Releasing Purchase Requisitions

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to release blocked purchase requisitions

Introduction

In SAP S/4HANA, you can set up approval procedures for purchase requisitions and for external purchasing documents, such as purchase orders, contracts, scheduling agreements, and requests for quotations.

If a purchase requisition or an external purchasing document fulfills certain conditions (for example, a requisition item is assigned to a cost center), the document has to be approved (by the cost center manager, for example) before further processing can take place. An electronic release procedure can reflect the approval process. This release procedure automatically blocks the relevant documents for further processing. You cannot convert blocked requisition items into follow-on documents. Blocked purchase orders cannot be output/transmitted.

Release Procedure for Purchase Requisitions

You need to differentiate between the following types of release:

  • Item-wise release

  • Overall release

Overall and Item-Wise Release of Purchase Requisitions

Comparison of document types in purchase requisitions: Type A allows item-specific release, Type B requires overall release, impacting order generation and RFQ process efficiency.

With an item-wise release, every item is checked if it is relevant for release. The check is made as you enter the data. With the overall release, all items must fulfill these criteria. Therefore, you must choose the criteria for the overall release carefully. The check is made when you save or check the purchase requisition.

All people involved in the release procedure indicate their approval in a release transaction, using their release code. You can cancel an already effected release with the same code, in which case, the system reinstates the original release status. However, this option exists only as long as a requisition or requisition item has not been converted into a follow-on document.

Connecting to SAP Business Workflow for a Release Code

If you have created a connection to SAP Business Workflow for a release code, the following takes place:

  1. The employee responsible for the approval gets a work item in the Inbox.

  2. From here, the approver can directly call the purchase requisition or purchase requisition item that requires approval.

  3. On approval (released or rejected), the information is sent to the employee who created the requisition by means of the workflow.

Hint

You can also integrate workflows in a mail system or use SAP Fiori apps.

Flexible Workflows are covered in a separate lesson.

The document type and the release group in the classification determine whether an item-wise release or an overall release of a requisition is applied.

Release Procedures for Purchase Requisitions

For purchase requisitions, the following release procedures are available:

  • Without classification:

    With this procedure, you can release purchase requisitions only at item level. Only the account assignment category, material group, plant, and value characteristics are available as release criteria, which are also known as release characteristics.

  • With classification:

    This procedure enables you to release requisitions item-wise or overall. In principle, you can use every field of the purchase requisition as a criterion for the release.

The two procedures are mutually exclusive – that is, you must decide on one of the two alternatives. In SAP standard delivery, no procedure with classification is initially available. As soon as you create a procedure with classification, the procedure without classification is deactivated automatically.

Note

If you want to use the procedure without classification, see the documentation for the relevant IMG activity for the points you need to observe when doing this.

Release Options for Blocked Purchase Requisitions

To release purchase requisitions individually, on the SAP Fiori Launchpad start the Release Purchase Requisition app. In the SAP GUI on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics → Materials Management → Purchasing → Purchase Requisition → Release → Individual Release (ME54N).

To release purchase requisitions collectively, on the SAP Fiori Launchpad start the Release Purchase Requisitions app. In the SAP GUI on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics → Materials Management → Purchasing → Purchase Requisition → Release → Collective Release (ME55).

Key Terms for Release Procedures

The following are the key terms with regard to release procedures:

Release group:

You can compile several release strategies in a release group. The 01 release group is intended for purchase requisitions with item-wise release, and the 02 release group is intended for purchasing purchase requisitions with overall release. The release group and the document type determine if a purchase requisition is subject to item-wise release or overall release.

Release strategy:

The release strategy contains the criteria that have caused an item or the document to be blocked. The criteria that cause the block are not shown. They are stored in Customizing for the release strategy.

Release indicator:

The release indicator is a key denoting the current release status of the item or document. At the start of the release procedure, the status is usually Blocked.

Release code:

The release code is a two-character ID that allows an individual or group of individuals to release a blocked document or reverse an already effected release. Authorizations control release code usage.

Release Purchase Requisition

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