change pointer

[Former Member]

Hi ,

what is change pointer in abap dictionary .

Regards

Neetesh

[Former Member]

Hi

With respect to Dictionary Change pointers means all the changes done to dictionary objects.

All the change logs with respect to tables are stored in CDHDR and CDPOS table

Change Pointers in broad sense are used with respect to IDOC

Change Pointers & Reduction of IDOCs.

Applications, which write change documents, will also try to write change

pointers for ALE operations. These are log entries to remember all modified

data records relevant for ALE.

Following Steps must be followed in case of Change Pointer.

1) Goto Transaction BD60.

Note down the Details of the Message Type for which change pointer has to activate. Details like Function Module, Classification Object, ALE object Type etc.

E.g. ZDEBP3

2) Next step is goto transaction BD53

Click on change button.

First select the segment for which the fields has to modified (either remove or

add ).

It will show the fields in a pop-up window where the user can select, deselect the respective fields.

Save the settings for the Message type. Don’t forget to activate the change pointers by clicking Activate Change pointers button on the main screen.

3) Once the activation is done system will reset the settings for the Message type in Change pointers (BD60). Maintained the old settings for the Message type.

Regards

Anji

[Former Member]

Hi,

Check this FAQ

. Do you really need change pointers?

You need change pointers to distribute changes with the ALE SMD tool. If you do not use this tool, you do not need to write change pointers.

You can deactivate change pointers and activate them again with the transaction BD61.

2. Do you really need to activate change pointers for this messages type?

If some messages types are no longer to be distributed by change pointers, you can deactivate change pointers for this messages type.

You can deactivate change pointers for the message type

and reactivate them again.

For reduced message types, deactivate the change pointer with the

Reduction tool (transaction BD53).

3. Are there still too many change pointers to be processed?

The change pointers are analyzed with the transaction BD21 or the report RBDMIDOC in ALE and flagged as processed. If the change pointers are created periodically, this report should also run periodically.

4. Are no longer required change pointers reorganized in time?

The report RBDCPCLR (transaction BD22) to reorganize the change pointer should run periodically. Depending on how many change pointers are created or processed, you can schedule the background job hourly, daily or weekly. You should delete all obsolete and processed change pointers. You can also use this report for specified message types.

Reward if useful!

[Former Member]

Hi Neetesh,

We come across change pointer technique while dealing with master data distribution thru ALE/IDOCs

When we want to reflect changes made to master data(i.e customer master, vendor master, material master ...) visible to other clients listed in customer distribution model, we follow change pointer technique.

What is customer distribution model?

A customer model depicts various messages (master data, transactional data) exchanged between the systems and establishes a sender and receiver of data

A customer model is always maintained on any system for the entire distributed network of SAP systems, so it must be distributed to various systems in the distributed network.

These r some details regarding change pointer technique which u may find it usefull.............

The change pointers technique is based on the change document technique, which tracks changes made to key documents in SAP, such as the material master, customer master, vendor master & sales orders. changes made to a document are recorded in the change document header table CHDHR, and additional change pointers are written in the BDCP table for changes relevant to ALE. BDCPS table stores the status of changed documents processed or not.

The process for distributing master data using change pointers involves the following steps.

The application writes change documents. SAP maintains change documents for

several objects in the system, such as materials, customers, invoices, and bank data, to provide an audit trail for changes made to an object. A change document object represents a set of tables for which changes are recorded. For example, the change document for the material master is named MATERIAL and it contains the various tables of the material master object, such as MARA and MARC.

When an application transaction makes changes to an object, the application writes change documents, which are stored in the CDHDR and CDPOS tables for each change made to an object.

Tip

Execute transaction SCDO to see a list of change document objects and

their tables.

The SMD (Shared Master Data) tool writes change pointers. When changes are made to an object, the SMD tool checks the ALE settings and consults the ALE distribution model to determine whether a receiver is interested in the object that was changed. If the system finds an appropriate receiver, the system creates change pointers in the BDCP table that point to change documents in the CDHDR table.

The ALE programs analyze change pointers and generate IDocs. SAP provides

standard function modules that read the change pointer table and generate IDocs for the objects that were changed. These programs are designed to ignore multiple changes and create only one IDoc. For example, if a material is changed four times before the function module is invoked, only one IDoc with the latest data from the material master data is created. The function modules are invoked by a standard report, RBDMIDOC. The selection parameters of this report allow you to specify the message type for which change pointers are to be analyzed. Configuration

you must carry out the following configuration steps to enable master data

distribution based on changes to the object.

Step 1: Enable Change Pointers Globally

Transaction: BD61

This option enables the change pointer process globally. Make sure that the flag is checked.

Step 2 :Enable Change Pointers for a Message Type

Transaction: BD50

This setting is required for activating change pointers for a specific message type.

make sure that the Active flag is checked for your message type.

Step 3 :Specify the Fields for Which Change Pointers Are to Be Written

Transaction: BD52

For standard master data objects such as the material, customer, and vendor objects, SAP already provides a list of fields for which change pointers are written. If you are satisfied with the standard set of fields, you can skip this step. If you want to add new fields, you must add entries for the required fields. If you are not interested in IDocs being generated for changes to a particular field, you can remove it from the list. For example, if you do not want to distribute the

material master for changes made to the Catalog Profile (RBNRM) field, you can delete this entry from the table.

Step 4: Changing a Field in the Master Data

Change a field in the master data object for which the change pointer is enabled. For example, if you change the net weight of a material in the material master data, a change pointer is written.

Tip : You can verify a change document and change pointer by viewing entries in

tables CDHDR and BDCP, respectively.

Step 5 :Executing Program RBDMIDOC to Process Change Pointers

Execute program RBDMIDOC to initiate the process of generating an IDoc. On the selection screen, specify the message type. For example, you can specify MATMAS. After you execute the process, it displays the number of entries processed.

Note :

Normally, you schedule this program to run frequently and start IDoc

generation for different message types.

Step 6 : View the idocs in WE02/05

Send me u'r mail-id so that I can forward some useful document/materials related to change pointer technique.

Reward Points if u find it useful.............

Thanks & Regards,

gyanaraj

s_gyanaraj@yahoo.co.in

[Former Member]

Hi

<b>Change Pointer</b>

(Master Data Distribution)

<b>Purpose</b>If you want to distribute master data changes with the SMD tool (Shared Master Data), changes to the master data objects are flagged for distribution by change pointers

The SMD tool is connected to the change document interface. If the master data changes are to be distributed, the application writes a change document. The contents of this are passed to the SMD tool. The tool writes change pointers, reads the application data and creates the master IDoc.

The master IDoc is then passed to the ALE layer, which sends it to all interested systems.

The change pointer tables (BDCP und BDCPS) should be as small as possible. Use as few change pointers as possible and delete change pointers which you no longer need.

You can increase the rate of processing by using the Analyze Change Pointer and Reorganize Change Pointer functions.

<b>Prerequisites</b>

You have created change pointers.

<b>Activities</b>

Checklist to keep the change pointer tables as small as possible:

1. Do you really need change pointers?

You need change pointers to distribute changes with the ALE SMD tool. If you do not use this tool, you do not need to write change pointers.

You can deactivate change pointers and activate them again with the transaction BD61.

2. Do you really need to activate change pointers for this messages type?

If some messages types are no longer to be distributed by change pointers, you can deactivate change pointers for this messages type.

You can deactivate change pointers for the message type

and reactivate them again.

For reduced message types, deactivate the change pointer with the

Reduction tool (transaction BD53).

From Basis Release 6.10, you can restrict the creation of change pointers in customer exits. This functionality is provided in advance in the Note 'Reducing the amount of data for change pointers' (0420562).

3. Are there still too many change pointers to be processed?

The change pointers are analyzed with the transaction BD21 or the report RBDMIDOC in ALE and flagged as processed. If the change pointers are created periodically, this report should also run periodically.

4. Are no longer required change pointers reorganized in time?

The report RBDCPCLR (transaction BD22) to reorganize the change pointer should run periodically. Depending on how many change pointers are created or processed, you can schedule the background job hourly, daily or weekly. You should delete all obsolete and processed change pointers. You can also use this report for specified message types.

<b>Notes</b>

If you are in a Basis Release 6.X system, use the table BDCP2 for the change pointer, if possible. See the note 'Migrating change pointers to table BDCP2' (0305462).

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<b>Reward if usefull</b>