- SAP Managed Tags
In the transportation industry, it is common for companies to own and operate transportation units, such as ocean containers, and to require system support to track both their location and condition. While these containers represent a single physical object in the real world, SAP treats them as multiple objects, primarily the Serialized Asset or Equipment in SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and the Resource in SAP Transportation Management (TM). This dual representation introduces complexity in ensuring synchronization across business processes.
Understanding SAP EAM and SAP TM
Both part of SAP S4/HANA, Enterprise Asset Management is designed to manage the complete lifecycle of physical assets within a company. It includes features for procurement, maintenance, performance monitoring, and limited tracking capabilities. Conversely, SAP Transportation Management focuses on transportation planning, load optimization, and communication with external subcontractors, such as ocean liners. Simplified, EAM is most applicable when containers are within the company’s premises, whereas TM is utilized when containers are in transit.
Many customers request functionality that spans both EAM and TM, necessitating the integration of these objects in SAP. While the optimal solution varies based on specific customer requirements, this blog illustrates how such integration can be achieved.
Integration Example: Tracking Containers in Stock and in Transit
In this example, the customer requires visibility into container locations both in stock and during transit, therefore the container need to be administratively added to the shipment. This is achieved by packing the materials into the container using Handling Unit Management functionality where the packing material (the container) is added as a line item on the Delivery:
Since the container is a serialized material, a serial number must also be assigned. Using the BIC code as the serial number, would be a consideration in this example.
When TM delivery based integration is active, the Freight Unit Building Rule (configuration explained later in this blog) automatically creates a Container Unit document in TM. This links the serialized container (asset / equipment) in the delivery to the TM Container Unit document, as illustrated below:
- Top Line: The TM Container Unit document, which supports planning and execution in TM and can be used for freight bookings and communication with ocean carriers.
- Middle Line: The Handling Unit representing the container during packing in the delivery. This establishes the connection between the Equipment/Serialized Material.
- Bottom Line: The materials that need to be shipped.
When a Goods Issue is posted for the delivery, the container is included and leaves the issuing storage location. Upon posting Goods Receipt at the receiving storage location, the serialized container is added to the stock of the receiving location. This ensures the connection between SAP asset or equipment and the physical container via the Handling Unit, fulfilling the on-premise tracking requirements.
However, it is worth noting that the serial number assigned to the container in the delivery is not passed on to the corresponding container number in the TM Container Unit document. This limitation is inherent to the system and may require a small additional development.
Key Customization Settings
The following customization settings are critical for this integration:
1. Delivery Type Customization: Specific settings are configured in delivery type customization to include containers as packing materials in the delivery.
2. Freight Unit Building Rule: In this set up each container type has its own Freight Unit Building Rule, ensuring the correct corresponding Container Unit document is created based on predefined conditions.
In this example, the Container unit document is created directly in the FUBR, which would be most suitable for FCL scenarios. If consolidation by Freight units would be required, the same could be achieved with the example above, however manual steps would be required to achieve the same packing constellation in the delivery as well as in TM.
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