The figure shows the basic set-up of a Retail organization with the headquarters (US Retailer Inc.), and their distribution centers and stores. Additionally, there are the (external) business partners: suppliers for merchandise procurement, and customers (wholesale, re-sellers,..), and consumers on the sales side.
The parties involved in this unit are the store, the distribution center, and the external supplier. The intention is to regularly fill up the stocks in the stores with merchandise ordered from the DC, or from the external supplier. Replenishment planning is used to automatically determine the relevant order quantities for the stores.
The solution processes shown in the figure above, Process Overview: Store Replenishment, represent the overall retail store replenishment process with the intent of regularly filling up the stocks in a store via shipments from the distribution center (DC). The process starts with the Store Connectivity - Outbound (3I2) solution process, which covers the download of e.g. master data and prices to the point-of-sale (POS) system of the store. Using this data, e.g. sales- and financial transactions can be posted at POS, which are then uploaded to the central SAP Retail system. This is described in the Store Connectivity - Inbound (3HV) solution process. With the updated inventory figures in the central system, the store replenishment function is able to calculate the actual demand, which leads to the creation of purchase requisitions. This is covered in the Replenishment Planning for Stores (3I7) solution process. This overall process focuses on the logistics from the DC as the supplying site. Which means, the next processes, which will be added at a later stage, are the Store Ordering from Distribution Center (5FX), and the Outbound Logistics for Distribution Centers (5FV) solution processes. Note: Purchase requisitions with an external source of supply (see dotted line in the figure above), are further processed as described in solution processes Procurement for Retail (5FM), Inbound Logistics for Distribution Centers (5FU), and Invoice Verification for Retail (5FN). These were already covered in a previous unit, Performing Requirements Planning.
Each solution process represents a lesson in this unit, and can be completed individually.
This lesson covers the solution process Store Connectivity - Inbound (3HV).
In the retail industry, specific terms differ from the standard terms used in other lines of business. The following terms are used synonymously in this document:
| Standard Terms in Lines of Business | SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Retail, Fashion, and Vertical Business |
|---|---|
| Material, Product | Article |
| Material group, Product group | Merchandise category |
| Plant, Location | Site |
With POS (Point of Sales/Services) inbound SOAP-based services (Simple Object Access Protocol), you can transfer business transaction data from POS systems to SAP S/4 HANA (SAP Retail) via pre-defined communication scenarios. Afterwards the POS inbound processing can then be monitored using the SAP Application Interface Framework (AIF).
In some cases a Middleware is necessary to connect the POS Server APIs (Application Programming Interface) with the S/4 HANA POS SOAP Services. This middleware maps the message formats and choreographs the SOAP protocols.
Note
Detailed information about the data transfer options in SAP S/4 HANA regarding POS Integration can be found in the online documentation on help.sap.com and in the set-up guide for the solution process Store Connectivity - Inbound (3HV).
This solution process 3HV describes the Store Connectivity Inbound – sometimes mentioned as POS inbound processing – whereby the data are transferred from the POS server to the SAP Cloud System.
The set of specific POS inbound SOAP services enables the transfer of single and aggregated sales data, goods movements and financial data transactions out from the store to the central SAP Retail Could system. The inbound processing of these data updates the stock information and the financial documents.
POS outbound processing is described in solution process Store Connectivity - Outbound (3I2).
Overall, the POS transaction inbound plays a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy and reliability of sales data. It enables retailers to make informed decisions, optimize operations, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Outlook: The POS inbound aggregation process
Collecting all detailed POS transactions creates an enormous amount of documents in the S4/HANA system. Example: 1 million store sales transactions with each 10 line items will create 10 million material documents and 1 million billing documents.
SAP Omnichannel Sales Transfer & Audit (SAP OSTA) solution provides an aggregation process, that ensures that all sales transactions from various POS systems are accurately captured, audited, and aggregated to be downstreamed the S4/HANA system. This approach reduces the amount of created documents in S4/HANA systems in an enormous way.
More details can be found in the SAP documentation for SAP Omnichannel Sales Transfer and Audit.
The POS transaction inbound and aggregation process is a critical component of the Omnichannel Sales Transfer & Audit solution. This process ensures that all sales transactions from various POS systems are accurately captured, audited, and transferred to downstream systems.
For the POS Inbound processing the inbound communication scenario in the SAP Retail system has to be configured; therefore the page Communication Management is offered and used typically by an administrator user with administrator roles.
In the area Users for Inbound Communication, a SAP-technical user has been created and assigned. This user is only authorized to post the incoming POS data.
Summary
The key process flows covered in the tutorials for this process are to:
- Prepare XML messages for inbound communication
- Maintain settings in the communication system
- Explain the mandatory settings on an API platform
