Controlling Source Determination with Source Lists

Source determination takes place when creating a purchase requisition either during the MRP run or manually. Later in the course, we will learn that the logic for source determination differs depending on whether we are talking about the MRP run or the manual creation and processing of purchase requisitions.

The following table lists some transactions (back-end system) or apps (SAP Fiori launchpad) where source determination can be performed:

Each source list record consists of the following data:

• Validity period:

  This is the period in which the settings made in the source list are valid. The reference date checked against these periods varies:

  • In manual source determination, the period always refers to the delivery date of a purchase requisition.
  • In source determination via material requirements planning (MRP), the period always refers to the requirements date.
    Note

    For materials that are planned according to the reorder point procedure, the requirement date is the current date.

• Key source data:

  This includes the supplier number and the responsible purchasing organization number. It can also be the item of an outline agreement, such as a scheduling agreement or a contract, representing the source of supply for the material.

• Procurement plant:

  If the material is to be procured from another plant, enter the plant number in the PPl (Procurement Plnt) field, and do not enter any supplier number or outline agreement item number. The plant is only determined as source of supply for a purchase requisition item with the U (Stock transfer) item type. For purchase requisitions that are created in the planning run, the materials require a corresponding special procurement type in the MRP data of the material master record.

• Fixed source:

  The Fix checkbox enables you to define a source as a fixed source of supply for source determination. This fixed source is then used in all cases except the planning run. You can mark only one source of the same type, such as info record or outline agreement item, as fixed at one time. If you mark both an info record and an outline agreement item as fixed, the outline agreement item has priority.

• Blocked source:

  The Blk (Blocked Source of Supply) checkbox enables you to block a source of supply. If you block a source of supply, you cannot use the info record or outline agreement item during the source determination process, and you cannot create a purchase order or requisition with this source.

  Hint

  If you select the Blk checkbox and do not enter a supplier but only a validity period, the material is excluded from external procurement. This means that you cannot order or request that material in the concerned plant during the specified validity period.

• MRP indicator:

  The MRP (Use in Materials Planning) field enables you to control whether a source is considered during the planning run. You do this by setting the indicator to 1. If this source is a scheduling agreement item, by setting the indicator as 2, you can also directly generate scheduling agreement schedule lines. You can mark multiple source list entries as MRP-relevant if you want to use them in a quota arrangement.

  Note

  When working without a source list and having multiple sources for a material, MRP is able to determine a suitable source of supply according to a certain logic that we will learn in the lesson "Identifying Additional Aspects of Source Determination". You can use the source list and the MRP indicator to override this logic.

  Caution

  The source list does not check whether an outline agreement is already completely exhausted. To enable this check, you can create, together with the source list, a quota arrangement in which you define the outline agreement target quantity as the maximum quantity.

If you want to maintain the source list in the SAP Fiori launchpad, use the Manage Source Lists app, which is located in the Source of Supply Management tile group. The functions are almost identical to the GUI transaction ME01. Only the validity periods are not defaulted automatically.

You can also specify in Customizing that all materials for a certain plant are to be subject to a source list requirement. If a source list requirement exists for a plant, you have to enter valid source list entries for every material in that plant before it can be ordered. Source list analysis enables you to find out whether source list records exist for materials of a plant within a certain period. For plants with a source list requirement, you can find out the materials for which source list records are missing and call them immediately for maintenance.

You can define a source list requirement at plant level in Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Source List → Define Source List Requirement at Plant Level.

To analyze the source list, on the SAP Fiori Launchpad start the Analyze Source List app. Or in the SAP GUI on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics → Materials Management → Purchasing → Master Data → Source List → Follow-On Functions → Analyze (ME06).