Integration SAP using e-Gate Integrator - Business Integration Suite

Integrating SAP using 

e*Gate Integrator by SeeBeyond 

A SeeBeyond Whitepaper 

February 2001 

© 2001 SeeBeyond Technology Corporation. All rights reserved. SeeBeyond, SeeBeyond logo, e*Gate, e*Xchange and e*Way are 

registered trademarks or trademarks of SeeBeyond Technology Corporation. All other products and company names mentioned in this 

document may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Introduction 

Integrating to SAP using e*Gate Integrator by SeeBeyond 

Enterprises seeking to become eBusinesses are caught in a vice grip between the promise of eBusiness 

on one side and the challenge of making it a reality on the other. At the heart of the dilemma lies an 

immense technical challenge - how to move data stored in different systems and applications within 

one enterprise and among multiple enterprises so that individuals get the information they need when 

they need it. Without the ability to provide robust accurate and timely information, eBusiness is 

nothing more than eFantasy. 

The proliferation of packaged applications — such as ERP, supply chain management, and customer 

relationship management — along with the rapid increase in mergers and acquisitions has left many 

companies with highly disconnected IT infrastructures, impeding the seamless flow of information 

needed for maximum efficiency. With the advent of the Internet, companies are presented not only 

with internal but also external integration challenges. As they race at break—neck speed to capitalize 

on the opportunities the Internet presents, businesses must quickly implement a comprehensive 

integration solution. 

One of the most commonly used ERP applications is SAP R/3. So in most scenarios one of the 

challenges lies in interfacing SAP with other applications. 

This Whitepaper delivers a description of how SeeBeyond will help to solve this challenge. It starts 

with a description of the SAP interfacing options and follows with a review of the SeeBeyond e*Gate 

Integrator solutions for the various SAP interfacing options. 

©2001 SeeBeyond Technology Corporation, All Rights Reserved 

Page 2

SAP Interfacing Options 


SAP offers several methods of interfacing, including Application Link Enabling (ALE), 

Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI), Batch Data Communication (BDC), 

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and XML. Contrary to its name, the BDC interface can be 

either batch or event-driven. All of the interfacing methods are supported by SeeBeyond - 

both SAP-inbound and SAP-outbound data transfer. 

BDC Option 

This interfacing method emulates a user entering transactions through the SAP screens. It provides a 

more robust method for data entry than ALE or EDI but there is a trade-off on performance. The BDC 

option allows the user to enter transactions using the user transaction windows, thus applying 

plausibility checks and conforming to the business logic even when the logic is customised for the 

particular customer implementation. 

ALE Option 

Real-time communications with a SAP application is accomplished through the use of SAP’s 

Application Link Enabling (ALE) layer running on top of their Remote Function Call (RFC)—SAP’s 

version of Remote Procedure Call. To guarantee uniqueness of transactions SAP offers a version of 

RFC called Transactional RFC (tRFC). SAP provides the API libraries for: 

• Enabling connection to the SAP system, given the appropriate Host and Identification 

parameters 

• Marshalling of arguments to and from the SAP system 

• Executing (client-mode) or registering (server-mode) RFC Services on the SAP system 

ALE supports the transfer of information between applications by means of messaging, rather than file 

transfer. Transactions are exchanged using the SAP Intermediate Document (IDoc) format, which is 

basically a fixed message. The IDoc file is interpreted by referencing an IDoc Description file, which 

specifies all relevant fields. 

Messages can be sent to the SAP host via Transactional RFC (tRFC) or regular RFC. With tRFC, the 

receiving SAP system relies on an unique Transactional ID (TID) sent with the message to ascertain 

whether a transaction has not been processed already. 

EDI Option 

The SAP EDI e*Way is intended for those sites that prefer to exchange IDocs with the SAP host via 

batch files, rather than in real time. This would be required in the absence of a constant connection 

using a protocol such as TCP/IP, for example. Transactions are exchanged using the SAP Intermediate 

Document (IDoc) format, which is basically a fixed message. The IDoc file is interpreted by 

referencing the IDoc Description file, which specifies all relevant fields. 


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BAPI Option 

BAPI is an acronym for Business Application Programming Interface and is SAP's way of providing 

precise access to processes and data residing in their system. More specifically, BAPIs are methods of 

SAP Business Objects stored in the Business Object Repository (BOR) and are implemented by 

function modules programmed in ABAP/4, which are Remote Function Call (RFC) enabled, and thus 

can be called by an external process such as the SeeBeyond BAPI e*Way. 

SAP's ALE-IDoc mechanism also provides access to processes and data residing in the SAP system, 

but with one major difference—ALE access is asynchronous. In other words, data retrieved from the 

SAP system is not guaranteed to be the most current; there could have been several seconds lapse 

between when data was captured into an IDoc and when it was sent out via ALE to the external 

system. Also, if data in an IDoc is sent into SAP, it may not be posted immediately into the database 

tables. Another difference is data communicated through IDocs tend to be overly comprehensive and 

lengthy. In contrast, SAP's BAPIs provide synchronous access to SAP. That is, a request by an 

external process for data to be retrieved from or posted into the SAP system is executed immediately 

and control is returned to the caller only when the transaction has completed (or failed). Moreover, the 

data exchanged is brief as compared with IDocs. 

BAPI´s are becoming more and more “the” standard for connecting external systems to SAP R/3. So 

most of the certifiable SAP interfaces, e.g. the interface for the Business Information Warehouse (BW- 

STA), are based on the BAPI technology. 

XML Business Connector Option 

The Internet is the standard communication infrastructure enabling business community collaboration. 

It facilitates people and companies to easily do business over the Web. Open standards such as 

eXtensible Markup Language (XML) allow the exchange of structured business documents over the 

Internet by providing a common standard for different applications and IT systems to communicate 

and exchange business data. 

The SAP Business Connector enhances the capabilities of SAP solutions by providing XML-based, 

secure access to all business data and application. It supports all major existing interfaces provided by 

SAP. In particular, SAP’s BAPIs and ALE/IDOC capabilities are supported. 


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SeeBeyond's solutions for SAP Interfacing Options 


SeeBeyond's e*Gate Integrator provides a highly scalable, reliable platform for hosting application 

integration, such as: 

• Automate the connections between ERP systems and the rest of the Supply Chain. 

• Integrate traditional EDI with XML based business-to-business exchanges. 

• Manage and facilitate information exchange between legacy systems and Web Servers. 

• Use Messaging Middleware from IBM, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft and Object Oriented 

Middleware based on COM, CORBA and Java . 

• Serve as a universal gateway between Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, Informix, DB2, IMS and 

older-technology databases and graphically move data between them. 

• Enable business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer commerce. 

• Act as an Enterprise Integration Backbone. 

e*Way TM Intelligent Adapters are supplied with e*Gate Integrator, to provide specialized application 

connectivity and support for robust data processing such as business collaborations, transformation 

logic, pub/sub relations. e*Way adapters are multi-threaded to enable high performance distributed 

processing capabilities for deployment flexibility and load balancing. SeeBeyond has e*Ways for all 

kinds of applications including SAP, such as, the BDC Interface e*Way, ALE Interface e*Way, EDI 

Interface e*Way, BAPI Interface e*Way and the BC-XML Interface e*Way. 

Intelligent Bridge TM Integrators are out-of-the-box solutions, packaging all the components, business 

logic and application extensions to automate specific business processes between popular applications, 

providing fast and predictable deployment. 

For more information on e*Gate Integrator, request a white paper from SeeBeyond. The next part of 

this paper details the e*Ways and Intelligent Bridges for SAP. 

SeeBeyond's BDC Interface e*Way 

The scope of this interface is to provide customers with the ability to support both event-driven and 

batch SAP-inbound interfaces. Event-driven interfaces (in SAP-terms: Call Transaction) propagate a 

single transaction, triggered by a user or an application business event such as the creation of a sales 

order. Batch interfaces propagate a collection of transactions, and can be triggered by a user, an 

application event, or a scheduling mechanism. 

SeeBeyond BDC Converter for SAP 

SeeBeyond's BDC Converter for SAP is an GUI-driven e*Way utility, integrated with the e*Gate 

Event Type Definition (ETD) Editor, that enables you to import data structure information from SAP. 

See figure 1. In this case, either screen flows, recorded with the SAP Screen Recorder or custom 

structure definitions are exported from the SAP Structure Export Module. The SeeBeyond BDC 

Converter for SAP interprets that output into a graphical Event Type Definition, and presents it to the 

user via the e*Gate ETD Editor. This information provides the destination data structure existing 

within SAP. Corresponding information from the legacy application provides the source data structure. 

Given these two sets of structure information, e*Gate Collaboration Rules can be defined to map the 

data from the source system to SAP. 


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Figure 1: The SeeBeyond BDC Converter for SAP 



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Inbound to SAP 

Figure 2: Inbound to SAP 


As depicted in the figure 2, inbound data is extracted from some source system (legacy application, 

database, etc.) by the appropriate e*Way. The data is sent to e*Gate, which processes the data as 

needed to transform it into the format required by SAP, and sends it to the SeeBeyond BDC e*Way. 

This e*Way calls an RFC-enabled function module within SAP which, in turn, invokes the Inbound 

Load Module to load the data into the SAP database. The data is loaded either from a data table 

supplied by the e*Way, or from a data file whose name is supplied as a parameter by the e*Way. The 

data is placed into an internal table that in turn is used to load an internal BDC table. The internal 

BDC table is mapped either according to the standard screen flow or custom mapping logic. 

Two modes of operation are supported: 

• Batch Mode - An asynchronous process in which individual transactions are accumulated and 

saved to a file, which is sent to the SAP application at some prescribed time. This mode 

allows the BDC update method, although it is not recommended. 

• Event-Driven Mode - A synchronous process in which transactions are sent to the SAP 

application individually, essentially in real time. This mode dictates the use of the Call 

Transaction update method. 


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Outbound from SAP 

Figure 3: Outbound from SAP 


The Outbound-from-SAP process (Figure 3) begins with a SAP function module making an RFC call 

to initiate the BDC e*Way. The e*Way then executes a traditional SQL search to extract data from the 

SAP database. e*Gate then maps the extracted data from the SAP system to an external system. 

The BDC e*Way provides both synchronous and asynchronous TCP/IP connectivity for Event-based 

scenarios, as well as asynchronous FTP functionality for file-based interfaces. 


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SeeBeyond ALE Interface 


SeeBeyond ALE Converter 

The SeeBeyond e*Way suite includes a front-end Converter Wizard for SAP, see figure 4, integrated 

with the e*Gate Event Type Definition (ETD) Editor Build Library Converter. 

Figure 4: SeeBeyond Wizard for SAP Conversion 

The Converter parses the SAP message files and builds the corresponding Event Type Definitions and 

IDs automatically. 


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Figure 5: Inbound to SAP 


For inbound to SAP, figure 5, the e*Way reads in the required configuration parameters to: 

• Establish a network connection with the SAP system, according to the specified Connection 

Duration Strategy. 

• Send the appropriate messages to e*Gate. 

• If required, use a Collaboration Rule to convert an Event containing multiple IDocs to several 

single IDocs. 

If tRFC is enabled, the e*Way associates the next TID (from a persistent resetting counter) with the 

transformed outbound event and sends it via tRFC to the SAP host. Otherwise, sends the event via 

regular RFC. If no exceptions are raised by the receiving SAP host, the next TID is incremented, if 

appropriate, and the e*Way sends an acknowledgement to e*Gate. If exceptions are raised, and the 

error is unrecoverable (i.e., retransmission not feasible), the offending outbound Event is logged (to a 

configurable file) and appropriate escalation methods are triggered. 


During routine operation, some application on the SAP system will generate a transaction designated 

for an external system. This external system may be either another (differently-configured) SAP 

system or a non-SAP system. 

The SeeBeyond e*Way receives this transaction and provides the required inbound service. The 

transaction is transformed into the proper e*Gate event type and passed to e*Gate. A separate e*Way 

then re-transforms and communicates the transaction to the intended destination system. 

If tRFC is enabled, the e*Way verifies that the Transaction ID (TID) of the received transaction has 

not previously been committed (processed successfully) by this e*Way. If it has, the e*Way sends a 

non-acknowledgement to the sending SAP system. 


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SeeBeyond EDI Interface 



In this mode of operation, the SeeBeyond EDI e*Way converts data into an IDoc, that is passed to the 

SAP EDI Interface. See Figure 6. The EDI Interface, in turn, transforms the IDoc into SAP-format 

data which is passed to the appropriate SAP application.Each Event from e*Gate is tested against a set 

of Event ID/ Collaboration pairs, and the first successful ID match runs the corresponding 

transformation to IDoc format.The resulting IDoc is compressed if necessary and placed in a 

temporary file, the e*Way’s File Gathering Directory.Contents of the temporary file are sent to the 

SAP system either according to a gathering schedule, or on demand. 

Figure 6: Inbound from SAP 


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In this mode of operation, the SAP EDI Interface converts data into an IDoc, which is stored as a file 

in its Outbound Directory. See figure 7. Two data retrieval methods are available for obtaining an 

IDoc from the SAP system: 

Active Polling, where the e*Way initiates the file transport 

Passive Polling, where the SAP system initiates the file transport 

Following retrieval of the file, the e*Way transforms the IDoc(s) into data which it then sends to 

e*Gate. The status of the Collaboration process is monitored by the e*Way and reported to the SAP 

system as a Status Record. 

Figure 7: Outbound from SAP 


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SeeBeyond BAPI Interface 


SeeBeyond BAPI ETD Builder 

The BAPI ETD Builder enables you to build an Event Type Definition representing an Object defined 

in SAP automatically, using metadata dynamically taken from SAP Business Object Repository 

(BOR). It consists of a BAPI Converter Wizard, which is integrated with the e*Gate ETD Editor. 


In this mode, the e*Way typically receives some sort of data from e*Gate and sends it to the SAP R/3 

system by calling a specific BAPI/RFC method. In return, the called BAPI may provide some ensuing 

data which can be sent back to e*Gate. 

Before any BAPIs on R/3 can be called, the e*Way logs onto the R/3 system using pre-configured 

parameters. 

Once a client connection has been established with SAP, a BAPI/RFC method hosted on SAP can be 

called. 

The BAPI then fetches the data. If execution is successful, the outcome values supplied by the called 

BAPI will be available in import type parameters. However, on failure, the called BAPI may have 

raised an exception available in the exception parameters. 


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On a periodic basis, the BAPI e*Way checks the SAP system for calls. 


If a call has been received, the e*Way opens a BAPI RFC corresponding to the called function and 

receives the data. 

The next task of the corresponding e*Way is to process the imported data. If successful, any results as 

specified by the ABAP/4 function interface are inserted into the import parameter nodes of the 

appropriate installed method. If however, the corresponding e*Way function fails to process the 

imported data, an exception will be raised. 


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SeeBeyond BC-XML Interface 


Establishing a Connection to the SAP Business Connector (BC) is done via HTTPS and by 

interchanging XML-documents which correspond to the Microsoft BizTalk framework. 

The XML DTD/Schema Converter 

The XML DTD/Schema Converter enables building an Event Type Definition representing an Object 

defined in the SAP automatically, using XML-Schemas taken from SAP´s Interface Repository. 


In this mode, the HTTP (HTTPS)-e*Way receives some sort of data from e*Gate and sends it to the 

Business Connector by, establishing a (in case of HTTPS: secure) connection, enveloping the data in 

the appropriate format and transmitting the data to the SAP BC. 

In return, the called BC may provide some ensuing data which can be sent back to e*Gate to be used 

for further processing 

SAP 

BAPI RFC ALE/IDoc 


Business 

Connector 

Http / Https 

e*Way 

e*Gate 

e*Way 

Source 

Application 

In case of processing Idocs wrapped in XML for the BC, an unique Transactional ID (TID) will be 

associated with the event (from a persistent resettable counter) and sent with the message to ascertain 

whether a transaction has ever been processed by the BC before. If no exceptions are raised by the 

receiving BC, the next TID is incremented, if appropriate, and the e*Way sends an acknowledgement 

to e*Gate. 

Data in 

XML 

Format 

Data in 

Source 

Format 


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In this mode, the HTTP (HTTPS)-e*Way receives data from the Business Connector. The e*Way 

provides a secure URL to which the XML formatted SAP data will be sent. 

In return, the e*Way may provide some ensuing data which can be sent back to the Business 

Connector to be used for further processing. 


BAPI RFC ALE/IDoc 


Business 

Connector 

Http / Https 

e*Way 

e*Gate 

e*Way 

Target 

Application 

Data in 

XML 

Format 

Data in 

Target 

Format 

In case of processing Idocs wrapped in XML, the e*Way verifies that the Transaction ID (TID) of the 

received transaction has not previously been committed (processed successfully) by this e*Way. If it 

has, the e*Way sends a non-acknowledgement to the sending Business Connector. 


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SeeBeyond Intelligent Bridges for SAP 


Intelligent Bridges for the integration between SAP and non-SAP systems provide you with all the 

advantages of an „out-of-the-box“ solution: Data structures, validations and complex mappings are 

pre-configured and ready to deploy for every relevant bi-directional interface. The typical 

development effort for a complex SAP to Broadvision integration easily reaches 200 man days and 

more. Deploying the SeeBeyond Broadvision/SAP Intelligent Bridge will reduce the implementation 

effort to less than 30 days. 

The advantages of using those Intelligent bridges are obvious: 

• “Time-to-market” will be reduced to a minimum 

• Minimal maintenance and operation costs through full GUI-support and use of e*Gate 

functions like monitoring, alerting, auto recovery 

The following Intelligent bridges for SAP are available: 

• SAP Broadvision: Synchronisation of customer, product and pricing data, as well as 

orders 

• SAP Siebel: Synchronisation of customer, product and pricing data, as well as orders 

• SAP Onyx: Synchronisation of customer, product and pricing data 

• SAP PeopleSoft: Personnel data between PS HR and SAP R/3 HR, PS Payroll data to 

SAP R/3 FI-GL 


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SeeBeyond SAP to BroadVision Intelligent Bridge 


e*Gate Integrator provides the synchronization between vanilla SAP applications and 

vanilla BroadVision applications, conveying information about accounts/customers, 

products/materials, and orders/order status from one application to the other. Three separate interfaces 

are included in the SeeBeyond BroadVision to SAP Intelligent Bridge, Products, Accounts and Orders. 

Product Data Synchronization 

The Products Module of the BroadVision to SAP Intelligent Bridge provides an initial bulk load of the 

SAP Material Master into BroadVision. It then transfers additions, changes, and deletions made in the 

Material Master to BroadVision at a user-configurable frequency. 

Account Data Synchronization 

The Accounts Module performs a bulk load of account information from the SAP Customer Master 

into BroadVision. All changes to a customer’s data are then synchronized to BroadVision at a 

predetermined rate of occurrence, which is user-configurable. 

Order Synchronization 

The Orders Module handles the creation of orders in either BroadVision or SAP, and automatically 

synchronizes the data. The interface is bi-directional; any order status changes in SAP are immediately 

visible to the customer through the BroadVision One-To-One commerce applications. 


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SeeBeyond's SAP to Siebel Intelligent Bridge 


Product Data Synchronization 

The Products Module of the Siebel to SAP Integration System provides options for transferring 

additions, changes, and deletions made in the SAP Material Master to Siebel either event-driven or at a 

user-configurable frequency. 

Account Data Synchronization 

The Accounts Module synchronizes all changes to the SAP Customer Master Data to Siebel eventdriven 

or at a predetermined rate of occurrence, which is user-configurable. 


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Order Synchronization 

The Orders Module handles the creation of orders in Siebel, and automatically synchronizes the data 

to SAP. All further changes to those orders in SAP are synchronized back to the Siebel system. 


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SeeBeyond's SAP to Onyx Intelligent Bridge 

The Onyx/SAP Intelligent Bridge is a single "bridge"divided into three Modules. One module that 

handles the transfer of Material/Product related data,and two modules that handle the transfer of 

Customer/Accounts related data. 

SAP to Onyx Product Bridge 

This bridge enables data transfers of Material related data (material master data, classifications, 

relationships, hierarchy) from the SAP database to tables containing Product related data in the Onyx 

database. 

SAP to Onyx Customer Bridge 

Customer related data from the SAP database will be synchronized to tables containing 

Company related data in the Onyx database. This includes changes to existing customers as well as the 

creation of new customers. 


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SeeBeyond's SAP R/3 to PeopleSoft Intelligent Bridge 

Linking SAP R/3 HR to PeopleSoft HRMS 

Here, e*Gate provides the link between PeopleSoft and SAP R/3 ERP systems for the purpose of 

conveying Personnel information from SAP R/3 HR to PeopleSoft HRMS. SAP HR is the primary 

system in which all HR-related data is maintained. This interface will process all additions, updates, 

corrections and deletions to identified data in SAP HR and update PeopleSoft HRMS accordingly. 

Linking PeopleSoft HRMS to SAP R/3 HR 

e*Gate provides the link between PeopleSoft and SAP R/3 ERP systems for the purpose of conveying 

personnel information from PeopleSoft HRMS to SAP R/3 HR. PeopleSoft HRMS provides the 

primary source of input for all personnel data required by the SAP HR system. This process is eventdriven, 

as explained below. 


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Linking PeopleSoft HR Payroll to SAP R/3 GL 

Here, e*Gate provides the link between PeopleSoft and SAP R/3 ERP systems for the purpose of 

conveying Payroll information from PeopleSoft HR Payroll to SAP R/3 GL. PeopleSoft serves as the 

primary source of input for all personnel and payroll data required by the SAP R/3 General Ledger. 


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About SeeBeyond (Formerly STC) 


As the market leader in eBusiness Integration, SeeBeyond (Nasdaq: SBYN) eliminates the boundaries 

and simplifies the complexities of integrating and optimizing business processes within and among 

enterprises. The SeeBeyond e*Xchange eBusiness Integration Suite provides a comprehensive 

framework from which companies can model, manage and monitor in real-time, optimized B2B 

connectivity and A2A integration — ultimately driving significant bottom line impact. With more than 

10 years of experience operating under the name STC, SeeBeyond has successfully integrated systems 

at more than 1,300 organizations worldwide, including, ABN Amro, Barnes & Noble.com, Bausch & 

Lomb, Daimler-Chrysler, Florida Power & Light, Fluor Corporation, Hewlett Packard, 

PETsMART and Pfizer. Key global business and technology consulting partners include Accenture, 

EDS, Computer Sciences Corporation, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, KPMG Consulting and 

PricewaterhouseCoopers. Software partners include BroadVision, Onyx Software, Oracle, SAP and 

Siebel Systems. 

All businesses struggle with inefficiencies caused by the ad hoc build-up of legacy systems over time 

and distance. Left unchecked, these incompatible systems create "islands of data," seriously limiting 

their ability to automate work, optimize business operations and opportunities and improve customer 

service - in short, to satisfy their customers' needs and remain competitive. As companies seek to 

capitalize on the potential of eBusiness, integrating data, business processes and related IT systems 

becomes critical—often at the precise moment that the challenge of integration becomes most acute. 

SeeBeyond eliminates disruption in the flow of work and information caused by the lack of integration 

of incompatible systems. As a result, SeeBeyond helps its customers: 

• Find and exploit new business opportunities 

• Improve customer relationships 

• Speed time to market 

• Optimize their supply and demand chains 

• Increase agility in solving problems 

• Improve and streamline operations 

• Leverage the Internet 

• Reduce the amount of scarce and expensive technical expertise 

required 

• Lower operational costs 

SeeBeyond is a pioneer in the development of technology for uniting disparate computer systems. The 

company is dedicated to continually improving its reliable and scalable architecture. Because 

SeeBeyond's prime focus is on its customers' business requirements, SeeBeyond delivers solutions that 

can be deployed quickly and produce tangible business benefits immediately, while providing a robust 

platform for strategic business improvements for the long term. 

SeeBeyond's flagship product, e*Gate eBusiness Integration Suite, is the most comprehensive 

solution available for uniting systems within and among companies. It is easy to use, deploys quickly 

with a minimal amount of IT expertise involved, is infinitely scalable, can be distributed globally and 

managed centrally and provides demonstrable business benefits. 


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Integration SAP using e-Gate Integrator - Business Integration Suite

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