Technical Articles
How to load material inventory balance with SAP S/4HANA data migration cockpit
Purpose
I am an SAP Data migration consultant who has dealt with the load of master and transactional data in several projects. The purpose of this blog is to explain how the material inventory balance can be loaded in SAP S/4HANA with the new tool Data Migration Cockpit (transaction LTMC).
How inventory balance was loaded with ECC 6.0
With SAP ECC6.0 and previous versions it was common to create an LSMW object that is linked to a recording with transaction MB1C using movement type 561.
The file could include all materials and quantities to be loaded for the inventory balance. This file had to adapt to the file structure defined in the LSMW.
Why approach with ECC 6.0 no longer possible
With SAP S/4HANA this is no longer possible as MB1C is no longer used with SAP S/4HANA.
Besides this, with SAP S/4HANA it is not recommended to use LSMW any more, as there is a new data migration tool called Data Migration Cockpit, which provides file templates that we will fill to perform the data migration.
Steps to load material inventory balance with Data Migration Cockpit
First the consultant has to set the migration key date for the transactional data load and enable that company to transfer the stock. We will see this message when trying to load the file, asking to use transaction SAPFINS_MIG_CTRL.
The person responsible of loading the stock needs to fill the load template with the materials, plants, storage locations, quantities and specifying possible different stock types, vendor or customer numbers.
After this it is now possible to load the file for stock with LTMC. The object to use is Material inventory balance.
We need to upload the file with the inventory.
The file needs to be activated.
Now the transfer process can start.
The data will be validated by LTMC.
Some mappings might be needed if not done in previous object loads within the same LTMC project.
Once finished the consultant and the users are able to check the stock has been loaded.
Other SAP ECC6.0 transactions like MB03 are not available any more in SAP S4 HANA, so it is possible to use MIGO to check the material document created with the load. MMBE will show the stock for each material.
Summary
As summary, the Data Migration Cockpit tool helps to save time creating recordings and LSMW objects and provides file templates that are easy to fill with the information provided with them.
This is a very good blog. But it perpetuates some myths.
1 - While Migration Cockpit is definitely the new thing, LSMW is still relevant for S/4HANA. For confirmation of viability (in fact, necessity), see SAP Note 2538170 – Migration of Retail Objects to SAP S/4HANA on-premise.
2 - For data migration, I've never seen screen recordings to be recommended. For inventory load, it's typical to create IDocs via LSMW (or SAP Data Services). Specifically, IDoc MBGMCR03, which remains relevant in S/4HANA, per SAP documentation for S/4HANA 2020.
LSMW remains relevant in S/4HANA wherever IDocs remain relevant. That's going to be a while 🙂
Dear Paul,
many thanks for your comments and your links. They are very useful.
I agree there are some data migration objects for which LSMW may still be an option, like equipments or funcional locations where the data migration cockpit does not cover all the revelant fields like addresses, etc. or custom pricing conditions. There are for sure other examples as you mention.
For other objects like Business Partners (customers, vendors, ...) that are new in S/4HANA, LSMW is not an option.
Nice blog for Inventory load using LTMC Fernando...!
Question: What's the reconciliation method used in Production for validation of the Material Inventory load upon completion of the load?
SE16N/SE16H on MATDOC? or SAP Data Sevices? or Query?
Most of the developers will not have Authorization in PRD for MIGO or MMBE.
You thoughts/input will be appreciated.
Thanks
I am working on a new project that is still inside ECC6 but the company will be moving to S/4HANA next year and already have a development system.
I am wondering if it would make sense for me to use the new tools to create the load files and test with the development system and then load the data into ECC6 with the template files which I could then reuse in S/4HANA at a later date.
I know this will mean more development work in the short term but will save time in the longer term. What are peoples thoughts on this?