Spend Management Blogs by SAP
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JutVil
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
The intelligent Enterprise lives for, by and with Integrations to enable the end-to end workflow. However, even without the all-in-one solution, integrations are integral to business processes. I have not seen a single program which does not use integrations to some degree. Even simple modifications, adding or deletion of data can be done by means of integrations. common examples are master data edits, work order revisions, time sheets uploads. They are all integrations and based on standard connectors.

The advantages of standard connectors are:

  • No release required

  • Enabled for manual and/or automated use

  • CSV data (some specific XML connectors available)

  • SAP Fieldglass Standard QA Processes

  • FG has predefined standards for potential integration points and these formats can be used to load, update or extract data


As they are configured within application, they give you the flexibility for field mapping and defaulting for uploads and the ability for adding/adjusting columns and filters for downloads.

To enable standard connectors, you have either of two options:

  • Configuration Manager: The self service tool of SAP Fieldglass with which you can enable and modify connectors, end points and single sign on. (A lengthy guide here: https://help.sap.com/viewer/b363c9b90a9d4d34bc8ced1065edb922/Cloud/en-US and soon also a blog entry 😉

  • The second option is a request to the SAP Fieldglass helpdesk. Here you have to write and email and indicate which connector you want enabled and which settings (e.g. versions, max length, utf-8).


Once enabled, you can use them. Login to your company, click on the cog wheel (admin menu, symbol in the upper right corner) and check out the integration section. Here you can "upload data" and "download data". For manual uploads, you can click on "upload data" and download the csv template to use for your uploads.Here an example of a upload file for business units.



Upload files consist of:

  • File header (in the above example it is row 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

    • The file header is specific to the upload file but can be modified, e.g. the date format or the language can be adjusted tot he user and data preference.



  • Empty separation row to indicate the difference between the file header and header row (row 6)

  • Header row (row 7)

    • Again, these rows display in the template that you can download and define which columns can/must be included in the upload



  • Data rows (any data in the rows below row 7)

    • These are the data rows in which you modify, add or remove by using the connector.




It is important to know that each record/entry is on a separate row and each data field is separated by a delimiter , & ; | ~ (the typical delimiter is a comma (.csv))



While the upload file contains formatting instructions, the Download files consist only of the header row and data row.

In the SAP Fieldglass connector library you can look up the details for each upload or download and see the specifications for the mandatory fields and optional changes to the header row.

https://help.sap.com/viewer/9cfd5c12ee3046d59453e73974f9c4b7/cloud/en-US

Just one tip: Always test integrations in a test site first, before applying changes to production. We don't want to break a running system, right? 😉