IDoc	B-Protocol
,	O
short	O
for	O
Intermediate	O
Document	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
SAP	B-Application
document	O
format	O
for	O
business	O
transaction	O
data	O
transfers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Non	O
SAP-systems	B-Application
can	O
use	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
as	O
the	O
standard	O
interface	O
(	O
computing	O
)	O
for	O
data	O
transfer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDoc	B-Protocol
is	O
similar	O
to	O
XML	B-Protocol
in	O
purpose	O
,	O
but	O
differs	O
in	O
syntax	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
serve	O
the	O
purpose	O
of	O
data	O
exchange	O
and	O
automation	O
in	O
computer	O
systems	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
IDoc-Technology	O
takes	O
a	O
different	O
approach	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
XML	B-Protocol
allows	O
having	O
some	O
metadata	O
about	O
the	O
document	O
itself	O
,	O
an	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
is	O
obliged	O
to	O
have	O
information	O
at	O
its	O
header	O
like	O
its	O
creator	O
,	O
creation	O
time	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
XML	B-Protocol
has	O
a	O
tag-like	O
tree	O
structure	O
containing	O
data	O
and	O
meta-data	O
,	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
use	O
a	O
table	O
with	O
the	O
data	O
and	O
meta-data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDocs	B-Protocol
also	O
have	O
a	O
session	O
that	O
explains	O
all	O
the	O
processes	O
which	O
the	O
document	O
passed	O
or	O
will	O
pass	O
,	O
allowing	O
one	O
to	O
debug	O
and	O
trace	O
the	O
status	O
of	O
the	O
document	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Different	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
types	O
are	O
available	O
to	O
handle	O
different	O
types	O
of	O
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
format	O
ORDERS01	O
may	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
both	O
purchase	O
orders	O
and	O
order	O
confirmations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDoc	B-Protocol
technology	O
offers	O
many	O
tools	O
for	O
automation	O
,	O
monitoring	O
and	O
error	O
handling	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
if	O
the	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
are	O
customised	O
that	O
way	O
on	O
a	O
particular	O
server	O
,	O
then	O
a	O
user	O
of	O
SAP	B-Application
R/3	I-Application
system	O
creates	O
a	O
purchase	O
order	O
;	O
this	O
is	O
automatically	O
sent	O
via	O
an	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
and	O
a	O
sales	O
order	O
is	O
immediately	O
created	O
on	O
the	O
vendor	O
's	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
this	O
order	O
cannot	O
be	O
created	O
because	O
of	O
an	O
application	O
error	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
:	O
The	O
price	O
per	O
piece	O
is	O
lower	O
than	O
allowed	O
for	O
this	O
material	O
)	O
,	O
then	O
the	O
administrator	O
on	O
the	O
vendor	O
's	O
system	O
sees	O
this	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
among	O
the	O
erroneous	O
ones	O
and	O
can	O
solve	O
the	O
situation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
error	O
is	O
in	O
the	O
master	O
data	O
at	O
the	O
vendor	O
's	O
system	O
,	O
he	O
can	O
correct	O
them	O
and	O
order	O
the	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
to	O
be	O
processed	O
again	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
the	O
flexibility	O
and	O
transparency	O
of	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
technology	O
,	O
some	O
non-SAP	O
technologies	O
use	O
them	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Control	O
record	O
(	O
it	O
contains	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
,	O
port	O
of	O
the	O
partner	O
,	O
release	O
of	O
SAP	B-Application
R/3	I-Application
which	O
produced	O
the	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
number	O
and	O
type	O
of	O
segments	O
is	O
mostly	O
fixed	O
for	O
each	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
type	O
,	O
but	O
there	O
is	O
some	O
flexibility	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
an	O
SD	O
order	O
can	O
have	O
any	O
number	O
of	O
items	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Status	O
records	O
containing	O
messages	O
like	O
'	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
created	O
 '	O
,	O
'	O
The	O
recipient	O
exists	O
 '	O
,	O
'	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
was	O
successfully	O
passed	O
to	O
the	O
port	O
 '	O
,	O
'	O
Could	O
not	O
book	O
the	O
invoice	O
because	O
..	O
'	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
itself	O
is	O
a	O
structured	O
Text-File	O
,	O
that	O
means	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
can	O
be	O
used	O
on	O
all	O
platforms	O
,	O
there	O
is	O
no	O
need	O
to	O
translate	O
binary	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Use	O
transaction	O
WE60	O
in	O
a	O
SAP-System	O
to	O
get	O
documentation	O
for	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
,	O
like	O
HTML	O
files	O
and	O
C-header	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
transactions	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
create	O
and	O
process	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
list	O
does	O
not	O
include	O
any	O
transaction	O
required	O
for	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
new	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
types	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
transaction	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
display	O
and	O
edit	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
transaction	O
determines	O
a	O
processing	O
code	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
partner	O
profile	O
identified	O
by	O
the	O
control	O
record	O
of	O
the	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
that	O
controls	O
the	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
flow	O
to	O
an	O
external	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
transaction	O
processes	O
outbound	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
NAST	O
is	O
a	O
technique	O
in	O
SAP-Systems	B-Application
to	O
create	O
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Messages	O
can	O
be	O
printed	O
,	O
sent	O
or	O
transferred	O
into	O
IDocs	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
SAP	B-Application
uses	O
this	O
for	O
many	O
applications	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
PO	O
can	O
create	O
a	O
message	O
which	O
might	O
be	O
printed	O
,	O
sent	O
by	O
FAX	O
,	O
or	O
translated	O
into	O
an	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
of	O
type	O
ORDERS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IDoc	B-Protocol
ORDERS	O
can	O
be	O
forwarded	O
in	O
an	O
B2B-process	O
to	O
a	O
vendor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Transactions	O
like	O
WE02	O
,	O
WE05	O
,	O
WE09	O
,	O
WE19	O
,	O
and	O
BD87	O
are	O
used	O
in	O
traditional	O
approaches	O
to	O
error	O
handling	O
in	O
IDOC	B-Protocol
administration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Drill	O
down	O
through	O
the	O
idocs	B-Protocol
status	O
data	O
to	O
find	O
the	O
actual	O
root	O
case	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
SAP	B-Application
S/4	O
HANA	O
has	O
rectified	O
this	O
and	O
now	O
provides	O
an	O
upgraded	O
version	O
of	O
all	O
of	O
these	O
with	O
the	O
WLF_	O
IDOC	B-Protocol
transaction	O
.	O
</s>
