- SAP Managed Tags
To celebrate the recent release f the app "Configure Shipping Processes" (documentation) I wanted to explain a bit of the ideas behind this configuration, the Processing Variants.
One of the driving principles of SAP Logistics Management is the simplicity of the solution for our users, including good guidance that always lets them know what is missing for the current step and what the next step is. To let the user know this, the system of course needs to know it as well. To address this for Shipping Processes, we use the concept of Processing Variants. Processing Variants are configurations (or variations) for a given Shipping Process.
Based on the processing variant defined for a given document, the required steps, their sequence, and their prerequisites are always clearly defined. So far, this is mostly derived from the Shipping Process. For example, for Parcel Processing variants, carrier determination is always executed for the transportation request, and the consignment is created when parcel label printing is requested from warehouse processing. For a Direct LTL process, on the other hand, the consignment is always created upfront and needs to be confirmed by the carrier before warehouse processing starts.
The actual configuration comes into play with the configurability of the Processing Variants. Here, on top of the hard-coded behavior, certain steps can be defined for a given Processing Variant.
Here is an example of a Processing Variant that is based on the Direct LTL Shipping Process but has the Consolidation Cutoff active:
With this setting, the consolidation cutoff processing (more info can be found here) is used, which significantly changes system behavior. For example, with active consolidation, the system searches for open consignments for the given locations and times when a new transportation request is created, while without it a consignment is created per request. As a consequence, carrier determination is only executed after the consolidation phase is over. This leads, for example, to the fact that a consignment without a carrier assignment is acceptable during the consolidation phase, while for other process states consignments without a carrier require user attention.
In the example shown here, there are three consignments. For the first one, the missing carrier is not a problem, as it is in the consolidation phase. For the third one, the missing carrier is an issue. The consignment in the middle is in tendering, so there is still a chance to find a carrier, and no action is required from the user at the current point in time.
The possible configurations in a Processing Variant are of course dependent on the Shipping Process; not all settings are supported or meaningful for all Shipping Processes.
The current options for configuration are limited, but we plan to improve them step by step, for example for the steps performed during carrier determination (which currently follows a fixed sequence of steps, see this blog post), the usage of pickup and delivery documents, and so on.
Feel free to leave ideas here if you see meaningful candidates for configuration.
Feel free to leave ideas here where you think they would be meaningful candidates for configuration!
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