LE-TRA - Config Guide for Shipment & Shipment Cost Document - Part I

[leandropia]

I wrote this configuration guide for Logistics Execution Transportation (LE-TRA) sometime ago for my own reference and kept updating it while my company was changing, projects were going on, merges, acquisitions and etc. I decided to share with this community, as it can be a good reference if you have to start from scratch or even redesign your process. This document is more focused on freight payments and Shipment Cost Document, but it has a nice overview of all configuration required until a Shipment Cost Document can be created. This includes of course, the shipment configuration in a higher level.

Because the SCN Blogs has a limit of 20 images and also to facilitate the lecture, I divided this blog post in 3 parts:

I. Transportation – Shipment (this post is covering part I)

II. Transportation – Shipment Cost Document

III. Transportation - Shipment Cost Document (Cont.)

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing and I hope you find this helpful. If you like it, I appreciate you rating this blog post.

Index / Content

Part I (this post is covering part I)

1. SAP Language
2. Transportation – Shipment
3. Master Data
4. Maintain Transportation Planning Point
5. Define Routes
6. Define Modes of Transport
7. Define Shipping Type 
8. Defining Transportation Connection Point
9. Defining Transportation Zones
10. Define Transportation Groups
11. Setting up Weight Groups
12. Define Routes and Assigning Routes
13. Definition of routes
14. Maintain Stages for all Routes
15. Determining Routes
16. Route Determination in Sales Order
17. Configuration of Shipments
18. Maintain Transportation Relevance 
19. Set Up Transportation Planning Points
20. Define Shipment Type

Part II

1. Transportation – Shipment Cost Document
2. Shipment Cost Document Structure
3. Define Date Rules
4. Define and Assign Tariff Zones
5. Define and Assign Activity Profile 
6. Define Shipment Cost types
7. Define Item Categories:
8. Assign Shipment Cost Type and item categories
9. Maintain Shipment cost relevance and default for shipment cost type 
10. Define shipment cost relevance for shipment type 
11. Pricing

Part III

1. Define and assign shipping type procedure group 
2. Define and assign item procedure group 
3. Define Service Agent Procedure Group for Shipment Costs
4. Maintain Price Procedure 
5. Define Pricing Procedure Determination for Shipment Costs
6. Maintain Condition Type 
7. Settlement
8. Assign Purchasing Data
9. Account Determination 
10. Group Together Valuation Areas
11. Define Valuation Classes
12. Automatic G/L account Determination 
13. Automatic determination of CO assignments
14. Business Process Procedure
15. Create transportation condition records
16. Create Delivery Document
17. Create Shipment Document
18. Creating Shipment Cost Document & Cost Settlement
19. Effects of Shipment cost settlement and related documents
20. User-Exits
21. BADIs

SAP Language

Here are some common terms that you will see while dealing with LE-TRA in SAP:

Forwarding Agent / Service Agent - Agent who provides the transportation, also known as Carrier or Logistic Service Provider. This is usually (but not always) the vendor who will be paid by the freight service.

Routes - The route is a component of LE-SHP and plays an important role in the Shipping process creation and planning, determining itinerary (the leg or stage in the shipment), determines Means of Transport, like truck, train, plane or ship and they usually carry a departure point information (e.g. Shipping point) and Destination Point (port of destination, customer and etc).

Handling Unit - The handling unit is the packaging in the shipment that will contain the materials/products that are been transported. For example, in a shipment you may have all your products packed in a Container, then the container is your handling unit. However, depending on the size of the shipment you may have multiple containers and those containers are loaded in a big vessel, then besides the containers, you will also have a vessel as a packing unit, or a handling unit. The handling unit in a shipment can also be called "Equipment". The Handling Unit plays an important role in the shipment cost calculation, they are represented as sub-items in the SCD items.

Shipment - The Shipment document containing details based on predecessor deliveries, including who are the service agents, the routes, what are the stages, and the deadlines for planning and execution times. This document is the pre-requisite to the Shipment Cost Document.

Shipment Type - Shipment type contain primary settings to the shipment document such like: the Direction (inbound or Outbound), number range, partner information, stage determination procedure and etc.

Shipment Cost Document - This document is created subsequent to the Shipment, using this document as reference. The Shipment Cost Document (SCD) contains the necessary data to pay the service agent (agreed rates, price, invoice party and etc.) and also accounting data (G/L Account, Cost Center and etc.) This document when created correct will be used in most of the times to trigger an accrual in the system.

Shipment cost type and item categories - Shipment cost types and item categories carry settings to control the shipment cost document, like number range, status requirements for the shipment documents, shipment costing settings, shipment transfer/settlement settings.

Rates - Rates are loaded in the system via Condition Technique (using condition types predefined) and they are carried over to the SCD when the document is created. The rates can be created in more than one condition to the same document, for example if you want breakdown the agreed freight cost with the service agent between what is freight service, what is toll, what is fuel surcharge and etc.

Transportation Planning Point - Aka. TPP, it is an organizational level in Logistics that is responsible for planning and processing shipments. They can also be represented by a group of people inside of the organization, for example, TPP for mode Ocean, TPP for mode Truck and etc, to segregate the Logistics Planners and also perform sap security segregation. Each Shipment is assigned to a TPP.

Transportation – Shipment

Master Data

1. Business Partner Master Data > They are the Service-Agents (Freight-Forwarder), Ship-to, Sold-to, Bill-to, Brokers and Customs Agents, Carriers, Customers, Vendors and etc.
2. Material master data > You can't have a shipment without products (material). The material master data will define the products that will be transported and also they represents the handling unit (packaging material). All products and materials transported using the transportation system (shipments) must have a material master data.
3. Organizational master data > To the whole process flow from Sales Order to Delivery, Shipping, Shipment Cost Document, Invoice Payment and etc., system will need to have the following Organization Level created and properly assigned: Business areas, Sales Organization, Sales Area, Distribution Channels, Transportation Planning Points, Plants, Routes, Shipping Points, Purchase Organization, Purchase Group, Controlling Area and etc.

Maintain Transportation Planning Point

Transaction	SPRO or SM30
Path	SPRO > Enterprise Structure > Definition > Logistics Execution > Maintain transportation planning point
Table/View	V_TTDS

Also called "TPP", it is an organizational level in Logistics that is responsible for planning and processing shipments. They can also be represented by a group of people inside of the organization, for example, TPP for mode Ocean, TPP for mode Truck and etc, to segregate the Logistics Planners and also perform sap security segregation. Each Shipment is assigned to a TPP.

A Transportation Planning point can be responsible for multiple Shipping Points and the Shipment is assigned to one transportation planning point only, which can contain multiple deliveries assigned and those may belong to multiple shipping points that belongs to the same transportation planning point.

In the same SPRO path, you assign the transportation planning point to a company code, as per screenshot above. This assignment is required to when the Shipment triggers a Shipment Cost Document, then the freight costs calculated are posted to the proper company code (see more below Shipment Cost Document and Settlement details).

Define Routes

The route is a component of LE-SHP and plays an important role in the Shipping process creation and planning, determining itinerary (the leg or stage in the shipment), determines Means of Transport, like truck, train, plane or ship and they usually carry a departure point information (e.g. Shipping point) and Destination Point (port of destination, customer and etc)..

Transaction	0VTC
Path	SAP Easy Access > Logistics > Logistics Execution > Master Data > Transportation > Routes > Define Routes > Define Routes and Stages
Table/View	TVRO

To create the routes, you need to do the following:

• Inform the modes of transport that will be assigned to that route
• Inform the shipping types that are allowed in that route (for example, you will not allow ocean in a route that is from New York 5th Avenue to New York Broadway St.)
• Inform the transportation connection points and maintain the relevant data on the detail screen
• Inform routes and route stages

You can also maintain the route stages for several stages.

Define Modes of Transport

Transaction	0VTB
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Transportation > Basic Transportation Functions > Routes > Define Routes > Define Modes of Transport
Table/View	V_TVTR_COM

1. Define which modes of transport are relevant to your process
2. Assign the mode of transport to a mode-of-transport type. The mode-of-transport type is responsible for classification of modes of transport in DG management.

 

Define Shipping Type

Here you will inform what are the shipping types and their mode of transport. See below in the screenshot some example of Shipping Types. They are suggestions only. Create them according to your business requirements

Transaction	0VTA
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Transportation > Basic Transportation Functions > Routes > Define Routes > Define Shipping types
Table/View	V_T173_COM

To create The Shipping Types you have to do the following steps:

1. Define the shipping types
2. Assign one or more modes of transport to each shipping type
3. Assign the shipping types to a shipping type group. (This is important to automatically determine the freight pricing procedure that will calculate the freight costs and freight rates, see more below in the Shipment Cost Document Section).

Defining Transportation Connection Point

TCP is the place where goods are received, issued, re-shipped or processed. Those processes can include activities like customs clearance or railway car cleaning, railway station for example. For each TCP, you can define the type (for example: load transfer point, airport or border), who is the responsible customs office, calendar and stopover time. You can also refer it to a plant or shipping point, a customer or vendor or to an address.

Transaction	0VTD
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Transportation > Basic Transportation Functions > Routes > Define Routes > Define Transportation Connection Point
Table/View	V_TVKN_COM

 

Defining Transportation Zones

It is where you will specify all the regions that you plan to cover with your routes. The routes will be from a departure zone to a destination zone.

There are three kinds of transportation zones:

• Direct zone > Can be allocated to explicit locations

• Postal code zone > Contains all locations corresponding to the valid postal code areas of a particular country

• Region zone > is defined by entering a country and region, and contains all locations in that region

You can also have a mixed zone which is a combination of the types above.

Transaction	OVR1
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Route Determination > Define Transportation Zones
Table/View	V_TZONE

The zones you set up here will be used in the master data. The location of each customer and vendor will be identified using the Transportation Zone field on the Address tab in the customer (or vendor) master record.

You can also specify the zones for each of your shipping points here:

Transaction	OVL7
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Route Determination > Maintain Country and Transportation Zone for Shipping Point
Table/View	V_TVST_RF

Select the shipping point, and specify the country and transportation zone.

 

Define Transportation Groups

The transportation group specify the materials that will have similar requirements for transportation. For example, you can group products that are bulk or non-bulk, Pallet or Box and etc. You assign those groups in Material Master Records.

Transaction	OVSY
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Route Determination > Define Transportation Groups
Table/View	V_TTGR

Setting up Weight Groups

If the weight of the delivery plays a role in route determination, you can set up weight strategy here.

Transaction	OVS8
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Route Determination > Define Weight Groups
Table/View	VC_TVLG

• First you need to Maintain Weight Group, creating a new weight group with the corresponding description.

• Then you need to maintain details for Weight Group where you will specify the maximum weight that is allowed in each weight group and then when the delivery is created, SAP will take the weight in consideration and determine the right route based on the rules you created. If you decided not to use this feature, the route determination will take place in the sales order and be copied into the deliveries.

Define Routes and Assigning Routes

Here is where you will define routes, route stages and maintain the transportation connection point, all them required for shipment stages strategies.

Definition of routes

First you need to define the routes, doing the following steps:

• List the routes that are relevant to your process/company.
• Create the routes
• If necessary/required, inform additional data to the route, which can be:
  • Shipping type > You can assign a shipping type to the route, to the preliminary leg, and to the subsequent leg.
  • Transportation service agent
  • Transit time
  • Transit planning lead time
  • Factory calendar, work time
  • Driving time (transit time minus breaks, distance)
  • You can assign a mode of transport to the routes for processing export activities.

Transaction	0VTC
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Define Routes > Define Routes And Stages
Table/View	V_TVRO_COM

Identification: The identification is the description of the route and the Route ID, which is a complement to the description. If not required, I recommend repeating the description here.

Processing: If the route is managed by a specific vendor, you can inform the Service Agent here. By doing this, when the shipment is created to that route, the vendor (service agent) will be automatically proposed, saving some time from logistics planner, who will not need to inform it manually. You can also inform the Shipping Type field here. Another very important field here is the "Rel.transport", which will determine if that route when used in a delivery document can be used to create a Shipment.

Scheduling: Most important fields in this section are:

• Transit Time: Transit Time is the total time that the products will take to arrive at the customer following that route. This time is taken into consideration to planning and determining the date on which the product will reach the customer (and also when it needs to leave the plant in order to meet the customer's requested delivery date). It is represented in calendar days, 2 decimals.
  • Trav.dur: Travel Duration is represented here in hours and minutes, is a subset of the total transit time seen above. It is the time taken for the actual travel along the route. This time is not used for delivery scheduling purposes.
  • TransLdTm. Transportation Lead Time is the time needed for planning and arranging transportation considering

Maintain Stages for all Routes

You can process stages for several routes at the same time. So, instead doing it one by one, use the transaction or path below to maintain it in a more efficient way.

Transaction	0VTE
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Define Routes > Maintain Stages for all Routes
Table/View

In the example below, I selected 3 route stages (selecting the checkbox) and I click in the "change" icon (the pencil). SAP pops-up the "attribute proposal for selected route stages" and whatever you maintain in there, it is going to be maintained to all the selected stages, lights will change from red to yellow. Then you need to "Save" and the lights will change from yellow to Green to confirm the modification.

Determining Routes

To the route be automatically determined, the following parameters are taken in consideration:

• Country and departure zone (Shipping Point address)
• Country and destination zone (ship-to party address)
• Shipping condition (It is informed in the Sales Order and carried over to the subsequent documents)
• Transportation group (from the material master)

In the deliveries routes determination, you can also add weight groups to the list of controlling factors, if you are using weight as a criteria for routes determination, which is optional as explained more above.

Transaction	0VRF
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Shipping > Basic Shipping Functions > Routes > Route Determination > Maintain Route Determination
Table/View	VC_TROLZ

If you are using weight as a criteria to determine the route (as explained more above) here is where you will enter the weight group that you created, so to this combination of 4 elements explained above + the weight of the delivery, the route will be determined automatically.

Route Determination in Sales Order

The route is automatically pulled to the Sales document according to the combination below:

1. Departure zone or country of the shipping plant
2. Destination zone or country of the Ship-to-Party/Customer.
3. Shipping condition from Customer master.
4. Transportation Group from Material master.
5. Weight Group (if in use)

The route can also be manually entered or overwritten when you create or change a Sales Order document and also it can be re-determined in the Delivery document based on weight (weight group) if you are using the weight as a criteria (explained more above).

Scheduling and Delivery dates takes into account the following times: Transit Time / Loading Time / Pick/Pack Time / Transportation Lead/Planning Time.

Configuration of Shipments

See below what is required to configure the Shipment.

Maintain Transportation Relevance

Before configuring shipment documents, it is necessary to select the relevance to transportation.

Transaction	0VTR
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Transportation > Shipments > Maintain Transportation Relevance
Table/View	V_TVLK_TR / V_TVLP_TL / V_TVRO

• Delivery Type (V_TVLK_TR)

• Delivery Item Type (V_TVLP_TL)

• Route (V_TVRO)

Set Up Transportation Planning Points

Once the transportation relevance is defined, you will need to configure the organizational structure that will run after transportation, for example, the shipment documents are created using the transportation planning point (which is tied to other organizational elements, such as shipping points, plants and etc.)

Define Shipment Type

The shipment types are related to the different ways of transporting and processing products, either from sales or stock transfer orders and etc. There are even situations where a Shipment Type for "Inbound" processing is required, for goods coming in.

There are 3 distinct transportation categories::

• The Individual shipment when one or more delivery documents are assigned and transported by a single transport mode from a departure point to a destination point.
• The Collective shipment where one or multiple deliveries are transported by one single transport mode from one or more departure points to one or more destination points.
• The Multi-modal shipment when deliveries are transported by several different transport modes between one or more departure points and one or more destination points.

Transaction	OVTK
Path	SPRO > Logistics Execution > Transportation > Shipments > Define Shipment Types
Table/View	V_TVTK

 

Here I will discuss some of the main fields:

Number Systems: It is where you maintain internal or external number range assignment that will be used when documents are created.

Document Content: This section is where the core of the Shipment Type’s configuration is. It is like the Shipment’s identity. See below some of the fields and what they mean.

• Shipment Completion Type: Identify the type of the shipment, if this is an inbound or outbound shipment, if it is loaded or empty.
• Shipping Type: This identifies if the shipment is road, air, ocean, rail  or any other means of transport you have created in your system.
• Process Control: Identifies how the shipment type will be performed, if it is individual shipment or collective shipment, single mode of transport or multiple mode.
• Leg Indicator: The leg or stage is the representation of two transportation connection points or a single connection point where a transportation is performed (for example customs borders, loading transfer point). To each leg in a route it is possible to define the section type that this leg belongs, that can be a transportation, load transfer point or customs borders. It is also possible to identify if the leg is primary leg, main leg, subsequent, direct or a return leg. In a direct leg shipment type for example, the process will be performed in a single shipment but if it is a primary leg, main leg or subsequent leg, it will have more than one shipment connected to the delivery and the shipments will be linked to each other. And that's where you can use the ShTypePrelimLeg and SubseqLegShType to indicate the shipping type to those preliminary or subsequent legs.

• Determine Legs: A rule to assign the legs in a shipment can be defined here. Let's say you pick 1: Legs Determined according To Departure Point & Itinerary in a collective shipment. Then the leg determination will be pulled to the shipment based on departures and destinations sequence

This is the end of the Part I. Transportation - Shipment. Check here the Part II. Transportation - Shipment Cost Document and here the Part III. Transportation - Shipment Cost Document (Cont.)

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Leandro da Pia Nascimento