IDocs (Intermediate Documents) are standard containers for exchanging data between applications. Between SAP applications they are transferred using the ALE (Application Link Enabling) layer which again uses either tRFC or File technology as the underlying technique.

An IDoc contains different types of information. It contains the application data to be exchanged (e.g. a sales orders) as well as technical data providing information from where to where the IDoc is supposed to be sent. Furthermore, the IDoc also contains status information that shows which processing step within the data exchange the IDoc is currently in. These statuses can indicate error situations or success situations. Some of them can be intermediate statuses that are indicating backlog situations.

For an end-to-end ALE monitoring it is necessary to monitor the various IDoc statuses in the outbound as well as the inbound direction.

To monitor IDocs the following prerequisites have to be met by the managed system:

• Basis release ≥ 7.00 on all managed systems

Available Monitoring Categories

The available monitoring categories are:

• IDoc: IDoc sent to or from the ABAP system (Monitoring transaction WE05).

For the category 'IDoc' you can collect payload information from the IDoc and display this payload in the AIM application in SAP Focused Run. You can then use this information to search for related messages in PI or CPI, related IDocs, or related web service calls. Find out how to set up the collection of payload information under Collecting Business Context for AIM.

Available Filter Options

IDoc 

For IDoc Monitoring you can collect all IDocs sent or received in the managed system. You can also use the following filter parameters, to restrict the data collection:

• Direction: Direction of the message flow from the perspective of the monitored system.
• Partner Number of sender/receiver: Receiver Partner Number or Sender Partner Number
• Partner Type of sender/receiver: Receiver Partner Type or Sender Partner Type
• Partner Function of sender/receiver: Receiver Partner Function or Sender Partner Function
• Sender/Receiver port: Partner port
• Message Type: Message type, e.g. ORDERS
• Basic Type: IDoc type, e.g. ORDERS05
• Message Code: Message variant of the IDoc
• Message Function: Message function of the IDoc

To find the correct values for the IDocs you want to monitor, you can use transaction WE05 in the managed system to display the IDoc and the filter values.

Available Metrics

For interfaces of type IDoc the following metrics are collected:

IDoc 

• IDocs in status ERROR for longer than N minutes: Indicates new IDocs in the status group ERROR were collected during the collection interval
  
  • Additional filter fields:
    • Client: SAP client
    • Current Status: The current status of the IDoc
    • Status Group: Select one of the status groups from the input help
  • Metric parameters: 
    • STATUS_GROUP (not changeable) = ERROR
    • OLDER_THAN_MINUTES = Only consider IDocs older than [minutes]
• Number of IDocs in status BACKLOG for longer than N minutes: The number of new IDocs in the status group INTERMEDIATE found during the collection interval
  
  • Additional filter fields:
    • Client: SAP client
    • Current Status: The current status of the IDoc
    • Status Group: Select one of the status groups from the input help
  • Metric parameters:  
    • STATUS_GROUP (not changeable) = INTERMEDIATE
    • OLDER_THAN_MINUTES = Only consider IDocs older than [minutes]

Which statuses fall into status group ERROR and status group INTERMEDIATE is based on the IDoc customizing tables STACUST and STALIGHT in the managed system. The customizing table STACUST which determines the qualification for an IDoc status is maintained with transaction WE47.