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Business Application Programming Interface

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BAPI stands for Business Application Programming Interface and is essentially the same as an API.

SAP has introduced object-oriented technology in the R/3 System by making R/3 processes and data available in the form of SAP business objects.

External applications can access SAP business objects through standardized, platform independent interfaces - Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs). SAP business objects and their BAPIs provide an object-oriented view of R/3 business functionality.

Purpose: BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces) are the standard SAP interfaces. They play an important role in the technical integration and in the exchange of business data between SAP components, and between SAP and non-SAP components. BAPIs enable you to integrate these components and are therefore an important part of developing integration scenarios where multiple components are connected to each other, either on a local network or on the Internet.

BAPIs allow integration at the business level, not the technical level. This provides for greater stability of the linkage and independence from the underlying communication technology.

A single business object type represents one business entity. It encompasses the functions and the data of this entity.

The Business Application Programming Interfaces allow object-oriented access to the SAP system through methods for the business object types. Together with the business object types, BAPIs define and document the interface standard at the business level.

Objectives:

When implementing BAPIs, you should pursue the goal of avoiding the disadvantages conventional interfaces - No separation between contents and transport.

BAPIs, in contrast, clearly separate the business contents from the underlying communication technology. The BAPIs, meaning they are independent of the programming language and communication mechanisms used.

Using BAPIs results in the following benefits: 

BAPIs represent well-defined, internally consistent units that always represent business facts

and leave a consistent database state behind.

The business contents can be standardized, since BAPIs not only allow the integration of the SAP

system and other software components at a technical level, but also at the business level. 

BAPIs have become a communication standard between business systems. Access is possible through

object-oriented interface technologies (such as COM/DCOM from Microsoft). The SAP business objects

conform to the guidelines of the OAG (Object Application Group), and meet the CORBA standard from

the OMG (Object Management Group). 

Stability and compatibility
     Once SAP has released a BAPI, its interface definitions and parameters will remain stable in

the long term, which means application programs will not be affected by changes to the underlying SAP software or data. If upward-compatible enhancements are made to the BAPIs, the stability of the existing applications is not affected. 

Openness
     BAPIs can be accessed from any widespread development platform.
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