Evaluating SAP Apps for Material Procurement

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to execute the use of SAP apps for material procurement and create a comprehensive review of business process scenarios related to material procurement

SAP Apps for Service and Material Procurement

Manage Purchase Contracts

Associated SAP Applications

Process Flow 1: Service Procurement - Posting Expenses for External Employee

  • Manage Purchase Orders

  • Manage / Create Supplier Invoice

  • Monitor Purchase Order Items

Process Flow 2: Service Procurement - Purchasing External Services with Service Material Item

  • Manage Purchase Orders

  • Manage Workflows for Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services

  • Monitor Log for Service Entry Sheet Generation

  • Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced

  • Manage / Create Supplier Invoice

Process Flow 3: Service Procurement - Procurement of Limits Item for a Project

  • Manage Purchase Requisitions - Professional
  • Manage Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services

  • Manage / Create Supplier Invoice

Process Flow 4: Service Procurement - Posting Expenses for Internal Employees without PO Relation

Manage / Create Supplier Invoice

Process Flow 5: Purchase Document Processing

  • Supplier Invoices List

  • My Inbox - All Items

  • Clear GR/IR Clearing Account

  • Display/Cancel Account Maintenance Document

Manage Purchase Contracts

Manage Purchase Contracts is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays information for a purchase contract.

SAP Purchase Contract interface displaying Quantity Contract information.

Purpose

With this app, you can get an overview of all existing contracts. You can create new contracts with a specific validity time frame and a target quantity or a target value. You can also renew contracts for which the target quantity or target value has been reached. Note that you can only access contracts if you have authorizations for the respective purchasing group, purchasing organization, and purchase contract type (quantity contract and value contract). You can create a contract template, enabling you to reuse data from the template whenever you create a new contract. In addition, you can check the contract value that has been consumed so far by all the release orders issued against this contract, along with the release order details. You can display the contract leakage percentage. Contract leakage is a KPI that identifies the spend of purchase orders that do not have a contract reference, although an existing contract could have been used.

Key Features

  • Search for purchase contracts based on different criteria, such as creation date, validity status, attention required, and so on.
  • Create purchase contract templates, which will further enable you to reuse data whenever you create new purchase contracts.
  • Create value contracts or quantity contracts. When creating a purchase contract, you can:
    • Provide header details, delivery details, payment terms, references, conditions, partner, notes, attachments, and so on.
    • Add items in either the flat list or the hierarchy list.
      • A flat list is a linear view of items in a purchase contract. A flat list can only consist of functional items that need not be arranged in any structured order. It cannot contain groups of items; therefore item sets cannot be added to flat lists.
      • A hierarchy list is a hierarchical view of items in a purchase contract. A hierarchy list can contain item sets and functional items arranged in a structured order. For more information on creating items in the hierarchy list, see section Item Hierarchies in Purchase Contracts.

      Furthermore, you can provide item details, such as quantity, price, conditions, supplier confirmation control details, GR/IR control details, account assignment, delivery address details, notes, attachments, and so on.

  • Provide the Incoterms Version. An incoterms version is an edition containing a list of international terms for transportation that is defined by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
  • Assign an item category to an item in a purchase contract.

    You can create items for a purchase contract with the following item categories:

    • Standard
    • Consignment (K)
    • Material Group (W)
    • Subcontracting (L)

      Note

      • Consignment (K): In consignment processing, the vendor provides materials and stores them on your premises. The vendor remains the legal owner of the material until you withdraw materials from the consignment stores. Only then does the vendor require payment. The invoice is due at set periods of time, for example, monthly. In addition, you can also arrange with the vendor that you take over ownership of the remaining consignment material after a certain period
      • Material Group (W): This item category is recommended for materials belonging to the same material group, but with different prices. When you create an item for a purchasing document, you enter the short text (description) and material group; however, you cannot mention the price. The price and material number cannot be specified until a release order is created against the purchasing document.
      • Subcontracting (L): This item category is a form of procurement where the required product is manufactured by a supplier (in this case the subcontractor) to whom you provide certain components. You can provide these components either directly from one of your plants, or indirectly through one of your suppliers. Using the provided components, the subcontractor completes the manufacturing process and delivers the required product to the ordering party.

      Note

      • When you choose item category Consignment, the fields Account Assignment and Net Price will not be applicable for purchase contract items, and hence are unavailable on the item page.
      • The item category Material Group is only applicable for value contracts.
      • The item category Subcontracting is only applicable for contract types MK and WK. It is also only applicable for the following account assignment categories:
        • Project (P)
        • Unknown (U)
        • You can link purchase requisition (PR) item category to follow-on contract item category, using the configuration step Define Document Types for Contracts.

      For example, if you link a PR item category Standard to a contract item category Material Group, then the follow-on contract items created from the PR with item category as Standard will only accept Material Group as the item category. If another value is selected, an error message is displayed after clicking on Create.

  • Maintain the field to update the info record at the item level of a purchase contract.

    The info record determines prices and conditions that the system automatically suggests when you are creating purchase contract items. An info record, and subsequently the prices and conditions it contains, can apply to an entire purchasing organization or to a single plant within a purchasing organization. For example, if you create a purchase contract for a plant for which an info record has been defined at plant level, the purchase contract is based on the conditions in the plant info record and not on the conditions that apply to the entire purchasing organization.

    The value you select for this field determines how the info record is updated with respect to plant-level info records. The following values are available:

    • No update: The info record is not updated.

      Note

      During the creation process, choose this option avoid the creation of an info record.

    • Update with or without plant: If an info record exists at plant level, it is updated. Otherwise an info record is updated at purchasing organization level.
    • Update with plant (if no plant ban): If plant conditions are allowed for the plant, an info record is updated at plant level.
    • Update without plant (if no plant requirement): If plant conditions are not necessary for the plant, an info record is updated at purchasing organization level.

      The fields Info Record Number and Info Record Update are visible only for item categories Standard, Consignment, and Subcontracting.

  • Create purchase contract items for materials or services.

    You can enter the ID of a product master data in the Material field or you create a free-text item for the required materials or services by entering a short text.

    The Product Type Group defines whether the product master data(*) or the free-text item is a service or a material.

    (*The product type group is assigned to a product master data via the material type.)

  • Maintain the shipping instruction for each item.

    Note

    If material or plant are filled after maintaining the shipping instruction, the shipping instruction is overwritten by the respective master data as it takes precedence over manual entry.
  • Indicate if a purchase contract item is a catalog-relevant item.

    You can specify if a purchase contract has catalog-relevant items at the header and item levels. The header-level checkbox Catalog Relevant is only used to default items as catalog-relevant items during their creation. The item-level indicator Catalog-relevant Item is independent of the header-level checkbox.

    Note

    • The catalog-relevant indicator is only valid for material items with item category Standard. It is invalid for free-text items.
    • This indicator is applicable only for functional items. It is unavailable for item sets.

    To enable/disable catalog items for purchase contracts, you, as a configuration expert, need to use the search function to open the item Purchase Contract Processing (Sourcing and Procurement: Operational Procurement) in your configuration environment. Then, turn the switch on/off by configuring the activity Activate Catalog Items for Purchase Contracts. For more details, see Configuration Help.

  • Enable and select the Kanban process at the item level of purchase contracts under the section GR/IR Control. The following Kanban indicators are available:
    • Replenishment element for Kanban
    • Scheduling agreement for JIT calls
    • Scheduling agreement for summarized JIT calls

      Note

      Kanban is a means of signaling the demand status for a certain material. The replenishment or production of a material is not triggered until a certain production level needs the material. The signal for replenishment is issued by an indicator, that is sent by a demand source (consumer) to the supply source (supplier).
  • Enable acceptance of purchase contract items at the point of origin.

    You can indicate if the acceptance of an ordered item is to take place at the point of origin (that is, on the supplier's premises) by selecting Origin Acceptance in the section GR/IR Control for the specific item.

    If you set the indicator, you must post the goods receipt to the valuated GR blocked stock using the movement type 107 as soon as the goods have been accepted at the supplier's facility. In a second step, you can post the goods from valuated GR blocked stock to unrestricted-use stock using movement type 109 as soon as the goods have been delivered by the supplier.

    Note

    • You cannot change this indicator in the item of the purchase contract after you have posted a follow-on document for the item.
    • If you provide the fields Supplier, Purchasing Organization, and Plant, then based on the material master data, Origin Acceptance is automatically selected. However, you can overwrite the default value and deselect it as per your requirement.
  • Manage tax code, tax date, and tax country/region.

    Tax date is the date on which the tax value should be taken into consideration for a document. This date may be relevant for a VAT change, for example. If you activate the tax date, it is prefilled with the delivery date for the item. If the delivery date is not available, the field is prefilled with the document date. The tax date field is available only if the Time-Dependent Taxes feature is enabled for the relevant country/region.

    Tax country/region is filled with a default value coming from the country/region of the company code of the receiving plant. In case this cannot be determined, the country/region of the company code in the document header is the default. In case the tax code is empty no default value is filled into the tax country/region field.

  • Assign one or more account assignments to a purchase contract item.

    If you use multiple account assignments, the distribution indicator enables you to define how the quantity and value of the purchase contract items are distributed to individual account assignment items.

  • Choose the supplier's sub-range from the value help under the section Delivery Terms for a purchase contract item.
  • Activate Public Sector Management (PSM) fields for account assignment.

    During the creation of a purchase contract, you can activate PSM related fields for single or multiple account assignments.

    Note

    As a prerequisite, the PSM related fields can be activated for a company code only when a Funds Management (FM) area is assigned to the company code.

    With the implementation of the Business Add-In (BAdI) Change of Field Controls within Account Assignment for Industries (MM_PUR_S4_ACC_FC_FIORI_INT), the following fields appear in the section Account Assignment depending on the account assignment category selected at the item level:

    • Fund
    • Grant
    • Budget Period
    • Functional Area
    • Cost Centre
    • WBS Element
    • Budget Account

    Note

    PSM account assignments for stock materials in purchase contracts is not supported.
  • Copy items in a purchase contract.

    You can copy items that are blocked or deleted. However, the copies of these items will not be blocked or deleted.

    Note

    • You cannot create purchase orders for items that are blocked. However, the blocked or deleted items are considered in the calculation of consumption percentage.
    • If you delete a blocked item, its blocked status changes to No, and deleted status changes to Yes. The action Delete takes precedence over the action Block.
  • Delete and restore purchase contract items.

    You can delete purchase contract items during the creation or update of a purchase contract. When you delete an item in a draft document, the item is deleted and removed from the document. However, when you delete an item in an active document, the item is logically deleted and marked with a deletion indicator. You can further restore items that are marked with a deletion indicator.

    • You cannot create purchase orders for items that are deleted.
    • If you delete a blocked item, its blocked status changes to No, and deleted status changes to Yes. The action Delete takes precedence over the action Block.
  • Add conditions with a condition type, for example, Cash Discount, to an existing date range or a new date range.

    Note

    • You can add conditions to a new date range only when editing a purchase contract.
    • The Price Unit of an item cannot be modified after the creation of the purchase contract.
    • If you change the existing conditions, to ensure the latest and accurate values are displayed in the purchase contract, schedule a job using the Determine and Update Price of Contract Item template in the Schedule Update of Price for Purchasing Documents app.

    For more information, see sections Header Conditions and Price Simulation in Purchase Contracts and Item Conditions and Price Simulation in Purchase Contracts.

  • Create, edit, and display additional information in the Notes section at the header and item level of purchase contracts.

    Note

    You can adapt the text in the Notes section at the header and item levels from other objects, such as RFQs, other purchase contracts, etc., for header notes and material master records, info records, etc., for item notes. You can do this by configuring the activities Define Copying Rules for Header Texts in Contracts and Define Copying Rules for Item Texts in Contracts in your configuration environment. You can also edit the reference texts based on the configuration. For more information, see the Configuration Help for the respective activities.

  • View, assign, or unassign partners, for example, suppliers and their associated partner functions, such as ordering address and invoicing party, to a purchase contract on the partner tab at the header level of a purchase contract.

    If the Partner tab is activated and a supplier is maintained at the header of the purchase contract:

    • A partner with partner function (for example: BA = Ordering Address, LF = Supplier, RS = Invoicing Party), is entered automatically, if maintained in the supplier master data.
    • A default partner with partner function (for example: BA = Ordering Address, LF = Supplier, RS = Invoicing Party), is entered automatically, if more than one partner with the same partner function exists in the supplier master data and one partner is marked as the default partner.
    • If multiple partners exist for the same partner function and no default partner is maintained in the supplier master data, a partner for the specific partner function can be selected manually. (Business functions are, for example, BA = Ordering Address, LF = Supplier, RS = Invoicing Party)

    Note

    Note the special handling for the partner function: Supplier

    • The partner function and the partner itself are set to READ-ONLY.
    • The update or deletion of the supplier is done via the field Supplier on header level of the purchase contract (the Delete button does not work for this partner function).
    • If you enter a second partner with the role Supplier, this partner function is deleted directly as it is not allowed to have multiple partners with the same partner function.
  • Add attachments to a purchase contract. For more information, see section Attachments in Purchase Contracts.
  • Display the product compliance status of an item and the product compliance status of the entire purchase contract.
  • Search for legal transactions and assign them to a purchase contract.

    You can also display the legal transactions associated with a purchase contract. For more information on the legal transactions, see the documentation for Manage Legal Transactions.

  • Use the button Save in Preparation to save new purchase contracts without releasing them.

    Selecting Save in Preparation allows you to create and save a purchase contract without releasing it. For example, while creating a purchase contract, if you need to exit the creation process to double-check and clarify certain details, you can select Save in Preparation. You can further save your current progress even if there are errors due to incomplete entry fields. You only need to ensure that you specified a contract type.

    Note

    When you select this feature, the document will not be submitted for approval. Additionally, you cannot use these purchase contracts to create follow-on documents.

    The approval status is set to Not Yet Relevant and the purchasing document status is set to In Preparation. After the purchase contract has been saved with this status, you can revisit the purchase contract any number of times to make changes. When you finally are ready to submit the purchase contract for approval, you need to click Save.

    This option is only available before a contract has been created.

  • Renew an existing purchase contract from the list.

    You can change or extend the validity period, target quantity, or target value of an existing purchase contract. Note that in this case, no follow-on document is created.

  • Copy an existing purchase contract from the list.

    When you copy a purchase contract, a new document is created, which opens in edit mode. You can update and save information in the new purchase contract based on your requirement.

    Note

    • Conditions are not copied to the new purchase contract.
    • Net Order Price and Validity To are not copied to the new purchase contract.
  • Withdraw a purchase contract sent for approval.

    Select the purchase contract and choose Withdraw from Approval. This cancels the approval process for the selected purchase contract. This also changes status of the purchase contract to In Preparation. You can then make the required changes to the purchase contract and submit it again for approval.

    Note

    You can only withdraw a purchase contract that is in the status In Approval.
  • Edit purchase contracts irrespective of the document status.

    However, you cannot edit purchase contracts in the SAP GUI for HTML app Change Purchase Contract. Purchase contracts can be edited only in the SAP Fiori app Manage Purchase Contracts.

  • Delete purchase contracts.

    You can delete draft purchase contracts that are not yet saved. However, you cannot delete purchase contracts in statuses, such as In Preparation, In Approval, Rejected, Released, and so on. Once a purchase contract is saved (or saved in preparation), you can only archive it to remove it from the database. For more information, see section Archiving Purchase Contracts.

    Note

    You can delete the changes to an edited purchase contract only if you do not save the changes. The purchase contract with the information before the recent modification would still be available in the database.
  • View all the approvers responsible for approving the workflow of a purchase contract in the list and object pages. This is possible only if the field Step to be completed by: is set to One of the recipients in the section Recipients in the app Manage Workflows for Purchase Contracts.
  • View the supplier evaluation score for the previous six months. By clicking the score, you can navigate to the analytics app Operational Supplier Evaluation to view the price/time variance, quality score, and so on.
  • View the Consumption Percentage of the purchase contract at the header level of the document. This percentage is calculated based on the type of contract selected. The consumption percentage is calculated using the following formula:
    • For quantity contracts:

      = [(Net Release Order Value of Item 1 + Net Release Order Value of Item 2 ) / (Target Value of Purchase Contract Item 1+ Target Value of Purchase Contract Item 2) ] * 100

    • For value contracts:

      = [(Net Release Order Value of Item 1 + Net Release Order Value of Item 2 ) / (Purchase Contract Header Target Value)] * 100

  • View the Consumption Percentage of the purchase contract at the item level of the document under the section Contract Consumption and Leakage. The consumption percentage is calculated using the following formula:
    • For quantity contracts:

      = [(Net Release Order Quantity of Item ) / (Target Quantity of Purchase Contract Item)] * 100

    • For value contracts:

      = [(Net Release Order Value of Item ) / (Purchase Contract Header Target Value)] * 100

  • Blocked or deleted items are also considered in the calculation of consumption percentage.
  • View the facet Attention Required, which indicates the approaching expiration date and/or the consumption of a purchase contract, and perform the necessary action. The following indicates the levels of attention required:
    • Very High (Color - Dark red): ((Consumption >= 80% AND Expiry Date <= 30 days) OR (Consumption >= 100 OR Expiry Date < 0))
    • High (Color - Red): Consumption >= 80% OR Expiry Date <= 30 days
    • Medium (Color - Orange): Consumption >= 50% OR Expiry Date <= 180 days
    • Low (Color - Green): Rest
  • Create a purchase order from a purchase contract item.

    You can create purchase orders from items of an approved purchase contract. To create a purchase order for specific items of a purchase contract, open the purchase contract, select the relevant items and choose Create Purchase Order. You can create purchase orders from items added in the flat list and the hierarchy list.

    Note

    You cannot create purchase orders for items that are blocked or deleted. However, the blocked or deleted items are considered in the calculation of consumption percentage.
  • View, email, or print addresses in scripts that are specific to a language of a country with the help of International Address Versions. For more information, see chapter International Address Versions (Client-Specific).
  • View, assign, or unassign partners, for example, suppliers and their associated partner functions, such as ordering address and invoicing party, to a purchase contract.
  • View other potential sources of supply for the items in a purchase contract.
  • View release order documents for all items of a selected purchase contract.
  • View the total net amount of release order items in the purchase contract by calendar month.
  • Create purchase orders directly from purchase contracts.

    To create a purchase order for all items of a purchase contract, select a valid purchase contract and choose Create Purchase Order.

  • View the approval details, such as the processors involved and status, under the Approval Details section. These details are displayed based on the current configuration in the flexible workflow.

    Note

    During the creation/edit of a purchase contract, you can view the simulated approval details in the Approval Details section based on the workflow configuration and the entries in the document.
  • Cater to inquiries from workflow approvers.

    The inquiry process enables you to modify purchase contracts sent back for rework. You can also respond to comments from approvers.

    You can view the Rework Required indicator for purchase contracts (on the list page) that have been sent back by the approver for rework. When choosing these purchase contracts, you can view the Rework section that contains the Comments from Approver. You can read the comments and make the required changes in the purchase contract. You can then enter your Comments to Approver and resubmit.

    Note

    You will also receive a notification that a purchase contract has been sent back to you for rework. On choosing this, you will be taken to theMy Inbox app where you can view the details and take the required action. Please note that you can use the My Inbox app only if you have the required roles and authorizations.

Manage Purchase Orders

Manage Purchase Orders is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the Manage Purchase Orders app viewing an individual purchase order.

SAP Purchase Order interface displaying information relevant to a purchase order.

Purpose

With this app, you can create, manage, and search purchase orders to ensure that you get the ordered items on time, at the correct location, and in the required quantity. As a purchaser, you can manually order materials as well as services. The list of purchase orders that is displayed is based on the header level of the purchase order (PO), so the information shown relates to the entire PO. On the overview, you can immediately see the number of overdue items for each PO. The item categories Standard, Consignment, Subcontracting, Third-party, and Limit (both for unplanned materials and for unplanned services) are supported.

Key Features

You can use this app to:

  • Create new purchase orders from scratch
  • Search for purchase orders and sort, filter and group the list, for example, by supplier, plant, or purchase order date
  • Save your personal filter criteria as a variant
  • Jump into the details of a specific purchase order to review it
  • Edit an existing purchase order. Changes you can make to an existing purchase order depend on the status. For more information, please see the section Editing an Existing Purchase Order in this document.
  • See details for ‘Advanced’ Purchase Orders

    When you click on the icon "i" (‘Advanced’ Purchase Order), you can see a list of unsupported features for each purchase order. Because these features are not supported in the SAP Fiori app Manage Purchase Orders, you can only edit or display the purchase order using the classic apps (Create Purchase Order – Advanced and Change Purchase Order – Advanced). You can click on each unsupported feature to see which database entries are filled and therefore prevent you from using the SAP Fiori app. However, you can jump directly from the list in the Manage Purchase Orders app to the relevant purchase order that is then opened automatically in the classic Create Purchase Order - Advanced app.

  • Delete purchase orders that have not yet been saved (the system has not yet generated a purchase order number).
  • Copy single items as well as entire purchase orders
  • On the list screen, you can select purchase orders according to their status. Following are the possible values of statuses:
    • Draft: Purchase orders that are not yet completed, on hold, or not ordered have the status Draft. Such purchase orders can be used later to order goods. Note that this status is different from the Editing Status: Draft.
    • Purchase orders that are deleted have the status Deleted. Such purchase orders still appear in the list for your reference.
    • In Approval: Purchase orders that are sent for approval have the status In Approval. This means that the approver needs to approve or reject the purchase order from their inbox.
    • Rejected: Purchase orders that have been rejected by the approver(s) have the status Rejected. You can send the rejected purchase orders again for approval after you edit and save the purchase order. The purchase order will go for approval even if no changes are made to the purchase order after clicking on Edit and then Order.
    • Not Yet Sent: Purchase orders that have been approved but are not yet sent for output have the status as Not Yet Sent.
    • Output Error: Purchase orders for whom the output was not generated due to some errors have the status Output Error. You can check the Logs in the Output Management section of the purchase order for details about the output error. Use the option Retry after fixing the errors in an output to generate it again.
    • Sent: Purchase orders for whom the output was sent successfully will have status as Sent. It is possible to edit a purchase order that is in status Sent. Editing such a purchase order might lead to regeneration of the output (if applicable).
    • Follow-On Documents: Purchase orders for which follow-on documents like goods receipt or service entry sheet are created have the status Follow-On Documents.
  • View comments regarding necessary rework

    Find the comment from the approver explaining the required rework in relation to a purchase order on the Rework tab in the header section of the purchase order. The approver can request a rework and herewith return the purchase order to the purchaser. In the list report, the purchase order status changes to Awaiting Approval - Rework Required. The new Rework facet will appear on header level of the purchase order and show the information given by the approver (only if rework is requested.). The new field Comments to Approver is enabled for editing when the purchase order is in edit mode. It is a mandatory field and the purchase order cannot be saved unless a text is entered.

  • View, assign, or unassign partners, for example, suppliers and their associated partner functions, such as ordering address and invoicing party, to a purchase order on the partner tab on header level of a purchase order.

    If the Partner tab is activated and a supplier is maintained in the header of the purchase order:

    • A partner with partner function (for example: BA = Ordering Address, LF = Supplier, RS = Invoicing Party), is entered automatically, if maintained in the supplier master data.
    • A default partner with partner function (for example: BA = Ordering Address, LF = Supplier, RS = Invoicing Party), is entered automatically, if more than one partner with the same partner function exists in the supplier master data and one partner is marked as the default partner.
    • If multiple partners exist for the same partner function and no default partner is maintained in the supplier master data, a partner for the specific partner function can be selected manually. (Business functions are, for example, BA = Ordering Address, LF = Supplier, RS = Invoicing Party)
  • Display carbon footprint of material in value helps

    The carbon footprint (CO2 e/carbon dioxide equivalent) of a material is displayed per unit quantity in the following value helps of the app Manage Purchase Orders

    • In the list report when searching for a material
    • On the object page of a purchase order, when searching for a material while entering or changing an item (standard and limit items)
    • On the detail page of a purchase order item, when searching for a material while entering or changing an item (standard and limit items)

    To be able to filter on the columns CO2e Footprint and CO2e Footprint Unit, make sure that Material is selected in the settings. Go to the field MaterialValue helpShow FiltersAll Filters . You are now able to scroll to the columns CO2e Footprint and CO2e Footprint Unit.

  • Make use of the new Output Preview button on the header of the purchase order, with this option you can preview the purchase order output while working with the purchase order.

    Note

    The output preview feature is available only to customers who have latest BRF+ rule for purchase order output.

    Follow the below steps to view output preview for the purchase order:

    • Open the app Manage Purchase Orders.
    • Open the purchase order for which you want to preview the output. Depending on the status of the purchase order the Output Preview button is available for selection, or it is greyed out and not selectable. The following applies to the availability of the button:

      Availability of the Button

      Purchase order statusOutput Preview button visible & selectable
      DeletedNo
      DraftYes
      Follow-On DocumentsNo
      In ApprovalYes
      Not Yet SentYes
      Output ErrorYes
      RejectedNo
      SentNo
    • Click on the Output Preview button. You can see the output request items listed here as setup in the app Output Parameter Determination. These output request items are same as what you configure for the actual purchase order output.
    • Choose the output option as needed. On selecting the option, the output preview is generated.

      Note

      • If you do not see the output request items, or you are unable to generate the output preview, then ensure that the configurations done in Output Parameter Determination are correct.
      • EDI channel is not supported for output preview of purchase orders.
      • Supplier and ship-to address cannot be previewed in a purchase order output preview while a purchase order is being edited.
      • The generated previews are opened in new tabs and can be checked simultaneously in different tabs. The generated output is just a preview, do not use the output preview as the original purchase order output.
  • Track the changes that occurred on header and item level. The Display Change Log button is located in the header section of a purchase order. It allows you to track changes made at header and item level since the time of creation of the purchase order . You can go to Settings to add and remove fields that you want to display. You can go to the Settings to filter and sort or use Group by Table Key to view changes made to a specific position.
  • Add purchase order items from document

    You can create purchase order items with reference to one of the following purchasing documents that already exist:

    • a purchase order item
    • an info record
    • a purchase contract item
    • a purchase requisition

    If the field Supplier is not filled in the header of the purchase order, then all the data from the referenced purchasing document is taken over.

  • Create, edit, and display additional information to your suppliers in the form of texts in the Notes section.
  • Create purchase order items for materials or lean services

    You can enter the ID of a product master data in the Material field or you create a free-text item for the required materials or services by entering a short text.

    The Product Type Group defines whether the product master data(*) or the free-text item is a service or a material:

    • Product type group 1: Material
    • Product type group 2: Service

    (*The product type group is assigned to a product master data via the material type.)

  • Block and Unblock items

    Depending on the status of the purchase order a selected item (standard, limit, and hierarchy item) can be blocked/unblocked. For example,

    • If no item is selected, the buttons Block and Unblock are inactive
    • If an item with the status Blocked is selected, the button Block is inactive and the Unblock button is active
    • When an item with Marked for Deletion status is selected, the buttons Delete and Unblock are inactive
    • For a purchase order that is ordered with several and one blocked item, the blocked item is not sent to the supplier
    • If a purchase order has the status Sent, it can still be edited and a selected item blocked or later unblocked

      Note

      For compliance reasons you can order a purchase order with all items blocked.
  • Work with item hierarchies as a means of grouping items (services or materials) in purchase orders. For more details, refer to Work with Item Hierarchies below.
  • Make use of rounding profiles for purchase order items. Rounding profiles are part of the quantity optimization functionality which allows you to automatically round item quantities to values which you can specify in the rounding profile.
  • Maintain the shipping instruction for each item.

    Note

    If material or plant are filled after maintaining the shipping instruction, the shipping instruction is overwritten by the respective master data as it takes precedence over manual entry.
  • Directly request a specific service performer
  • Specify a performance period when ordering a service
  • Work with Enhanced Limits

    The Enhanced Limit is an item category in a purchase order that can be used to order unplanned services and that is defined by a maximum amount (Overall Limit).

    The Overall Limit specifies the upper limit (maximum amount) that the Expected Value of the limit item must not exceed.

    Note

    The Overall Limit is always greater or equal than the Expected Value.

    The Expected Value is the price expected by the purchaser in purchase orders with a price limit. For orders with a price limit, this is the estimated value of the product expected by the buyer.

    Note

    The Expected Value is always lower than the Overall Limit.

    When a purchase order is sent to the supplier, only the Expected Value is visible to the supplier and its value is checked during the posting of the Service Entry Sheet, prohibiting spend above the Overall Limit value of the purchase order.

    • Create limit items for lean services

      You can define a value limit for unplanned services, that is, services that cannot be specified in detail at the time of ordering. This also applies to services that are of such low value that you want to reduce the administrative efforts involved in processing purchase orders and follow-on documents. You can define both an expected value and an overall limit. For a limit item, you must enter a time period. The services can be specified later in the service entry sheet where the exact services and their price and quantity can be recorded. Otherwise, you post the invoice directly with reference to the purchase order.

      Note

      When creating a purchase order with limit items for lean services, you can flag the Allow Price Change checkbox. This checkbox specifies for a lean service item that the price can be changed during the service entry sheet creation. This indicator can be set for each lean service item (procuct type group 2 = service), if the respective item is a standard item, the item is not linked to a contract, and customizing for tolerance limit is active.
    • Create limit items for lean services without service entry sheet

      You can create limit items for lean services without service entry sheet by unchecking the flags for Goods Receipt and Goods-Receipt-Based Invoice Verification.

      Note

      In case a contract for limit is entered at a later point in time this contract for limit will not be considered during invoice creation.
    • Create limit items for materials

      You can also create limit items when ordering unplanned materials (using free-text entries). For a limit item, you must enter a time period. Goods receipts are not possible in this case (limit item for materials). The invoices are posted directly with reference to the purchase order, provided that the specified value limit is not exceeded. Please note that you cannot create limit items for materials with master data records.

Monitor Purchase Order Items

The figure displays the app, Monitor Purchase Order Items.

SAP Monitor Purchase Order Items interface displaying Purchase Order Items summarized in a graph and detailed information.

Purpose

With this app, you can display purchase order items and monitor their status, using filter criteria such as purchase order, material group, material, supplier, plant, and delivery forecast. You can also choose a purchase order item to view its item level information. You can enable your business users to predict the delivery date of purchase order items, as proposed by SAP Predictive Analytics integrator. The regression algorithm in SAP Predictive Analytics integrator is used to predict whether delivery of purchase order items will happen earlier than scheduled, on time or with a delay. Based on the predicted delivery date, your business users can take necessary decisions.

Note

The predicted date is based on training, which is in turn based on the historical data available in the system.

Key Features

You can use this app to:

  • View purchase order items based on filter criteria
  • Click on a purchase order item to view its item level information
  • Predict the delivery date of purchase orders using the Predict Delivery Date link
  • View details of the predicted delivery date in a popup showing a chart of the supplier's delivery reliability for the selected material and plant over the past 180 days
  • Navigate to view contextual information related to a material
  • Navigate to view contextual information related to a supplier

Note

To optimize performance of this app, enable performance optimization.

Key Fields

Below are a few of the key fields available in the app for display:

  • Quantity Still to be Invoiced: Provides quantity of the purchase order items that are still to be invoiced.
  • Quantity Still to be Delivered: Provides quantity of the purchase order items that are still to be delivered.
  • Value Still to be Invoiced: Provides value of the purchase order items that are still to be invoiced.
  • Value Still to be Delivered: Provides value of the purchase order items that are still to be delivered.
  • Next Order Acknowledgment Date: Provides the next order acknowledgment confirmation date by when the supplier can deliver the partial or complete order.
  • Next Order Acknowledgment Quantity: Provides the next order acknowledgment quantity from the supplier based on the confirmation receipt date..
  • Next Inbound Delivery Date: Provides the next inbound delivery confirmation date by when the supplier can deliver the partial or complete order.
  • Next Inbound Delivery Quantity: Provides the next inbound delivery quantity from the supplier based on confirmation receipt date.

Manage Workflows for Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services

The figure displays the app, Manage Workflows for Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services.

SAP Workflow Details displaying information for Start Conditions and Steps.

Purpose

With this app, you can configure workflows to optimize the approval process for service entry sheets. You can customize automatic, one-step, and multi-step approval processes. If a workflow with one or more steps is activated and the configured start conditions are fulfilled, the approval process is initiated. The app also provides several options for determining the approver, such as assigning specific users or teams, or determining an approver by using a role.

Key Features

With this app, you can do the following:

  • Add a new workflow or copy an existing workflow and modify it according to your needs. For a detailed description of how to customize a workflow.
  • Activate or Deactivate a workflow

    Once you have activated the workflow, you can copy, deactivate or delete it, but you can no longer edit and change it.

  • Define the Order in which the start preconditions of the existing workflows are checked

    If you have defined several workflows, the start preconditions are checked in the order you have defined. As soon as the start preconditions for a workflow are met, this workflow is used. This ensures that only one workflow in the list of your defined workflows is started, even if several workflows have matching preconditions.

    Use the feature Automatic Release of Service Entry Sheet delivered by SAP as a fallback option. By default, this workflow is activated.

    Recommendation

    We recommend to define the workflow Automatic Release of Service Entry Sheet as the last one in the order. So, it is started if none of the other workflows applies. You can also configure your own workflow that is to be used as a fallback option.

  • Delete a workflow if it is no longer required

Additional Information

Below, you can find further details that are relevant when using the app Manage Workflows for Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services.

  • You can search for specific users to be assigned as approvers; only such users are found by the system which have the authorization for using the app My Inbox - Approve Service Entry Sheets and for updating service entry sheets.
  • You can also assign specific teams as approvers, defined for example by a material group, by a purchasing group, or by a plant. You can define these teams along with tasks and functions using the app Manage Teams and Responsibilities.
  • The workflow is neither started for externally approved service entry sheets, nor for timesheets. These documents are released independently of the workflow process.
  • Behavior if no workflow is configured or if none of the active workflows meet the defined preconditions.
    • No workflow is configured or none of the active workflows meet the defined start preconditions.

      An error occurs in the following cases:

      • if you have not configured any workflow at all
      • if all workflows have been deactivated (including the Automatic Release of Service Entry Sheet)
      • if the service entry sheet to be approved does not match any of the start preconditions

      In these cases, no workflow process is triggered, even though the service entry sheet that needs to be approved has the status In Approval.

    • None of the step-specific preconditions are met.

      As soon as the start preconditions for a workflow are met, this workflow is used. The steps are processed in the order you have defined. However, if none of the step-specific preconditions apply for a service entry sheet and consequently the steps do not apply, the service entry sheet is released automatically. To avoid this, you must ensure that the start preconditions you define match the step sequences you define.

  • Agent Determination by BAdI

    You can implement your own BAdI in SAP S/4HANA Cloud to define rules for the agent determination.

Monitor Log for Service Entry Sheet Generation

The figure displays the Monitor Log for Service Entry Sheet Generation app.

Application Log information arranged by Severity, Items, Category Description ,Creation Date and Created By.

Purpose

With this app you can view the errors that occurred, for example, during the generation of service entry sheets from approved timesheets or during the import from Microsoft Excel sheets. The log lists both the errors that prevented the creation of service entry sheets and the errors that prevented the posting of goods receipts for successfully created service entry sheets.

Additional Information

  • If an error has occurred during thegeneration of service entry sheets from timesheets:

    As soon as the errors have been eliminated, the documents are created on the next run of the application job Automatic Creation of Service Entry Sheets from Time Recording that is available in the app Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced.

    Note

    Use this application job only if an error occurred during the automatic generation of service entry sheets from timesheets and you want to restart the creation of failed service entry sheets or goods receipts.
  • If an error has occurred during the import of service entry sheets from Excel sheets:

    If a service entry could have been created, but it could not be set in status In Approval due to errors, you can edit it in the app Manage Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services and correct the errors.

Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced

The figure displays the app, Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced.

SAP Application Jobs interface displaying information for Schedule Purchasing Jobs-Advanced.

Purpose

With this app you can schedule and monitor recurring, purchasing related activities as a background job.

Key Features

You can choose from the following job templates:

  • Automatic Creation of Purchase Orders from Requisitions

  • Automatic Creation of Service Entry Sheets from Time Recording

    Note

    Please use this application job only if an error occurred during the automatic generation of service entry sheets from timesheets and you want to restart the creation of failed service entry sheets or goods receipts.
  • Create Scheduling Agreement Releases

  • Renumbering of Schedule Lines

    To renumber schedule lines for an item in a purchase scheduling agreement, you need to schedule a background job using the job template Renumbering of Schedule Lines in the app Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced. Here you can define the threshold, which is 50% to 100% of its maximum limit: 9999 schedule lines. During the creation of schedule lines, if the defined threshold value is reached, the scheduled background job triggers the renumbering of the schedule lines so that you can continue creating new lines.

  • Resend RFQ Output

    To resend RFQs to Ariba Sourcing if no success confirmation has been received for it from Ariba, you need to schedule a background job using the job template Resend RFQ Output. Under Scheduling Options, you can define whether you want to start the job immediately or schedule it for a specific period. Further, you can specify the recurrence pattern and other parameters for the job.

The following features are available for these job templates:

  • Create and schedule the job according to your requirements.

    Choose the New button. The system navigates to the New Job screen. Here, you can either start the job immediately or you can plan it to start at a later date. The job is then carried out in background mode. You can define whether the job should recur, and set up a recurrence schedule. Once you have defined all relevant parameters, you can check if the specified data is ok and schedule the job. The new job will appear in the Application Jobs list.

  • View the result of the scheduled jobs in the Application Jobs list on the initial screen.

    You can filter the list by date, by job ID, run ID, time from, time to, description, name, or ID of the creator. You can save your filtering options as a variant and manage the saved filter variants. If you would like to schedule a job that is similar to an existing job, you can copy this existing job and edit the copy as required. All content including the recurrence will be copied. You can call up the Log/Result for every scheduled job directly from the Application Jobs list on the initial screen.

Note

You can enable fixed release date and dynamic date selection in automatic creation of purchase order from requisitions. This is available for the fields: Release Date, Delivery Date, Period. Note that you cannot maintain the fixed release date, dynamic release date, delivery date or period at one instance.

Manage Purchase Requisitions - Professional

Manage Purchase Requisitions - Professional is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the Manage Purchase Requisitions - Professional app.

Manage Purchase Requisitions interface displaying information regarding Purchase Requisitions.

Purpose

With this app, you can create, view and maintain purchase requisitions. The app ensures the availability of requested items on time, at the required location, and in the required quantity.

Key Features

With this app you can do the following:

  • Create a purchase requisition by selecting a Document Type, view the same, edit and delete a purchase requisition based on its status at the header and item level.

    Note

    The list of purchase requisition document types is maintained by the configuration expert in the configuration Define Document Types for Purchase Requisitions in the Manage Your Solution app under Sourcing and ProcurementOperational ProcurementRequirements Processing.

    Note

    In case of self-service purchase requisitions, you can only edit existing items. You cannot add, delete or copy items within the purchase requisition.

  • Create purchase requisitions with the document type Outl. Agmt Requisn for creation of outline agreements as follow-on documents.

    Note

    The delivery date is not considered for such purchase requisitions.
  • Add items in either the flat list or the hierarchy list.
    • A flat list is a linear view of items in a purchase requisition. A flat list can only consist of functional items that need not be arranged in any structured order. It cannot contain groups of items; therefore item sets cannot be added to flat lists.
    • A hierarchy list is a hierarchical view of items in a purchase requisition. A hierarchy list can contain item sets and functional items arranged in a structured order.

      Note

      In the standard system, the item hierarchy function is switched off by default. The configuration expert can activate the item hierarchy function for purchase requisitions using the configuration step Activate Item Hierarchies in Purchasing present under Sourcing and ProcurementGeneral SettingsItem Hierarchy. Note that once the item hierarchy function is switched on, it cannot be turned off.
  • Create items with item category as Standard, Third-party and Enhanced Limits, and product type group Material or Service.
  • Limit Items are unplanned services and materials that cannot be specified in detail at the time of ordering. You can define an expected value and an overall limit for these items. Expected Value is the amount that is expected to be spent on the item. It must not exceed the Overall Limit. Overall Limit is the maximum amount that can be spent on the limit item. The services and materials may be specified later in the service entry sheet and goods receipt when their price and quantity are recorded.
    • Create limit items for lean services

      You can define a value limit for unplanned services, that is, services that cannot be specified in detail at the time of ordering. This also applies to services that are of such low value that you want to reduce the administrative efforts involved in processing purchase orders and follow-on documents. You can define both an expected value and an overall limit. For a limit item, you must also enter a time period. The services can be specified later in the service entry sheet where the exact services and their price and quantity can be recorded. Otherwise, you post the invoice directly with reference to the purchase order.

    • Create limit items for lean services without service entry sheet

      You can create limit items for lean services without service entry sheet by unchecking the flag for Goods Receipt is Expected.

    • Create limit items for materials

      You can also create limit items when ordering unplanned materials (using free-text entries). For a limit item, you must enter a time period. Goods receipts are not possible in this case (limit item for materials). The invoices are posted directly with reference to the purchase order, provided that the specified value limit is not exceeded. Please note that you cannot create limit items for materials with master data records.

  • Add items from catalog using cross-catalog search or by navigating to an external catalog. You can now view the Price Scale, if any, for cross-catalog search items where different prices are maintained based on the quantity of the item. On adding such items to the cart, the price of the item gets determined by its quantity and gets automatically updated whenever there is a change in quantity.
  • Use the Update Price button while adding an item from an external catalog, in order to update its price. This helps you to ensure the item is updated with the latest price. The price of the item may have changed during the process of creation of purchase requisition.
  • Copy an existing purchase requisition and create a new purchase requisition.

    Note

    Header level attachments are not copied.
  • Add items to a purchase requisition by copying one or more existing items.

    Note

    Item attachments are copied. However, draft attachments in items are not copied.

  • Search for a purchase requisition based on Purchase Requisition ID and Document Type.
  • Filter the list of purchase requisitions using various filter criteria.

    Note

    • It is not recommended to use filters if there are more than one million purchase requisition items in the system.
    • It is not recommended to use filters with "Exclude" options as filter criteria.
  • Navigate to related apps by choosing the description of the requisitions on the list screen. If a requisition is in draft state, then navigation to certain applications might not be relevant.
  • Maintain information such as Purchase Requisition Description, Document Type, and Header Note at the header level of a purchase requisition.
  • Maintain information such as Quantity and Date, Valuation, Account Assignment, Source of Supply, Contact Information, Delivery Address, Notes, Attachment, Process Flow and Approval Details for items in a purchase requisition.
  • Maintain Delivery Address of a purchase requisition item based on the Address Type. The Address Type can be Plant, Storage Location or User Entry. The default Address Type and Delivery Address is maintained based on the details provided in the purchase requisition item such as Plant, Storage Location and Item Category. The user can also choose the Address Type as per their requirement.
    • Address Type - Plant, Storage Location

      The delivery address is auto-populated with the address of the Plant or Storage Location as maintained in the master data. The delivery address is NOT editable and gets automatically updated when the Plant or Storage Location is updated.

    • Address Type - User Entry

      User can enter the delivery address manually

    • Address Type - Reference

      User can choose an address from a list of stored addresses available via the value help.

  • Maintain a reference purchase contract number in purchase requisition limit items of product type Service, using Contract for Limit. The contract number, if any, that is maintained here flows into the purchase order that is created from the purchase requisition item.
  • View the Carbon Footprint of a purchase requisition item. The carbon footprint is displayed in the item details page only for non-limit items of type Material, and of origin Realtime (R) or Self-Service Procurement (S), created post SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2111. This value is available while selecting the source of supply for a purchase requisition item. The carbon footprint of a material for a source of supply is calculated based on the value maintained in Product Footprint Management. Whenever a purchase requisition item (even those created before SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2111) is edited, the carbon footprint is updated in the Product Footprint Management and displayed. If the carbon footprint of a material is not maintained in Product Footprint Management, then the value is displayed as 0.
  • View the Change Log of a purchase requisition item. The change log lists the changes that have been made to the item since the time of its creation.
  • Edit Rejected purchase requisitions and purchase requisition items. You can edit a requisition that has its workflow configured at the header level and has been rejected at the header level, by choosing the Edit button on the top-right of the header page. If the workflow has been configured at item level, you can edit a rejected item by choosing the Edit button on the top-right of the header page, and then selecting the Rejected item in the table and choosing the Edit Rejected Item button. The requisition or item then moves out of the Rejected status and enables resubmission. You can make the required changes and choose Save. If the changes made are restart-relevant, then the relevant workflow is triggered. Note that if you start editing a rejected requisition or item, and then cancel the draft, the status is set back to Rejected.
  • View the Approval Details in header or item object page of the purchase requisition, based on whether the workflow is configured at header or item level. When you create or edit a purchase requisition, you can view a preview of the possible workflow steps. The preview is based on the workflow configuration maintained in the app Manage Workflows for Purchase Requisitions. The preview is updated dynamically as you edit the various fields of the purchase requisition, and is available even before you save the changes. Once, the purchase requisition is created or the changes in the purchase requisition are saved, the approval details show the actual workflow steps with the current status. It also shows the review steps, if any. The review steps contain the list of reviewers or people responsible for monitoring the progress of the workflow. You can also view the decision reason and comments, if any, that had been entered by the approver while making a decision on the requisition. If the purchase requisition or item has been through multiple workflows, then you can view the history of the workflow instances.

    Note

    In the case of Central Purchasing, if an item is relevant for central approval in the hub system, the workflow configured in the connected system is not considered. In such cases, the Approval Details section is not available in the draft mode. In the display mode, the approval details section indicates that the item has been sent to the central system for approval. If the item is not relevant for central approval, the workflow configured in the connected system is considered, and the workflow steps are shown in the approval details.
  • Add new approval steps using the Edit button in the Approval Details section. The new steps can be added only at the end of the workflow or after a Planned step. The new steps thus added will be in status New until the changes are saved. Such steps with status New can be further edited or deleted.

    Note

    To view the Edit button in the Approval Details section, you must add the business catalog SAP_MM_BC_PR_ADHOCAPPROVE_PC to the existing custom roles, if any, that you have created with reference to the business role templates SAP_BR_MANAGER_PROCUREMENT and SAP_BR_PURCHASER. The Edit button in the Approval Details section is available only in the display mode of the purchase requisition item.

    Recommendation

    It is recommended not to use Agent Determination by BAdI as Role in Recipients tab while adding the steps.

  • View a table of commitments of purchase requisition items, whose account assignment is commitment-relevant, by choosing Display Commitments. Commitment is the budget reserved in anticipation of a consumption. The table displays one line for each combination of purchase requisition item and account assignment line. If the commitment has been reduced, for example by a purchase order, the system displays the residual commitment in the corresponding line. The commitment table considers standard items as well as limit items with commitment-relevant account assignment. By default, the commitment is displayed in transaction currency. In the Settings of the commitment table, you can also select amounts in other currencies, for example, the Amount in Company Code Currency. (Select only the required amount in the settings. The corresponding currency is automatically displayed.)
  • View Consumption Value for limit items. In the case of limit items, when a purchase order is created from a purchase requisition item, the expected value of the purchase order is maintained as the consumption value in the purchase requisition item. If the account assignment of the limit item is commitment-relevant, the commitment will be adjusted based on this consumption value.
  • Choose the PO Price Type. PO Price Type determines the adoption of the price of a purchase requisition item in the purchase order item created from it. It can take one of the following values:
    • Do not adopt: The price of the purchase requisition item is not adopted in the purchase order item.
    • As gross price: The price of the purchase requisition item is adopted in the purchase order item as the gross price.
    • As net price: The price of the purchase requisition item is adopted in the purchase order item as the net price.

    The default value of <PO Price Type> is derived from the user default settings maintained in the Default Settings for Users app.

    Note

    The PO Price Type feature is available only if you have enabled the required configuration in Define Configurations based on Purchase Requisition Origin under Manage Your SolutionConfigure Your SolutionOperational ProcurementRequirements Processing.

  • Maintain the Tax Code for the purchase requisition item. Tax code is only supported for the item categories Standard and Third-party. The tax code entered is validated with the country provided in the plant address. There is no tax country or date maintained in the purchase requisition. The tax code is maintained at the item level and is not taken into consideration for any price calculation in the requisition. The value entered is just taken over by the purchase order created from it.
  • Assign sources of supply, such as info records, contracts, scheduling agreements, or fixed suppliers, to the items in a purchase requisition.
  • Enter the purchasing group. For the material groups that have been maintained in the configuration Define Mapping of Material Groups to Purchasing Group, the purchasing group that you enter is validated against the various purchasing groups mapped to the material group. If there is only one purchasing group mapped to the material group in the configuration, then the same is auto populated.
  • Add GOS (Generic Object Services) attachments at the header level of a purchase requisition.
  • Add attachments to purchase requisition items. While adding the attachments, you can only choose the document type as internal (SL9) or external (SL1) based on whether the communication is intended for internal or external stakeholders.
  • Validation messages are displayed while entering values in the fields.

    Note

    There could be a small delay in the display of certain validation messages after field updates as they are consolidated in a way such that the UI performance is not impacted. Also, use the Enter key in place of the Tab key to view the field validations.

  • A Trade Compliance check is triggered on saving an item by choosing Save. If the trade compliance check returns an error, then a purchase requisition item is created in a blocked state. In this case, a workflow can be initiated but no follow-on document can be created. The error also triggers the generation of a Trade Compliance document with reference to the purchase requisition item. The trade compliance officer can view and work on the compliance document. Once the trade compliance issues are resolved by the compliance officer, the item is saved and if there are no further issues in trade compliance, then the item is unblocked so that all follow-on processes continue as usual.

    Note

    Trade compliance checks are not triggered for items of origin Self-Service Procurement (S).

  • Use the scenario-based workflow. The approval of purchase requisitions is done using the My Inbox app. If the workflow for limit items is not configured, the item is approved automatically.

    Note

    Critical changes made to a purchase requisition will restart the approval process for the purchase requisition.
  • View the Status of the purchase requisition. A purchase requisition can be in one of the following statuses:
    StatusDescription
    In Process ExternallyAt least one item in the PR is currently in process in an external system.
    Awaiting ApprovalAt least one item in the PR has entered the workflow process and is awaiting approval. There is no item in the PR that is In Process Externally.
    BlockedAt least one item in the PR is blocked, that is, it should not be converted into a follow-on purchasing document. There is no item in the PR that is either In Process Externally or Awaiting Approval.
    ApprovedAt least one item in the PR has been approved in the workflow process. There is no item in the PR that is In Process Externally, Awaiting Approval or Blocked.
    Follow on Document CreatedAt least one item in the PR has been processed, and follow on documents, for example purchase orders and purchase contracts have been created. There is no item in the PR that is In Process Externally, Awaiting Approval, Blocked or Approved.
    RejectedAt least one item in the PR has been rejected in the workflow. There is no item in the PR that is In Process Externally, Awaiting Approval, Blocked, Approved or Follow on Document Created.
    SavedThe purchase requisition is in Create mode, and is still a draft.
  • The editability of the purchase requisition, and the items in it is as follows:
    • Item level Release - All items in the PR apart from those in status In Process Externally can be edited.
    • Overall Release - The editability of the PR depends on the status of the items present in the PR. The PR as a whole can be edited provided no item in the PR has the status In Process Externally.
  • View total value of purchase requisitions in a preferred currency that is based on the Total Value Currency. Total Value Currency is maintained by the configuration expert in the Default Settings for Users app.
  • View the Rework Required indicator on purchase requisitions that have been sent back by the approver for rework. When choosing these requisitions, you can view the Rework section that contains the Comments from Approver. You can read the comments and make the required changes in the requisition. You can then enter your Comments to Approver and resubmit.

    Note

    You will also receive a notification that a purchase requisition has been sent back to you for rework. On choosing this, you will be taken to the My Inbox app where you can view the details and take the required action. Please note that you can use the My Inbox app only if you have the required roles and authorizations.

  • View the follow-on documents created for a purchase requisition
  • View the purchase requisitions created with the app My Purchase Requisitions - New . In certain scenarios, when you click on this type of purchase requisitions, you will be directed to the My Purchase Requisitions - New app where these purchase requisitions can be edited.

    Note

    You can modify the properties of different fields that appear on the user interface of purchase requisitions. You can make the fields hidden, read-only, mandatory, or optional as per your requirement. To modify the properties, create an implementation for the BAdI Manage Field Controls for Purchase Requisitions in the Custom Fields and Logic app.

This app uses Situation Handling, which automatically informs users responsible about matters that require their attention.

Operational purchasers usually do not have any information about new or updated contracts, so they might assign open purchase requisition items to outdated contracts. To benefit from newly negotiated conditions, purchasers receive notifications about new or updated contracts, so that they can assign them to open purchase requisition items directly.

  • From the notification, you can navigate to the item object page of the purchase requisition to view details of the contract under the Situations facet. You can now assign this contract as a source of supply for your purchase requisition, by using the option Assign Contract.
  • You will receive the notification only if the parameters of the purchase requisition match the attributes of the team that is defined in the app Manage Teams and Responsibilities.

Manage Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services

The figure displays the app, Manage Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services.

SAP Service Entry Sheet interface for Manage Service Entry Sheets- Lean Services.

Purpose

With this app, you can create service entry sheets to record that the ordered services have been performed. You can change these service entry sheets and send them for approval. You can also search for service entry sheets and sort, filter, and group the list: for example, by supplier or by reference purchase order. Lean services are a type of service that can be purchased in the same way as materials using SAP Fiori apps such as Manage Purchase Orders, Manage Service Entry Sheets - Lean Services, and Create Supplier Invoice. These apps enable a lean process of service procurement that is equivalent to the procurement of materials.

Key Features

  • Create or change a service entry sheet with reference to a purchase order

    Each service entry sheet references one purchase order. This purchase order can consist of standard items for planned services or limit items for unplanned services. After you enter the purchase order number, the system displays the list of purchase order items for lean services. You then select the ones you wish to add as service entry sheet items. You can also add multiple service entry sheet items based on one purchase order item at once.

  • Record consumable materials

    You can record consumable materials (product type group Material (1)), which were used during the execution of a service, in a service entry sheet. However, you have to maintain at least one item of the product type group Service (2) in a service entry sheet.

    Note

    Please be aware of several restrictions regarding the type of material item that you can add to a service entry.
  • Maintain the account assignment in service entry sheets

    You can define the account assignment for an item in the purchase order or in the service entry sheet. Even if it’s already defined in the purchase order item, you can change the account assignment in the service entry sheet - with few restrictions. If the purchase order has no account assignment, you can copy the account assignment from the contract.

  • Import and export service entry sheets

    Authorized users can import service entry sheets from Microsoft Excel files. You can import up to 100 service entry sheet items. Note that you can't import limit items to service entry sheet using this feature. You can also export service entry sheet items to spreadsheets. To do so, open a service entry sheet, go to the Items tab and choose Export.

    Note

    If you export a service entry sheet and the Performance End Date is not filled in the exported spreadsheet, the performance end date is considered to be the same as the performance start date. That means that the service was performed on one day.

  • Add and maintain notes and texts for service entry sheets

    On both header and item level, you can add and maintain internal notes to provide additional information about the service entry sheet or a specific item. You can use the Header Note or Item Note field to leave an internal note for other people in your organization. Alternatively, you can use the Header Text or Item Text field to write a note for external parties in the process flow, for example, the supplier. Only one note and one text can exist for each header and item.

  • Attach documents and add links on header and item level of service entry sheets

    You can upload files, add links, and view existing attachments on both header and item level of a service entry sheet. If they are no longer required, you can delete existing attachments.

  • Initiate or cancel the approval process

    When you've recorded all services and consumable materials, you can send the service entry sheet for approval. The service entry sheet then gets assigned In Approval status and is automatically displayed in the approver’s My Inbox. If you want to edit the service entry sheet again, you can choose Withdraw from Approval as long as it is in status In Approval. If the service entry sheet has been approved and no follow-on documents exist other than the goods receipt document, you can choose Revoke Approval and edit it again. Once the service entry sheet has been approved by an authorized person, a goods receipt document is created by the system and a corresponding invoice can be created, checked, and posted.

  • View process flow diagram for service entry sheets

    Once the service entry sheet is posted, you can view the process flow diagram under the Process Flow facet. The process flow diagram displays the preceding as well as follow-on documents of the service entry sheet. Here you can also find links to the referenced documents.

  • Display and edit taxes in service entry sheets

    You can display and edit tax information that was defined in the reference purchase order in a service entry sheet.

  • Display and edit pricing information in service entry sheet items

    You can display and edit detailed pricing information for planned services with reference to purchase order standard items as well as for unplanned services with reference to purchase order limit items without a purchase contract as source of supply. You can also display pricing information for unplanned services with reference to purchase order limit items with a purchase contract as source of supply.

  • Set the Final Entry indicator for service entry sheet items

    To indicate that a service entry sheet item is the last service entry sheet item for the referenced purchase order item, you can set the Final Entry indicator. After the service entry sheet has been approved, the Delivery Completed indicator is set automatically in the purchase order item.

My Purchasing Document Items - Professional

The figure displays the app, My Purchasing Document Items - Professional.

SAP My Purchasing Document Items interface displaying various document items.

Purpose

With this app, you can quickly gain an overview of the items in your purchasing documents for each supplier and keep track of those purchasing documents for which you, as a purchaser, are responsible. Besides the count of purchasing document items, the app provides separate tabs for purchase requisitions, purchase orders, good receipts, and supplier invoices. The clear and customizable views let you monitor your purchasing document items for each supplier at the level of detail you require.

Key Features

You can use this app to:

  • Monitor your purchasing document items based on filter criteria such as material group, purchasing group, plant, status, and purchase order.
  • Search by one or more purchase orders, and in the results you can see the corresponding purchase orders, as well as any related purchase requisitions, goods receipts, and supplier invoices in their respective tabs.
  • Search using the status for specific document types and in the results you can see the corresponding purchasing document items in their respective tabs. The statuses you can select in the value help corresponds to the statuses available for each document type in their respective manage apps, for example, Manage Purchase Orders. The only exception is for goods receipts where the statuses are specifically Canceled and Completed.
  • Get an overview of all documents for which a difference exists between the supplier invoice value and the ordered value.
  • Display detailed data of the items in purchase requisitions, purchase orders, goods receipts, and supplier invoices.
  • Display purchase requisition items and their distribution (in terms of quantity, value, and percentage) over one or more of their account assignments. So, a purchase requisition item may be listed more than once depending on the number of accounts it's assigned to.
  • Display purchase order items and their distribution (in terms of quantity, value, and percentage) over one or more of their account assignments. So, a purchase order item may be listed more than once depending on the number of accounts it's assigned to.
  • Display and compare item data for one or more suppliers.
  • Adapt the views to display precisely the data you need.
  • Navigate to the Purchase Requisition object page.
  • Navigate to the Manage Purchase Orders app.
  • Navigate to the Material Document details page (only if you have access to the Material Document Overview app).
  • Navigate to the Supplier Invoice app (only if you have access to this app).
  • Post a goods receipt for a selected purchase order item on the Purchase Orders tab (only if you have the Inventory Manager role).
  • Create purchase orders on the Purchase Orders tab.

Material Documents Overview

Material Documents Overview is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the Material Documents Overview app.

SAP Material Documents Overview displaying information regarding various Material Documents.

Purpose

With this app, you can display a list of material document items and display the material document details of a selected material document item. In addition, you can reverse a material document. This app supports you, for example, as a warehouse clerk or an inventory manager in your daily work.

Key Features

  • Get an overview of material documents such as goods issue, goods receipt, and material movements with the following information, for example:
    • Document date

    • Movement type, for example, goods issue for delivery

    • Document items

      Note

      With the stock change type (for example, stock decrease), you specify for which kind of material document on a specific organizational level you want to search. Depending on the stock change type you choose, you can select further filter criteria.
  • Display a list of material document items. You can search for accounting information (G/L account or cost center) in material documents with multiple account assignments of the valuated goods receipt.

    Note

    For non-valuated goods receipts the account assignment is not stored on material document item level. Therefore, neither the material document nor the material documents overview displays the account assignments for non-valuated postings.
  • Display a goods receipt (material document) that references a scheduling agreement.
  • Display the process flow for a material document with the relevant preceding document and follow-on document.
  • Display a list of the serial numbers, if any, that were assigned to materials during the relevant goods movement.
  • Displays material documents for batch-managed materials with a split valuation.
  • Add attachments to the material document.
  • Determine forms of output for a material document, such as print output or electronic data interchange (EDI)

    Note

    SAP provides predefined output forms in output management, such as collection slips. You can copy and adapt these forms for your needs. Note that your settings can affect the formatting of the output forms, and can lead, for example, to unwanted line breaks. SAP recommends that you check your settings and adjust them if necessary.
  • Reverse or partially reverse a selected material document.
  • Display the details of a selected material document item, for example, single or multiple account assignments.
  • Supports the filtering for material documents with item lines that are automatically generated from the stock transfer posting (Auto-Created Item).

    It is only in the case of a transfer posting that there are always two lines for each material in the corresponding material document (for the issuing and receiving plant). This means that you always have an overview of where a transferred material comes from and where the target plant is.

Note

The app supports several movement types for different business processes. The app offers you authorization-dependent movement types. You have different authorizations depending on your business role. If movement types are missing for your task or you have restricted authorizations for a movement type, contact your administrator

In addition, the app supports the following technical features and options:

  • You can export the result list to a spreadsheet.
  • You can send a link to the material document details by e-mail.
  • To start a conversation and to share your comments on the material document, use chat in Microsoft Teams or Send Email.

How to Display or Reverse Material Documents

  1. To search for material documents, enter your filter criteria and choose Go.

    Depending on your filter criteria, the app displays a list of material document items. Note that maybe some columns of the results list are hidden. In the personalization area, you can specify the columns that the system displays in the results list.

  2. To display the details of a material document, choose the corresponding material document item.
  3. If required, you can reverse the material document.

    Note that you can execute full reversal of all materials or partial reversals of document items in a material document.

Manage Profit Centers

Manage Purchase Orders is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the Manage Profit Centers app.

SAP Manage Profit Centers interface displaying information for various Profit Centers.

Purpose

Use this app to search for, create, view, and edit profit center master data. This app allows you to manage profit center master data in an easy-to-consume way.

Prerequisites

In the Realize Phase, during the setup of your SAP S/4HANA Cloud system, you must create a default profit center and a default profit center group in your quality system. Since master data changes are not transported to your production system, you must create these objects again in your production system before you commence business. You create these master data objects in both systems using the Manage Profit Centers and Manage Profit Center Groups, respectively.

Key Features

Depending on the role assigned, you can perform the following tasks:

  • Search for profit centers.
  • View profit center master data.
  • Create, edit, copy, and delete a combination of a profit center and a validity period.
  • Assign company codes to profit centers.
  • View all objects using this profit center by navigating to the app Where-Used List – Profit Centers.
  • See the changes that were made to a specific profit center. Please note that the app displays only a subset of changes. To see all changes, click or tap All Changes to navigate to the Change Log – Profit Centers app.

Note

This app contains in-app help for key fields and concepts. To display the help while working in the app, press F1 or choose the question mark displayed in the app header.

My Inbox - All Items

My Inbox – All Items is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the My Inbox app with a purchase order approval request.

SAP My Inbox displaying Approval of Working Times.

Purpose

You can use this app to make important decisions via mobile or desktop devices anywhere and anytime. Using this app, you can process your workflow tasks based on the decision options defined in the back-end system.

Key Features

  • Process your workflow tasks.
  • Perform the standard actions (for example, claim, release, or forward a task), available by default.
  • Perform mass actions, that is, process several tasks of the same type at the same time.
  • View and add comments to an item using the Comments tab of the Detail view.
  • View custom attributes that provide additional information about the task instance.
  • View, upload, and delete attachments.
  • Create and manage substitution rules to manage the tasks in your absence.
  • Send emails or post tasks on a preconfigured JAM site.
  • View the business cards of the application users.
  • Browse, sort, filter, and group tasks requiring action.
  • Easily process all your tasks with the preconfigured All Items tile.
  • View the support information about a task instance.
  • View the task history for workflow tasks.
  • View the additional information provided in the related objects for workflow tasks.
  • View the completed tasks and suspended tasks from Outbox tile.
  • Filter the tasks based on substitute users.
  • Filter the tasks using the filter criterion My Tasks and Tasks on Behalf of.

Note

Open task feature is not supported in mobile devices.

Clear GR/IR Clearing Account

Clear GR/IR Clearing Account is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the app Clear GR/IR Clearing Account.

SAP Maintain GR/IR Clearing Account interface displaying information needed to clear goods receipt and invoice receipt.

Purpose

With this app you can clear the goods receipt and invoice receipt clearing account. If quantity differences exist between goods receipt and invoice receipt for a purchase order, then a balance results on the goods receipt and invoice receipt (GR/IR) clearing account. If the quantity invoiced is larger than the quantity received, the system expects further goods receipts for this purchase order to clear the balance. If the quantity received is larger than the quantity invoiced, the system expects further invoices for this purchase order to clear the balance. You can also clear differences for delivery costs.

Key Features

  • Select the transactions for which you want to post the differences.
  • Clear the balance manually, if no more goods or invoices are to be received. This can be done in different ways:
    • You can cancel the invoice and post a corrected invoice or a credit memo for the surplus posted quantity.
    • You can clear the GR/IR clearing account manually.
  • Maintain GR/IR Account Movements: The offsetting entry to clear the GR/IR account is the same as the posting made when you enter an invoice for a purchase order.
    • Material with Moving Average Price (MAP)

      The GR/IR account is cleared against the stock account, unless no stock coverage exists. If the material stock is smaller than the quantity to be cleared, only the actual stock quantity is debited or credited proportionally. The remaining amount is posted to a price difference account.

    • Material with Standard Price

      The offsetting entry is posted to a price difference account.

    • Purchase Orders Assigned to an Account

      The offsetting entry is made to the cost or fixed asset account shown in the account assignments in the purchase order.

Integration of Transportation Management

The integration of Transportation Management enables you to use the reference document category Freight Order in the supplier invoice. A freight order refers to a purchase order with lean service items. You can select the Transportation Management indicator in the Origin section.

For the Purchasing Document field, you can select the search view Service Purchasing Documents per Freight Order. This search view contains specific fields, for example, Supplier, Source Location, Destination Location, Departure Date, Arrival Date, and Freight Order.

On the hit list, you can choose Change Layout and then select specific columns, for example Source Location.

How to Maintain the GR/IR Clearing Account

The GR/IR clearing account is usually cleared at the end of a period or fiscal year for those order items that no further goods receipts or invoices are expected for.

  1. Choose various selection criteria for the transactions for which you want to post the differences.
  2. Choose Execute.
  3. On the selection screen, the individual purchase order items that have quantity variances are displayed.
  4. Select the order items that you want to clear.
  5. Clear the GR/IR clearing account for the selected purchase orders by choosing Post.

Display/Cancel Account Maintenance Document

Display/Cancel Account Maintenance Document is covered in the material procurement module. It may be skipped if already reviewed in that module.

The figure displays the app, Display/Cancel Account Maintenance Document.

SAP Display Cancel Account Maintenance Document interface.

Purpose

With this app you can cancel the account maintenance document. If you clear quantity differences between the goods receipt (GR) and invoice receipt (IR) for a purchase order using account maintenance, the system produces an account maintenance document. The document displays the quantities of the debit or credit of a material in the GR/IR clearing account maintenance.

Key Features

  • Enter the document number or select the document number required.

  • Reverse the document.

    As a result, the original difference on the GR/IR clearing account is restored.

  • Correct the GR/IR clearing account again by means of more goods receipts or by clearing it manually.

Create Purchase Orders for Expenses with Text Items

Watch the simulation Creating Purchase Orders for Expenses with Text Items to learn more about the system-related activities.

Create Supplier Invoices with PO Relation (with Item Block)

Watch the simulation Creating Supplier Invoices with PO Relation (with Item Block) to learn more about the system-related activities.

Create Purchase Orders for Service Items

Watch the simulation Creating Purchase Orders for Service Items to learn more about the system-related activities.

Conclusion

Personal Reflection

Reflect on a time when you had to manage resources or orchestrate a process in your personal or professional life. How did you ensure smooth operations and quality outcomes? Think about how this experience might relate to the different elements of Service and Material Procurement that you've been learning about.

Expert Response

In my previous role as an event coordinator, I was in charge of many elements that had to be carefully managed and organized to ensure the successful execution of different events. It involved coordinating with vendors, negotiating prices, monitoring delivery of services, and ensuring everything met the specified standards.

I see similarities with this experience and implementing Service and Material Procurement. Negotiating prices and managing delivery from vendors does seem like running procurement processes. Communicating with different stakeholders, ensuring delivery on time, and meeting set standards are crucial in both scenarios.

Understanding this connection has shown me how my previous experiences can contribute to my current learning of Service and Material Procurement. It makes me see that some skills I learned in the past are transferable and also enhances the relevance of what I learn now.

Lesson Summary

In this session, we focused on the fundamentals of Service and Material Procurement. Throughout the course, you've explored in-depth content, with informative graphics to help visualize key concepts and processes.

The main focus was on the role of selection and management of service providers and materials, procurement processes, and the importance of timing and quality. We demonstrated the practical application of these concepts through videos showcasing SAP procurement software, providing you with firsthand insights into its features and capabilities.

Additionally, we deepened your understanding of essential points with content-related videos. These resources aim to ensure you not only understand but can also apply the concepts in real-world scenarios.

By linking your experiences, like the procurement of resources or the orchestration of processes, you can relate this with Service and Material Procurement in a much more tangible way. The ability to see the connection between past experiences and current learning aids in retaining the new information further.

Overall, the mix of reading, visuals, and videos is designed to offer a comprehensive and engaging learning experience. The goal is to elevate your understanding of Service and Material Procurement beyond theory and into real-world practicality.