Matching barcodes
This process connects scanned documents with their SAP documents through the printed barcode. It is the route for paper coming into the house: the document carries the barcode, the scan lands in the archive, and this process makes the connection – without anybody typing a document number.
When it runs
A timer of type B (also written BARCODE), set up under timers. Like every ECM process it needs the user running it to hold the ECM-Connect permission.
What happens
- The archive connection is checked. Without it the run ends immediately.
- The configured barcode settings are walked through – one per combination of SAP object and archive.
- SAP object and archive object are determined per setting. If either is missing, or the archive behind it, this setting is skipped and the next one is handled.
- The new barcodes are read from the archive – the documents added since the last run that carry a barcode.
- The matching barcodes are read from the SAP tables.
- Both sides are matched. Where a barcode appears on both, the link is created: the document then hangs on the SAP document.
A document without a counterpart waits
If no SAP document is found for a barcode, nothing happens – the document stays in the archive and waits. That is intended: often the posting comes later. The next run checks again, and as soon as the document exists the link appears by itself.
What steers it
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Timer and schedule | timers |
| Barcode settings, SAP object and archive | settings reference |
| Scanning and capture | scanner |
| Target archive | repository |
| Watching a run | ECM monitor |
What can go wrong
Documents are not matched
Check in this order:
- Does the document carry a recognised barcode at all? If it became unreadable during scanning, there is nothing to match.
- Does the SAP document exist yet? Without a counterpart the document waits – see the note above.
- Is a barcode setting configured for this SAP object? Without one the object is not considered.
- Are the archive and archive object of the setting correct? If either is missing, the run skips that setting – the log says which one.
The run reports nothing and does nothing
Without the archive connection the process ends right at the start. Check the connection under interfaces.
A barcode is used more than once
Then the match is no longer unambiguous. Barcodes have to be unique per SAP object; if the same code is printed on two documents, there is no way to decide which one the document belongs to.