ILS offers enterprise labeling solutions for SAP. Our sales and systems engineering teams can provide an enterprise solution based upon SAP certified labeling software and our extensive expertise. Our solutions leverage SAP iDocs and require no extensive programming in SAP or direct database connections.

How IDocs Simplify Enterprise Data Processing

Large enterprise environments, such as those designed by SAP, may consist of many different computers running different operating systems, all networked together from different corners of the world. However, there will always be one or more central servers running the main system database. This central database can contain thousands of data tables consuming gigabytes of storage information on customers, vendors, employees, manufacturing status, inventory, shipping, etc. Accordingly, if (for example) a shipping facility only needs to read a limited amount of customer and inventory information in order to print labels for that day's shipments, it might not be desirable to design and perform the complex remote queries necessary to tap directly into and search the central database.

SAP designed IDocs ("Intermediate Documents") for exactly this purpose – for encapsulating, moving around, and processing just the sections of data needed for specific purposes.

The Generation of IDocs is a Standard, Routine SAP Function

At any point in SAP's standard transaction processes (for shipping, receiving, work flow, etc), an IDoc can easily be generated containing only the data fields and records needed for a specific process (such as printing a shipping manifest or that day's shipping container labels). These self-contained files are obviously much smaller than the central database and more easily handled by peripheral software. IDocs employ a text-based format, so your workstations need not be equipped to access SAP's central data-processing engine. In fact, because IDocs are individual, self-contained files, they can easily be transferred using a variety of relatively "low tech" methods, including e-mail. Accordingly, a facility printing labels from IDoc data need not necessarily even be connected to the central server.

Benefits of Directly Reading SAP Data

Direct SAP IDoc interfacing delivers the following advantages over other enterprise label printing solutions:

• Previously, users wishing to integrate label printing software with SAP had to go through a complicated sequence of data format conversions, possibly including custom SAP programming and expensive consulting.

• IDocs usually store only the portions of data needed for immediate transaction processing. Accordingly, printing directly from IDocs avoids the complexity and overhead of accessing the central SAP database directly.

• Our enterprise printing solution makes the use of pre-generated printer command files completely obsolete. That means that when you make changes to your label design, they are immediately ready to print again without requiring you to perform any "compiles" or file uploads.

• Allows for optional offloading of the print-processing task from the central server, freeing it up to process standard data transactions more rapidly.

• Allows label printing from any Windows PC without requiring a connection to the central SAP database.

Call ILS today to discuss your enterprise labeling needs.