The initial event that triggers the transportation management process is a transportation requirement. Based on the deployment option used for SAP TM, the following are the transportation requirement starting points:
- Logistics Service Providers (LSPs or 3PLs)
- The side-by-side deployment / external TM system integration
- The embedded deployment / internal TM component integration
Logistics Service Providers (LSPs or 3PLs)
Logistics service providers (LSPs or 3PLs) can also receive transportation requirements. For LSPs, the forwarding orders are created in one of two ways–manually, using the SAP TM UI, or through integration with an external system via electronic data interchange (EDI).
In an LSP process, the following documents act as transportation requirements:
- Forwarding orders
- Forwarding quotation
The Side-by-Side Deployment/External TM System Integration
In side-by-side deployment scenarios, SAP TM is installed as a separate system and the original document causing the transportation demand is not present in SAP TM. Therefore, a replication of this information to the SAP TM system must take place. This replication can either create order-based transportation requirements or delivery-based transportation requirements. Order-based transportation requirements may be created from a sales order, a purchase order, a stock transport order (STO), or a scheduling agreement. Delivery-based transportation requirements may be created from an outbound or inbound delivery. Integration between SAP TM and the source system (SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA) is accomplished using XML messages via SAP Process Integration, or a point-to-point communication.
The Embedded Deployment/Internal TM Component
In the embedded deployment scenario, a separate document representing a transportation requirement is not required, since the original object causing the transportation demand is already present in the SAP S/4HANA system itself. This can be order documents like sales orders, purchase orders, stock transport orders, scheduling agreements, or delivery documents like inbound or outbound deliveries. In this deployment scenario, the freight unit is the starting object for SAP TM and the freight unit is created directly from the original object causing the transportation demand. The embedded scenario is the primary focus of this overview training.
