This blog is a successor to this blog,
How I can keep my SAP system healthy? (Part-1 PP) . I highly suggest you read the first one before you read this part.
Part 2 Material Management -
Master Data is an important element in maintaining the organization data structure, information flow, defining the business processes capturing the vital data, any errors, omissions or duplication in Master Data may lead to incorrect payment processing and misleading reporting and decision making. Also some of the open fields in transactions can also lead to inaccurate data processing and misleading results. In this blog we will discuss some of the important aspects of material management and it's data processing.
Vendor Master
- Purchase order can be created against vendor’s which are marked for deletion in the system leading to unauthorized/unapproved purchases.
- If sensitive fields are not defined like Reconciliation account, alternative payee and vendor currency leading to unapproved changes in vendor master.
- Standard functionality of Partner functions if it is not used, which may lead to payment processing to unintended vendors.
Material Master
- Profit center may be changed in the material master even if material stock exists in the plant, leading to incorrect reporting at profit center level.
Purchase Orders & Pricing
- Material can be changed in the Purchase Order created w.r.t the purchase requisition e.g. indent is created for material X and it can be changed in PO to material Y.
- Unlimited delivery field is open in PO which may lead to over delivery of materials.
- If external number range is assigned to all purchase orders document types leading to unauthorized PO creation in the system.
- If material description is editable in case of purchase requisition and purchase orders which can lead to procurement of unintended materials.
- Proper Release strategy (approval process) should be maintained for any of the purchasing documents like purchase requisition, purchase orders etc.
Inbound delivery
- The functionality of inbound delivery should be used.
- Working with confirmations has the advantage that Materials Planning does not have to depend solely on the delivery dates and quantities set out in purchase order Confirmations enable you to plan more exactly.
Goods Receipt
- Under delivery / over delivery at the time of goods receipt is an open field in the Purchase order leading to unauthorized/unwanted over delivery of materials and services.
- Fields like delivery notes are maintained as optional fields which can be used to capture the vendor's challan number.
Invoice Verification
- Three way checks which check the quantity and price between PO, GRN & invoice should be configured in the system to avoid unauthorized/unapproved payments to vendors.
- If direct postings to G/L accounts and material accounts is enabled in SAP leading to mismatch between material sub ledgers and G/L accounts.
Physical Inventory
- “Freeze book inventory” indicator should be maintained which facilitates the actual counting of physical inventory during the month end physical inventory process.
- Tracking of changes in Physical Inventory cannot be done if the PI documents is not activated.
Again there is no thumb rule to define it. It depends upon the business scenario and practice: what controls should be there in the system? However, SAP System functionality and use remains to be limited in certain aspects, you are more than welcome to discuss your views and suggestions on it and any specific questions.
