Processing Goods for Shipping

Besides sales order documents, an outbound business process can also deal with stock transport orders. In a stock transfer process, one plant in an enterprise requests material from another plant within the same enterprise. This starts a (sometimes long-distance) physical stock transfer.

The outbound delivery order is the warehouse request for the outbound process. It defines the work list for SAP EWM and is the basis for performing the picking activities. The warehouse request is used to create warehouse tasks. An outbound delivery order contains all the data that is required for triggering and monitoring the complete outbound delivery process. The process starts with the first planning activities for the outbound delivery order and continues until the finished goods have been loaded and sent. Use the outbound delivery order to do one of the following:

• Preview the planning of pending warehouse activities
• Perform the actions required to create a delivery

When the outbound delivery order is created and saved, the following steps are performed:

• Mapping of delivery data from ERP onto the SAP EWM delivery data

• Data enrichment using data from SAP EWM configuration

• Determination of a warehouse process type (which controls warehouse task processing in SAP EWM)

• Wave assignment (depending on the configuration of the system)

It is also possible to perform the following:

• Determine the source storage bin (Rough Bin Determination)
• Determine the door and the staging area
• Determine a route

Warehouse tasks are used to execute good movements in the warehouse, and these movements may be physical or just stock changes.

Warehouse tasks are needed for:

• Picking

• Putaway

• Internal movements

• Posting changes

• Goods receipt postings

• Goods issue postings

The warehouse task is a document that tells the warehouse worker what to do, for example, move X pallets of product Y to storage bin ABC.

In a putaway or picking process or for posting changes, the basis for the warehouse task is the warehouse request.

For each warehouse request item, the warehouse task is created either manually or automatically by the post processing framework (PPF).

In cases where warehouse stock must be transferred from one bin to another, it is possible to create a warehouse task without any reference document.

When the warehouse task is executed, the warehouse task must be confirmed. During confirmation, the warehouse worker confirms that the correct quantity of the correct product arrived at the correct destination bin.

If a product is moved from a source bin, from where picking was done, to the destination bin, from where goods issue will happen, in a single step, the associated document is a Product Warehouse Task. It contains the required information, for example the warehouse process type (WPT) to use, the source bin, and the destination bin. That is a simple case. The situation can be more complex, for example, it may be necessary to pack the goods in a pick handling unit (HU) before moving the goods to the destination bin. In this case a combination of product and HU warehouse tasks is used for the complete movement. The HU warehouse task contains the same information as the product warehouse task, but it is used for packed products and when movements are done with several process steps.

Warehouse tasks are grouped (or bundled) in a warehouse order. The warehouse order represents an executable work package that a warehouse employee should complete within a specific time frame. It contains one or more warehouse tasks or physical inventory items.

Warehouse tasks are created when products are received, issued, moved, or counted. Multiple warehouse tasks can be grouped together into warehouse orders and SAP EWM makes them available for processing. For example, in the goods receipt process, warehouse tasks are created to move the products into the warehouse and to their destination storage bins. SAP EWM groups these tasks together, according to warehouse order creation rules, to form warehouse orders.

Warehouse orders are created as follows:

1. Warehouse tasks are grouped together according to the activity area in which they are sorted using predefined rules.
2. For each activity area, one or more warehouse order creation rules are defined.
3. The warehouse order creation rules are applied until each warehouse task is assigned to one warehouse order. Filters and limits are used as necessary.
4. If rules cannot be used, an SAP-supplied standard rule is applied.

During the grouping of warehouse tasks into warehouse orders, SAP EWM uses the search sequence for warehouse order creation, for example, rule A, then rule B, then rule C. SAP EWM works through the warehouse order creation rules in sequence, as defined for each activity area.

Filter and Limit Values: Control which warehouse tasks, and how many warehouse tasks SAP EWM groups into a warehouse order.

Sort Rules: When SAP EWM applies a warehouse order creation rule, it sorts the warehouse tasks according to the sort rule. Individual warehouse order creation rules can contain sort rules.

In addition to the sort rules and filter and limit values, warehouse order creation rules can also contain parameters for packing and consolidation groups.

Consolidation Groups: During warehouse order creation, the consolidation group determines the warehouse tasks that are permitted to be bundled together.

In order to be processed, every warehouse task has to be assigned to a warehouse order. If SAP EWM has applied all user-defined warehouse order creation rules for the search sequence, and unassigned warehouse tasks still remain, the system uses a remainder rule.

• Remainder rules: Create warehouse orders for any remaining warehouse tasks. SAP EWM summarizes these warehouse tasks per activity area, queue, and consolidation group.
• Standard rules: Group tasks per activity area, queue and delivery. If the system cannot find a warehouse order creation rule for an activity area, SAP EWM applies this rule.

• Every sales activity has an associated sales document. The assigned status shows the stage in the sales process that a sales order has reached.
• For an outbound delivery coming from ERP, an outbound delivery request is created in SAP EWM. This interim document triggers a post processing framework (PPF) action that creates the next document: the outbound delivery order. The outbound delivery order is the warehouse request for the outbound process. When triggering the goods issue posting, the (EWM) outbound delivery is created.
• In SAP S/4HANA embedded EWM, the outbound delivery request does not exist and the outbound delivery order is created directly.
• The warehouse request is used to create warehouse tasks, which are grouped into one or more warehouse orders using the warehouse order creation rules (WOCRs).
• When the materials are picked and available at the goods issue zone, you can post the goods issue. This creates the (EWM) outbound delivery. It is also possible to trigger a goods issue by processing a transportation unit or a vehicle.