SAP CATS (Cross Application Time Sheet) Integration

SAP CATS  is a SAP tool that allows to enter time sheet hours for the SAP R/3  product. The ]project-open[ SAP CATS integration allows to transfer hours logged in ]project-open[ to CATS.

Scenario

The scenario for this integration consists of a project-oriented department (for example: the IT department) that used to manage projects via a number of Excel sheets and logs hours into SAP via CATS. Now ]project-open[ replaces the excel sheets and allows employees to log hours based on activities, tasks and tickets. The logged hours are transferred to SAP CATS in order to avoid double-entry.

SAP CATS Interface Structure

SAP provides BAPIs in order to insert, update and delete entries in the CATSDB table (BAPI_CATIMESHEETMGR_INSERT,  BAPI_CATIMESHEETMGR_UPDATE and BAPI_CATIMESHEETMGR_DELETE). 

The challenge of the CATS interface is to provide SAP with appropriate values for the fields in the BAPICATS1 structure according to the configuration of the customer's SAP system:

• SAP Personnel Number (EMPLOYEENUMBER):
  All users logging hours in ]po[ need to have a valid SAP employee number.
  There are several ways to import these employee numbers including Forefront  Identity Manager  or a manual export of user data from SAP HR into ]po[.
  
  
• SAP Attendance or Absence Type (ABS_ATT_TYPE):
  The values for this field tend to vary between different SAP installations. So the easiest option is to look a the values used in the customer's SAP installation and to update the ]po[ export accordingly.
  
  
• SAP Activity Type (ACTTYPE):
  Similar to ABS_ATT_TYPE, the values are taken from the customer's SAP system and entered into the appropriate ]po[ [categories].
  
  
• SAP Receiver Order (REC_ORDER):
  In basic SAP installations, this field corresponds to internal orders related to projects. The usual procedure is to use SAP internal order number as the ]po[ project_number.
  
  

The ]po[ interface includes a report that exports the ]po[ time sheet information in CSV format. This CSV file can be stored in shared directory for access by a SAP program. An example  is available on the SAP Wiki.

Error Reporting

The ]po[ interface includes a "consistency checker" that reports missing personnel or receiver order numbers to the ]po[ system administrator via email in the case of new users or projects in ]po[ without the link to the corresponding SAP objects. After entering these data, ]po[ will export the corrected records with the next export.

Further Information

The SAP CATS interface requires manual configuration of the integration.

Please contact us for further information.