Rating: 
Summary: Fairly standard treatment
Review: I bought this book hesitantly, somewhat unwilling to part with 48 hard-earned sheckles. While I found parts useful, it is written focused on several examples which seem to be taken solely from the author's project experience at a large cookie conglomerate. Those desiring a broad overview of ALE will be left hungry.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a good practical handbook on ALE, IDOC & EDI
Review: I found this book to be very well structured and explanations of concepts and its practicality well written. The books chapters started with ALE, EDI, IDOC basics and developed into a practical and comprehensive implementation of these interfaces, with good tips on ALE optimization. Practical example of building interfaces is dealt with one step at a time along with screen shots that is really helpful. The author seems to outline tips and tricks that one does not find in SAP documentation. All in all, a very good practical handbook on ALE & EDI for all SAP technologists.
Rating: 
Summary: Logically structured, lucid and comprehensive
Review: I found this book to be very well written and very well structured. It is definitely for both beginners and advanced folks in ALE. I like the systematic handling of topcis and the examples. I would say all in all an excellent work. Came in handy for solving many problems. Only expectation is an updated version for 4.6C.
Rating:
Summary: Top notch reference, learn as you go indepth knowledge
Review: I found this material an excellent indepth knowledge building reference and learn as you go book, obviously written for both the novice and advanced user. Right from the first chapter, the author puts you at ease with these technologies and builds page by page into an indepth explanation of building these interfaces, with lots of tips, tricks and notes. the reference material and source code on CDRom proved very useful. This is the best buy, and great knowledge building tool. A must have!
Rating:
Summary: The only book that satisfies your quest for ALE knowledge
Review: I have been an SAP technical consultant for over four years, and I have always sought information on ALE and EDI that is comprehensive and explained lucidly. This book is IT. These are the points I liked about the book that compelled me to write this review for the benefit of readers:1. Clear explanation of fundamental ALE/EDI building blocks. 2. Step-by-step, recipe type approach to building simple and complex ALE interfaces with elaboration of underlying concepts. 3. Real life examples and ALE/EDI scenarios. 4. Explanation of associated Functional configuration and concepts. 5. An example of building an brand new ALE scenario from scratch that gives the reader a valuable insight into the inner mechanisms of ALE, such as master data distribution. 6. As Alvin Toffler, the author of books such as Future Shock and Third Wave said "Complexity has to be dealt in its own complex ways. You can not oversimplify". The author of this book has strived to explain complex issues such as ALE Optimization in an excellent way, explaining the reasoning for settings and tips and tricks to better ALE interfaces. 7. A great Appendix and CDROM that has saved me hours of searching for research and reference, and valuable source code in a softcopy. This is a fantastic book to learn a lot about these technologies. A must have for all SAP Professionals. Dave Torrento SAP Interface Specialist
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of money
Review: I have been working in the field of EDI for 11 years and in SAP for almost 5 years and the I/T field for 15 years. This book is a total waste of money. It primarily contains info that can be readily obtained from the SAP online documentation. I recommend purchasing the Arvind Nagpal SAP/EDI book since it does contain some useful information. LET US STOP SPENDING MONEY ON THESE WORTHLESS SAP BOOKS TO SHOW THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY THAT WE WILL ONLY TOLERATE THE BEST SAP RELATED BOOKS.
Rating:
Summary: Very well written indepth book on two hot technologies
Review: I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed reading the first how-to book on these hot technologies of SAP - ALE & EDI. It explains the fundamentals and proceeds to demonstrate the principles in practice resulting in totally workable solutions. The many teeny-tiny idiosyncracies of IDOC extensions are shown one step at a time, which has eluded me until now - indicates that it is a good reference also. Looks like the table of contents itself is like a to-do list. Data flow diagrams for source code seems to be misssing. The CD-ROM seems to have some quick reference stuff which I found useful. All in all, a very useful book to have in a SAP consultant's arsenal.
Rating:
Summary: A jump-start on ALE & EDI - best reference & tutorial......
Review: I was given this book as a standard reference and tutorial material at the class on ALE, IDOC and EDI! The instructor was walking through the books step-by-step tutorials on building ALE interfaces, and we found it a breeze to understand the concepts and apply them pronto! This book has been written with the reader in mind, both beginner and advanced. I found it extremely helpful and recommend it to all SAP professionals. A must have!
Rating:
Summary: I've read both the Arvind Nagpal and Rajeev Kasturi books
Review: I've read both the Arvind Nagpal and Rajeev Kasturi books, and I conclude that the Nagpal book is much better for me, a person who has been doing SAP EDI for several years. I do not know either of these authors. I do not have anything to do with the publishers. I bet this is more than many of the reviewers here can say! I know that sheer bulk is not what we are buying here, but let's do some numbers to examine one aspect of the comparison. The Kasturi book starts with 388 pages. Well over 100 pages in the back are tables out of SAP that we can print any time we want (or save a tree and just pull up a screen). Since I've worked with SAP EDI for a few years, I didn't expect a lot of things to be new to me in the first 3 or 4 chapters, but man, there was nothing even moderatly interesting to me in the early part of the book. That left about 150 pages in the middle that, I'll admit, I only skimmed. But the per-page cost of those few possibly valuable pages is quite high! There was a strong ALE / example flavor to the book. As if someone wrote about a few of their favorite implementations. Now, the Nagpal book starts with quite a few more pages (786). There is NOT a huge section of this book dedicated to stuff I could print out of or look up in SAP. Yes, some of this stuff is 'light' too. And again, I'll admit to skimming a lot of it that I didn't have a pressing need to know right now. And yes, there are quite a few print-screens in the book (but I LIKE print-screens). The bottom line is that I, a person who's been using SAP-EDI quite a while, found the Nagpal title MORE INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE, and found it had MORE INFORMATION than the Kasturi book. --Dale--
Rating:
Summary: Very enlightening, and superbly written
Review: Information when utilized & applied effectively turns into knowledge - this books helps the reader do the same. Undoubtedly, this book has been very well structured and written by a knowledgeable SAP specialist, and has oodles of great information in an easy-to-learn impressive format. The reader gains a great deal from the valuable advise and numerous tips & tricks. The reference material in the appendix and CDROM (that has very useful source code) is also extremely helpful. Research and reference are very effective with a couple of clicks on the CDROM. This is definitely the BEST source of information (turning quickly into knowledge) on ALE & EDI.
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