Transportation Management Best Practices 

When SAP Business Networks for Logistics is deployed, it is important to consider the documents that will be sent from SAP Transportation Management to Logistics. Often times, the codes in SAP TM are established and may not be recognized by Logistics. Mapping of SAP TM codes to the standard Logistics codes may be necessary.

If the two systems do not use the same "language", documents will fail when sent between the two systems. We will address some of the most common mappings that should be done.

SAP Business Network for Logistics offers out-of-the-box connectivity with SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) standalone or Transportation Management (TM) embedded in SAP S/4HANA. As a shipper, you can maintain mappings for LBN-defined code lists (such as packaging material type). When a business document is sent from an SAP TM system to SAP Business Network for Logistics, the LBN system converts the code lists to LBN standard and displays the correct value on the UI of the corresponding app.

You have the following possibilities to define your code list mappings:

• Take over standard LBN code lists and their values
• Upload a spreadsheet with your customized code list values
• Add values manually

SAP Business Network for Logistics provides the following standard code lists:

• Packaging material type
  • Used only in B2B communication and not shown on the user interface (UI)
• Document reference type codes
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Reference Documents
  • Used in the Freight Orders for Confirmation app under Reference Documents
  • Used in the Track Freight Movement app under Reference Documents
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Document Types for Business Transaction
• Shipping type
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Shipping Type
  • Used in the Track Freight Movement app under Shipping Type
  • Used in freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Subcontracting Shipping Type

The default shipping type is initially empty. You can edit the code mapping and assign a default shipping type. When a business document without a shipping type reaches SAP Business Network for Logistics, it will then assign the default shipping type. For instance, if the default shipping type is full truck load (FTL), the document's shipping type will be designated FTL.

• Transportation means description code
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Means of Transport
  • Used in the Freight Orders for Confirmation app under Means of Transport
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Means of Transport
• Document reference item type codes
  • Used in API communication to carrier
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Business Transaction Item Type Code

• Contract condition code
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Contract Condition Code
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Movement Type Code
• Unit of measure for length
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Cargo Item Length, Height and Width
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Item Length, Height and Width

• Unit of measure for quantity
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Cargo Item Quantity
  • Used in the Freight Orders for Confirmation app under Cargo Item Quantity
  • Used in the Track Freight Movement App under Cargo Item Quantity
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Item Quantity
• Unit of measure for volume
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Gross Volume
  • Used in the Freight Orders for Confirmation app under Gross Volume
  • Used in the Track Freight Movement app under Cargo Volume
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Gross Volume
• Unit of measure for weight
  • Used in the Confirm Freight Bookings app under Gross Weight
  • Used in the Freight Orders for Confirmation app under Gross Weight
  • Used in the Track Freight Movement app under Cargo Weight
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Gross Weight
• Note type
  • Used in API communication to carrier
  • Used in the freight orders and freight bookings in SAP Transportation Management standalone or Transportation Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA under Text Type
• Carrier LBN ID
• You can assign the system ID of an external system and the internal ID of the carrier from that external system to a carrier LBN ID. To do so, choose Add, enter the system ID and the internal ID in the free text fields, and select a carrier LBN ID from the input help.

You can download a spreadsheet with the standard code lists from SAP Business Network for Logistics. Enter the required code list values to be mapped and then upload your customized spreadsheet to LBN. SAP Business Network for Logistics provides a standard spreadsheet for each code list.

Only spreadsheets with the *.xlsx format are supported.

You use this app to perform the following:

• In a carrier invoicing scenario, you can assign charge types and condition types that you use in your transportation system to a set of predefined charge codes in the freight collaboration option for SAP Business Network for Logistics.
• In a self-billing scenario, you can assign charge types that you use in your transportation system to a set of predefined charge codes in the freight collaboration option.
• Because the charge types in freight orders play an important role in the calculation of transportation charges, it is important that these charge types are easily identifiable. When you use unified charge codes in the freight collaboration option, the carriers can easily interpret the charge types specific to your transportation system in freight orders
• For detailed information on Assign Charge Codes, you may access the information on https://Help.SAP.Com

Carrier companies can be invited to collaborate on the network by one of the shippers that they work with. The following document leads the administrator of a carrier company through the onboarding process so that the administrator and other users of the company can log on and start using the apps.

•Getting Started Guide for Carriers

Shippers can use the out-of-the-box integration scenarios to support B2B collaboration for spot pricing or freight order tendering and subsequent order subcontracting with digital freight forwarders.

• Shippers can use the APIs offered by SAP Logistics Business Network, freight collaboration option to integrate the dock appointment scheduling and gate operations with the following external systems:
  • SAP Transportation Management
  • Transportation Management on SAP S/4HANA
  • SAP Extended Warehouse Management
  • Extended Warehouse Management on SAP S/4HANA
• The following guide provides the detailed information on how to perform this integration:

  Cookbook for Dock Appointment Scheduling Integration with External Systems

• A customer or a carrier, who is not on SAP Logistics Business Network (but your shipper is on the network), may want to pick up a shipment from a shipper’s warehouse. You may also want your carrier to do this on your behalf. To do so, you must maintain the dock appointment details in the SAP Logistics Business Network system. To do so, the shipper can provide a guest user access to you and can enable you to maintain the appointment details in SAP Logistics business network using an API.
• Maintaining Appointments in SAP Logistics Business Network by a Guest User

• This how-to guide provides information on accessing the SAP Logistics Business Network from the external systems:

  How-To Guide: Accessing SAP Logistics Business Network from External Systems

• This guide provides information on creating a user account and creating surveys in Qualtrics system based on the templates provided by SAP Logistics Business Network:

  Customer Delivery Experience Management with Qualtrics

• This guide provides information on how to configure a postman collection to test a tracking service using a public API:

  Configure Postman Collection to Test Tracking Service Using Public API

• This guide provides information on carrier APIs in SAP Logistics Business Network, freight collaboration option:

  Carrier APIs in SAP Logistics Business Network, freight collaboration option