Configuring the Material Master

The material master record contains data for several user departments, for example, purchasing, Material Requirements Planning (MRP), and accounting. One or more views are available to each user department for master record maintenance.

If you do not wish to use all the views, you can configure your own material master dialog, that is, your own screen sequences for maintaining material master records. You can use these screen sequences, depending on various influencing factors.

• Specify the structure of data screens.

  A data screen is composed of several individual subscreens. You can remove the subscreens that you do not need from a data screen. You can also replace subscreens with subscreens from other data screens or with your own subscreens.

• Link screens together in sequences.

  A screen sequence is a series of individual data screens that follow each other. Data screens are subdivided into main screen and secondary screens.

• Select screen types.

  If you need a secondary screen quite often, you can convert it into a main screen.

• Specify the order of the main and additional screens.

  You can adapt the order of the main and additional screens for each screen sequence.

• Specify user settings for the maintenance of material master records.

  Specify that a certain industry has to appear as the default value for specific end users. Depending on the user and the screen sequence, you can also assign default values for the views selected in the View Selection dialog box and the organizational levels.

Logical Screens and Subscreens

The figure shows that the Basic Data 1 screen consists of several subscreens (framed blocks of fields). To determine the screen number, position on any field within the screen and press F1 → Technical Information, or select System → Status from the menu.

A logical screen is a screen that you can choose in the View Selection dialog box. A logical screen is composed of a number of individual subscreens. A screen container is assigned to each logical screen.

When creating your own logical screens, use either your own subscreens or the existing standard subscreens.

Caution

Plant-specific subscreens (for example, from the Purchasing tab) must not be positioned on a client-wide screen (such as Basic Data).

Subscreens usually correspond to the individual frames of a logical screen and are processed in the material master dialog.

Use your own subscreens if you want to have different field groupings or use new fields.

For more information, see the documentation for the Customizing activity Create Program for Customized Subscreens.

A screen sequence is a series of linked data screens used for the maintenance of material master records. Screen sequences can be set up for various user groups. You can also set up the sequencing for processing different material types or materials belonging to different industry sectors.

SAP delivers various standard screen sequences. In the above example, the screen sequences 01, and 21, differ in the number of data screens and the layout (in the form of tab pages, for instance). Screen sequence 21 is preset for industrial customers. In this screen sequence, the system distributes the data fields so that the users do not have to scroll on any tab page.

The screen sequence is defined by a two-character key. Customers have their own namespace.

A screen sequence consists of several logical screens.

Each logical screen consists of a screen container and its associated subscreens. The number of subscreens depends on the screen container that you choose. If you need fewer subscreens than the number of subscreens that a screen container allows, the SAP system uses the dummy subscreen 0001 as a placeholder.

• Main screens (the screens that appear at the principal work level)
• Secondary screens (the screens that are called using the additional data)
• Non configurable screens (for example, initial screens)

Standard subscreens (program SAPLMGD1) have a maximum of 10 rows and exactly 83 columns. They can have a frame and a short description.

The maintenance status of the relevant logical screen must agree with the maintenance status of the fields that logical screen contains, for example, EL - only purchasing and storage data are allowed.

Function codes (PBxx) are assigned to the additional or secondary screens so that they can be called from a main screen by using a pushbutton. You can integrate the pushbuttons into the main screens by using the Screen Painter.

Definition of Screen Sequences

The figure provides an overview of data screens for standard screen sequence 21.

Various influencing factors are used to determine the screen sequence in material master maintenance.

You assign screen sequences using groupings of transactions, users, material types, and industry sectors. These groupings are called screen references.

• Screen reference transaction:

  You create a transaction group by assigning the same selectable screen reference to various transactions. In the standard SAP system, the transactions for the standard material master for industry are grouped under screen reference 01. The transactions for the standard article master for SAP Retail are grouped under screen reference 03.

• Screen reference user:

  You can assign a freely selectable screen reference to a single or various users.

• Screen reference material type:

  You can assign a freely selectable screen reference to one or several material types. You can also use Define Attributes of Material Types to maintain the screen reference entered for a material type. For example, the standard SAP system assigns a separate screen reference for manufacturer parts to call a special screen sequence 12.

• Screen reference industry sector:

  You can assign a freely selectable screen reference to one or several industry sectors.