Developed by SAP AG. Open and manufacturer-independent interfaces for the manipulation of business objects in distributed systems. As object methods, BAPIs release transactions in distant applications and transfer a possible return value to the own application. 

The first BAPIs are available with version 3.1 of the SAP R/3 system, but should also be used by other providers in the future. For standardization, SAP co-operates with Microsoft and other manufacturers with the goal to develop a joint catalog of interfaces, which can be used in the Internet (or in other networks) for the communication between individual business applications. SAP applies BAPIs as standard for the so-called "Internet Application Components" (IAC). These are pre-defined software modules that execute certain business tasks in the Internet or Intranet.