Author Archives: jiteshdua

Cross docking

Cross-docking is an efficient consumer response (ECR) concept used to improve logistics, in particular in the distribution center. The goods are taken from goods receipt to goods issue without being placed in storage in the meantime. You can use the cross docking method to increase inventory turn, move the goods through the distribution center more quickly and reduce the costs for processing and storage.You can also use the cross-docking method in SAP Retail even if you do not use a warehouse management system. Cross-docking includes the following processing methods:

Cross-docking

The shipping units are not unpacked or repacked between goods receipt and goods issue.

Flow-through

Once they have been received, the goods are transported to a repacking zone, where they are repacked. They are then taken to goods issue. The following types of flow-through exist:

- Recipient-driven flow-through

After goods receipt, the merchandise distribution data is evaluated and the relevant deliveries are created for the recipients. The articles for these deliveries are then picked.

- Merchandise-driven flow-through

The goods are picked in the distribution center using a distribution order. When a handling unit (e.g. a pallet) is full, a delivery is created containing the content of the handling unit. You can only use this method if you use Lean WM.

A pallet of boxes of red wine is delivered to goods receipt. A distribution order is created for the pallet when the goods receipt is posted, and is printed in the form of a distribution list. A member of the warehouse staff takes the pallet to the distribution zone, where there are a number of pallets, each assigned to a different store. Other articles have already been placed on these pallets for the stores.

The warehouse staff use the information on the distribution list to put the boxes of red wine on the store pallets, e.g. 6 boxes on pallet 1 (Boston store), 4 boxes on pallet 2 (Cambridge store) etc. Once a store pallet is full, a delivery is created for it in the system. The goods on the pallets are then secured, and the pallets transported to goods issue.

Finding Tcodes

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Listed here are the various ways you can find the list of transaction codes and their usage:

Use transaction SE11 – ABAP Dictionary:

Fill in the Database table name and click the Display button.
– TSTC table will contain all the Tcodes and
– TSTCT table will contain all the Tcodes with Texts.

Once you entered the screen, click in Top Menu – Utilities – Table contents – Display

If you want to display all the transaction code (total – 57,048) you have to change the Fields: Maximum number of hits to 99999 (default 500).

Simply goto transaction SM01, although this tcode is to Lock/Unlock any transaction code, you can also view all the tcode available in the R/3 system from here.

Goto transaction SE93

There are two ways where you can find the list of transaction codes in SE93.

Method 1:
You must be familiar with the starting characters strings for each of the R/3 application modules.

Assuming you know that most Materials Management transaction codes start with MM.

In the Fields: Transaction code, type in MM* and press the function key F4

The list of transaction code starting with MM will be displayed.

Method 2:
On the Top Menu, click Utilities – Find – Execute and the first 500 transaction will be display.

If want to display all the tcodes, make sure you remembered to change the Fields: Maximum no. of hits right at the bottom of the screen.

Delivery Split – VLSP

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Deliveries created in the system usually have a planning nature, at least initially. In other words, deliveries are the basis for warehouse or transportation planning activities. During delivery processing, it may become necessary to divide up a delivery because of workload planning for picking or the loading capacity limitations of a means of transport, for example. Until now, this was accomplished by making manual changes to the delivery and then, in a separate step, combining the remaining item quantities to create a new delivery. The subsequent outbound-delivery split function simplifies this process by accomplishing the same thing in one step. An existing delivery can be split anytime you discover that the delivery contains too many items or is too large to be processed in subsequent functions (picking, goods issue, transportation planning). Prerequisites
In order to use the subsequent delivery function, you must first make the necessary settings in the Implementation Guide (IMG) under Logistics Execution Shipping Deliveries in the Subsequent delivery split [Ext.] activity. Pay particular attention to the conditions specified in the “Requirements” section of the documentation in the above link.
For example, a delivery split is only allowed if the delivery has a certain status. The delivery split cannot take place if the shipment is completed, or if any goods movements, billing documents or picking quantities yet to be confirmed (at least for the item’s split quantity) exist.

Range of Functions

You can use the subsequent outbound-delivery split to divide existing deliveries into several other deliveries. This function is especially useful, for example, if a smaller means of transport han you expected is all that is available at loading time. You can split handling units, delivery items that have not been packed yet, or even partial quantities of delivery items that have not been packed yet. There is always an option of running a
simulation of the split beforehand.
During the subsequent outbound-delivery split, the system checks the status (no goods
movements or billing documents, for example), confirms characteristics (delivery groups and correlation), copies data (texts), calculates attributes (volume and weight) and carries out determinations (outputs). The split result controls which delivery items are grouped together in the same delivery. All remaining items make up the split remainder.

Carrying out a Subsequent Delivery Split
Use
Just before you begin loading a delivery, for example, you notice that the means of transport is
smaller than the one that was scheduled to take on this delivery. So, you decide to split a
planned delivery into several smaller deliveries. Your colleagues who are working at the loading
ramp specify the delivery items (or handling units) that will actually be loaded onto the means of
transport. The shipping documents, goods movement postings and billing documents should be
created based on the quantity that was actually loaded. The rest of the delivery items will be
included in another shipment at a later time.
Procedure
Selecting outbound deliveries that are to be split
1. From shipping [Ext.], choose Outbound Delivery Change Subsequent Split (Outbound
Delivery).
2. Enter a split profile in the Split paramtrs section.
The split profile combines all the settings that you made in the Implementation Guide
(IMG) and applies them to the current split process. You can predefine a split profile with
user parameter LEDSP_PMODE.
3. Use the other sections on this screen to further limit the delivery selection. For example, if
you know which outbound delivery you want to select, you can enter its delivery number in
the Document data section.
4. Choose Execute to start the delivery selection.
If there are no outbound deliveries that meet the selection criteria that you specified, a
message to that effect will appear.
Carrying out the subsequent outbound-delivery split
1. Define the delivery items or quantities that are to be split in one of the following ways:
Double-click a delivery item to split the entire item quantity from the original delivery
If you want to split the entire quantity of a delivery item from the original delivery,
choose that item by double-clicking it.
The system assigns this item a number, which appears in the list as a current split
result number.
Enter a split result number to split the entire item quantity from the original delivery
Enter a four-digit number of your choice in the Result field.
You can use the result number to control the combination of outbound deliveries that
are involved in the split. If you assign the same result number to the delivery items in
one outbound delivery, these items will remain together and appear in the same split
result after the split. If delivery items have different result numbers, the split
distributes them among several outbound deliveries.

ASAP Methodology

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The ASAP methodology adheres to a specific road map that addresses the following five general phases:

1. Project Preparation, in which the project team is identified and mobilized, the project standards are defined, and the project work environment is set up;

2. Blueprint, in which the business processes are defined and the business blueprint document is designed;

3. Realization, in which the system is configured, knowledge transfer occurs, extensive unit testing is completed, and data mappings and data requirements for migration are defined;

4. Final Preparation, in which final integration testing, stress testing, and conversion testing are conducted, and all end users are trained; and

5. Go-Live and Support, in which the data is migrated from the legacy systems, the new system is activated, and post-implementation support is provided.

ASAP incorporates standard design templates and accelerators covering every functional area within the system, as well as supporting all implementation processes. Complementing the ASAP accelerators, the project manager can create a comprehensive project plan, covering the overall project, project staffing plan, and each sub-process such as system testing, communication and data migration. Milestones are set for every work path, and progress is carefully tracked by the project management team.

Effective Communication

Weekly update meetings ensure full communication between the project team, the client project team, and project management. These meeting are used not only to update on project status, but also to identify any issues or risk areas that may threaten the project. By identifying these problems early, they are more easily mitigated and resolved, reducing their impact on the project timeline.

Ensuring Quality and Mitigating Risk

Project quality is verified near the completion of each project phase. Using existing ASAP checklists, these quality checks ensure that all tasks for the phase have been completed properly, that all relevant documentation has been kept, and that all tasks required to commence the next phase of the project have been completed.

In addition to the specific project team, companies may use Quality Assurance reviews on all of its projects to ensure that experience gained on other projects has been taken into account and that the optimum system design has been utilized.

Jon Reed on IS-Retail

Org Structure in IS-Retail

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Site

A site is a store, a distribution center or a production location. In SAP Retail, the site is the organizational level at which merchandise replenishment is planned and stocks are managed.

A store is assigned one purchasing organization and one sales area (sales organization, distribution channel and division) and thereby also a distribution chain, to which the store belongs and which is used primarily for intercompany billing purposes. The store must be authorized to receive goods from the sales area to which the supplying distribution center belongs. If it is to be possible for merchandise to be transferred from one store to another, then the recipient store must also be authorized to receive goods from the sales area to which the supplying store belongs.

Each distribution center is assigned a purchasing organization (and, if required, a sales area) for determining warehouse transfer prices and units of measure.

A distribution center can also be assigned to a site (normally to itself) and a distribution chain (for determining sales prices). These assignments enable merchandise in the distribution center to be valuated at retail prices. This sort of valuation is most common in the apparel industry.

Each site belongs to exactly one company code.

Site groups

A site group is a number of sites that have been grouped together using the Classification System.

You can use the Classification System to group together sites that have similar characteristics or are located close to each other, for example. This simplifies data maintenance, and can also be of use for reporting purposes.

To create site groups, at least one class type has to be defined in the Classification System.

Application groups are defined in Customizing and are assigned the class type required for creating the relevant site groups. This class type uses the customer number of the site as the key. The application groups Allocation Table, Promotions, Season and Labeling are predefined to allow these applications to work with the intended site groups.

Site groups operate independently of company codes, distribution chains and other fixed organizational structures.

Distribution Chain

The purpose of a distribution chain is to structure sales within a retail company. A distribution chain is made up of a sales organisation and a distribution channel.

Many retail companies use a variety of different sales channels to sell to their customers. These include store-based retailing, wholesale and Internet selling. In the case of store-based retailing, stores can belong to different chains, which have a common look and feel, a common assortment and common goods presentation but which target different groups of customers. SAP Retail reflects these different sales channels by means of distribution chains.

In addition to the marketing aspect, distribution chains are used in conjunction with sales area data to control logistics processes.

Distribution chains are also important for sales pricing. It is not only possible to determine sales prices for an individual site or customer but also for an entire distribution chain.

Distribution chains also have an important role as structuring characteristics for reporting on sales.

There are three types of distribution chains in SAP Retail:

Store distribution chains

Distribution center distribution chains

Wholesale distribution chains

You assign the distribution chain type in Customizing under Distribution chain control. Among other things, the distribution chain type controls different logistics processes. In sales price calculation, it controls whether the sales price includes taxes or not.

Customer relationships are important for controlling logistics processes. You maintain these according to sales area. A sales area is a combination of a sales organisation, distribution channel and division. Unlike in industrial companies, there is generally no differentiation made in SAP Retail between product-related divisions, therefore the distribution chain is definitive for the customer relationship.

You determine which distribution chains each site is going to use to deliver its merchandise. For a store that sells to consumers, the only available option is generally a store distribution chain, which represents a suitable chain of stores. Sometimes, however, you may need to differentiate between anonymous consumers and your known major customers, to whom you offer special prices. In this case you can set up a major customers distribution chain for your major customers. For distribution centers you can set up different distribution center distribution chains to supply the stores in the different chains, which have different transfer prices. For stores that are supplied by a distribution center, you maintain customer relationships for these distribution chains.

The significance of the distribution chain for logistics and price determination is also manifest in integrated article maintenance. In the distribution chain-related sales view you maintain data that is relevant for delivery, for example, the sales unit. For price determination, you maintain the actual sales price and other condition parameters but you also need to enter certain control data, such as the price fixing flag or the competition characterization of the article.

If there are lots of distribution chains, you can set up reference distribution chains to reduce the amount of work needed to maintain customer and article master data and conditions. To do this, enter suitable reference distribution channels for a distribution chain in Customizing under Distribution chain control.

Difference between material and article

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In the case of the Retail solution, the central object in all logistics processes is the article, whereas in industry it is the material.

Retail and industry have different needs in terms of the corresponding master data and maintenance options. For example, to optimally process all its fashion processes, retail needs variants (such as color and size). Industry, however, uses bills of material for special requirements in the area of production planning. Due to the large number of articles in the retail industry, master data maintenance must also be integrated into processing.

To best support the different processes in retail and industry, ECC provides different maintenance transactions for materials and articles. Unlike the material master, the article master contains the following additional points:

· Specific additional data is integrated, for example, purchasing info records, listings and sales price calculations.

· Several organizational levels, for example, sites and distribution chains, and for generic articles several articles, can be processed online in one single maintenance transaction.

In the material master you can process only one material or one plant at a time, but in the article master the system transfers data from higher levels to the dependent levels, provided you have not maintained these differently. For example, the system transfers data from a generic article to all its variants. It also transfers data from reference sites to individual sites.

To set up your default start transaction, choose System – User profile – Own data. On the Defaults tab page, enter W10T in the Start menu field and choose Save.

You can only use the full set of functions for SAP Retail if you have configured your system as an SAP Retail system

How to refrain users from changing some fields in T-code va02?

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There are two ways to do this:
– Make a transaction variant thru SHD0 and assign it to your sales doc. While creating the variant you can place non-changeability ticks on specific fields. Next allow those users only to work with your transaction variant but not with the original transaction.
– You could make use of user-exit FORM USEREXIT_FIELD_MODIFICATION in include MV45AFZZ (via authorization objects, which you can assign in role customizing).
The latter is more flexible but it is not feasible if you want to place restrictions to a large amount of fields.

Useful ABAP Tip

SD – Availability Check

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You control the availability check using general and SD-specific control features. The following control elements need to be maintained in Customizing and in the material master record:_ Strategy groupThe allowed planning strategies (main strategy and further possible strategies) are combined in the strategy group. As of Release 3.0, the strategy group is specified in the material master record in the MRP 1 Screen. In Customizing, strategy groups are assigned, dependent on plant, to MRP groups. If the strategy group is missing in the material master record, it is determined on the basis of the MRP group, if it has been maintained. Up to Release 3.0, the strategy group is determined on the basis of the MRP groupMRP group : The MRP group combines materials from the point of view of material requirements planning. This enables you to control planning for these materials in a particular way using, for example, the strategy group, consumption mode and planning period. You enter the MRP group in the material master in the MRP 1 screen. The strategy group is determined from the MRP group.Planning Strategy : The planning strategy specifies the requirements type for planning and customer requirements. This represents the decisive control feature for the interaction between Production Planning and Sales and distribution.MRP type and item category : If no requirements type is found using the planning strategy, the system tries todetermine a corresponding requirements type on the basis of the MRP type and the item category. Until 3.0C, determination of the requirements type via planning strategy has taken priority. This is not always the best option, however, as the following example will show. A requirements type is determined for a material, which causes availability to be checked against planning. In consignment stock processing, however, availability should be checked against stock. Until 3.0C the availability check had to be deactivated in these cases. As of Release 3.0C, you can determine how the requirements type is to be determined for each transaction by maintaining the Source field in Determination of requirement types using transaction in Customizing.Requirements type : The various requirements are identified by their requirements type. The requirements type refers to the requirements class and its control features.Requirements Class : The requirements class contains all control features for planning such as relevance forplanning, requirements planning strategy and requirements consumption strategy. In addition, it is specified at a global level whether an availability check is to take place for the material in the sales and distribution documents on the basis of the ATP quantity (ATP = available to promise) and whether requirements are to be passed on. A finerdegree of control can be obtained for sales documents using the schedule line category.

Control Features Specific to Sales and Distribution

The following SD-specific control features need to be maintained in Customizing:

Checking group : The checking group controls whether the system is to create indivdual or collective requirements in sales and shipping processing. In addition, a material block for the availability check with transfer of requirements can be set here. The checking group can also be used to deactivate the availability check. This option was created especially for the assembly order so that when the bill of material is exploded in the assembly order, the individual components, if necessary, can be classified as non-critical parts as far as procurement is concerned. The checking group specifies in combination with the checking rule the scope of the availability check. It is proposed in the material master record on the basis of the material type and the plant, and copied into the sales and distribution documents.

Checking Rule : You use the checking rule to control the scope of the availability check for each transaction in sales and distribution. You also specify whether the check should be carried out including or excluding replenishment lead time. The individual checking rules define by transaction, which stock and inward and outward movement of goods should be taken into account for the availability check.Schedule line category : You can control with the schedule line category whether an availability check and transfer of requirements should be carried out in the sales documents. The possible settings for this at schedule line level are dependent on the settings in the requirements class which is determined from the requirements type of the material.Delivery item category : The delivery item category can be used to control whether an availability check takes place in deliveries.

Prerequisites

An availability check can only be carried out if the following prerequisites have been fulfilled:

The control elements described above for the availability check must be maintained in Customizing for Sales and the relevant assignments made to the sales transactions.
The availability check must be switched on at requirements class level and – for the availability check in the sales documents – at schedule line category level
A requirements type must exist by which the requirements class can be found.
A plant must be defined. It can either be proposed from the customer or material master record or can be entered manually in the document.
A checking group must be defined in the material master record on the Sales/plant data screen in the Availability check field.

Global and Fine Control in Customizing

At the global requirements class level, the availability check can only be switched on in combination with the transfer of requirements. At schedule line level, the settings are proposed from the requirements class. If the availability check is switched on at requirements class level, it can be switched off at schedule line level. However, you cannot switch on the availability check at schedule line level, if it is switched off at requirements class level. You can make this setting at schedule line level. But the system ignores it and the setting for the requirements class applies. Also, at schedule line level when the availability check is switched on, the transfer of requirements can be switched off. For example, this makes sense for inquiries or sales information. The settings specific to schedule lines for performing an availability check are only relevant for sales documents. In the shipping documents, the settings from the requirements class and the delivery item category are used. As with the schedule line category, the availability check can be switched off as required in the delivery item category.

Blocking Logic

There are two blocking concepts:_ Material blockIn Customizing, the Define material block for other users, step is used to determine, by checking group and transaction (order/delivery), whether a material master record should be blocked for other users during an availability check. The block is set at material-plant level and remains in place until you save the sales document._ Material block with quantity transferFor performance-related reasons, the only time when it makes sense to set the material block with quantity transfer is when it is common for several users to work on the same material simultaneously. If this is not the case in your organization, you can work with the conventional blocking logic at material-plant level. In Customizing, the material block can be set with quantity transfer under Define checking group. If this block is active, the material is blocked only for the duration of the availability check when you create or change a sales and distribution document.Thus, it is possible for several users to process the same material simultaneously in various transactions without blocking each other. During the availability check, the material being used is blocked exclusively in the current plant as in a conventional block.

For more details, please refer to this documentation from SAP.

Availability Check

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Author Archives: jiteshdua

Cross docking

Finding Tcodes

Delivery Split – VLSP

ASAP Methodology

Jon Reed on IS-Retail

Org Structure in IS-Retail

Difference between material and article

How to refrain users from changing some fields in T-code va02?

Useful ABAP Tip

SD – Availability Check