topic Re: Re-using obsolete fields in SAP in Application Development and Automation Discussions

Re-using obsolete fields in SAP

jodi_yosko — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 20:02:55 GMT

I am trying to find out if when a field in an SAP table which is designated as 'obsolete' (such as MARA-EANNR), if that field is ever removed from that table in the future? I need to store data at the material level, and there is no field that would suit my purpose. Instead of creating a totally new custom field, I would like to just repurpose an existing field. Do those obsolete fields ever go away when SAP does their upgrades?

Re: Re-using obsolete fields in SAP

DoanManhQuynh — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 00:54:16 GMT

Not in my knowledge...

Re: Re-using obsolete fields in SAP

Sandra_Rossi — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 04:37:14 GMT

It doesn't worth the risk. Adding a new column is the only supported way (unless SAP support/consulting tells you explicitly to do so).

Re: Re-using obsolete fields in SAP

loyd_enochs3 — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 12:54:47 GMT

Sandra is dead-on: use the appropriate customization technique (APPEND or CI_INCLUDE) to add the new custom field to the existing SAP standard table.

While it is extremely rare for SAP to delete or repurpose a standard field, the possibility does exist, and best-practice dictates against taking such an easily avoidable risk.

Re: Re-using obsolete fields in SAP

Nawanandana — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 13:28:41 GMT

Hi,

I guess you have HANA system. You can add new field for the MARA table. kindy look at the bellow blog for it and However, with MARC and other tables that have been equipped with proxy objects, additional steps are needed as laid out in SAP-Note 2242679.

Appending MARA (adding custom fields)

Regards,

Nawa