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eric_osterroth
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
7,864

Today we released the latest Feature Package FPS02 for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 and SAP S/4HANA 2023 OP.

I am happy to share with you the latest and greatest in Transportation Management that is delivered with this feature package. Don't miss our two cool AI use cases that we deliver at the end of the blog.

Let's start with an innovation that we started to deliver in the last feature package and which is now being enhanced. In addition to master data based scheduling using BPS (Business Process Scheduling) determination, we now offer TM based dynamic sales order scheduling using BPS delegation.

The advantage of the new way of scheduling sales orders is that TM now provides not only durations back to the sales order, but also more detailed information such as start and end dates of activities. In particular, detailed information in a multi-level network can now be used, for example, to use schedules and calculate expected wait times and display them in the RACR (Review Availability Check Result) screen. Operating times at intermediate locations can also be taken into account. This new way of scheduling provides more accurate scheduling results during sales order scheduling.

SoS_RACR.pngOptional RACR screen to check the scheduling result in TM per sales order item

One of the biggest innovations is the JIT (Just in Time) and JIS (Just in Sequence) integration in TM.
This integration supports sequential JIT calls (JIS) and forward JIT calls. With this integration, it is now possible to create FUs based on JIS calls. This means that these document types can be used as predecessor documents in SAP TM. The integration in TM is based on the component group level, not on the individual components of a component group.
A new JIT integration customizing has been introduced for FU building and FU building is enabled, but all other areas that deal with JIT numbers have also been enhanced.
This means that it is not only possible to plan on the basis of JIT/JIS-based freight units. The POWLs have also been enhanced to search for internal and external JIT/JIS numbers. Document flows and navigation have been enhanced to support JIT calls. In manual planning, it is possible to add freight units based on JIT/JIS numbers directly in the freight order.

To support JIT call-offs in an end-to-end scenario, the ASN messages are extended with JIT/JIS specific handling. For this purpose, the slot number (TrayID) is provided.
This means that when the ASN is received, the JIT call is notified that the ASN has been received.
SAP TM can trigger the creation of inbound deliveries based on the created consignment orders. And in the case of an EWM managed warehouse, the inbound delivery is replicated to EWM.

JIT-JIS.pngJIT Call Integration into SAP Transportation Management

 

As part of Advanced Shipping and Receiving (Adv. S&R), Immediate Loading (Ready for Shipping at HU level) is delivered.
To enable a smooth loading process (based on Adv. S&R), it is important that a continuous loading of individual HUs is possible. For a continuous loading process, we have now made it possible to set the status on HU level to "ready for shipping".
With this new feature it is possible to enable the creation of the package item in the freight unit per handling unit.

Ready-for-shipping-on-HU.pngEnablement of continuous loading with "Ready for Shipping" status on HU level

 

Until now, there were some restrictions in using the consignment order. Now it is possible to use consignment orders in a multimodal scenario. Many new enhancements are introduced in this area, so that consignment orders can be used in the context of international transportation by air, sea, or rail.
The benefit of the enhancements is that many new processes can now be enabled, for example, it is possible to start a pick-up freight order in an air scenario before the air booking exists. Another example is that with the enhancements it's possible to work with left-behind containers in both door-to-door and door-to-port cases.
In particular, the following features are introduced

  • Enable change of destination port
  • Introduction of document error handling in freight bookings
  • Enable FU Split during Consignment Order Extraction
  • New and updated worklists are provided
  • It is now possible to assign a container to a freight booking by container number.
  • Data such as ETA, BL, AWB can be updated using TransportationOrderGenericRequest_In message

A smaller, but important enhancement is to provide higher flexibility in consignment building profile. A new BAdI is now available. With this new BAdI, it is now possible to determine the available consignment order type, for example, to combine customs and non-customs relevant freight.

Another very valuable enhancement is a new way to determine the company code.
A new condition type is introduced that allows the company code of the freight order header to be derived directly from the corresponding ERP preceding document.

Company_code_determination.pngNew condition type and condition for determination of the company code

 

In the area of freight unit building, we now support any UoM from the predecessor document in the freight unit building. With this enhancement, it's now possible to create freight units for any UoM from the preceding document. This has been made possible by providing the ability to maintain any non-dimensional quantities in the freight unit building rule.

FUB_any_UOM.pngExample for the usage of any UoM in the freight unit building rule

 

A small but very useful enhancement is also that the reference to the commercial invoice is now displayed in the document flow.

The previous FPS introduced the left behind container process. With this release, we now support the Left Behind process in Charges & Settlement.

If a container is left behind and the loading status reflects that the container is not loaded and shipped, a corresponding block is set in the freight booking for invoicing. In this case, a freight settlement document can only be created in draft status and cannot be sent to ERP. In order to remove the block, the container must be unassigned, load reported, or moved to another booking & shipped on board must be reported.

cc_left_behind.pngLeft behind containers with blocked invoicing status

 

The new GRC handling for freight orders has already been introduced in previous FPSs. With this FPS, we now also support GRC-based charge calculation. In the end-to-end process, commodity codes per product are pulled into the freight documents. These commodity codes of the product items can now be used for charge calculation.
To enable this, a new calculation base for commodity code schema has been introduced. The commodity code type has also been integrated into the scale maintenance.
In addition, the GRC numbering scheme has been assigned in the scale/rate template definition.
With these prerequisites, charge calculation can use commodity codes for charge calculation and invoicing.

grc-charge_calculation.pngUsage of commodity codes in charge calculation

 

We are delivering new collaboration apps for invoices and credit memos.
With the new apps for a carrier, it's now possible to view and process freight orders that are due for invoicing. It is possible to create freight invoices (including adding notes or attachments and adding additional charge items or tax lines). It's also possible to view and edit existing invoices and to approve or reject the shipper's proposals from a dispute case. It's also possible to view credit memos issued by the shipper.

coll_app_Invoice.pngNew collaboration apps for invoicing and credit memos

 

As always, we have a huge number of Planning & Network innovations. Too many to mention in this blog. I'd like to draw your attention to the most interesting innovations in this area.

First, we are providing many load planning enhancements.
We have improved visibility and transperency when product quantities of an item are greater than one. This means that if there are product quantities greater than 1 in the load planning, it is much easier to see where the products are positioned in the load planning, as this is clearly displayed in an additional hierarchy level in the load planning result. This is helpful in both automatic and manual planning. The result is also available in the load plan print files.

LP_quantity_gt_1.pngDisplay of load plan for products with quantity greater than 1

 

We have also introduced new rules for row stack and free positioning load planning. For example, it's now possible to consider or ignore LIFO. It is also possible to plan with LIFO load corridors. And in the rules you can also decide if and how the load can deviate from the center of gravity of a load.

Drag and drop for cylinders is also supported.

Load_Planning.png

Result of load planning after usage of new rules or after manual planning of cylinders

 

New stackability capabilities are introduced by providing new stackability definitions and rules. With this new capability, the accuracy of the load plan is greatly improved by clearly defining which products can be stacked on top of each other.

 

Finally, I'd like to talk about two AI cases that I think you'll want to know more about.

First, let's take a look at AI-assisted goods receipt analysis*. This AI-assisted use case is about the automatic creation of inbound freight documents based on Large Language Model / DOX & GPT-3 extraction.

What is AI-enabled goods receipt analysis and what are the benefits?
In this use case, incoming delivery notes are scanned and the content is recognized using DOX. The data is then passed to AI and analyzed with the help of a LLM (Large Language Model) and GPT-3 and matched with TM data. In the background, TM documents are created (consignments) and associated TM documents are mapped.
The benefit of this process is that it significantly reduces the amount of manual inspection at the gate when receiving shipments and speeds up the unloading of cargo. As a result, manual inspection time and truck waiting time are reduced, significantly improving operational efficiency.

AI-assisted-goods-receipt.pngAI-assisted goods receipt analysis

 

Our second AI case is Conversional Planning with AI*, which is embedded in the Transportation Cockpit. AI-powered conversional planning can assist a planner in making manual planning decisions. The Transportation Cockpit UI is enhanced with a natural language conversational interface that allows users to seamlessly perform UI actions, execute multiple commands, and retrieve planning context information (that might not be displayed in the cockpit).

Commands can be either typed or spoken, and contextual information available in TM data can be automatically retrieved. Data that is not available in TM, but only in an LLM, can also be used; an example of such commands is "Plan all products that need to be refrigerated and transported to the city of Berlin on the smallest truck".

conversional planning_2.pngTransportation cockpit with command line for AI-assisted conversational planning

 

This new way of working enables a completely new way of interacting with TM in the transportation cockpit, delivering flexibility, efficiency and broader accessibility.

*Some contractual requirements apply to use of AI-based functionality.

 

These are the main new features in TM for FPS02.
Of course there is much more that comes with FPS02. These are just the highlights. Follow the links below for more information.

FPS03 development is ongoing. And we will also deliver great new features with the final feature pack of Transportation Management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023. I look forward to sharing this news with you when the time is right.

For more information, please visit the following sections:

5 Comments
saravana_kumar
Explorer
0 Kudos

Hi Eric,

Thanks for sharing the details.

Could you please clarify if the integration of JIS and JIT calls with SAP TM would work for OEM to Suppliers? To be more precise receiving of goods from the Suppliers/Just in time supply to production (Inbound Logistics for OEM).

Kindly advise.

Thanks and Regards,
Saravana Kumar Subbiah

eric_osterroth
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hello Saravana Kumar,

yes, with the JIT/TM Integration you can integrate supply-to-production (S2P) JIT calls into Transportation Management (TM).

Please find the documentation of the JIT process with TM here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/f5d3e1005efd4e86acf9a65abf428082/3c4d1d5ba0434ae880a...

Rgds,
Eric

madhup_paturkar
Discoverer
0 Kudos

Great new features. Thanks for sharing

Ivan_Bomostar
Newcomer
0 Kudos

Hello dear @eric_osterroth 

Is it possible to test the AI Cases on a On Prem system?

All References I found are referring to availability on a S4 Cloud Private Edition.

Tnx

Ivan

MikePezaro
Discoverer
0 Kudos

<RESOLVED> see note https://me.sap.com/notes/0002437490

I have a question on the load plan topic.

Its evident from the images that you are able to use load builder to plan loose product. I have only been able to get load builder to work with packages. For example, I can plan with any material defined with 
GenItemCatGroup: VERP, but when I try and plan with GenItemCatGroup: NORM it refuses to put it on the truck. 

We also found that cylinder packages on a pallet are displayed in the load plan prior to loading, but when loaded they are still displayed in the unloaded position, although the pallet and any box shaped packages in it are shown in the vehicle and it reads as if loaded in the hierarchy.

Thanks for any hints on this.