In this Blog, I will be covering my experience while exploring DRF in Cloud. There are many good Blogs available on explaining how to Replicate data using DRF. E.g. detailed steps on how to configure DRF for Replication Object(Pricing Changes) is well covered in blog Replicate Condition Records for Pricing to External System by Siwen Hu  .

As we know that using Data Replication Framework (DRF), we can replicate data, including change pointers from source system to one or more target systems.

In S/4HANA Cloud; so far, we don’t have any CDS Views to read change pointers. So, whenever you get requirement to perform any operation based on data changes you might have to use Business Events /In case Replication Object is available you can use Data Replication framework if you need to send the changed data to any third party system.

Using DRF, you can perform

• Initial load – it replicates all the data for the selected Business object
• Changes – it replicates only the changes

Let’s have look at some of key questions that will cross your mind while working on DRF.

• Can we use DRF for our Requirement? Starting point is to check if the Replication Object exits /not for your Business Requirement. While going through the Blogs on configuring Replication Object – I struggled to find information on where I should start with. So, the very first step is to find if Replication Object exists for your Business Requirement. I referred SAP Help and API Hub to find the Replication Object ( In API Hub you can give the keywords in Search like Pricing Replicate and find the relevant Object for your requirement). Example below SOAP API will suffice my requirement for Pricing Changes in Sales.

Once you have found the API which can be used for Replication, next step is to create Communication Arrangement in S/4HANA Cloud.

• What is the URL that we need to give in Communication Arrangement?

Once you Configure the Communication Arrangement (After the Communication System has been created, where we give our middleware details ) , download the WSDL File from the Communication arrangement

Then the same needs to be configured in your middleware following steps listed here . Once you retrieve the iflow endpoint – same will be maintained in the Communication arrangement.

• Middleware Required : Since DRF internally uses asynchronous API to send data. It maps the API data with the target mappings that are listed in Communication arrangement URL  ; you will need middleware preferably Cloud Integration(aka CPI) to ease out the configurations and development effort required .

High-level flow of activities required for DRF to work is depicted below:

Once the set up is ready , you can use the DRF Apps for Replication or you can schedule Job in Communication arrangement mentioning Job frequency interval  .

In this Blog post we only covered things that need to be taken care while configuring DRF for your requirement . In next Blog , we will discuss the key Fiori apps and their purpose while working with DRF.

Thanks and Regards

Taranam