What is IDOC Pointer in SAP?

[neelb001]

Hi All,

Could you please help me to understand Pointer concept in SAP?

With Regards,

Neel

[Sandra_Rossi]

No idea what "idoc pointer" is and there's no result in the Web (as you already know). Please explain what you are looking for.

[Dominik_Tylczynski · Accepted solution]

Hello @neelb001 

I guess you are asking about change pointer, as there is no such object as "IDoc pointer".

See SAP Help - Change Pointer (Master Data Distribution) Change pointers are used predominantly in master data distribution ALE scenarios. They ensure that only change master data is distributed.

A change pointer is an additional record pointing to a change document. A change document documents updates of master or transactional data. However, change pointers are used mostly with master data. Then a periodic job (report RBDMIDOC, transaction BD21) analyzes change pointers, builds and distributes IDocs for changed master data and finally updates change pointers statuses to mark them as processed.

Best regards

Dominik Tylczynski

[Selene_Infante]

Change Pointers are used for Application Link Enabling (ALE) to track changes in master data and trigger the generation of IDocs (Intermediate Documents) for data exchange between SAP systems or external systems.

When master data changes, SAP creates an entry in the Change Pointer Table (BDCP2).
The system then uses these pointers to generate and send IDocs only for the changed records instead of sending the entire dataset.
Key transaction codes:

BD50 - Activate Change Pointers for message types
BD52 - Define fields for change tracking