Objective
Before we cover the topic of material classification, let's have a look at a generic approach of master data classification.
The functions of classification are as follows:
To fulfill these objectives, you need to organize your data efficiently.
Let's get an overview on classification functions.
Classification can be used to describe, or group objects, that have some similarities as well as dissimilarities. An object is a classifiable unit, such as material, vendor, or work center.
A characteristic describes the specifications of an object such as length, width, weight, or color. Essentially, the characteristics are user-defined fields that are defined as master data. Each characteristic must have a data type, which can be numeric, characteristic, date or similar.
Companies define the length of the field, a template, and limits or a range of values that can be used. The same characteristics can be used in the classification of different materials.
A class type describes a group of objects that have common or similar specifications. When creating a class, a user must specify a class type. Class types define how the classification is used for various objects.
You can use the following class types in conjunction with the material master:
A class can contain one or more characteristics. Within the class, companies can further restrict the characteristic values. They can then attach a class to the material master to specify the required custom fields.
A characteristic value represents the specification of a particular attribute, for example, 10 cm, DIN 931, cast iron.
To maintain classes, perform the following steps:
You can use characteristic values in the following ways when using classification to determine a material number:
To find objects, such as materials, easily, you can use the classification system.
You need to first set up classification and then use it to find a material number and copy the number to your application.
In some industries, customers request a product with multiple options to meet their specific needs. However, if the number of options is large, companies may have more master data than would be feasible to manage, because no two products are likely to be identical.
A forklift, for example, may have different drive options, forklift capacities, colors, or extras. A forklift, therefore, has a large number of variants. Similarly, your company may be manufacturing or selling several variants of certain products. To reduce your workload and storage costs and to help you maintain all possible end-product variants, you can use the SAP S/4HANA solution for variant configuration.
To build master data for a configurable material, perform the following steps:
(Object dependencies are rules that define which components are compatible with others).
(The components and operations for a material are specified in super bills of material (BOM) and a super task list).
Products with variants often have dependencies between the individual characteristics in which all combinations of characteristics are not allowed.
Configurable product is a term that is used to denote a product that can be manufactured in several variants. It consists of all possible characteristics of the product and is, therefore, not representative of any single product.
If a product has many different variants, the super BOM contains the parts that may be required to manufacture the configurable material. The parts that are actually required can be determined from the object dependencies.
Similarly, the super routing contains all the operations required to manufacture the configurable material. The operations and production tools and resources that are actually needed for manufacturing can be determined from the object dependencies.
A special product structure is dynamically generated for a configurable material during sales order processing.
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