ALE Converters and Subsystems

Cross-Application- Application Link Enabling Interface (CA-ALE)

The ALE concept involves using external converters to connect non-SAP systems to the R/3 System.
External converters are generic format conversion programs. The following converter functions are
covered by SAP XA-ALE certification:
q the transfer of R/3 intermediate document (IDoc) formats straight into their own repository so
that these data descriptions can be used as source or target structures when assigning data
fields.
q adoption and conversion of intermediate documents from R/3 Systems via the ALE interface
a remote function call that can be called up using a normal transaction.
q conversion of any data format into intermediate document structures and import into the R/3
System via a remote function call in the ALE interface.
ALE converters enhance the concept of EDI subsystem interfaces by:
q using direct program-to-program communication instead of a file interface to transfer IDocs
q recognizing the format of any interface structure of a non-SAP system and not just standard
EDIFACT or ANSI-X12 formats.