Introducing the Basic Functions of Processing Dangerous Goods Classification

Get to know the business context, functional and integration overview for processing dangerous goods.

Dangerous goods regulations are all about identification of such products or devices and the appropriate means to enclose the existing hazards to safeguard transport. Along with these more technical tasks, there are requirements for documentation, as well as for the marking and labeling of dangerous goods.

There are 3 major steps related to Product Compliance to take, but collaboration within the supply chain is essential:

Step 1 - Dangerous Goods Classification of an Unpackaged Product

Selecting the appropriate line in the dangerous goods regulations list is the initial step and provides all information for any subsequent dangerous goods processing, such as fundamental transport permissibility along with requirements regarding, for example, packaging, documentation, and selection of available modes of transport.

Step 2 - Dangerous Goods Classification of a Packaged Product

A correctly packed ("enclosed") dangerous good is the first result of dangerous goods processing. Compliance at this stage is a prerequisite for further processing in the supply chain. Based on a compliant package or enclosure, specific transport permissions regarding mode of transports and dangerous goods regulations can be derived, along with obligations for marking, labeling and documentation.

Step 3 - Documentation Required for Shipping of Dangerous Goods

Provision of information regarding transported dangerous goods is key for any transport-related activity and for transport safety. Some regulations just define the content of dangerous goods data to be disclosed, while other regulations also define the form and outline for necessary documentation.

The current version of the product compliance solution for dangerous goods supports:

• Managing of "dangerous goods ready packed" dangerous goods. This means the dangerous goods package is a packaged product according to the applicable dangerous goods packing instruction.
• Processing of a dangerous goods classification is a 2-step approach:
  • Step 1: Basic classification of the unpackaged product.
  • Step 2: Enclosure-specific dangerous goods classification of the packaged product including an automated creation of the required descriptions for documents.
• Dangerous goods regulations are available based on two kinds of compliance requirement patterns:
  • Content-based compliance pattern - major dangerous goods data like the dangerous goods lists, marine pollutant lists, segregation groups, and so on are provided with the compliance requirement.
  • Text-based compliance pattern - the dangerous goods information must be maintained manually.
• Integration of dangerous goods check in sales documents and outbound deliveries.
• Printout and electronic sending of dangerous goods data included in sales and outbound delivery documents / EDIs.

Name the target users and business roles for dangerous goods management and processing.

• Determines and maintains the dangerous goods classifications for products in the system.
• Monitors dangerous goods regulation changes and updates the products to stay compliant.
• Coordinates dangerous goods regulation changes with operations.
• Takes care to safeguard compliance regarding packaging and completeness of dangerous goods-relevant master data.
• Participates in new product reviews.
• Answers inquiries from sales or customers.
• Provides dangerous goods data for safety data sheets.

Ensure that dangerous goods classification data is available and up-to-date for all products.

• Impact analysis of product changes, regarding, for example, packaging, target markets, and any change in dangerous goods regulations.
• An overview of shipping and distribution options.
• Staying up-to-date on dangerous goods regulations.
• Easy and efficient data entry.

• Ensures compliance of products in day-to-day operations.
• Reviews compliance data of products and performs checks to ensure its correctness and completeness.
• Creates the necessary compliance documents and keeps them up-to-date.
• Participates in product reviews.
• Answers inquiries from sales or customers.

Ensures products are compliant so that they can be sold or transported.

• Impact analysis of product changes, as well as changes in raw materials, changes in regulations, new sales areas and new applications of products.
• An overview of compliance statuses of products.
• Staying up-to-date on chemical regulations.

• Creates sales orders and provides information on processing status.
• Completes sales orders with necessary data – for example, regarding dangerous goods applicable quantities or calculation of packages / pallets / container / weight.
• Monitors, troubleshoots, manages and collaborates on critical open issues from the sales order fulfillment.
• Manages back orders and is a general sales support for the outside sales force.

• Work effectively and efficiently.
• Up-to-date overview of the process status and degree of fulfillment to easily identify where a need for action exists.

• Quick and easy access to relevant information regarding, for example, the dangerous goods status for products.
• Easy-to-consume, clear representation of the context, relationships, issues, and process steps in order to take the proper measures.

• Plans delivery batch creation.
• Groups orders for shipment to destinations and carriers as required, taking dangerous goods into account regarding mixed loading restrictions and transport permissibility.
• Answers inquiries from sales or customers and edits deliveries in case of missing data.
• Coordinates dangerous goods regulation changes with dangerous goods expert.

• Ensure that customers receive their deliveries in time.
• Optimize delivery efficiency.
• Be compliant and stay compliant regarding dangerous goods legal requirements.

• Analyze sales orders regarding shipping schedules and dangerous goods restrictions.
• View delivery-relevant master data, including dangerous goods information regarding marking, labeling, and dangerous goods for documentation.

Outline the specific aspects for dangerous goods in the data model.

• Indicates the compliance view of a material without packaging.
• Compliance views of the category unpackaged product are typically assigned to products of the type "Semi-Finished Good".
• Dangerous goods classification of the unpackaged product means the assignment of exactly one line in the dangerous goods list of the regulation.
• These products are NOT designated to be sold or transported, since dangerous goods require a compliant enclosure or packaging.

• Indicates the compliance view of a material in a specific package size and packaging.
• Compliance views of the category packaged product are typically assigned to products of the type "Finished Good". We call it "dangerous goods (DG) ready-packed" products.
• The dangerous goods classification of a packaged product represents the specific compliance view of a product:
  • Regarding the selected enclosure variant and the applied packaging or enclosure with defined quantities.
  • Considering product-specific aspects of the packaged product (sales product).
• For these reasons, the dangerous goods classification of a packaged product can deviate from the classification of an unpackaged product.

Relationship between Unpackaged Product and Packaged Products:

• Compliance views of the category packaged product, are linked with a compliance view of the category unpackaged product (many-to-one relationship).
• Compliance information for dangerous goods originates from the dangerous goods classification of the unpackaged product but can only be completed on the level of a packaged (enclosed) product.

The purpose describes, which obligation a user wants to fulfill, such as category (workers safety, emission, product safety), country, industry, functional area (safety data sheets, dangerous goods, registration, product compliance, industrial use, consumer use). Example: "Hazard Communication Germany for Industrial Use".

The regulation defines, which attributes of a chemical are relevant and how they can be determined. A regulation can be the law, directive, industry standard, corporate standard, best practice.

Example: "CLP" defines how to classify, label and package substances and mixtures, including industrial and consumer use.

The compliance requirement covers all (technical and data) elements to fulfill the obligations of a regulation considering a specific purpose.

Example: "Transport of Dangerous Goods According to ADR"

The business context for Compliance Requirements is established via the "Purpose"

The world is grouped into regions.

A product does not always need to be classified worldwide by all dangerous goods regulations, but only for the countries/regions where the product is expected to be transported.

This is why companies group the world into regions they do business in.

These groups can be different for each company.

SAP provides compliance requirements for dangerous goods as the regulatory foundation, but the definition of compliance purposes is in the responsibility of the enterprise.

Dangerous goods compliance requirements' content facilitates the following:

• Classification of dangerous goods by proving dangerous goods lists.
• Processing dangerous goods in the supply chain, for example, by generating dangerous goods documentation.

Although there is a kind of common outline for dangerous goods documentation, it is inevitable to conform to applicable details, defined by the individual dangerous goods regulation, such as the following:

• Shipping dangerous goods packed in limited quantities.
• Disclosing product-specific data like technical names, and flash point.
• Information regarding packaging and quantities.

To accomplish specific documentation needs, dangerous goods compliance requirements provide description templates, comprising various placeholders.

• The placeholders represent the data to be output, along with specific formatting. Placeholders can be arranged to have the data in the correct sequence, along with applicable punctuation marks.
• The description templates consist of following sections:
  • Dangerous goods description
  • Packaging and quantity information
  • Hazard notes or additional information

Learn how to manage and activate Compliance Requirements, Compliance Purposes for dangerous goods.

Content-Based Compliance Patterns:

• Are delivered with the solution including version support (like ADR 2019).
• Include major dangerous goods content like the dangerous goods lists, marine pollutant lists, reportable quantity list, segregation groups, …
• Support a very efficient classification process.
• No option for the customer to add additional regulations. Please request those from SAP.

Content-based compliance patterns incorporate description templates to format the output of dangerous goods information according to regulations’ requirements. Along with the templates, there are determination rules for automated assignment of the applicable template to the packaged product.

Before a compliance requirement can be assigned to a compliance purpose and can be used in the classification processes, it needs to be activated.

In this example, you can see that all regulations that are valid for Europe (ADR, RID, AND) are assigned to this compliance purpose, plus the international regulations (IMDG-Code, IATA-DGR, UNRTDG).

Understand how to apply dangerous goods compliance requirements for countries/regions.

• This app can be prefilled based on the definition of compliance requirements for dangerous goods regulations.
• If, for a country/region, no dangerous goods regulation exists, the presetting is that the transport is forbidden for all modes of transport.
• Within this app, each company can adjust the usage of the dangerous goods regulations to countries for which no regulations (compliance requirements) exist.
• Setting the dangerous goods check rule to "Regulation Dependent" allows you to apply an existing dangerous goods regulation(compliance requirement) to a country/region.
• Beside setting the dangerous goods check rule, it is also possible to define the languages for generation of dangerous goods documents / printout of dangerous goods data (only existing translations of the applied compliance requirement are available; it is not possible to add translations).
• Be aware: The standard behavior in the supply chain integration is that if no dangerous goods regulation exists for domestic transport in a country/region, transportation of dangerous goods is forbidden.
• Because of this, the consequences of applying regulations to other countries can be significant.

Regulation Dependent: The check occurs based on the defined dangerous goods regulation.

Transport Allowed: The transport is always allowed because no dangerous goods regulation exists.

Transport Forbidden: The dangerous goods regulation situation is either unknown or undefined (Default).

Your company needs to transport dangerous goods to Saudi Arabia, but no domestic dangerous goods regulations exist. So, the domestic modes of transport are to be defined as "Always Allowed" in order not to cause a block in the supply chain.

Now you can transport dangerous goods to Saudi Arabia, the international regulations are checked, but for road and rail the transport within Saudi Arabia is set to "Always Allowed".

For ADR, we have the requirement that the dangerous goods descriptions on the transport documents must be printed in one of the 3 official languages (English, German, French) and for Spain, in addition in Spanish.

Qualifying words as prefix or suffix and segregation groups: If an unpackaged product is classified as a dangerous good, in some cases those values must be added to the selected line out of the dangerous goods list.

Dangerous Goods List: If a product is a dangerous good, one line out of this dangerous goods list must be assigned for classification of the unpackaged product.

Dangerous Goods List:

Here you can see the columns of the dangerous goods list for IMDG as an example of what is delivered with the solution.

Dangerous Goods List: Further fields of the dangerous goods list for IMDG.

Marine Pollutant List:

If a marine pollutant is contained in the analytical composition of a product that is a dangerous good, marine pollutants are relevant for classification and documentation.

This list links the listed substances that are also delivered with the solution.

Description templates including intelligent placeholders are provided for all enclosure variants applicable to a regulation.

Via predefined selection rules, the description templates are automatically assigned when the packaged product is classified.

You find the selection rules below the description templates.

The selection rules for automatic assignment of the applicable description template when the product is classified relate to several parameters:

• Enclosure variants
• Mode of transports – some regulations affect multiple modes of transport
• Special provisions / exemptions
• Classes / divisions
• (Identification) Numbers

Learn about the description template concept for output of dangerous goods data on documents.

Placeholders and their assignment to description template segments are delivered in compliance requirement versions, according to legal obligations for output of dangerous goods data.

You can adapt the sample configuration for documents with integrated output of dangerous goods descriptions according to your business needs.

You find the description template segments in the "Output Details" tab of the dangerous goods compliance requirement.

The "Selection Rules for Description Templates" section is located below the description templates.

Describe the Compliance View with relation to unpackaged and packaged products.

Setting the identifier "Compliance Relevant" to "YES" in the product master triggers creation of a "request from logistics", visible in the "Process Requests from Logistics" app. The following activities are initiated:

• Creates a "Compliance View" - which may already exist based on information received, for example, from the R&D department.
• Assigns the products to the newly created compliance view.
• Assigns applicable purposes according to the logistics roles and desired markets adhering to the product.
• Initiates compliance assessments.

Since each product being sold obviously must be transported, "Transport" purposes are assigned simultaneously.

Executes dangerous goods assessment, resulting in the dangerous goods classification.

Product is identified as "compliance relevant" by the master data specialist - product data by setting the "Compliance-Relevant Indicator = Yes" in the product master.

Saving the "Compliance-Relevant Indicator = Yes" triggers the creation of a "request from logistics" for the product - this is similar for unpackaged and for packaged products.

The request shows up in the "Process Requests from Logistics" app with the origin "Material Master".

The product stewardship specialist - product compliance opens the request and:

• Manually assigns countries and compliance purposes (also "transport purposes") to be assessed.
• With "Ready for Assessment", the request is forwarded to the "Manage Basic Compliance Data" app for the compliance requirements to be verified / processed.

If the compliance relevance is set to "Yes", the system creates a request from logistics for the product stewardship specialist, so that the product stewardship specialist is aware that this product needs attention.

In this app, the product stewardship specialist can see all requests from logistics. Those can be requests from the product master (material master), but also from other documents like sales orders and delivery notes.

Here, no compliance view is assigned to this new packaged product. The product stewardship specialist selects "Create Packaged Product" and then assigns the already available compliance view of the unpackaged product.

If this would be a request for an unpackaged product, product stewardship specialist selects either "Create Unpackaged Product" if no compliance view exists or "Assign Unpackaged Product", if the view is available.

If this new packaged product needs to be transported into another country/region, the product stewardship specialist could add another transport purpose and then continues with "Ready for Assessment".

The product stewardship specialist can either continue with "Assess Now" if no marketability assessments immediately need to be done.

If continuing with "Save", the product stewardship specialist can add market assessments at a later point in time.

The Manage Basic Compliance Data app is the "center" to maintain the compliance view, allocating the following:

• Unpackaged and related packaged products
• Logistics roles
• Application, markets (countries/regions), and purposes

These objects are subjects of the product compliance assessment.

Triggered by the assignment of transport purposes, the dangerous goods classification is the kind of "assessment" to be conducted by the dangerous goods classification specialist.