---
title: "About product data sync"
slug: "about-product-data-synchronization"
description: "Learn about product data synchronization between Zilliant CPQ and SAP ERP."
updated: 2025-08-28T13:16:37Z
published: 2025-08-28T13:16:37Z
canonical: "docs.zilliant.com/about-product-data-synchronization"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zilliant.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# About product data sync

Zilliant CPQ enables seamless synchronization of the product data from SAP ERP. This allows sales and configuration teams to work with consistent, accurate, and up-to-date information directly within CPQ. Product data synchronization brings key data elements, such as materials, classifications, characteristics, and sales texts, into CPQ to support quoting, configuration, and pricing workflows.

Synchronization requires initial setup in both SAP ERP and Zilliant CPQ. The process supports both full (initial) data loads and incremental (delta) updates.

## What is synchronized

CPQ supports synchronization of the following product-related data from SAP ERP:

- **Units of measure**—Includes all units maintained in ERP, with labels in all supported languages.
- **Material hierarchy** (product category in CPQ)—Includes ERP hierarchy nodes with multilingual labels, mapped to objectERPId.
- **Materials** (products in CPQ)
  - Material ID mapped to objectERPId
  - Labels and descriptions in all languages
  - Sales text (if enabled)
  - Associated unit of measure and product category
  - Deletion flag (product status)
  - Division and sales area (sales org and distribution channel)
  - Attachments
  - Last change date
- **Classifications** (knowledge bases in CPQ)
  - Class name mapped to objectName
  - Short and long text descriptions in all languages
  - Last change date
- **Characteristics** (dynamic attributes in CPQ)
  - Characteristic name mapped to objectName
  - Short text labels in all languages
  - Last change date
- **Characteristic values**—Includes labels in all maintained languages, mapped to objectName.
- **Custom table views**—Not a part of the product data synchronization, but useful for syncing any custom or standard table from ERP. For more details, read [Internal pricing engine](/docs/internal-pricing-engine).

## Synchronization flow

To maintain a valid and functional product model, synchronize ERP data in the following order:

1. Units of measurement.
2. (Optional.) Product category.
3. Dynamic attributes.
4. Knowledge bases.
5. Products.

## How product sync works

When Zilliant CPQ pulls product data from SAP ERP, it assigns a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to each object. These URIs uniquely identify records across systems and maintain data consistency.

URI format:

```php-template
http://<ERP_host>/<client>/<object_type>#<object_id>
```

Where:

- `&lt;ERP_host&gt;`—ERP hostname derived from SAP connection settings `jco.client.ashost` or `jco.client.mshost`.
- `&lt;client&gt;`—Client number derived from `jco.client.client`.
- `&lt;object_name&gt;`—Object type, such as `Product`.
- `&lt;object_id&gt;`—Object ID.

## SAP BAPIs and function modules used

CPQ relies on the following standard SAP BAPIs and function modules to retrieve product data from SAP ERP:

| BAPIs and function modules | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| RFC_READ_TABLE | Allows remote access to read data from SAP tables. |
| BAPI_MATERIAL_GET_PRODUCTHIER | Retrieves material hierarchy. |
| BAPI_CHARACT_GETDETAIL | Retrieves material characteristics. |
| BAPI_CLASS_READ | Retrieves material class data. |
| BAPI_MATERIAL_GETALL | Retrieves master data for a specific material. |
| CLAF_CLASSIFICATION_OF_OBJECTS | Retrieves material classification data. |
| COM_CFG_READ_PRODUCT_VARIANT | Retrieves material variants. |
| COM_CFG_READ_ALL_PROD_VARIANTS | Retrieves all material variants. |
| RFC_READ_TEXT | Retrieves long texts. |

## Known limitations

When syncing product data from SAP ERP to CPQ, the following limitations apply:

- Only hierarchy nodes referenced by products are fetched.
- Only one material class is considered for classification (the default class type is `001`).
- Product variants are processed separately.
- Long texts aren't fetched for characteristic values.
- Units aren't fetched for characteristics.
- Class hierarchy data is not fetched.
- Inherited characteristics aren't considered.
- Time and date characteristics are treated as string values.
- Only binary file attachments are synchronized.

## Terminology relationship between CPQ and ERP

The following table helps you understand how SAP ERP concepts map to CPQ terms:

| Zilliant CPQ term | SAP ERP term |
| --- | --- |
| Unit of measure | Unit of measure |
| Dynamic attribute | Characteristic |
| Knowledge base | Classification |
| Product category | Material hierarchy |
| Product | Material |