Date Management (Using An Example)

[Former Member]

Date Management :

Dates are important for the correct processing of all business transactions. In global business processes that cover several countries and time zones, it is particularly necessary to have a date management system that can convert time zones and the factory calendar in documents of business partners involved in a transaction.

The component Date Management enables you to process as many dates as you require in a document. You can either enter dates yourself, or, by using date rules, have the system calculate these. In Customizing, you can define date types, durations, and date rules to meet your requirements.

Date:

A defined time period that consists of a start time and an end time. You use dates in calendar functions (for example, in activities), as well as for all dates that play a role in business transactions (for example, valid-to dates, cancellation dates) and in actions (date-dependent conditions).

Duration:

·         A timeframe between two points in time consisting of a number value and a time unit, for example, 1 month.

·         The system uses durations when calculating dates.

·         Durations are always given in entire numbers. You cannot combine two different units, for example the duration 1 hour 20 minutes must be expressed as 80 minutes.

Steps for creating date profile:

Step 1 : Define date types, date rules and durations.

Step 2 : Determination of date profile

Step 3: Assign the date profile to Transaction type/Item Category. 

Step 1 : Define date types, date rules and durations.

Path : Spro -->sap reference img -->CRM --> Basic Functions --> Date Management--> Define date types, date rules and durations.

Click on Execute button as shown in figure below:

Then you are guided to the below screen where we define durations, date types and date rules as shown in following screen shots:

Select the checkbox Date profile in order to replicate it in the search help at date profile determination.

        If you have activated the Milestone indicator, then your date is a milestone. This means that the beginning and end points are identical. The duration between the two points is zero.

Define date rules .

Then save it.

When you double click on the selected date rule you will be directed to the screen where we can write our custom code for that date rule. We can use the predefined codes which we copy from other date rules.

Similarly we define all date rules.

Step 2 : Determination of date profile.

Path : Spro -->sap reference img --> CRM --> Basic Functions --> Date Management  --> Define date profile.

Click on Execute button as shown in figure below:

Click on new entries button and enter date profile name and Name to create new date profile and save it.

Reference Objects:

·         To calculate dates, the system needs reference objects. By referencing to a reference object, each time becomes a local date and a local time. Because the system works internally with time tamps (date, time) in global time Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), it needs the reference object to translate the time into UTC.

·         For durations, the system needs a reference object to determine the correct factory calendar (workdays and holidays).

·         You can use the reference object to control the time zone and factory calendar to which a date type or duration refers. For example, you can determine that the date type valid to in quotations is calculated in the time zone of the user who creates the quotation, regardless of the main location of the organization.

·         The reference object for a date or duration is always defined independently of the date profile. Therefore, a date type or duration can have different reference objects, depending on the date profile.

·         Different date types can have different reference objects within a date profile.

Define reference objects.

Define date rules.

Define durations.

Give screen position by clicking on screen area.

Then click on date types and add defined date types by clicking on new entries.

Then double click on date type then assign date rules, display format and default values for manual entry fields.

Then click on screen areas of that date type and enter screen area names and positions where we want to see this date type in our transaction.

Similarly enter for all date types and enter screen area positions.

Step 3: Assign the date profile to Transaction type/Item Category. 

We can assign date profile either to transaction or to item category.

Path: Spro-->sap reference img--> CRM --> Basic Functions--> Date Management--> Assign date profile to transaction type.

For to assign date profile at item category follow the path below.

Path: Spro-->sap reference img-->CRM --> Basic Functions -->Date Management--> Assign date profile to Item category.

Then assign the date profile name to the required transaction.

Then custom date profile is visible in our transaction as shown below:

This is how the Date Profile can be created and assigned.