Direct

Why use it?

Winshuttle Direct simplifies the exposure of SAP business application programming interfaces (APIs) (BAPIs) and remote function modules (RFMs) to the enterprise with minimal training. Winshuttle Direct enables users to access SAP BAPIs and RFMs, which provides a comprehensive approach to access many areas of SAP. This capability enables end users to upload and download information from many SAP components from within Excel or Access without the need for programming. BAPI capabilities within the Winshuttle Studio suite can further enhance a company’s ability to automate data entry in its SAP system in a consistent and repeatable way.

What can it do?

Business users can increase their efficiency and use BAPIs to load data with minimal training. The intuitive user interface requires no knowledge of Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) and requires no changes to the SAP environment.

The sophisticated search capabilities of Direct allow technical users to create templates for SAP functions not normally available via standard SAP transactions and the SAP user interface. Direct enables these users to distill which BAPIs certain processes use and then create a template that handles the SAP data in an appropriate manner.

Key features of Direct

• Direct works with Winshuttle Transaction to enable users to pick appropriate fields for their business processes and map them to Excel or Access cells or columns of data
• Transaction scripts developed based on Direct files enable users to build complex data templates to populate and change many functional areas of SAP
• Unlike transaction recordings based on BDC sessions, BAPIs and RFMs are not limited by environmental or profile settings assigned to individual users. This limitation makes BAPI-based scripts more portable and less prone to unexpected failure due to unexpected screen logic.
• BAPIs and RFMs can be rapidly distilled to create Winshuttle BAPI Direct templates (WBDs) for use with Transaction, which can be used repeatedly and reduce the implementation time for a BAPI or RFM from days or weeks to hours

How does it work?

In the Business Object repository (BOR), an SAP system stores hundreds of BAPI and RFM definitions that move data into and out of SAP and enable users to perform various high-performance and complex data functions.

Technical users can access relevant BAPIs from the BOR and map the fields to an Excel spreadsheet, easily creating a Transaction shuttle file that can act as a template for any BAPI-enabled SAP business process. Access to the BAPIs and corresponding Excel output is highly secure and cannot be used without valid SAP credentials and appropriate authorization.

FAQs

Does DIRECT work with all SAP systems?

What else do I need to use Direct?

Will Direct work with custom BAPIs?