Replication of DB table content to Decision Table

[Marcelo_Pollak]

Hi all (especially Carsten )

I am analyzing the possibility to use BRF plus for some developments the company I work for does for nearly all customers.

For customers who already use BRFplus it is simple, but for those who don't, we would use it actually if there was a possibility to maintain decision table entries in a kind of "mirror DB table" and get these entries replicated into BRF plus' decision table.

I have searched in Google for a while but don't find any information about it.

Is it possible, and if yes, how?

Thanks

Marcelo

[christianlechne]

Hi Marcelo,

the data model underneath the BRFplus is a bit tricky and I would not recommend creating some "mirror tables". In additon, it is not documented and there is no guarantee that there are no changes made to it. So from my point of view not a path you should follow.

Having said that, the background of your question would be interesting: why do you want to create such mirror tables? Perhaps there is some other functionality in BRFplus that can fulfill  your requirements without making a replica of the BRFplus data model

BR

Christan

[Marcelo_Pollak]

Hi Christian

I would do it to avoid forcing people who maintain the Dec.Table to have BRF+ knowledge. So these people would maintain a Customizing table in ERP as usual, but it would be automatically replicated to BRF+ so that the logic could take advantage of the Decision Table capabilities. Then only few BRF+ experts would need to touch the rules or something when necessary, but not the business people.

Thanks and regards

Marcelo

[carsten_ziegler]

Oi Marcelo,

You could replicate not on DB level but use the BRFplus API to write the content into the decision table. In package SFDT_DEMO_OBJECTS you can find some examples that show how this is possible. The BRFplus book also has a code tutorial that covers this partly.

Carsten

[christianlechne]

Hi Marcelo,

I guessed something like that 🙂

In addition to Carstens reply I would say that you have several options:

• You can use the Excel ex-/import functionality in order to fill the content of the decision table. Business folks should be quite used to Excel, but depending on the structure of the decision table this might be a bit uncomfortable for the user
• You can create a custom transaction that guides the user directly to the decision table that has to be edited (so no navigating in the workbench). This transaction can be hooked into IMG, which is the place where the user would expect it. One drawback here is that if your users work with SAP GUI a browser window opens up. In case you use the SAP Business Client (which business people should imho) the user will not really recognize that shift of UI technologies
• Last but least the option Carsten described namely using the BRFplus API that you can use in a custom report to trigger the filing of the decision table. You will also find quite some resources on that topic in this space

So you have several options. While the first one works out of the box, the second one needs minor implementation to get it going. The last option demands some effort to implement and test it, but is also feasible.

BR

Christian

[Former Member]

Hi Marcelo,

We went through similar experience in our organization. Depending on the complexity of the decision tables the effort of the BRFplus implementation could be quite high. Especially the required conversion routines could become pretty tricky. If there is any chance it is better to invest in training the people. Long term, it is the best option. The BRFplus is a great tool and business experts / functional folks should have a good grip on it anyways.

Shahram