Configuration of organizational structure in S/4 HANA EWM….. Part 1

The objective of this blog is to provide a brief introduction of EWM organizational structure, its configuration and explanation of various control parameters. Along with this a technical and functional comparison of WM and EWM structural elements will also be done.

EWM organizational structure:

The basic EWM organizational structure is same except an addition of a new organizational element called “Activity Area” which is a new feature.

Definitions of Organizational Elements:

Warehouse Number:

A physical warehouse where goods are stored which is assigned to a storage location. A warehouse number can be assigned to multiple storage locations in a plant or different plants.

Important parameters defined at Warehouse Number level:

• Weight Unit, Volume Unit and Time Unit
• Various determination procedures for palletization data and

packaging specifications that are assigned at the warehouse number level.

A storage type can be an Interim storage type (where goods are held temporarily to putaway or issue) or a physical storage type.

Storage Type:

A physical or logical subdivision of Warehouse which represents a storage space, storage facility or storage zone.

The use of storage type within the warehouse is indicated by the role code in customization.

 

Storage Section:

It is a sub-division of a storage type. This can be used for the purpose of representing a product type or a group of Bins or velocity of products.

Defining a storage section is not mandatory in EWM unlike in WM.

Bin:

A Storage section can be divided into Bins and Bin is the location where inventory is stored.

Activity Area:

An Activity Area is a logical section of the Warehouse that groups storage bins based on defined warehouse activities. It can be used:

• To group based on different activities like picking, put-away, physical inventory etc.,
• To determine Warehouse Orders through warehouse order creation rules.
• To enable sorting sequences for Bins.
• To influence parameters in determining queues.

Configuration:

Define Warehouse Number

Path	SPRO > IMG > SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Master Data > Define Warehouse Number

 

 

Warehouse Number is of 4 characters length in EWM unlike 3 characters in WM

Assign Warehouse Number:

Path	SPRO > IMG > SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Master Data > Assign Warehouse Number

 

 

The supply Chain Unit contains the business attributes of Warehouse like Country, time zone , address etc.,. Supply Chain Unit is a Master data which is created using the below Path:

SAP Easy Access > Logistics > SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Extended Warehouse Management > Master Data > Maintain Supply Chain Unit ( T Code: /SCMB/SCUMAIN

Storage Type:

Path	SPRO > IMG > SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Master Data > Define Storage Type

Storage Type is of 4 characters length in EWM unlike 3 characters in WM

The storage type configuration setting is divided into:

Ø General Controls

Ø Putaway Control

Ø Stock Removal Control

Ø Goods Movement Control

Ø Replenishment

Brief description of the settings under each heading are given below:

General:

Setting	Explanation
Storage type role	Under this setting, the roles that can be selected are: Standard, Identification Point, Pick Point, Identification and pick point, Work centre, Yard and Material Flow Control
Level of availability quantity	Two options available to pick HU. If “Highest-Level HU” is selected, then user has to pick system selected HU. If “Storage Bin” option is selected, user can decide to pick HU.
HU Requirement	In EWM , both HU and Non-HU stock can be managed at storage type level. The options available under this setting are : HU allowed but not a requirement/HU Requirement/HU not allowed
Max No Bins	Number of Bins for each Material in storage type
Check Max No Bins	If this is checked, Max No Bins field will be active.
Use Fixed bins	This is checked when storage type is fixed bin storage type
Fixed Bins Mode	Two options available. Bin determination using slotting algorithm (Put away to optimum fixed storage bins only) and suggesting other available Bins if optimum Bins are not available (Put away to optimum fixed storage bins preferred)
Do not assign fixed storage Bin automatically	If fixed Bins are not assigned to the Material or the assigned fixed Bins are not available, system determines new fixed Bins and automatically adds to fixed Bin table. If this is not required, then this field is checked.
Storage Behaviour	This determines about how products or pallet of products are managed in storage type. Options are Standard warehouse, pallet storage and bulk storage
Available Quantity (Batches)	This for batch managed material picking allowing user to select a specific batch or system suggested batch
Storage type level	Level of storage type location

 

Putaway Control:

Some of the main settings are described below:

Setting	Explanation
Storage Control/Putaway Completed	Storage type is a final destination for the putaway activity and is used for Process oriented storage control
Putaway rules	The options available to find destination Bins during putaway are :Empty Bin, Addition to Existing Stock/Empty Bin, Consolidation Group and general Storage area
Putaway storage control	This defines how warehouse task is created for a Handling Unit and is only valid for process oriented storage control
Do not Putaway HUS	Used for Process oriented storage control. If this parameter is checked, product warehouse task will be used instead of HU Warehouse task.
Search Rule empty Bin	In addition putaway rule, the options available to select the empty bin with this setting are: Setting according to definition (sort field defined in storage bin master), Near to fixed Bin and product decides (search rule in product)
Level: Addition to stock	Two options to add stock at the time of warehouse task creation: Addition to stock at Bin level and Addition to stock at Highest HU level

 

Stock Removal:

Setting	Description
Confirm Removal	If this is checked, user can confirm warehouse task manually. Otherwise system confirms automatically in background.
HU Picking Control	The available options to pick HU are: Adopt Source HU with Lower-Level HUS into pick HU, Propose Source HU as Destination HU , WPT Controls Proposal for Destination HU and Only Adopt Contents

 

Goods Movement Control:

Setting	Description
Availability Group	Appropriate Availability Group is selected and this facilitates the stock type to be automatically changed to the stock type of availability group.
Posting Change Bin	The available options for posting change are: Always in Storage Bin, According to Mixed Storage Setting and Never in Storage Bin
Mandatory	If this is set, stock can be posted only to the assigned availability group for the storage type. Otherwise, system performs a posting change into the relevant stock type of the mandatory availability group.
No GI	If this is set, PGI cannot be done directly from the storage type.
Stock Type Role	Whenever stock is putaway into the storage Bin, the stock type will be automatically changed for the Material as per the stock type role.

 

Replenishment:

Setting	Description
Replenishment Level	Two options are available: Storage Bin Level for Fixed Bins and Storage Type level
Tolerance	Used to check whether replenishment quantity is sufficient to create Warehouse Task

 

Storage Section:

Path	SPRO > IMG > SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Master Data > Define Storage Section

Storage Section is of 4 characters length in EWM unlike 3 characters in WM

In the above screen the required storage section can be created. The storage section is not mandatory in EWM unlike in WM.

The other configuration of remaining elements of Organizational structure and the comparison of parameters between EWM and WM will be dealt with in Part2 of the Blog.