In SAP ABAP, bundling database updates in a separate update function module are widely advocated for ease of implementation and improved performance. There are three different update techniques which are followed –

  1. Asynchronous Update – Asynchronous process start immediately after the ending of the LUW and are executed in an asynchronous manner. The current process doesn’t stop and the update happens in parallel. The FM is cited as ‘Start Immediately’ in its attributes.
  2. Asynchronous Update In Steps – Somewhat similar to Asynchronous update with a caveat. They are processed in the same LUW with a low priority and is suitable in case of a large volume of an update with no criticality of time. The FM is cited as ‘Start Delayed’ in its attributes.
  3. Synchronous Update – The synchronous update, unlike the asynchronous, is used where the database update is important for current processing of data. The current LUW waits for the update LUW to finish and continues once a response is received. The FM call is followed by ‘COMMIT WORK AND WAIT’.

The Update FM is called with ‘IN UPDATE TASK’.

~S