Configuring Optional Data

You can define plant IDs that are specific to product sourcing and which your site uses to identify contract manufacturers. Your site can be configured to display contract manufacturers in the Contract MFR column of BOM and material lists. To show values for contract manufacturers, you must map each product sourcing plant ID (PLANT_ID) to an SAP plant ID (PLANT_SAP_ID). SAP Ariba recommends that you use the same value for both types of plant IDs.

When a material is displayed in the product sourcing user interface, SAP Ariba uses the material's SAP plant ID to find the corresponding product sourcing plant ID and displays the name for the product sourcing plant ID (possibly in the Contract MFR column).

When SAP Ariba sends PIR data to SAP, SAP Ariba uses the product sourcing plant ID to find the corresponding SAP plant ID and sends the SAP plant ID in the data.

You define contract manufacturer IDs (Contract MFR IDs) and map them to SAP plant IDs in a CSV file.

A part type specifies settings that determine the product sourcing requirements and options for materials with that part type. You define settings for part types in a CSV file.

One of the primary uses for part type definitions is to configure product sourcing to send pricing information for PIRs to an external system. To send PIR data to an external system, the material must have a part type assigned and a corresponding part type definition with ALLOW PIR or ALLOW PIR FOR NON AML set to TRUE.

A material inherits all the settings defined for its part type field.

A material loaded from SAP master data is assigned to a part type (material type) using the custom ZZPARTTYPE field in the /ARB/MATERIAL_ONLY_INFO structure on the SAP ERP.

Your site can be configured to include a Part Type field in material master data. You can then configure part type definitions, which define behaviour for materials according to Part Type values.