aleand edi

[former_member616]

hi ,

what is the difference between ALE and EDI?

[satsrockford]

Hello Vijay

hi,

i am Giving difference b/w ALE and EDI. But Make sure you had a clear understanding of IDOCS.

The philosophical difference between EDI and ALE can be pinned as follows: If we send data to an external partner, we generally speak of EDI, while ALE is a mechanism to reliable replicate data between trusting systems to store a redundant copy of the IDoc data. The difference is made clear, when we think of a purchase order that is sent as an IDoc. If we send the purchase order to a supplier then the supplier will store the purchase order as a sales order. However, if we send the purchase order via ALE to another R/3 system, then the receiving system will store the purchase order also as a purchase order.

The basic difference with ALE and EDI is ALE used for internal communications and EDI is meant for external communications.

Since ALE uses an IDOC format to exchange data between systems, both participating systems should understand the IDOC format.

In other words ALE normally used to distribute the master data (Ex: Material Master, Vendor Master) with in a company when you are maintain the distributed environment.

For example data transfer between a SAP R/3 and SAP APO where the data transfer is implemented using ALE technology.

EDI is for exchanging transaction data (Purchase order, Delivery) between two different business partners.EDI is all about the standards (Ex: ANSI X12, EDIFACT) you have to follow when you are transferring business documents.

Technically speaking, ALE transfers the data using memory buffers whereas EDI uses file port to transfer the data.

With EDI technology you always need a translator to convert the IDOC to X12 (Outbound), X12 to IDOC (Inbound).But with ALE you don’t need a translator.

This is an article posted on the site below, You Can easily check it out.

http://expertanswercenter.techtarget.com/eac/knowledgebaseAnswer/0,295199,sid63_gci983331,00.html

Check this link for more details.

http://sapabap.iespana.es/sapabap/sap/faq/ale_idocs_bapi.htm

,

regards

Satish

[former_member616]

hi satish,

can u explaine me wt is file port transfer and memory buffer transfer?

[uwe_schieferstein]

Hello Raju

You may describe ALE as SAP-internal EDI (internal = between SAP systems).

Regards

Uwe