SAP PI Interview Questions and Answers

Are you planning to attend an interview for SAP PI Developer role but confused on how to crack that interview and also what would be the most probable SAP PI interview questions that the interviewer may ask? Well, you have reached the right place. Tekslate has collected the most frequently asked SAP PI interview questions which are often asked in multiple interviews.

In this article, we will cover the following:

• SAP PI Interview Questions
• SAP PI PO Interview Questions
• SAP PI Certification Questions

Most Frequently Asked SAP PI Interview Questions

What is SAP PI? What are the components of the net weaver? What is the message flow in SAP XI? What are routing rules? What are service users? When will we go for BPM? What is Multi Cast? What is a Technical System? What is an abstract interface? What is Message Mapping?

SAP PI Interview Questions

Q1. Briefly explain about Netweaver.

Ans: SAP Netweaver provides an open integration and application platform and permits the integration of the Enterprise Services Architecture. Net weaver covers the following topics:

• People Integration
• Process Integration
• Information Integration
• Application Platform.

Q2. What is SAP PI?

Ans: Process Integration is an integral part of SAP Net weaver. The aim of PI is to integrate different versions of both SAP and non-SAP systems implemented on different platforms (Java, ABAP, and so on). PI enables you to implement cross-system business processes.PI is based on an open architecture, makes use of open standards and offers services that are essential in a heterogeneous and complex system landscape: namely a runtime infrastructure for message exchange, configuration options for managing business processes and message flow, and options for transforming message contents between the sender and receiver systems.

The application-specific contents are transferred from the sender to the receiver in a freely defined XML schema (XML: extended Markup Language) using the Integration Engine. The structure of a message is therefore determined by the interface data structures used.

The central concept is that, during the design phase, all interfaces required are initially developed independently of a platform and made available in the form of a WSDL description (WSDL: Web Service Description Language). Using this description you can, for example, define mappings between interfaces without this having an effect on an existing system landscape. All design phase data is saved in the Integration Repository to be implemented later in a particular system landscape. In this second phase, the configuration phase, you can select components, interfaces, and mappings saved in the Integration Repository that are appropriate for your system landscape and business processes, and assign them to each other in logical routing. The data resulting from this configuration process is saved in the Integration Directory and you can call and evaluate it from the runtime of the PI.

PI enables you to do the following:

Develop cross-system applications. You can exchange multiple system messages using the runtime infrastructure and synchronous or asynchronous communication.

You can either develop new and platform-independent interfaces or connect to existing interfaces at runtime, using adapters. Adjust message values and structures for the receiver, using mappings.

Centrally maintain the message flow between logical systems in the system landscape, using.

Connect the logical receiver to a technical system, using Services; this system can easily be switched using this abstraction level (technical routing).

Describe your system landscape as the basis for the description of your cross-system business process.

Q3.  Explain PI- Process Integration.

Ans: Process Integration can be used as a Middleware Engine to communicate in a distributed environment. The heart of XI is the Integration Engine that is used for integrating different technologies using Standard Messaging techniques e.g XML. Different mapping tools are available for mapping the distributed system which can be mapped without having any expertise of Technical Details. As a real-world example, XI can be helpful in integrating different banks with SAP R/3. XI Engine also supports previous releases of SAP R/3 like 4.6C and have many more adapters to communicate with legacy systems.

SAP XI is an integration technology and platform for:

•  SAP and Non-SAP systems.
•  A2A and B2B scenarios.
•  Synchronous and Asynchronous communication.
•  Cross component Business Process management and it include a built-in engine for designing and executing the integration process (Business process).
•  The goal of SAP XI is to provide a single point of integration of all systems inside and outside the corporate boundary across technologies and organizational boundaries.
•  The important feature of XI is openness, flexibility, and transparency to the integration process. It is based on ESA and SOA.
•  The overall key concept of SAP XI is to drive an integrated business process across heterogeneous and highly dynamic landscapes in a more manageable cost-effective way.
•  The basic idea is to provide runtime infrastructure which allows heterogeneous systems to be tied together with fewer connections and at the same time, in order to connect those applications and let messages flow from one application to another, have a centralized storage of integration knowledge.

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Q4. What are the integrations in net weaver?

Ans: People integration, information integration, process integration, and application platform.

Q5. What are the components of the net weaver? 

Ans: Mobile infrastructure, enterprise portals, bow, and MDM training Hyderabad, sap xi (integration broker and bpm) WEB AS.

Q6. What is the message flow in SAP XI?

Ans: Inbound handling, receiver determination, interface determination, channel determination, mapping, outbound handling.

Q7. What are routing rules?

Ans: Receiver determination rules and interface determination rules (including mapping assigned).

Q8. What is the quality of services, which come under the asynchronous process?

Ans: Exactly once and exactly once in order.

Q9. What are service users?

Ans: They have sap user roles on the ABAP part of the SAP web as that is available on the J2ee part as groups

Q10. What is the central administration transaction to manage the alerting? 

Ans: ALRTCATDEF.

Q11. What are the tools used by the runtime to monitor?

Ans: ccms (computer center management system), PMI (process monitoring infrastructure), and alert framework.

Q12. When will we go for BPM?

Ans: 

• Error Handling
• Splitting of messages
• Combining of messages
• Message Persistency.

Q13. Why the integration engine?

Ans: Processing messages, mapping, routing, and guaranteeing the quality of service.

Q14. What is Multi Cast?

Ans: You have the option of sending a message to multiple receivers and waiting for a response from each of the receivers. This procedure of sending a message to multiple receivers and waiting for a response message is also known as 'multicast'.

Q15. What are the Disadvantages of XSLT Mapping?

Ans: You cannot use Java APIs and Classes in it. There might be cases in your mapping when you will have to perform something like a properties file lookup or a DB lookup, such scenarios are not possible in XSLT.

 

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SAP PI PO Interview Questions

Q16. What is a Technical System?

Ans: Technical system represents the physical system, it contains all the physical characteristics of your system for eg while creating a Technical system for your R3 system - u specify the hostname, message server, OS, the clients, etc.

Q17. Differences between proxies and adapters?

Ans: Proxies are interfaces, which will get executed in the application system. They can be created only in the system from message interfaces using proxy generation functions. You can use proxies for systems with WAS >=6.20.

I will communicate in the native language with SAP systems via proxies. Proxies use XML - SOAP-based communication for both ABAP and Java Proxies.

Adapters will convert one format into another expected/target format. means from SAP standard formats and as well as 3rd party formats to target formats

Q18. What are the Types of Useful node functions?

Ans: RemoveContext, splitByValue, collapseContext, Copy value, createif, exits, useOneAsMany

1. removeContexts: "There is absolutely no difference between my children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren".

Material Group is sent in the item node of the source idoc but I want it in the header node of the target idoc. So I need to fool the mapping runtime that Material Group is coming in the header node of the source. remove Context exactly does that.

2. SplitByValue: "I need a different parent for every instance of me"

I will try to explain the function with the same mapping as readers can correlate well. Each instance of Item no in the source structure should generate a target itemNo and item under a different instance of the header node in the target. As we can observe that occurrences of items in the source and target structure are different we cannot map the elements of the item node directly. We use splitbyValue to achieve the same.

3. collapseContexts: " There is just a slight difference between my children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren". Similar to removeContext but context change is replaced with ". If we need to create empty tags in the target for every context change in the source we can use it. I did not find it useful so I don't like to explain in detail.

4. copy value: "How many ever times I occur I am copied just once"

This is not a node function but I am explaining it as it is used very frequently in real-time.

Let us take an instance of a material group, which can occur as many times as the item node. But since we are mapping it to the header in the target node I just want to copy the first occurrence of the material group and map it to the header node. copyValue exactly does that.

5. createif: "I have criteria for existing".

It is used when you want to create a target node or element based on some condition

Q19. What are the SAP XI Components?

Ans: 

• Integration Builder
• Integration Server
• System Land Scape Directory
• Runtime Work Bench.

Q20. What is an abstract interface?

Ans: The abstract interface is similar to other interfaces (outbound or inbound) but does not have direction. It can be used as either outbound or inbound. It is used only inside BPM. It is also called a hidden Interface.

Q21. How to Monitoring of BPM?

Ans: SXMB_MONI_BPE

Q22. What are the stacks available in XI?

Ans: 

• Java stack
• ABAP Stack

Q23. What is the use of Exactly Once In Order (EOIO)?

Ans: Messages are delivered with the same queue names (supplied by the application) in the same sequence that they were sent from the sender system.

Q24. End_to_End monitoring?

Ans: 

• If you want to monitor message processing steps in a number of SAP Components.
• If you want to monitor the path of individual messages through these SAP Components from start to end.

Q25. When would you use ABAP and Java mapping? What are the advantages and disadvantages of one vs. the other? Any guidelines on this?

Ans: 

Java mapping runs on the J2EE engine, ABAP Mapping runs on ABAP Stack. I guess ABAP mapping makes more sense if you have a requirement wherein you need to perform multiple RFC classes for RFC Lookup's etc as you can do this very easily  Using your ABAP Code. Java Mapping provides an easier means to use Java API's etc and it uses SAX parser which provides better performance while ABAP Mapping uses DOM Parser (I am not very sure about this though) which can cause a performance bottleneck.

Q26. What are the transaction codes in XI?

Ans: 

SXMB_IFR	Starting Builder
SXMB_MONI	Integration Engine, Monitoring
SXI_MONITOR	XI Message Monitoring
SLDCHECK	Test SLD Connection
SLDAPICUST	SLD API Customization
SXMB_ADM	Integration Engine, Administration
SXI_CACHE	XI Directory Cache
SXMB_MONI_BPE	Process Engine, Monitoring

Q27. What are the functions used in graphical mapping?

Ans: 

• Conversions
• Boolean
• Node Functions
• Constant
• Date
• Text
• Static
• Arithmetic

Q28. What is Xpath?

Ans: Its just path to an XML tag. The path is an expression language for addressing portions of an XML document, or for computing values (strings, numbers, or boolean values) based on the content of an XML document. The path is also a specification of the XML family. Using XPath you can address any node in an XML document. XSLT implements XPath expressions to select substructures of an XML document. Using templates in XSLT you can define the mapping rules for the selected substructures.

Q29. What are DOM and SAX?

Ans: SAX is Simple API for XML, DOM is Document Object Model. SAX parser is a memoryless parser and is recommended when the XML structure is huge. DOM parser loads the entire XML into the memory and so when the XML size is too big, DOM parser is to be avoided.

Q30. When we use XI Adapter?  

Ans: Basically XI adapter is used in the case of ABAP and JAVA proxies.

 

SAP PI Certification Questions

Q31. What is Message Mapping?

Ans: Message Mapping is used to transform your Source XML into the target XML structure.

Q32. What is Value Mapping?

Ans: Converting a value in the source to another in target) Value Mapping is used for specific mapping structures/mapping rules. Example, Currency Conversion Mapping Rules. Instead of creating this conversion rule in every mapping program, you can create a VALUE mapping that is stored in a value mapping table and use this is your Message Mapping and Thereby save up redundant mapping logic. Also, if the conversion rate changes, if you have used value mapping, you need to make a change only in once place and the result will be reflected in every mapping. If value mapping was not used, then you would have had to make the change in all mapping programs.

Q33. What are the steps required to configure a scenario?

Ans: 

1. Create your communication channel:

The communication channel is the means using which XI gets and passes information. XI can understand the only XML and so, the communication channels ( or adapters ) do the task of passing XML messages to and from XI. If the message is not in XML format, the content conversion is performed at the Adapter.

2. Create your sender and receiver agreement:

Whenever XI is the recipient of some information, you create a sender agreement for the corresponding adapter, sender system, and sender interface. Whenever XI is going to send some information to an external system, as the external system is the recipient of the information, create a receiver agreement for the same. for IDOC and HTTP adapters, no sender agreement is required.

3. Receiver Determination:

In this stage, you tell XI, the recipient Interface of the scenario. You can also provide conditions on which the receiver is determined.

4. Interface Determination:

The stage where the Inbound Interface and the Interface mapping program are defined. Conditional Interface determination is also possible.

Q34. What is CIM?

Ans: Common Information model, XI has developed means Ans) CIM the SLD is for a central repository of information about software and system in the data center, expressed in the Common information model. CIM was developed by DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force). It is an industry consortium whose goal is to enable the management of IT systems in a distributed environment using web standards.

Q35. What are the BPM tcodes?

Ans: 

• SWF_XI_ADM_BPE
• SWF_XI_ADM_BPE_DISP
• SXMB_ADM_BPE
• SXMB_MONI_BPE

Q36. What is the use of BPM patterns?

Ans: Patterns are more like the example where u can refer to the IS or u can make use of those in your scenario

SWEQADM	Check Events
RSWELOGD	Delete Event trace
SWEL	Display Event trace
SWELS	Switch on Event trace
SWI1	Processes and work items,
SWF_XI_SXPR	Restart workflow with errors
SWF_XI_SWI14	To find workflow log by interface name &namespace.
SWF_SI_SWI2_DIAG	Diagnosis process with errors.

Q37. What is cache and how many types of Caches are there in XI and what are their purposes?

Ans: There Are Two Types:

1. CPA cache:

CPA cache - is your Collaboration profile agreement cache, ie to mean it will contain the cache copy of all objects created during configuration time (ID).CPA (Collaboration profile agreement )Cache-mainly for the J2EE engine/Adapter engine.

2. Runtime Cache:

Runtime cache - it will contain cache copies of all the objects in XI (IR/ID) and active version of all your objects during runtime.

Q38. Why do we need Web Start?

Ans: Java Web Start is used to deploy standalone java applications over the network. When it comes to XI, the Integration Repository and Directory require specific Java client software, which is stored on the Integration Server and will be automatically installed on the client-side using Java Web Start. This client software can be used during design time to develop new interfaces and mappings and to configure services, routings, and mappings. As it allows applications to be started from the Internet using a web browser.

Q39. If u don't give FTP Connection details how will test the input message?

Ans: Go to component monitoring click on Test message button, there you can give the payload.

Q40. What is value mapping?

Ans: value-mapping function to map different representations of an object to each other. You save the mapping rules for different objects in a value mapping table.

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Q41. What is the context object?

Ans: The context object is an alternative to XPath; this will be used to access the content of an element in message in Runtime. This will be used to create in IR, and refer in Message Interface, In ID we will define where it is to be used, Based on this runtime value we can route the message processing.

Q42. What is cache monitoring?

Ans: Cache monitoring displays objects that are currently in the runtime cache of either of the following receives of cache data.

Q43. What are the Monitoring available in Runtime Work Bench?

Ans: 

• Component monitoring
• Message monitoring
• End-to-End monitoring
• Alert Configuration
• Cache monitoring
• Index administration

Q44. What is the use of the Adapter engine AAE in the PI system?

Ans: As the Integration engine handles messages in XML and SOAP protocol so if the business system doesn’t contain data in a specific format, Adapters are used to convert the messages specific protocol and message format required by the integration engine.

Q45. When will we go for BPM?

Ans: 

• Error Handling
• Splitting of messages
• Combining of messages
• Message Persistency