Box - Inbound Storage
Inbound storage allows documents added to Box to be linked to objects in SAP. As the objects are linked, SAP metadata is returned and updated in Box metadata template values.
docuflow has a process to query the Box system looking for documents to link to SAP. These are called ‘inbound rules’ and are only available with ECM Server.
ECM Server is a communication specification based on SAP’s RFC socket protocol called JCo (Java Connector). The ECM server unlocks remote function calls and docuflow provides an API within SAP to leverage this technology, allowing enhanced functionality compared to the standard Content Server.
Documents to link are determined by a metadata flag that is set to True and some optional filters to help specify a sub-set of documents to process. In addition to this metadata flag, additional business information in the metadata is required to identify the object in SAP to link to. This additional metadata is depends on the business process/ SAP Object to be identified.
- An inbound rule (query) is run against Box and a result set of documents are found
- The documents and any configured metadata (document template values) are returned
- docuflow calls an SAP RFC and sends the list of documents and their metadata
- SAP finds the corresponding object for each document and creates an archive link entry for it
- SAP returns a success and additionally, any configured metadata to update Box with
- docuflow updates the documents in Box with SAP required metadata along with any configured custom metadata
Custom metadata can be set in Box as fields in Metadata Templates. Custom metadata is any value from SAP beyond those required by docuflow.
During the inbound linking process, once the SAP Object is found and the document linked, custom metadata can be pushed back to Box metadata on the document.
- Allow end-users to access SAP linked documents directly in the Box interface, especially through search
- Trigger a Box Relay workflow
- Set or update a Box Shield retention policy
- Allow other Business Systems to access/link to documents stored by SAP (i.e. SalesForce)
- Link to an existing SAP object
- Trigger an SAP workflow with container values
- Trigger custom ABAP code
Pros:
- Enables metadata-based searches and search result filtering for users accessing content within Box
- Enables the ability to use inbound rules when using ECM connectivity
Cons:
- Requires additional transaction time and Box API calls