Box - Message Output

Message Output in SAP allows users to generate and distribute documents from SAP to various output channels. With docuflow, these generated documents can be routed to your Box environment for storage and distribution.

Key benefits include:

Example use cases:

When storing Message Output documents, there are two options: 

Content Server is a communication specification defined by SAP that uses HTTPS to communicate with the docuflow middleware. docuflow is an SAP Content Server certified application. 

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 over standard Content Server. 

While we are only discussing Outbound communications, ECM with JCo does allow for bi-directional communication between docuflow and SAP, Inbound and Outbound.  

[Architecture Diagram] 

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Optional Business Metadata can be set in Box using fields in Metadata Templates. This metadata includes any values from SAP that go beyond the mandatory system metadata required by docuflow.

Optional Business Metadata is particularly valuable when you want to:

The method of applying Optional Business Metadata to Box depends on the Message Output approach: ECM or Content Server.

Call backs utilize the ECM connectivity and update the document metadata once the SAP Content Server store/create operation has been completed. This means there are additional API calls/time required to update the document with business metadata. 



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Dynamic Location Routing Dynamic Location Routing is a feature that allows documents to be automatically stored in different Box folders based on associated SAP data when the document is transferred from SAP to Box.

This capability enables organizations to create rules and logic that determine the storage location of documents based on specific SAP attributes or metadata. By leveraging Dynamic Location Routing, companies can:

Here are a couple of examples to illustrate how Dynamic Location Routing can be used:

Example1: Routing based on code: Documents attached to Sales Orders within a Sales Organzization with code 1000, go to Box location 1000: SAPDocs->Sales Orders->1000 Documents attached to Sales Orders within a Sales Organzization with code 2000, go to Box folder 2000 : SAPDocs->Sales Orders->2000

Example2: Internal vs. External documents: SAP information, such as ArchiveLink document type, classification, or vendor number, can be used to automatically classify documents as either internal or external and route them to the appropriate Box folders.

External documents, intended for vendor access, are stored in a Box folder that the specific vendor can view. Internal documents, meant for internal use only, are stored in a separate Box folder inaccessible to vendors, even if the document is related to a specific vendor.

This automated categorization and routing process, based on SAP metadata, helps organizations maintain better control over document access and ensures that information is shared appropriately.

Folders are essential in Box, as all documents must be stored within them. The user account that creates the top-level folder becomes the owner of all subfolders and documents beneath it. To avoid individual ownership, use a managed user account for creating the top-level folder.

Best practices suggest:

For large document volumes, consider implementing a folder structure. Content Server for Box natively supports folder hashing to manage the 15,000-document limit per folder. It has a setting for the maximum number of documents per folder and automatically creates new folders when the threshold is reached.

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When accessing SAP content that is stored and linked to Box, users have three options for viewing the documents:

Each of the above options has pros and cons listed below: 

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