Working with BRF+ Functionality

Hello Everybody,

Its always a pleasure to share a blog or document through SCN.In this Document I would like to explain few aspects with respect to BRF functionalities in ABAP that would be very helpful for both technical and functional experts.

I would also like to share the content in the following space:  SAP Business Rules Management

What is BRF?

On a short note, The Business Rule Frame work is an special functionality provided by SAP which helps us to maintain certain business rules for the client .

Let me explain you this with an example as below,

Consider Your client wants a certain requirement and you have coded for that requirement. Now after some years he gets back stating that he want to restrict the functionality to only  certain users. If the number of users are less we can hardcode it along with the codes, but what will you do under the below scenarios,

1) When the number of users are very large.

2) The number of users may keep on adding in future, every time you cant practically go into the code and hardcode the user.

This is where our BRF come into play. It plays a vital role in maintaining the business rules. Also the tool is very helpful and easy to use, so that whenever there is a need to add users it can be done even by the functional experts since there is no deep technical knowledge required once the BRF is created.

In this blog I would like to brief you on few simple steps that can assist for easy working with BRF tool. In BRF tool we basically create function modules, decision table to store the table values that needs to be maintained, and data elements that will help in providing characteristics to the field.

1) Maintaining Different Modes:

There are two Different modes that can be maintained for this tool, they are

1) Simple.

2)Expert.

How to set Modes: In the below diagram you can see how to set the mode for your screen. Basically simple mode will not allow you to do some additional operations and Experts mode will allow you to perform all the available operations. You can see the difference between the modes by working on the both the modes.  By clicking on the personalize icon(Marked at top right corner) you will get a pop up as below, here You can maintain the mode in the field user mode(Marked in the pop up screen).

2) Adding an entry To the decision table:

We usually add entries to the decision table of Function module, to add an add entry click on the add icon(Marked in red Below), once click on that you will displayed with the empty entry(Marked In Blue Below) then by clicking on that icon you will be provided with a space to enter an value. There are also other icons to delete, modify etc. all those are marked in black below.

3) Uploading and Downloading multiple entries:

In the above case we just added One entry, Now consider the case where we need add huge amount of entries it would be difficult to individually maintain. So in those cases you can simply download the decision table into an excel sheet and then add the entries to the excel and then upload it later.

To Upload or download the table click on the additional actions icon(Indicated below), in the drop down you will get the options to download and upload excel sheet. There are also other options available like rearranging the rows, merging the rows etc.

Please note: It is advised to download the decision table into an excel make changes in that excel, do not create your own excel and try to upload it may cause few issues since the format of both the excel may differ. You can view that the excel downloaded from BRF has several tabs in it with different specifications.

4) Full Screen view :

You can also have full screen view as shown below using the icon at top right(Marked in Red Below).

5) Comparing Objects:

Objects of the BRF can also be compared with the other objects. To avail this option click on the more option at top right end(Marked in Red Below) then select the compare option.

In the next screen that you get as below, where you can enter the two objects you need to compare in the fields as shown below and proceed comparing. You can also toggle between Vertical and Horizontal view using the icon(Marked in red Below) as per your convenience.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To Avail most of the options in BRF Tool you must be in Edit mode, only then you will able view the options available else the options will not appear. Please note unlike the SAP screens the options will not be grayed out instead it wont be completely visible. Once you are in edit mode you will be enabled with display option in the top screen(Icon marked below). Also for navigating backwards do not use the browser back icon instead use the BRF back icon which available at top(Icon Marked below).

CONCLUSION: Hope all the steps above can serve you as a good assistance to work with the BRF tool. There are also many other options available which can be learnt through exploring the Tool. Please do share any valuable tip that can add to this blog.

Thanks for reading this Blog. Do share your valuable Comments and Ratings.

Thanks and Regards,

Satish Kumar Balasubramanian.