XI as alternative to LSMW?

[Former Member]

Has anyone used XI as a data conversion tool (instead of using LSMW)? Is this feasible and would that make sense to do? Of course, I realize that the standard load programs/tools that come with the Data Transfer Workbench would still need to be used, but I like the idea of using XI to convert the legacy data to the SAP required format instead of using LSMW (we are already going to be using XI for interfaces, so why not stick with one tool?)

Looking for opinions here....

Thanks.

Regards,

Lee

[Former Member]

Hi,

Another factor to consider is the data volumes. XI seems to work better with transactional data. The intial data load done for master data usually means large files with hundreds of thousands of records. the XI file adapters simply cannot cope with such large files.

So it may be better to use LSMW for your initial master data migration, and then use XI for the ongoong data transfer.

Cheers

Manish

[Former Member]

Yeah True. XI has problem managing large files. Say if the file is around 20 MB or so.

As that's my experience in the same.

Paresh

[Former Member]

Yes very true. XI is not handling large file. whenever the large files are processed, J2EE engine goes down and restarts.

So for large BATCH upload of data, what is the best solution (in XI) other than LSMW, BDC etc?

How to handle large message in XI?

[MichalKrawczyk]

Hi,

did you have a look at parameter:

icm/HTTP/max_request_size_KB

in the XI tuning guide?

Regards,

michal

[Former Member]

Hi,

also keep in mind, that the initial data load to SAP MDM for instance is also carried out via XI and in a recent project we implemented, it worked very well extracting the data from R/3, so it is not as easy as to say, that it simply can't cope with this amounts of data. It always depends on how you extract that data from the (legacy) Systems and how well your XI system is tuned.

Best regards

Christine

[Former Member]

Thanks guys, these are good factors to consider.

Lee

[MichalKrawczyk]

Hi,

It depends on several things:

1. How well your developers know XI/LSMW (or maybe do they have to learn XI anyway)

2. What type of input data have you got - flat files or XML files (or maybe something else)

3. also denpends how difficult your mappings are (2 different file type to one RFC, or one IDOC or just one to one)

4. the cost? I guess it's a little bit easier to find someone who can use LSMW then someone with XI experience

Hope that answering those questions can help you a bit:)

Regards,

michal

[Former Member]

Hi Lee,

You can of course XI for data conversion. What XI gives you is multiple routings, guaranteed delivery etc. You wont need this during data conversion.

Also, the mapping may be limited in some cases, especially if you want to do lot of table look-ups etc.

Plus, the messages would get persisted in XI. Depending on the conversion you are doing, this could be an issue.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Sukumar