Expected changes in PP related master data in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511

[Former Member]

Following changes in SAP PP related master data expected in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511: 

Material Number Field Length Extension

With SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511, the maximum field length of the material number is extended from 18 to 40 characters.

MRP fields in Material Master

Following fields in material master are not used in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511.

• MRP1 tab
  • Lot size data
    • Unit of Measure Group
• MRP2 tab
  • Procurement data
    • Quota Arrangement Usage
• MRP4 tab
  • BOM explosion/dependent requirements data
    • Selection Method
  • Repetitive manufacturing /assembly / deployment strategy :
    • Action control
    • Fair share rule
    • Push distribution
    • Deployment horizon
  • Storage location MRP data
    • Storage Location MRP indicator
    • Special procurement type: SLoc 
    • Reorder Point
    • Replenishment quantity

The database fields for these "omitted functionality" remains existing in the system.

BOM, Routing, Production Version

With SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511, the functional relation between Bill of Material (BOM), Routing and Production Version has changed.

The Customizing for date validity is no longer considered for BOM explosion. Instead, only BOMs with valid production version are considered during BOM explosion. Therefore, it is now mandatory for Manufacturing BOMs to maintain the product version for correct BOM explosion.

PP-MRP – Subcontracting

SAP ERP had three different ways of planning parts to be provided to a subcontractor:

• Planning subcontracting demand together with internal demand in the make-to-stock planning section (3.0-logic)
• Separating subcontracting demand and stock into single subcontracting planning sections (one section per subcontractor) and planning uncovered subcontracting demand together with internal demand in the make-to-stock planning section (4.0-logic)
• Planning separately the demand of every subcontractor by means of subcontracting MRP areas (available from SAP ERP release 4.5)

In SAP S/4HANA on-premise edition 1511, the 4.0 logic was removed while the 4.5 logic was simplified. The SAP S/4HANA MRP uses default planning parameters if MRP-area-specific material master records do not exist. You only have to create an MRP area for every subcontractor. Of course, it is still possible to create MRP area/supplier-specific material master data if required.

This simplification has the following advantages:

• Separate planning of every subcontractor is possible without having to create an MRP-area-specific material master record.
• The planning logic is simplified. There are two rather than three different ways to plan parts to be provided to a subcontractor.

Storage Location MRP

The S/4HANA MRP only plans on plant and MRP area level. Planning on storage location level is not available in

SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511.

In SAP ERP, storage locations can be excluded from MRP planning or they can be planned separately from other storage locations. In the latter case a reorder point procedure with maximum lot size is used which triggers transport reservations to fill up the storage location.

MRP areas cover the very same business requirements. Materials with MRP-area-specific MRP type 'ND' (no MRP) can be used instead of materials with a storage location excluded from MRP. Materials with MRP-area specific MRP type 'VB' (reorder point planning) can be used instead of materials with separately planned storage locations. The storage location functionality is a subset of the MRP areas capabilities.

The reasons for this change are:

• The MRP logic is simplified. There is only one solution for planning on storage location level
• The MRP area logic is more advanced than the logic for planning on storage location level. All MRP types and lot-sizing procedures are possible on MRP area level
• The system creates planning file entries on plant and MRP area level. If planning is required on MRP area level, then the system only plans the affected MRP area. The system does not create planning file entries on storage location level and it did not do so in SAP ERP. The SAP ERP MRP had to plan all separately planned storage locations and the plant level every time inventory or an expected receipt was changed in a single separately planned storage location. Planning on MRP area level is more efficient

Simplified Sourcing

SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 supports the following types of sources of supply:

• Production versions
• Delivery schedules
• Purchasing contracts
• Purchasing info records

Sourcing selects valid sources of supply with the following conditions:

• The source of supply is a production version
  • procurement type of the material is either 'E' or 'X'
  • production version is neither "Locked for any usage" nor "Locked for automatic sourcing"
  • planned material receipt's quantity is inside the quantity range of the production version
  • planned material receipt's delivery date is in the validity period of the production version
• The source of supply is a purchasing info record when
  • procurement type of the material is 'F'
  • purchasing info record is flagged for "Relevant for automatic sourcing"
  • planned material receipt's quantity is inside the quantity range of the purchasing info record
  • planned material receipt's delivery date is in the validity period of the purchasing info record
• The source of supply is a delivery schedule or a purchasing contract if the procurement type of the material is 'F'

Quota arrangements can be used to prioritize sources of supply in case several sources of supply are valid simultaneously. If sourcing determines several valid sources of supply for the same material, plant, quantity, and date, but does not find any quota arrangements, then its priority of selection is as below:

1. Production versions
2. Delivery schedules
3. Purchasing contracts
4. Purchasing info records

If sourcing selects a production version as source of supply, then the material receipt is going to be a planned order. If sourcing selects a purchasing info record, then the planned material receipt is going to be a purchase requisition.

Miscellaneous changes

Logistics Batch Management

The following transactions related to Logistics Batch Management are not available in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511: MSC1, MSC2, MSC3 and MSC4. The functional equivalents in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 are the following transactions:

• MSC1N Create Batch
• MSC2N Change Batch
• MSC3N Display Batch
• MSC4N Display Change Documents for Batch

Classification

With SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 transactions of the Classification is renovated so that transactions may have changed functionality or may be completely removed within SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM).

• User Defined Data Type (031) for characteristics has been removed.
• Rename Characteristic functionality has been disabled.
• Parameter Effectivity has been hidden.
• Due to security reasons batch import has been limited and batch import is possible only from presentation server.

New Material Type SERV

Material type "SERV" for services is introduced for Product Master in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511.

Supported user departments are:

• Accounting
• Purchasing
• Basic Data
• Sales

Availability of Transactions in MM-IM

The following "MB transactions" are not available with SAP S/4HANA. In SAP S/4HANA only the single-screen generalized transaction MIGO is available:

MB01, MB02, MB03, MB04, MB05, MB0A, MB11, MB1A, MB1B, MB1C, MB31, MBNL, MBRL, MBSF, MBSL, MBST and MBSU

The transactions MMBE_OLD (Stock overview), MMBE (Stock overview), MB51 (Material Document List), MB52 (Display Warehouse Stocks of Material) and MB5B (Stock at posting date) are still available for some time.

Business Partner Approach

Business Partner is now capable of centrally managing master data for business partners, customers, and vendors. With current development, BP is the single point of entry to create, edit, and display master data for business partners, customers, and vendors.

Transaction like XD01, XD02, XD03 or VD01, VD02, VD03 / XK01, XK02, XK03 or MK01, MK02, MK03 etc. are not available in SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511.