Getting AET fields to BW

In SAP CRM, with the application enhancement tool (AET) it is really easy to add custom fields.
For example, I added a few fields to the CRM Activity.

Check here and here and here and here for more information on how to use the AET.

Sending data to BW

When creating custom fields, you can select the ‘BW reporting’ indicator, which allows you to send the information entered to BW.

As a result, the standard extractors will be enhanced as well, which we can see in transaction RSA2.

If we test the extraction in RSA3 though, even though we entered values in the fields in the activity, it does not show in the extraction. #Panic.

While debugging, I noticed that the issue was that in this case the communication structure from SAP BW was different from the extraction structure from SAP CRM. Apparently, RSA3 in SAP CRM is aware of the communication structure in BW. The communcation structure is adjusted by changing the transfer rules in RSA1 in BW.

Transfer rules in BW

So… If the fields remain empty when testing the flow to BW even though the fields are supplied in the source system, make sure the transfer rules have been properly set up in SAP BW.

As a result, we can now see the values in RSA3 in SAP CRM, indicating the the extraction is ok.