Transferring Master Data from SAP ERP to SAP EWM

To transfer location and material-relevant master data to a SCM based EWM system, you define a Core Interface (CIF) model in the SAP ERP system. CIF has always been used for the integration between an ERP system and a SCM system, which was the basis for EWM up to release 9.5.

The plant and the shipping points are optional to be transferred through CIF. The plant is required for the creation of the location product and can be used for the SCM route determination in SAP EWM. The location product itself is not really required for EWM, but it is possible to transfer QM data to the warehouse product (since EWM9.2), and then the location product also needs to be created. The SCU which is automatically created for the location of the plant, can be used as SCU for the warehouse number, but it can also be created manually (see the section about supply chain units in a previous unit).

The SCU created for the location for the shipping point can be used to create a SCU hierarchy to model the shipping office and receiving office for a warehouse, but also this can be done differently by simply assigning the business attributes SO and RO to the SCU of the warehouse number.

The warehouse product is an additional segment of the product. It can be created automatically when the product is created through CIF (since EWM9.3), or through slotting, or manually. Details of the warehouse product are discussed later.

For the transfer of customers and vendors through CIF you have to decide if only locations, business partners, or both are created. Business partners are the more important objects for EWM (they have to be created). Locations are used for the route determination in EWM.

The transfer of packing instructions into packaging specifications is not a standard CIF feature, but can be enabled through the implementation of some notes on ERP and EWM side.

The following figure shows the basic information required in the CIF model:

You identify an integration model using 3 key fields as shown in the figure: the Name, Target Sys. and Application fields. Within the model you indicate which location and material relevant master data you want to transfer. You indicate to the system the data records you want to transfer by inputting selection criteria.

After the integration model is created, you execute and save it. This process builds an internal file of the selected data. The next step is to activate the model. During this step, you transfer the data to the SAP SCM system. After activating the model, any changes to the master data cause the corresponding data fields to update the corresponding data in SAP EWM automatically. This is done by using BTEs (Business Transaction Events).

In an SAP S/4HANA embedded EWM, the master data is generally not transferred from SAP ERP to SAP EWM, but simply shared. It can be enhanced by specific, EWM related data.

A location for the plant like in a decentralized EWM does not exist in embedded EWM, so there is never a location product. You create the SCUs for the warehouse and the shipping points / receiving points manually depending on your requirements.

For the SCM product, the system just uses the material. The warehouse product is created manually or through slotting.

The transfer of packing instruction to create packaging specifications is possible since S/4HANA 1809 SP03. For this option CIF is used inside S/4HANA.

If the decentralized EWM system is based on SAP S/4HANA, it is not possible to use the Core Interface for master data transfer from ERP. The reason for that is that the EWM part in S/4HANA again uses the master data in the ERP part of the decentral system, just like an embedded EWM. And the CIF can not create this master data, it can only create SCM-based master data.

Because of this the master data is transferred either through an ALE distribution model using IDOCs or the Data Replication Framework (DRF) using services.

While the use of an ALE distribution model and IDOCs is technically not as comfortable as the use of CIF, especially in regards to master data changes, it was necessary due to the above explained behavior in the SAP S/4HANA EWM, and actually very simple, because this technology exists already for some time. The possibility to use the DRF depends on the availability for distribution of the different objects through DRF. In the first release of the decentralized EWM based on SAP S/4HANA only the distribution through IDocs was available. The other objects were planned to be enabled for distribution by DRF step-by-step. For details of the available options, please check the release notes for the SAP S/4HANA release you are deploying and the implementation guides.

If an ALE distribution model is used for the customer and vendor transfer, it is not necessary, but possible, to use the Customer/Vendor Integration in ERP. For the distribution with DRF it is necessary to activate the Customer/Vendor Integration.

The distribution of changes with ALE requires the activation and evaluation of change pointers (whereas after the initial distribution of master data, also the creation of new master data works like changes). That means the evaluation of these change pointers needs to be scheduled and is usually done in fixed intervals. When using the DRF for distribution, the transfer of changes can also be scheduled. When the ERP system is an ECC 6 EhP7 or an SAP S/4HANA system, changes of business partners can also be distributed immediately with DRF. This is controlled by the "output mode", which you define for the business object type.

The plant has to be created in the decentralized EWM as in the ERP system. This is necessary for plant related information in the material or batch. The SCUs for the warehouse and shipping point / receiving point are created manually. You can also use just a single SCU for each warehouse, with the business attributes for warehouse, shipping office, and goods receipt office.

As an exception it is again possible to transfer packaging instructions from ERP through CIF to create packaging specifications in EWM.

The existing message types for materials (MATMAS), customers (DEBMAS), and vendors (CREMAS) contain several fields which are not required in the decentralized EWM system. Several of these fields also require the maintenance of allowed values for proper distribution. For this reason SAP recommends to define reduced message types for these objects to reduce the maintenance effort and issues with IDoc processing. The Integration of SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA with decentralized EWM in S/4HANA document includes lists of the proposed fields for the reduced messages types.

SAP S/4HANA offers enhancements for a simpler IDoc integration. Reports are available to:

• Create the reduced message types
• Create the required ALE definitions in the sender and the receiver system

The initial master data transfer for the different objects is triggered manually.

• Characteristics with transaction BD91
• Classes with transaction BD92
• Materials with transaction BD10
• Batches with transaction BD90
• Customers with transaction BD12
• Vendors with transaction BD14

After that you use change pointers to create IDocs for transferring master data changes. This can be done manually, but it is expected that you automate this by scheduling the program RBDMIDOC with variants for the different message types.

SAP EWM actually uses IDoc technology for some time already, for the distribution of transportation information from ERP to EWM and back when you use Transportation Planning (LE-TRA) in ERP.