Maintaining Internal Order Master Data

Internal orders can only be created with reference to an order type.

You must assign each order to an order type, which then transfers certain parameters to the order. Order types define the purpose of the order and the way it is processed in the system. The order type may also be used to group together orders with similar characteristics.

The order type is valid for an entire client; therefore you can use an order type in any controlling area.

Among other things, the order type controls:

• Whether commitment management is active

• Whether revenue postings are allowed

• Order status management

• Characteristics (required, optional, and so on) of master record fields

• Whether the order number is internally or externally assigned, and the number range

• General parameters for settlement, planning, and budgeting

• The presentation of the master data.

You can create Model Orders as a reference and assign them to the order type. Doing so, the settings of the model order are automatically entered when creating new internal orders for your order type.

The master data defines the attributes of an order, including organizational assignments.

Internal orders, like cost centers, are assigned to a company code and a controlling area.

To transfer values posted on orders to a profit center, you enter the profit center in the order master data. All actual postings to the overhead order are passed along automatically to the profit center. Plan values also may be transferred to profit center planning if required.

If you assign an order to a work breakdown structure element (WBS element), you can monitor the value of the order in the Project System (PS). In addition, you may process the settlement of all orders assigned to the project automatically during project settlement.

The remaining assignments possess informative value, meaning that they can be evaluated in the internal order information system. This information does not influence the posting of plan or actual costs.

An order has its own life cycle, which begins when you create it and ends after you close it. During this time, costs are planned, posted and settled to the order. Status management informs you that a particular phase in the order life cycle has been reached, and it controls which business transactions are valid for an order at any given time.

The standard SAP System includes four system status settings: Created, Released, Technically Complete, and Closed. The system status allows only certain business transactions; for example, you cannot post actual costs in the phase "Created". Changing the status of an internal order is itself a business transaction and is done in the order master record.

If the standard SAP system status settings are not detailed enough, you can create user-defined status indicators for further subdivisions. The system and user status settings together determine whether a transaction is valid. A status can:

• Allow a business transaction
• Allow a business transaction with a warning
• Prohibit a business transaction

For example, you may want to switch to a planning approval procedure for high value orders before they are released. The initial system status of "Created" will allow the release transaction. To restrict this, you could create an "Unapproved" setting as your initial user status, which prohibits releasing the order. A system/user status combination of "Created, Approved" would be required before the order could be released and actual costs posted to it.

You can also define status-dependent field selections and authorizations for your user status settings. The first allows you to control master data field maintenance during the order life cycle. The second allows you to define which users are permitted to process transactions in different phases of the life cycle.

You define user statuses and associated rules in a status profile and assign the profile to your order type.

The status profile allows you to:

• Define the user statuses.

• Assign a follow-up to your statuses.

• Define an initial status, which is automatically set when an order is created.

• Determine that a user status is automatically set during the execution of a business transaction.

• Permit or forbid specific transactions.

The status number assigns the sequence for the user statuses in a status profile. You can have only one user status with a status number active at a time. If you assign a status number to a user status, you will also specify a lowest and highest status number. This controls the subsequent user statuses; for example, if the current status number is 20, and the highest status number is 40, you can update the order status to either 30 or 40, but not to 50.

It is not compulsory for you to define a status number for a user status. A user status that does not have a status number can be activated or deactivated at any time, regardless of whether other user statuses are already active.

As in Cost Center Accounting, you can combine overhead orders in hierarchically-arranged groups. You can set up a structure using as many levels as you wish. Order groups help in planning and settling costs, calculating overhead, and creating reports for any given combination of orders as defined by you.

Unlike Cost Center Accounting, however, order groups are client-dependent. This means that you can use an order group name only once; you cannot use the same group name to create different group structures in different controlling areas. However, you can assign orders from any controlling area to an order group.

The "Create" group with reference function allows you to copy a group structure to a new group. The highest-level group name is created physically; the hierarchy below this group is the same as the reference hierarchy. You can then modify this new group as required.

Order group maintenance also includes the "Copy" function with suffix function. You can copy an existing hierarchy and append a suffix to the groups in the hierarchy to create a historical view of the group structure. You can then save the hierarchy with the suffix and make changes to the current hierarchy to reflect your new grouping requirements.

You can assign an order to multiple groups, but you cannot define a standard hierarchy.

If you create or change groups of internal orders, then you can also assign a selection variant to an end node. This provides you with a dynamic group, in which the contents can change.

The S/4HANA system provides functions that can be used to process multiple overhead cost orders simultaneously.

You use selection variants to gather orders in a single listing for collective processing (for example, master data maintenance or order settlement). Along with order fields, you can also make selections on the basis of the following:

• Boolean formulas

• Order classification data

• Order settlement receivers

You can create an order group from the selected orders and use this group in reporting.

You can select the master data fields that you would like to process directly, that is, you do not have to create any list variants.

Automatic collective processing offers convenient options for changing multiple orders in one step. You can update the status of the orders or substitute values on the order master record using this function.

Automatic collective processing offers convenient options for changing multiple orders in one step. You can update the status of the orders or substitute values in the order master record using this function.

The definition of substitution rules is used to undertake collective changes for orders based on any desired criteria. Each rule consists of one or more steps, each comprising two main components:

• The prerequisite, as with the order list, is the definition of a selection variant that finds the orders to be processed. It is defined using Boolean statements. The relevant values are substituted only if this precondition is met.

• The substitution contains the values to be transferred into the relevant fields.

• Differentiate between real and statistical orders for effective maintenance and posting.
• Assign internal orders to order types to define processing parameters and ensure consistency.
• Manage order life cycles using system and user status settings for controlled business transactions.
• Group internal orders hierarchically for efficient planning, settlement, and reporting.
• Utilize collective processing to update multiple orders simultaneously, enhancing efficiency.