Often, material has not just one unit of measure, but several alternative units of measure. Alternative units of measure could, for example, describe that 10 pieces of a material are in one carton, or that 100 pieces of a material are on one pallet.
Sometimes, the alternative units of measure are used to reflect how the stock is physically handled in the warehouse, for example, for wine, a bottle might be the base unit of measure, but it might be more practical to handle it as a case of six bottles.
The stock-specific unit of measure (SUoM) is an alternative to the base unit of measure that is available in the background in the stock data, and in logistic-relevant documents, such as inbound and outbound deliveries and warehouse tasks. This unit of measure covers the data capturing during the inbound process, and the use of it in the internal and outbound process. In the outbound process, the ERP outbound delivery can be updated with the physically picked unit of measure based on the stock-specific unit of measure.
Effects on Master Data
If you use the stock-specific unit of measure functionality in SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), the alternative unit of measure of your stock gets an important stock attribute, because it reflects the physical packaging of your products. If you change the unit of measure quantity conversion factors in the product master, it affects this attribute.
Units of Measure
| Alternative Unit | Base Unit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PC | converts to | 1 | PC |
| 1 | CAR | converts to | 10 | PC |
| 1 | PAL | converts to | 100 | PC |
Preferred Unit of Measure
The preferred unit of measure is the packaging size in which you usually store a product in your warehouse. You can maintain the preferred unit of measure for the product at a global level (this is usually maintained in ERP) and at the warehouse level. The system first checks for a preferred unit of measure in the warehouse product, then in the global data of the product.
SAP Business Suite ERP connected to an SCM-based EWM/up to EWM9.5
You can adopt the global preferred unit of measure from the ERP system. To do this, you must implement a CIF enhancement in ERP. In the enhancement implementation, you can choose one of the material’s existing units of measure. This reduces maintenance effort in the material master.
For more information, and an example implementation, see SAP Note 1637067. This BAdI is only relevant for a Business Suite ERP connected to a SCM based EWM.
SAP S/4HANA with embedded EWM or connected to an SAP S/4HANA based decentral EWM
In SAP S/4HANA you have a dedicated field in the material master for the preferred unit of measure (on the WM Execution tab). For embedded EWM, this can be used directly or it can be distributed to a decentral EWM based on SAP S/4HANA via IDoc or service.
The preferred unit of measure is used as a proposal in the following warehouse processes:
Inbound processing
Stock removal rules
Cartonization planning
The preferred unit of measure is used in inbound delivery processing and cartonization planning to propose a unit of measure to simplify the process. You can use stock removal rules to pick stock that is not in the preferred unit of measure first, to clean up stock regarding the unit of measure, or you can pick stock that is actually in the preferred unit of measure first.
You can use the Business Add-In (BAdI) Determination of Unit of Measure for Warehouse Operations to dynamically change the preferred unit of measure that is used in warehouse processes. You can find this BAdI in Customizing for Extended Warehouse Management under Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Extended Warehouse Management → Master Data → Product.
You can also use the warehouse management monitor node Stock Not In Pref. UoM to identify stock that is not in the preferred unit of measure. In the standard SAP monitor structure, you can find this node under Stock and Bin.
Stock-specific Units of Measure in Inbound Processes
There are two possible scenarios in which the stock-specific unit of measure can be used in the inbound delivery process:
The purchase order and inbound delivery in SAP ERP are entered using the stock-specific unit of measure. The stock-specific unit of measure is set by the vendor in the advanced shipping notification. After replication, the inbound delivery uses the stock-specific unit of measure.
The purchase order and inbound delivery are base units of measure in SAP ERP and the stock-specific unit of measure is set in SAP EWM. It can be set automatically if a preferred unit of measure is specified in the product master, or it can be modified manually.
You can also enter or change the alternative unit of measure during the inbound process at the following points:
Before goods receipt
During expected goods receipt and receipt of handling units
During packing or deconsolidation
During putaway confirmation
Preferred Unit of Measure in Inbound Delivery
When creating inbound deliveries in SAP EWM, the system can propose the preferred unit of measure automatically. If the products are usually delivered in the preferred unit of measure, but the inbound delivery is only created in the base unit of measure, proposing the preferred unit of measure can speed up the inbound process, because the unit of measure does not have to be set manually for every delivery item. As a prerequisite, you enable the proposal of the preferred unit of measure in the inbound process by selecting the Apply ERP AUoM as SUoM checkbox for the delivery item type.
There are a number of different scenarios in which the preferred unit of measure is used in inbound delivery processes:
The inbound delivery is created in the SAP ERP system and sent to SAP EWM. The system attempts to propose the preferred unit of measure for each delivery item during the transition from inbound delivery notification to inbound delivery. The inbound delivery notification keeps the unit of measure that was originally sent from SAP ERP. The system does not propose the preferred unit of measure in every case, but only if the quantity of the delivery item can be evenly converted from the base unit of measure into the preferred unit of measure without a remainder. Otherwise, the assumption is that the quantity is actually in a different unit of measure than the preferred unit of measure.
The system also checks whether the quantity of the delivery item is in the base unit of measure. If the delivery item of the SAP ERP delivery already has an alternative unit of measure, it is assumed that this unit of measure was chosen on purpose and, therefore, it is not overwritten with the preferred unit of measure.
The inbound delivery is created from an expected goods receipt. In this case, the preferred unit of measure is proposed when creating an inbound delivery item from an expected goods receipt item. The same rules as in the first case apply.
The inbound delivery is created in SAP EWM without a corresponding SAP ERP document. Because there is no preceding document, the unit of measure is proposed on the user interface if the user has not already entered one, regardless of the quantity entered.
Stock-specific Unit of Measure During Packing in an Inbound Process
During inbound packing, you can overwrite the quantities and units of measure of planned handling unit items before goods receipt, when the received handling unit content differs from the planned one. If you check the quantities and units of measure of received handling units before goods receipt, you should use this function. You can make an entry in the unit of measure field when the delivery item indicated by the planned handling unit item is stock-specific unit of measure relevant.
Note
You can repack the contents of a handling unit during inbound packing. This can be necessary if, for example, you check the handling unit contents and find that the handling unit is packed differently to the way in which the system assumes it is packed. If a product has a stock-specific unit of measure, you can change the alternative unit of measure during packing.
The following example describes the use of the alternative unit of measure:
A warehouse worker at an inbound packing station receives a handling unit that includes products that are stock-specific. According to the system, the handling unit contains three cartons of six (C06) of product A, but the handling unit actually contains three cartons of eight (C08). The warehouse worker changes the quantity in the system to 3 C08.
If a warehouse worker changes the alternative unit of measure of a product, it is likely that the actual quantity also deviates from what is represented in the system.
If the quantity is smaller than what the system expects, the remaining quantity is kept in the original handling unit. Alternatively, you can use an exception code to make the system post the remaining quantity as a difference automatically.
If the actual quantity exceeds the quantity expected by the system, you must use an exception code to increase the quantity of the related delivery item. The exception code can be drawn automatically, so the user does not have to enter it every time such a difference occurs. To do so, you have to assign an exception code to suitably increase the quantity of the inbound delivery item to the internal exception alternative unit of measure. However, if an exception code is specified by the user, it is not overridden by the system.
The exception code that is assigned to the internal exception alternative unit of measure must be defined for the business context PPT — Packing/Unpacking Products (Putaway), and for the execution step A0 — Data Verification in Background. The internal process code of this exception must be DIFF — Post with Difference with a difference category of Difference As Charges for Inbound Delivery, and a corresponding process code to adjust the delivery quantity.
If the user enters a European Article Number (EAN) in the product field on the Repack Product tab and this EAN is assigned to a stock-specific unit of measure, this stock-specific unit of measure is displayed on the UI.
Alternative Unit of Measure During Putaway
The system takes the alternative unit of measure of the available quantity when creating a warehouse task (WT). The available quantity is created during goods receipt posting, based on the inbound delivery item. If the inbound delivery item is packed in a handling unit, the system takes the alternative unit of measure from the stock in this handling unit. Therefore, in some cases, the alternative unit of measure packed in the handling unit can differ from the alternative unit of measure of the inbound delivery item.
You can change the alternative unit of measure of a warehouse task while confirming the warehouse task in putaway. If the alternative unit of measure is stock-specific, this alternative unit of measure is stored in the quant. Otherwise, the alternative unit of measure of the source quant is used as the alternative unit of measure of the destination quant. You can also change this alternative unit of measure with the BAdI Changing Quant Attributes During WT Confirmation, which you can find in Customizing for Extended Warehouse Management under Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Extended Warehouse Management → Cross-Process Settings → Warehouse Task → Confirmation of Warehouse Task.
You can use confirmation correction to correct the confirmed putaway quantity, but you cannot change the alternative unit of measure here.
Stock-specific Units of Measure in Outbound Processes
You can use stock-specific unit of measure functionality in outbound processes in a variety of ways, including picking and outbound delivery.
If you use the stock-specific unit of measure functionality, the following features are enabled in the outbound delivery process:
The system can handle multiple stock-specific units of measure for each delivery item.
When a customer orders a quantity, the system can decide what picks to perform to fulfill the order.
The system can decide which stock should be picked, and what unit of measure it should be picked in, to fulfill an order. For example, the stock removal strategy could be to first pick the stock that is not in the preferred unit of measure.
The system always displays the alternative unit of measure on the user interface to enable picking and pack processes to reflect physical reality.
You can send packing and unit of measure data to the customer. An overview of which stock-specific units of measure are shipped is shown in the hierarchy type unit of measure.
You can update the outbound delivery in ERP with stock-specific unit of measure data to reflect physical reality.
Stock-specific Units of Measure — Scenarios
Normally, the outbound delivery item is created in SAP ERP in the base unit of measure and sent to SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM). It is transferred unchanged to the EWM outbound delivery request (ODR) and outbound delivery order (ODO). The WT is also created and confirmed in the base unit of measure. The following scenarios are possible if you are using stock-specific unit of measure functionality:
The outbound delivery item is created in ERP in the base unit of measure and sent to EWM. It is transferred to the EWM ODR and ODO unchanged. The WT is created and confirmed using a stock-specific unit of measure.
The outbound delivery is created in ERP in an alternative (not base) UoM and sent to EWM. If this AUoM is maintained as stock-specific in EWM, it is transferred to the EWM ODR and ODO as the UoM of the item. If an alternative unit of measure is sent from ERP to EWM, it is not used to find a stock that is exactly in this unit of measure, but the search strategy for picking is relevant.
The outbound delivery is created in ERP in an alternative (not base) unit of measure and sent to EWM. If this unit of measure is not maintained as stock-specific in EWM, it is transferred to the EWM ODR and ODO as the additional quantity role Sales Quantity.
Stock-specific Units of Measure — Final Outbound Delivery
The final outbound delivery is always created using the same UoM as the corresponding outbound delivery order item.
In contrast to the inbound delivery process, the preferred unit of measure from the product master is not used by default in any outbound delivery documents.
If you have selected the Update Delivery Item stock-specific unit of measure checkbox in Customizing for the outbound delivery item type, confirming a warehouse task for picking can change the unit of measure of the outbound delivery order item. If stock is picked using a stock-specific unit of measure, item unit of measure is updated accordingly. If this checkbox is not selected, picking does not change the EWM delivery order item unit of measure.
In addition, if you have selected the Update Delivery Item stock-specific unit of measure checkbox, and stock for one outbound delivery order item is picked using multiple SUoMs, the system creates new subitems with the hierarchy type unit of measure.
If the outbound delivery order item unit of measure is changed in EWM as previously described, it is communicated back to the ERP outbound delivery item at the point of goods issue, if the Update Delivery Item stock-specific unit of measure checkbox is selected. Because goods issue can be performed based either on the ODO or on the final outbound delivery, SAP recommends that you select this checkbox for the item type with the document categories PDO and FDO.
Alternative Unit of Measure During Picking
When picking, the alternative unit of measure of the outbound delivery order item has no influence on the WT, so the system does not prioritize looking for stock that has the same alternative unit of measure as the outbound delivery item. You can use a stock removal strategy to pick stock that is not in the preferred alternative unit of measure first.
Note