Configuring Release Procedures in Customizing

You create characteristics in Customizing for Materials Management under the following paths:

• Purchasing → Purchase Requisition → Release Procedure → Procedure with Classification → Edit Characteristics

• Purchasing → Purchase Order → Release Procedure for Purchase Orders → Edit Characteristic

The communication structures CEBAN (for purchase requisitions) and CEKKO (for purchasing documents) contain all the fields that you can define as release characteristics. To display the technical name of the fields, display the tables with transaction SE11.

You can cover additional requirements through the user exit that SAP provides.

For each field that acts as a criterion for your release strategy, you must create a characteristic. You have a free choice how to name the characteristic. You must link the characteristic in the Addnl data (Additional data) tab with the database table CEBAN or CEKKO and the field name from these tables. You can assign the Multiple Values attribute to a characteristic, so that you can enter several different values for the characteristic. For characteristics of the NUM (numerical format) or CURR (currency format) data types, you can allow interval values. For characteristics of the CHAR (character format) data type, you can’t use interval values.

You create classes in Customizing for Materials Management under the following paths:

• Purchasing → Purchase Requisition → Release Procedure → Procedure with Classification → Edit Classes

• Purchasing → Purchase Order → Release Procedure for Purchase Orders → Edit Class

You must collect all the characteristics that you will use in release strategies for purchase requisitions or external purchasing documents together in classes. You must assign the classes to the 032 (release strategies) class type. You can use a maximum of two classes for purchase requisitions, one for overall release and the other for item-wise release. You have a free choice of names for the classes. For purchasing documents, you can only use one class. To differentiate between the different document categories, it is recommended to use the document type as characteristic.

You create release groups in Customizing for Materials Management under the following paths:

• Purchasing → Purchase Requisition → Release Procedure → Procedure with Classification → Set Up Procedure With Classification

• Purchasing → Purchase Order → Release Procedure for Purchase Order → Define Release Procedure for Purchase Orders

With the release group, you link the release class to the release object. For purchase requisitions, you must also specify whether the release group is for overall or item-wise release.

You create all the release codes you need for your release strategies together with a suitable description (for example, name of the person or the release point), and assign these to the desired release group. If a release code should trigger a workflow, set the corresponding indicator.

Release indicators are necessary in release procedures. For purchase requisitions, the following are required:

• A release indicator for the initial status

  As a rule, you must release a purchase requisition before you can create a Request for Quotation (RFQ) or a Purchase Order (PO) referencing the requisition. For this reason, you must assign a release indicator to a requisition to denote initial status and prevent it from being converted to an RFQ or a PO. You may not select the indicators for release for issue of an RFQ or a PO on the detail screen for this indicator.

• A release indicator for the released status

  You must select the indicators for release for issue of an RFQ or a PO on the detail screen for this indicator. You must select at least one of these indicators.

The fixing indicator enables you to protect purchase requisitions that were created in a planning run from changes caused by a new planning run, after the release process has started. You can use a field selection key to prevent certain fields, such as quantity, from being changed later. Otherwise, you can use the Changeability indicator to specify the consequence of changing the document after the start of the release procedure. For value changes, you can define a percentage that will be tolerated.

In contrast to purchase requisitions, for purchase orders, there are no fixing indicators and field selection keys. Blocked purchase orders cannot be output.

You define the following information for every strategy:

• Release codes:

  In the first step toward defining your new release strategy, you specify the release points (release codes) that are to be included in the release process.

• Release prerequisites:

  The release prerequisites determine the order in which the release points (individuals or groups of individuals) involved may effect release through their release codes. For example, the figure shows a release strategy for purchase requisitions with item-wise release. The strategy contains two release codes. For the Z1 release code, no release prerequisite exists. For the Z2 release code, a release with the Z1 release code is a prerequisite. You can see this because the Z1 code is marked as a prerequisite for the Z2 code.

• Release status:

  You specify the status of a document after a release step. You must specify the status the document should have in all situations that might occur during the release process. The conditions must be logical. The first status is usually Blocked. The final status must contain all of the desired follow-on documents.

• Classification:

  You define the attributes of the characteristics, that is, which field values result in the determination of a certain release strategy.

You can define several field values for multi-value fields. In doing so, you cannot use placeholders. In addition, ensure that characteristics without a field value are empty in the document. You can specify intervals only for characteristics with numeric format (for example, an interval from EUR 10,000 to EUR 15,000 for the value of the requisition item), time, or date.

The following are special features of individual attributes that you must address:

• You have to use the internal representation for the item category.

• Cost centers and vendors have ten places in the standard version, and you must create this with leading zeros at the start (for example, vendor 1010 = 0000001010).

If you do not wish to restrict a characteristic, delete it from the release class. You can also create a characteristic with a value of blank and a description (for example, No Entry) and use this in your release strategies. In this case, the characteristic is considered fulfilled when a value stored in the classification is used or when the field is empty.

Observe the following points:

• The release simulation function enables you to check which status a document would acquire with this release strategy after a certain release point releases the document.

  Choose the Release Simulation button and implement the release by double-clicking the release code. The system displays the status that the document would acquire as a result of this release.

• Defining a workflow is optional.

  You can specify the recipient of a workflow if you define a specific release code that is intended for a workflow connection. You define the determination using a combination of the release group, release code, and plant.

  Other settings are also required for the workflow. For example, the workflow must be active and you must assign the individual workflow steps to the object type that is to receive the workflow in the organizational structure of the workflow. You can find the basic settings for the workflows under Tools → ABAP Workbench → Development → SAP Business Workflow.