Fax from SAP R/3 SD & MM Modules Using InterFAX Mail-to-Fax

SAP's newer "Fax and Paging/SMS Interface" allows simpler access to faxing via InterFAX. For more, see How to fax from SAP R/3 Fax and Paging/SMS Interface

 
InterFAX provides mail-to-fax functionality for SAP R/3. Users of the Sales and Distribution Module (SD, shown below left) and Materials Management Module (MM, shown below right) can define a special output type, which converts SAP documents to a PDF and emails them as an attachment to the InterFAX server. The InterFAX server immediately sends the attachment by fax to a fax number, which is defined in the SAP customer or vendor object, using a special email format.

SAP R/3 Sales and Distribution Module
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SAP R/3 Materials Management Module

Configuration Process

In order to make things work, some configuration and coding is required in the SAP Basis Services module and in the SD or MM module. The process is as follows:

1. An authorized user of SAP Basis Services needs to enable outgoing emails in SAP, and configure SMTP settings as required by InterFAX mail-to-fax.
2. Once SMTP has been properly configured, a user of the relevant SAP module (SD or MM) must create a new output type for InterFAX mail-to-fax, and also define fax numbers in the customer or vendor objects.
3. After the SD or MM user has defined an output type, a SAP developer needs to create or modify the ABAP code of the relevant processing program, so that the documents output from SAP are converted to PDF and attached to an email, as required by InterFAX mail-to-fax. Code example and instructions on modifying it for your specific needs.

How to Fax

Faxing from SAP is done indirectly. You do not actively send a fax, but rather faxes are triggered when you perform operations on a customer (in the SD module) or a vendor (in the MM module). Typically, a fax is sent when you save a customer or vendor object. The fax number must be defined in the Telebox field of the customer or vendor object - all faxes to the customer or vendor are sent to this number.

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Actions that trigger sending of faxes are defined in the special output type you create for InterFAX mail-to-fax. How to define the output type.

Fax numbers are defined by editing customer details in the XD02 transaction (SD Module) or by editing vendor details in the XK02 transaction (MM Module). Detailed instructions on defining customer details.

To view sent faxes, access the SOST transaction, and view the queue for the special e-mail processing job created by your SAP Basis Services administrator. In the queue, each item represents either a fax or another email sent by SAP. You can distinguish the faxes by looking at the Recipient column - for faxes, this will always be an address @fax.tc. The Status column indicates the status of the fax:

• Items with a yellow icon are faxes waiting to be sent.
• Items with a green icon have been sent successfully.
• Items with a red icon have been sent, but did not go through successfully.