Customer Reviews

Sap R/3 Ale & Edi Technologies (Sap Technical Expert Series)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book by Rajeev is by far the best book I have seen on ALE & EDI Technologies. It contains the best practical approach to learning these hot skills of SAP in a step-by-step fashion blended with the right amount of theory and valuable tips and tricks for optimally performing interfaces. I have applied many of the techniques and configuration mentioned in the book and the CDROM to great benefit. The CDROM also has source code for real world examples and case studies mentioned in the book. I recommend this highly to all SAP consultants, beginners and advanced users, as a tutorial and reference.

I've read both the Arvind Nagpal and Rajeev Kasturi books, and I conclude that the Nagpal book is much better for me, a person who has been doing SAP EDI for several years.

I do not know either of these authors. I do not have anything to do with the publishers. I bet this is more than many of the reviewers here can say!

I know that sheer bulk is not what we are buying here, but let's do some numbers to examine one aspect of the comparison. The Kasturi book starts with 388 pages. Well over 100 pages in the back are tables out of SAP that we can print any time we want (or save a tree and just pull up a screen). Since I've worked with SAP EDI for a few years, I didn't expect a lot of things to be new to me in the first 3 or 4 chapters, but man, there was nothing even moderatly interesting to me in the early part of the book. That left about 150 pages in the middle that, I'll admit, I only skimmed. But the per-page cost of those few possibly valuable pages is quite high! There was a strong ALE / example flavor to the book. As if someone wrote about a few of their favorite implementations.

Now, the Nagpal book starts with quite a few more pages (786). There is NOT a huge section of this book dedicated to stuff I could print out of or look up in SAP. Yes, some of this stuff is 'light' too. And again, I'll admit to skimming a lot of it that I didn't have a pressing need to know right now. And yes, there are quite a few print-screens in the book (but I LIKE print-screens). The bottom line is that I, a person who's been using SAP-EDI quite a while, found the Nagpal title MORE INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE, and found it had MORE INFORMATION than the Kasturi book.

--Dale--

I am an experienced SD consultant and work often with EDI. I have about 15 SAP books of which 2 are worthless: this book and the large 'Que' handbook. When you eliminate screenprints, abap code and dictionary descriptions dumped right out of SAP you are left with only about 150 pages of basic text. My colleague and I have half-jokingly considered trying to get McGraw Hill to buy this book back. On completely the other side of the coin - the book on the same topic by Arvind Nagpal is possibly the best SAP book I own. If this book is worth $5 (probably not) then the Nagpal book is worth $500.

It appears certain that the 5 star reviews shown here are mistaken or false. They just do not correspond with the reality. I suppose it is possible that someone has used the Nagpal book and mistakenly wrote a review for the book here (titles are similar and both are Indian authors - would certainly be possible). I tend to believe, however, that the reviews are actually contrived to prop this book up and that is why I feel the need to write this review. Even worse - it seems there are false-negative reviews written for the competing SAP EDI book by Nagpal.

If there is any question just find a place to thumb through the 2 texts. There is NO doubt of the result.

I was given this book as a standard reference and tutorial material at the class on ALE, IDOC and EDI! The instructor was walking through the books step-by-step tutorials on building ALE interfaces, and we found it a breeze to understand the concepts and apply them pronto! This book has been written with the reader in mind, both beginner and advanced.

I found it extremely helpful and recommend it to all SAP professionals. A must have!

There were two copies of this book floating around on my last project, they were always in use... very practical and very useful. If you need information and examples on ALE and IDOCs this is the best place to get it.

I found this book to be very well written and very well structured. It is definitely for both beginners and advanced folks in ALE. I like the systematic handling of topcis and the examples. I would say all in all an excellent work. Came in handy for solving many problems. Only expectation is an updated version for 4.6C.

For long I have yearned to learn advanced technologies of SAP such as ALE and Business Framework. Now there is a book that teaches ALE and IDOC technologies in a systematic, easy-to-read-and-understand approach. I like this book! It is not only comprehensive, but has a practical approach to implementing these interfaces.

I have read the book cover-to-cover, practiced the examples, and am amazed at what a good author can do with his knowledge. Kudos!

After reading all the comments I felt it will be a great book to have but I was very disappointed after reading the book. The material covered in the book is merely couple of tutorials and no real coverage of the concepts and business problems we face in the real world. The last one third portion of the book is a dump from SAP tables which is merely couple of keystrokes away in SAP. I must credit the author for the fine prints at the bottom saying that it is a dump of SAP tables directly. I would not recommend this book at all.....waste of time and money. Most of what is covered in the book is nicely documented in the QUICKSTART guide of SAP online help. Don't keep your hopes high of learning the concepts about ALE or EDI from this book written with a myopic vision.

I have been an SAP technical consultant for over four years, and I have always sought information on ALE and EDI that is comprehensive and explained lucidly. This book is IT. These are the points I liked about the book that compelled me to write this review for the benefit of readers:

1. Clear explanation of fundamental ALE/EDI building blocks.

2. Step-by-step, recipe type approach to building simple and complex ALE interfaces with elaboration of underlying concepts.

3. Real life examples and ALE/EDI scenarios.

4. Explanation of associated Functional configuration and concepts.

5. An example of building an brand new ALE scenario from scratch that gives the reader a valuable insight into the inner mechanisms of ALE, such as master data distribution.

6. As Alvin Toffler, the author of books such as Future Shock and Third Wave said "Complexity has to be dealt in its own complex ways. You can not oversimplify". The author of this book has strived to explain complex issues such as ALE Optimization in an excellent way, explaining the reasoning for settings and tips and tricks to better ALE interfaces.

7. A great Appendix and CDROM that has saved me hours of searching for research and reference, and valuable source code in a softcopy.

This is a fantastic book to learn a lot about these technologies. A must have for all SAP Professionals.

Dave Torrento SAP Interface Specialist

Mr. Kasturi presents the ever confusing world of SAP EDI and ALE in a very simple manner. His penchant for using "honking big images" really helps out as he takes you through the configuration steps required to get ALE/EDI up and running on your SAP system.

I have used this book on project after project to help enable EDI and each time it fulfills it's purpose perfectly.

This book is an invaluable reference - Thanks Raajiv!

RMW