A buyoff is an electronic way to approve the completion of a manufacturing activity performed on a shop floor. This is an electronic substitute for the physical stamps applied to paper travelers by various people in manufacturing to record (or warrant) that they performed, checked or acknowledged the completion of a manufacturing activity.
The objective of the buyoff is to facilitate the elimination of paper documents in manufacturing while at the same time providing at least the same level of recording or warranting of the manufacturing activities performed. A buyoff template contains a list of buyoffs and the sequence in which these buyoffs shall be performed. Creating templates means that the buyoff information does not have to be created from scratch in every shop floor routing in which buyoffs are required. You can copy the buyoff cycle templates and adjust them as necessary. You can also add additional buyoffs.
If you assemble a product that must fulfill certain security or quality requirements, you can introduce the buyoff cycles to ensure that the desired quality is reached. The buyoff cycle is an electronic method to approve the completion of an operation activity. Any subsequent operation activities cannot be started until the buyoff cycle of a previous operation activity has been approved.
Benefits of Using Buyoffs
You can benefit from using buyoffs in SAP S/4HANA PEO in the following ways:
- Reduce rework time through real-time task validation.
- Reduce manufacturing cost through real-time task validation rather than validation later in the process, which in turn brings down the overall cost.
- Conform to federal guidelines mandated by regulatory agencies.
Prerequisites
To work with buyoffs, the following prerequisites are necessary:
- Activate the function module in Customizing (SPRO) for production engineering and operations.
- Create the team and function details.
Buyoffs are maintained in Manage Buyoff Cycle Templates app under the Production Engineering group on the SAP Fiori launchpad. There, you can create a buyoff template and assign one or several buyoff items to it.
Buyoff Item corresponds to an individual signature required to continue or compete a buyoff cycle. The buyoff item is assigned a sequence, a team, and a set of required functions. Only users that belong to the assigned team and have all the required functions can perform a buyoff.
For a buyoff item, you can specify whether the qualification check has to be performed and whether the buyoff item can be skipped without being approved/rejected.
Summary
- Qualifications define expertise levels needed for tasks and employees on the shop floor, organized in a qualifications catalog.
- Use Manage Object Qualification Assignments app to assign qualifications to work centers, materials, and operation activities.
- Assign qualifications to individual users via PPPM transaction; proficiency levels must match object requirements for operation activity.