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Author's profile photo Marcus Zahn

Monday Knowledge Snippet (MKS) – 11 TM 9.0 Sustainability Factors

Following up on my posting ‘Make the World run Greener with SAP TM!’ and the discussion about the differences between TM 8.0 / 8.1 and 9.0, I want to spend todays MKS on the new sustainability feature coming with SAP TM 9.0.

It looks like legal regulations regarding sustainability indicators (carbon dioxide, fuel consumption, …) are picking up speed almost worldwide. Just last week I read an article about new EU regulations forcing transportation companies to report their emissions following DIN16258. I think there are similar laws coming up in Australia, Canada and other countries.

My personal vision for SAP TM is to enable functions is 3 steps:

1. Report (to be compliant with legal regulations)
2. Support manual planners to make greener decisions
3. Optimize

Starting with SAP TM 9.0, it is now possible to define distance related sustainability factors covering in standard carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption. These factors can then be used on transportation mode level (ocean, sea, land) for overview functions, or more detailed on means of transport level. So for each stage of an transportation order sustainability information is available and can in standard be used in the SAP TM BI. The information is not stored on Business Object level, but can dynamically be determined when required (for example for print documents).

MKS11_01_Definition.jpg

Sustainability Factor definition

MKS11_02_AssignmentMOT.jpg

Assignment to Transportation Mode

MKS11_03_AssignmentMTR.jpg

Assignment to Means of Transport

MKS11_04_TestReport.jpg

Test Report /SCMB/TEST_DIST_EMISSIONS

For customer specific requirements / enhancements there is a BAdI available (for example for emission distribution on stage level). See /SCMB/ES_DIST_EMISSION_CALC.

So for step 1 I can see that we are on our way. As standards are just starting to form and still are different from country to country, there is just a stable ancor in SAP TM 9.0 to build on for the future. For me it was important to establish something that covers already basic requirements in a world wide scope, but is not too specific.

Next possible steps I see:
– Integrate the determined sustainability indicators in the planning result screen (Imagine 2 transportation options having silimar cost: Why not let the planner know that one solution is greener?)
– Use the sustainability factors in automatic planning
– Communication Framework between different TMs (integrate the sustainability indicators of the subcontractors) via standard messages
– Sustainability indicator tracing down to product level

Looking back the last year, I have to say that this topic is pretty hard to establish. Lots of uncertainty, no clear answers from customers, no real commitment to the goals. So a lot of the further improvements will depend on the usage of the available TM 9.0 feature. So if you think this is important, let us know and keep pushing for it

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      Author's profile photo Marcus Zahn
      Marcus Zahn
      Blog Post Author
      Author's profile photo Akshat Kumar
      Akshat Kumar

      Hi Marcus,

      Can we see the carbon emissions details on the freight unit/freight order user interface somewhere in S4 1809?

      I am having a hard time trying to find it on the UI.

      Please let me know.

      Thanks!

      Akshat

      Author's profile photo Marcus Zahn
      Marcus Zahn
      Blog Post Author

      No, this is no available in standard and must be integrated into the business documents in a custom project. The calculation is standard.

      Author's profile photo Balachander Sundaresan
      Balachander Sundaresan

      Hi Marcus,

      Does the embedded Tm 1809 / 1909 basic Shipping has the capability of calculationg carbon Emissions in Freight order?

      Thanks.

       

      Bala

      Author's profile photo Marcus Zahn
      Marcus Zahn
      Blog Post Author

      The functionality has not changed - when extracting the FOs into the BI the footprint can be calculated. For embedded analytics I have no information about.

      Author's profile photo Srinivas Ramarao
      Srinivas Ramarao

      Hi All,

      Can you please explain more on this topic. how does maintaining these factors make an impact in TM?

      Author's profile photo Erik Braun
      Erik Braun

      Hi,

      just examined the exactly same topic!

      Some updates from SAP standard are highly welcome, thx in advance.