Is SAP XI necessary for SRM EBP?
I have received conflicting information regarding the compatability of the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI) and the SRM Enterprise Buyer Professional (EBP). One advisor claims that implementation of SAP XI is not necessary for SRM EBP. That is, we can implement all the features of SRM EBP -- email approvals, notices, and more -- without SAP XI. But someone else advised that implementation of SAP XI is necessary for SRM EBP to utilize all the features.

Which answer is correct?

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Hi,

SAP XI is a required component in mySAP SRM depending on the business scenario being implemented in SRM. The following answer is for release SRM 5.0:

SAP XI is a mandatory component only for the following two SRM business scenarios:

  • Plan Driven Procurement
  • Catalog Content Management

Other business scenarios like Self-Service do not have a mandatory requirement for SAP XI. However, if you are planning to communicate documents with your business partners (vendors) via a XML communication mechanism, then you are obviously going to need an integration component like SAP XI. The SAP XI environment is not required for email or fax communication. Business document approvals also do not function via SAP XI integration.

Regards,
Sachin Sethi

This was first published in August 2006