A Semi-Automatic Mapping Approach for Complex Business Objects

Data mapping is a recurring problem that we face in most data exchange and enterprise system integration scenarios. This turns to be a challenging task due to the heterogeneity of the involved data models and their continual evolution over time. It is even more complex when dealing with complex hierarchical representations of business objects that present a multitude of special constraints such as time constraints. This book exposes the motivations for combining both model-driven methods and manually written application-specific algorithms to solve mapping of business objects. The proposed approach copes with complex data representations and special constraints encountered in a real mapping scenario. Additionally, a semi-automatic solution for preserving consistency between evolving data models and manually written enhancements in the special context of data mapping has been provided. This approach has been illustrated through a case study which describes the mapping between two different SAP data models. This book is addressed to researchers interested in model-driven concepts and to SAP developers who want to learn more about data modeling in SAP.