Note
IMPORTANT: Units 3 and 5 partially use the same master data. In order to make sure that the exercises/solutions show the correct figures, the units must be performed in the right sequence: first unit 3, then unit 5. Otherwise, some of the data mentioned in exercises/solutions are different from the data in the system.
An eCATT creates data for Unit 5, and will be started manually by the instructor in an instructor-led training. In a self-study Learning Hub environment, you have to execute this eCATT yourself exactly on the day when they perform the exercises. Please refer to the system setup guide for instructions how to do this.
Store employees - managers and associates - need to have access to comprehensive, consistent, and real-time information about products and their availability through permanent connectivity to a back-end system. They should also be able to provide services such as ordering a product for a customer. Everyday tasks, such as goods receipt posting, and tasks like posting stock adjustments or inventory counts, have to be executed in a simple way using desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. These devices allow the store associates to be on the sales floor, rather than spending too much time in the back office at a desktop computer.
The SAP Fiori and SAP Mobile Platform technology supports a retailer's store operations. It includes functions and information from different business areas, such as In-Store Merchandising, HR, Finance, Analytics, and so on, with a consistent user experience for the in-store merchandising applications. Furthermore, the technology supports the requirements for retail stores, such as online and offline support, camera scanning, laser scanning, RFID, and device management.
Specific SAP Fiori apps for Retail Store Operations are available to provide the store employees the technology, features, and functions they need for their daily work. The previous figure, Course Overview Retail Store Operations, shows the apps which will be introduced in the first lesson of this unit.
The previous figure, Retail Store Operations Apps, shows some of the SAP Fiori apps that are specifically available for In-Store Merchandise and Inventory Management processes, and which are introduced in this unit. The two apps shown in light grey were already covered at the end of the previous unit, Replenishment Planning for Stores.
SAP Fiori app Receive Products: With this app, you can receive products in stores by displaying and posting incoming handling units. The app allows you to see the content of handling units with the expected and actually received product quantities. You can see hierarchical handling units as well as detailed product information with pictures. This app was already introduced in the previous lesson, Posting Goods Receipt in a Store, in unit Replenishment Planning for Stores.
Besides the Adjust Stock and Count Stock apps shown in the figure, further apps for inventory adjustments are available. The Adjust Mass Stock app allows you to have several products in one document. The Count Products with RFID app supports the stock count and update process with the RFID technology. The topic Inventory Management is covered in the last lesson of this unit, Performing Physical Inventory.
In case a store has more than one storage location, the apps Move Products - Worklist, and Move Products with RFID can be used to adjust stocks among the store's storage locations, for example when refilling shelves from storage stock, or after picking merchandise for online orders / store pickup.
The click-and-collect, or order online, pick up in store process is supported by the apps Process Picking Requests, Hand Over Orders, and - optionally - Maintain Picking Sequence. These will be introduced in the next lesson of this unit, Selling to Customers - Sales Order.
As a prerequisite for using the Store Operations apps, the users have to be assigned as follows:
To the In-Store Merchandise and Inventory Management roles (Store Associate, Store Manager)
- To their store
The store assignment can be done by the user with the SAP Fiori app My Store Assignment, or by the system administrator, using transaction FPB_MAINTAIN_PERS_S, with Personalization Dialog DIA_LO_SRS. There, you also assign a printer to enable printing from the store operation app Print labels, for which a default label type can also be maintained. For the app Transfer Products, you assign the printer to your user directly in the Application Settings of the app. This is particularly useful for store employees who regularly work in different stores (such as stand-by employees). The available printer(s) for the store are defined in transaction SPAD.
Additionally, these apps for the store manager are available: Assign Associates to Stores, and My Store Overview.
In this lesson, we will introduce the following Store Operations apps in detail in the following sequence:
- My Store Assignment
- Look Up Retail Products
- (optional exercise) Print Labels
- (optional exercise) Perform Store Walk-Through
- Order Products
- Transfer Stock
- (optional exercise) Transfer Products
The app Look Up Retail Products displays the most important information for an article, such as article number, GTIN, available quantity, and weight at first sight. To select the article, you can scan it, or search by product number or description.
Additional information is available, such as past/current/future promotions, bonus buys, and documents for planned goods receipts (deliveries or purchase orders). The number of days for the search horizon for the past and future periods are defined in customizing. Nearby stores are displayed with their relevant stock on hand. Transaction WSD_CBP can be used to determine nearby stores, and you can assign the relevant region in the stores’ master data. For generic articles, the Variants view shows the existing variants and their stock. You can, for example, filter the displayed variants by their characteristic values.
To adjust the app according to your business needs, you can use the available extension options via customizing settings and Business Add-In (BAdI) implementations.
SAP Fiori app Print Labels: With this app, you can print different label types for individual products, or for a list of products, and product variants. In the app, you can add these products manually, or use barcode scanning. The app is integrated into other store operations apps, for example Transfer Products. It supports out-of-the-box usage of printers connected to the back-end, and requires the Adobe Document Server if you want to use the default implementation in contrast to an own printing solution. Sample label forms and types are available. Printers are assigned to the store using transaction SPAD.
SAP Fiori app Perform Store Walk-Through: With this app, you can define product-related, daily tasks for store associates to resolve quality-related issues with products and prevent lost sales. The tasks can derive from issues that might be detected during a physical walk through the store and can be resolved through activities, such as adjusting stock inventory levels, reviewing and modifying product order proposals, restocking store shelves, or other custom tasks. This means there are system-generated tasks, for example to correct stock and to review order proposals, as well as manually created tasks, for example to refill shelves, or to check best before dates. This app does not create a standard document or document flow, but — for analysis purposes — the tasks are stored in app-specific tables.
