Volume tracking scenario for stock transfers

[Former Member]

Hi,

Has anybody experience with volume tracking for a stock transfer scenario? As I read the notes about this item correctly it is not available in the standard solution and you have to make some specific developments yourself.

Can anybody give some guidance in where to start? Volume tracking is based on different function modules for different scenarios. Can I copy a specific function module and alter it? Or do I have to develop it from scratch?

Regards,

Paul

[christoph_bergemann]

Hello Paul

your topic is not clear enough. What do you think about if you talk about "stock transfer" and that oit is not "optimal" suported in EHS SVT? To which OSS note is this linked/related to?

Do you think about the "bonded warehouse" logic ?? From the business point of view and if we are talking about REACH a stock transfer is only relevant if the material is REACH relevant and "imported" in some sense (stock transfer from one plant to another).

This logic is still used in standard SVT and there is from my point of view no need to change this logic.

Now back to your other questions:

"Volume tracking is based on different function modules for different scenarios."

Can I copy a specific function module and alter it?

Answer: any function module which is "activated/used" in SVT via customizing can be copied into a customer name space and changed (you must enter it at the same line/position in customizing as the "default" one). Keep in mind that adaptions of SAP logic will never be part of your logic (or you must do the job yourself) and the SVT is growing and is getting complexer (e.g. OnlyRep is integrated as well). If you "count" the OSS notes regarding SVT you will realize that this module is "still" under change and that in the recent months many performance etc. improvements have been done. I did not check all of them but my assumption is clealy that any function module which could be changed in customizing is effected by these improvements of SAP. Therefore you should in my opinion carefully analyze which FM should be exchanged and you need in my opinion an approach how you handle error fixing by SAP.

Or do I have to develop it from scratch?

Answer: You could do it from scratch but to do a "copy" is much better.

With best regards

C.B.

PS: if we talk about ECC 6.0 and EnhPack 4 recent avilable SP level is 9. There are many changes in SVT in SP 5/6 and 9. PLease check SAP marketplace if necessary to get an overview about ECC 6.0 and SVT.

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 17, 2011 9:50 AM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 17, 2011 9:51 AM

[Former Member]

Hi Cristoph,

Thanks for your answer. I am referring to note 1040070 (Restrictions in SVC). One restriction mentioned is: "Logistics processes that have documents for several scenarios of substance volume tracking, for exampe stock transfers".

The stock transfer scenario I mentioned is a product (REACH relevan) that is imported from a US plant to a European plant via stock transfer. According to you this is a standard scenario. Could you tell me which scenario this is? A purchase scenario?

Regards,

Paul

[christoph_bergemann]

Hello Paul

now knowing a little bit about the "background" i can give you may be some hints.

1.) according to the note mentioned by you (and that is more important) the main issue is: SVT does not ! support goods movement without a reference to an order (purchase, production etc.) !!

2.) stock transfer sometimes is used exactly like this in reality.

In reality there are a high" number of "comparable" activies in SAP logistics which are "out of scope" of SVT. Most problems come up in scenario production.

Only choice: you must "force" your company to use "purchase orders" etc. a "stock transfer" without a reference to a purchase etc. order is not allowed by SAP standard.

At the end: it is a matter of definition and time and budget how you try to find "customer specific" solutions to make the SAP SVT approach "perfect".

Coming back to your example:

"The stock transfer scenario I mentioned is a product (REACH relevan) that is imported from a US plant to a European plant via stock transfer. According to you this is a standard scenario. Could you tell me which scenario this is? A purchase scenario? "

First of all assumption is that the US plant belongs to an US company and the EU plant to an EU company. In this case in most cases you would try to use a purchase order from EU company to get product from US company therefore you would detect "import". As long as you have a purchase order the stock transfer would be supported.

Now lets try the other way around: You have a plant in EU (which is REACH relevant). Now you manage to get material into the stock (many possibilities !). You need a "robust" IT process to "detect" that the goods movement is an "import". The standard uses the "countries" which are part of the purchase order.

Now if you simple make a "material" correction (stock correction etc.): how should SVT know that it is an import? One answer could be to think about "enhancements" in MIGO and other related transaction. That means you need to enhance any goods movement by "customer enhancements" so that you can detect if or if not the movement is REACH relevant or not. From user perspective: not very nice !! approach (and not very realistic in real life) therefore the purchase order approach should be used if possible. From financial and other aspects this approach is very robust (normally the material is owned later by the EU company and not by the US company any more).

Therefore;: if you go deep into SAP logistics and asks the "guys" which are using SAP logistic you will find at least something like "20 %" of "movements" which you can not cover "perfect" using the standard approach. Now it is a matter of time and budget and user acceptance etc. to try to make a 100 % solution. The note you have mentioned does enumerate a high number of logistic process which are "out" of scope of standard. If you are "lucky" they do no occur in your company. If they are "real life": then SVT projects tend to get to complex; you will get easily out of budget/time and the solution you will may be find is not managable any more (topic of training etc.).

And SAP is clearly indicating that their solution is only an "example" etc. (refer to http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_05/helpdata/en/a7/288aa30a6c11d28a220000e829fbbd/frameset.htm

chapter: Substance Volume Tracking)

Export: From US point of view the goods movement is an export. Now you must decide how to deal with that. Because if you do not pay attention you will count the "export" as well as the "import" depending on the orders which are used) (you will count twice)

Hopefully this helps a little bit.

With best regards

C.B.

PS: from my point of view. try to find answers using the SAP approach; later on you can try to make the solution "better" but costs/budget etc. will increase

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 20, 2011 6:38 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 20, 2011 6:38 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 20, 2011 6:39 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 20, 2011 6:39 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 20, 2011 6:42 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 20, 2011 6:43 PM

[Former Member]

Hi Christoph,

Thanks. Your answer was very helpfull. Now I am digging deeper and hit again a new problem. Our company is handling polymers (both importing and producing) and also producing other tracking relevant chemical substances. So I have to set the material masters for the chemicals and polymers as tracking relevant.

I analyzed the volume tracking requirements for polmers with a product steward. Conclusion is that in the case of importing of polymers the monomers used to produce the polymers have to be tracked and when producing a polymer nothing has to be done. Problem now is how to prevent that volume tracking is executed when creating production orders for the polymers. I can't deactivate the production scenario for REACH, because it has to be activated for the other chemical substances created. Maybe you have a suggestion.

Regards,

Paul

PS: After some consideration, I think only posssible solution is: Making it possible to filter on material number. I have to investigate if there are distinctive differences between the materials representing the polymers imported and the polymers produced. If the same material number can be imported or produced I will have a problem.

Using exclusion of substances that represents the monomers is no option, because monomers needs to be tracked in some scenario's.

Edited by: P. Hensgens on Sep 22, 2011 7:57 AM

[christoph_bergemann]

Hello Paul

by using the material class and the material characteristics delivered by SAP you can "mark" a material number as relevant. Now you can "enhance" this option. Delivered are three values if i remember correct:;

Default

Tracking relevant

Tracking not relevant

You can easily extend this by using a value like e.g. "not relevant production" etc. and can use the value to "exclude" material numbers only in scenario production. Pro of this solution: very flexible solution; contra; you need to "(ex)change" some function modules

There is one topic which you should keep in mind: if you have a normal 1 : N relation (REAL_SUB to material number) it is clear that any material number would be a "polymer". Therefore you could try to do it like this:

a.) Using the mat number try to find REAL_SUB number. Analyze substance nature of spec header. If this is a "polymer" exclude it (the material number in scenrio production) from tracking : Pro of this solution: you need not to change the material class etc. Contra: in any case you must adjust the corresponding function module

b.) Create a further EH&S class on REAL_SUB level in which you do the same like with the material class.

I believe option a.) is sufficient in most cases to do the job

Keep in mind what you could have production scenarios in which input is polymer, output is polymer but on the top some "byproduct" is produced which is REACH relevant and must be tracked you need a robust concept to get the correct resullt.

As EH&S SVT is "quite" flexible in some sense you have many options. PLease check the OSS. You will find that in a higher SP of SAP there is a "special" new solution available regarding polymers, May be this could be of interest to you.

With best regards

C.B.

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 22, 2011 6:33 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 22, 2011 6:33 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 22, 2011 6:34 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 22, 2011 6:34 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 22, 2011 6:35 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 22, 2011 6:36 PM

Edited by: Christoph Bergemann on Sep 28, 2011 8:26 PM

[JuanCarlosDelga]

Hi Paul.

In SVT you have the following activity "Specify Selection Criteria for Volume Tracking". You can put a scenario-dependant filter.

Take a look to the activity documentation.

Use

In substance volume tracking, the system reads logistics data from the following tables, depending on the scenario:

Scenario Table

PRO AUFK, AFKO, AFPO, RESB, PLAF, MKPF, MSEG

CON AUFK, AFKO, AFPO, RESB, PLAF, MKPF, MSEG

PUR EBAN, EKKO, EKPO, EKET, MKPF, MSEG

IMP EBAN, EKKO, EKPO, EKET, MKPF, MSEG

SO VBAK, VBUK, VBAP, VBPA, MKPF, MSEG, LIPK, LIPS

EXP VBAK, VBUK, VBAP, VBPA, MKPF, MSEG, LIPK, LIPS

In this IMG activity, you specify selection criteria for the data from these tables. You can thus restrict the logistics data that is monitored and specify, for example, which documents are tracked in substance volume tracking.

Using the table MARA, you can also specify selection criteria for the materials to be tracked. The system evaluates these selection criteria if you have specified the standard function module or no function module in the Material Determination field in the IMG activity Specify Scenarios. If you have specified your own function module there and you also want it to evaluate the selection criteria for materials, you must program your function module accordingly.

If you want to restrict substance volume tracking and monitoring to specific transactions, you can use the respective table with the field TCODE. If you want to restrict substance volume tracking and monitoring in the online checks to specific transactions, you can use the table SYST with the field TCODE.

Example

In the following example, the system evaluates only materials of the material types raw material, semifinished product, and finished product for the regulation REACH and the scenario IMP:

Regulation Scenario Table Field Sel. Option Lower Limit

REACH IMP MARA MTART Equal to ROH

REACH IMP MARA MTART Equal to HALB

REACH IMP MARA MTART Equal to FERT