Application Link Enabling

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What Does Application Link Enabling Mean?

Application link enabling (ALE) is the technical basis for integrating business processes in a distributed system environment. It handles the exchange of messages across independent R/3 systems – a comprehensive set of business applications by SAP – or between external systems and R/3.

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ALE allows SAP customers to interconnect programs across a number of platforms and systems, thus providing a program distribution framework.

Techopedia Explains Application Link Enabling

The primary purpose of ALE is to ensure a distributed but integrated R/3 installation. It involves business-controlled message exchange using data across loosely linked SAP applications. These applications are integrated using synchronous and asynchronous communication instead of using a central database.

Application link enabling is made up of three layers:

  1. Application services
  2. Distribution services
  3. Communication services
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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.