How to extend/modify CRM objects like BP, BP Hierarchy?

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I am looking for

<b>Q.1</b> how to extend/modify the structure of CRM Objects like Business Partner (BP), BP Hierarchy, Products, Sales Order, Activities, Quotations, Service Tickets, Order Status? The objects are required to be extended as all fields from Legacy system can not be mapped to existing structure of obejcts.

<b>Q.2</b> Is the extension mechanism same for all above objects or its different?

<b>Q 3.</b> There are standard BAPIs/Function Modules available for extracting data to above object or creating above objects. My question is, can I still use them, if I extend the object structure. Do I need to create custom Function Module?

Please help me getting answers for above questions.

thanks in advance,

KP

[stephenjohannes]

Q1:

There is a standard tool called the Easy Enhancement Workbench(EEWB) available with CRM 4.0. You can use it to extend most business objects. Of the objects you listed below the following are definitely supported:

Business partner, Sales Orders, Activities, Quotations, and Service Tickets. The BP Hierarchy is a configuration/master data setup activity. The Order status is configuration activity usually via status management. Products are supported through the configuration of attribute sets which are established in COMM_ATTRSET.

Documentation for all this can be found in the standard CRM help. You will need to search for EEWB and you will find the information.

This link will point you to the EEWB in the standard help:

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_crm40sr1/helpdata/en/aa/bb503e50a9054be10000000a114084/frameset.htm

Q2: The extension mechanism for most objects is definitely different:

For example:

Business Partners use BDT

Business Transactions use the CUSTOMER_H and CUSTOMER_I tables along with the CRMV_MAPPING mechanism.

Products use attribute sets.

The EEWB centralizes the enhancements for most objects. You can see the code that is generated and what is necessary to build an enhancement for an object. The EEWB code can be used as a template or productive use depending on your needs.

Q3: If you use EEWB you will not need to create function modules to extract the data on your in some cases. Depending on the object SAP will automatically generate the function module or extend the standard to add the custom fields in. This is caused by the use of customizing includes in CRM that allow fields to be added in a single place to propgate at all layers of the application except for the UI, automatically.

If you follow the standard extension mechanisms delivered by SAP you will have no issues utilizing your data in the standard SAP applications and performing the extract. The most work you may need is a series of BADI implementations to move data back and forth, but beyond that, the remaining details are handled by SAP.

Good luck,

Stephen