Creating Deliveries
Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
- Create deliveries and integrate them into the transportation process
- Explain the options for delivery integration
Overview of Monitoring Transportation Execution
Delivery Creation
The delivery document controls, supports, and monitors numerous sub-processes for shipment processing, such as picking, packing, loading, and posting the goods issue. In addition, the delivery document can be used as a reference document for creating other shipment documents, such as a bill of lading.
Outbound and inbound deliveries are created in SAP S/4HANA or SAP ERP. In a side-by-side scenario, they are integrated into TM and stored as delivery-based transportation requirements. They can act as a starting point for TM processes or be created during transportation. A delivery document can be created in SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA or TM.
Triggered in SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA
When the delivery is created and considered relevant for transportation management, it triggers the creation of a freight unit. In a side-by-side scenario, the delivery is sent to TM as a Delivery-Based Transportation Requirement (DTR).
Triggered in TM
The second scenario is one in which the creation of deliveries is triggered from TM, for example, based on transportation planning performed in TM. This solution offers the possibility of combining and planning multiple orders in TM and creating a single delivery and transport.
Delivery Creation Triggered in TM
TM can generate proposals for delivery creation in SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA based on dates and quantities according to transportation planning results and considering transportation constraints such as resource availability and transportation durations. TM can also trigger the creation of deliveries before transportation planning. TM can send these proposals to SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA to trigger the creation of deliveries.
After the delivery proposals have been created and sent to SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA, the system creates an entry in the application log. The application log entry includes the delivery proposals sent to SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA (in side-by-side scenarios). Furthermore, the freight units for which a delivery proposal is sent to SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA are marked with a send timestamp.
SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA creates the deliveries when it receives the request to do so. SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA may split the proposed deliveries further, for example, based on additional split criteria. However, SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA will not change TM's proposed dates nor consolidate proposed deliveries. Once the deliveries have been created, SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA sends a confirmation to TM and a request to create a delivery-based transportation requirement in TM.
TM creates an entry in the application log. The application log entry includes the system messages created in SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA during delivery creation and the numbers and document IDs of deliveries created in SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA. TM generates an alert if an error occurs during SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA delivery creation. When a confirmation is received, TM sets a confirmation timestamp in the relevant freight units. The timestamp monitors whether SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA has responded.
Note
For error-handling purposes, the following two additional worklists are available (in side-by-side scenarios):One for all OTRs for which delivery creation has been triggered but no response has arrived from SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA
One for all OTRs for which delivery creation has been triggered and the confirmation has arrived from SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA, but for which an error occurred during delivery creation (and for which the delivery creation must be triggered again)
Methods for Delivery Creation
Background Report
Interactive Delivery Creation
Background Report
Delivery proposals can be created using a background report (report /SCMTMS/DLV_BATCH). The user can enter selection criteria or use a selection profile. In both cases, the user can also enter a delivery profile. Delivery profiles include settings for delivery creation. The system selects the documents, creates the delivery proposals, and sends them to SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA (in a side-by-side scenario).
Interactive Delivery Creation
Input Selection with Profiles Using the Delivery Builder App:
The user specifies one or more profiles according to which the system selects and displays a list of documents. The user can then select the relevant documents in the list and trigger the creation of a delivery proposal. The user can review the delivery proposals before processing them.
For Specific Documents:
The user can trigger delivery creation for specific business documents from worklists. The system automatically processes the proposals to create deliveries. It also displays the proposals before sending them. The following are worklists from which delivery creation can be triggered:
- OTR Worklist
- Freight Unit Worklist
- Freight Order Worklist
- Ocean/Air Freight Booking Worklist
The user can also trigger the creation and sending of delivery proposals for a specific freight order in the freight order UI.
After Planning:
The user can trigger delivery creation for specific documents after planning in the transportation cockpit. The system displays the delivery proposals, which users can review before processing.
Data Sources
TM considers data for delivery creation from the order / order-based transportation requirements and the assigned freight units, freight orders, and freight bookings. Based on the chosen input, TM creates delivery proposals. A proposal consists of groups of freight units that can be delivered together.
Data Collected by TM
Dates:
TM uses dates from the freight order or freight booking. If the freight unit is not planned, no freight order or freight booking exists, and then TM uses dates from the freight units.
Quantities:
TM uses quantities from the freight units.
SAP ERP Document References:
TM retrieves document references (such as order document number) from the order / order-based transportation requirement.
Consolidation
If order-based freight units have been planned, and freight orders or freight bookings exist for the transportation demands, TM uses only one freight order or one freight booking for each delivery proposal. Only freight units from the same freight order or freight booking can be consolidated into a single delivery proposal. This way, freight units from various order-based transportation demands can be consolidated into a single delivery proposal if they belong to the same freight order or freight booking. Suppose freight units from a single order-based transportation demand are distributed across multiple freight orders or freight bookings. In that case, multiple deliveries are proposed for the freight units of this one order-based transportation demand.
If order combination is not allowed for an order-based transportation demand, TM does not group freight units from this transportation demand together with freight units from other order-based transportation demands. Suppose freight units for such order-based transportation demands have been consolidated into the same freight order or freight booking during planning. In that case, TM does not include them in the same delivery proposal but creates multiple delivery proposals instead.
In addition, freight units can only be consolidated into the same delivery proposal if the following data is the same:
SAP ERP system from which the order was received (only in side-by-side scenarios)
Source location
Destination location
Incoterms
Shipping conditions
SAP ERP document type, such as purchase order or sales order
Start stop (if planning has already been done)
Destination stop (if planning has already been done)
Order- or Delivery-Based Transportation Process
The decision about whether to start the transportation process with either the ERP order or the ERP delivery depends on the customer requirements and guidelines concerning transportation planning and execution. If shipping activities other than transportation planning are involved before the transportation process, the process based on the ERP delivery is more likely to be used. The ERP order is the basis for transportation planning if goods are sold with all shipping activities considered.
There is no significant difference to subsequent process steps on whether an OTR or DTR (in side-by-side scenarios) or order- or delivery-based freight units (in an embedded scenario) are used as a starting point. There is no difference in the continuation of the process between transportation requirements based on an ERP order and those based on ERP deliveries.
Watch the simulation Create Deliveries to learn how to create delivery proposals and trigger delivery creation from TM.
Delivery Change and Split
Delivery updates can be triggered from SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA and TM. Updates from TM are based on planning changes.
If a delivery is changed or deleted, this information is sent to TM. The freight units are adjusted according to the changes. If the delivery quantity has changed, the freight units are adjusted.
You can also update the goods issue date, loading date, transportation start date, and delivery date in the outbound delivery based on changed planning dates in TM. You perform planning or change the existing freight unit planning based on an outbound delivery. Alternatively, you can change the dates of the relevant freight order. When you save the planning results or the changed freight order, TM determines that the dates in the freight order no longer match the dates in the original delivery.
TM determines whether the delivery can still be changed by checking the delivery status. If the delivery can be changed, TM sends the changed dates and request an update on the outbound delivery. Note that TM can trigger the update of outbound deliveries only. It cannot trigger the update of inbound deliveries.
Delivery splits can be triggered from SAP ERP / SAP S/4HANA and TM. Splits triggered from TM are based on planning changes.
A delivery that has already been sent to TM and created freight units can be split next. Afterward, there are two deliveries: the changed original one and the new one. The changed original delivery updates its freight units. A new delivery has been created for the items split from the original delivery. New freight unit(s) will be created for this new delivery.
Technically, TM first creates the new freight unit(s) by reassigning the freight units from the original delivery to the new delivery. It then updates the freight units from the original delivery. The system determines the required changes to freight unit planning for the freight units assigned to both deliveries. After reassigning the freight units, the system must determine whether the planning of the freight units in the new or the original delivery is to be discarded or kept.
You can split an outbound delivery based on planning changes in TM. You perform planning or change the existing freight unit planning based on an outbound delivery. When you save the planning results, the system determines that a delivery split is required. For example, freight units that belong to the same delivery have been assigned to different freight orders, or only some of the freight units that belong to a delivery have been assigned to freight orders. The other freight units have not been assigned. Note that the split is required only if the transportation chain's first or last stage is affected.
TM determines whether the delivery can still be changed by checking the delivery status. If the delivery can be changed, a new outbound delivery is created, and the original outbound delivery is adapted (that is, it removes the relevant items from the original delivery and creates a new delivery for these items).
Watch the simulation Trigger a Planning-related Delivery Split to learn how delivery splits are automatically triggered from TM based on planning changes.
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