Lesson 3 of 6
Business Integration Builder mappings
10 min
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The Business Integration Builder is the mapping layer in S/4HANA. It decides which EC fields become which infotype fields, how EC codes translate into S/4HANA values, which infotypes are filled at all, and which business add-ins (BAdIs) run for special logic. Reading BIB settings is the fastest way to predict what an employee record in S/4HANA will look like after replication, and to explain why it does not.
What BIB configures
| Setting | Purpose | Contoso example |
|---|---|---|
| Basic settings and system assignment | Which EC instance, which company and country scope | EC test instance with CMQ; US employees |
| Infotype mapping | Which EC entities and fields fill which infotypes (for example 0000 actions, 0001 organizational assignment, 0002 personal data, 0006 addresses, 0105 communication) | Minimal master: 0000, 0001, 0002, 0105 |
| Value mapping | Translates EC codes into S/4HANA codes | EC event reasons to S/4HANA action types and reasons |
| Field mapping and transformation | Rules, defaults and conversions per field | Personnel area and subarea from EC location and legal entity |
| Key mapping | Links EC person and employment to the S/4HANA personnel number | One personnel number per employment |
| BAdI implementations | Custom logic where mapping is not enough | Derive employee subgroup from EC pay group (illustrative) |
BIB settings and how Contoso uses them; infotype numbers follow standard SAP HR.
Worked example: a Detroit hire
HR hires Avery Kim (illustrative) in EC with hire date November 2, legal entity Contoso Motor Co., location Detroit, department Assembly, position "Assembly Technician II", cost center 17101101 Detroit Assembly, manager the Detroit assembly supervisor. BIB maps the hire event to the hire action in infotype 0000, the legal entity and location to personnel area and subarea in 0001, the cost center to 0001, name and birth date to 0002, and the business email to 0105. Key mapping assigns personnel number 00010245 (illustrative) and stores the link to Avery's EC person and user IDs. The org assignment arrives through the staging area and links Avery to the position in OM, so the manager relationship is available for workflows.
| EC field | EC value | S/4HANA infotype and field | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Hire | 0000 action type | Hire action |
| Legal entity / location | Contoso Motor Co. / Detroit | 0001 personnel area, subarea | Detroit area (illustrative codes) |
| Cost center | 17101101 | 0001 cost center | 17101101 Detroit Assembly |
| Company | Contoso Motor Co. | 0001 company code | 1710 |
| Name, birth date | Avery Kim | 0002 | Personal data |
| Business email | work address | 0105 | Communication |
| Position | Assembly Technician II | OM relationship via staging | Holder of the position |
Field-level expectations for one hire; each row is a test assertion.
Step by step: reading a mapping during a defect
- Start from the wrong value in S/4HANA (for example the cost center in infotype 0001) and its effective date.
- Open the BIB infotype mapping for 0001 and find which EC entity and field feed the cost center.
- Check value or field transformations on that field, including defaults that apply when EC is empty.
- Check the EC record for the same effective date: is the source value what you expected?
- Check the application log in S/4HANA (
SLG1) and the Data Replication Monitor entry for that run. - Decide: EC data error, mapping error, or processing error; route the defect to Kofi, Theo or Kenji's team accordingly.
Event reasons and actions
EC records changes as events with event reasons; S/4HANA records them as actions with action reasons in infotype 0000. BIB maps the EC event reason to the S/4HANA action type, as SAP's learning material shows for the event reason field. When several changes that do not change employment status arrive for the same day, BIB uses a priority (lower number wins) to decide which action is stored. Contoso's mapping table lists every event reason in use with its target action and priority, and each row has a test.
| EC event reason (illustrative) | S/4HANA action | Test focus |
|---|---|---|
| Hire: new position | Hire | Personnel number created; 0000 and 0001 from start date |
| Transfer: location change | Organizational reassignment | 0001 split on effective date |
| Transfer: reorganization | Organizational reassignment | Mapping exists (it did not at first) |
| Data change: job title | Change in pay or job (per design) | Same-day priority against a transfer |
| Termination: voluntary | Termination | Status inactive from the day after the last day |
What would you do?
A new value appears in EC: location "Detroit Rotor Line" for a new building. Kofi created it in EC yesterday. What must happen before the first employee is moved there?
- BIB maps EC entities and fields to infotypes, translates values and runs BAdIs.
- Key mapping links each EC employment to one personnel number.
- Read mappings backwards from the wrong value to find the cause.
- Every EC value in use needs a mapping; new values need a change before first use.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which infotype holds the cost center of an employee's organizational assignment?
2. What does BIB value mapping do?
3. What links an EC employment to an S/4HANA personnel number?
4. Why did a "transfer due to reorganization" fail at Contoso?