Creating a Purchase Order for Consumable Material

In this unit, you will learn how to perform a procurement process for a consumable material, consisting of a purchase order, goods receipt, and invoice.

The following video describes the process, focusing on the first step, a purchase order for a consumable material, and introduces the account assignment category.

When you buy a material, you procure it either for stock or for direct consumption. When procuring for direct consumption, you must specify the consumption purpose in the purchase order by manually entering account assignment data, such as the account assignment object.

At goods receipt and/or invoice receipt, the consumption account specified in the purchase order is debited with the procurement value. In addition, the data for the account assignment object is updated.

The goods receipt does not affect the total value and usually does not affect the total quantity of the stock.

To be able to enter account assignment data in a purchase order item, you must first specify an account assignment category in the item. The account assignment category determines which account assignment object can be entered.

To procure material for a project and a cost center, Paula must use the account assignment categories P for the account assignment object project and K for the account assignment object cost center.

Here are some examples of account assignment categories defined in the SAP S/4HANA system:

• K for cost center

• P for project

• C for sales order

• F for production order

• A for asset

In the following demo, you will learn how to order a material with a material master record for a project using the Manage Purchase Orders app. 

DemoWatch Demo

When a material is procured directly for consumption, a material master record is not mandatory. This means that a material number can be entered in a purchase order item with an account assignment category, but is not required.

When procuring a consumable material without a material master record, you must manually enter a short description, a material group, and a purchase order unit in a purchase order item, since this data cannot be taken from a master record. This is different from a material with a master record. 

Paula has been asked to purchase oil pumps and LED desk lamps. She has already created the purchase order for the oil pumps. However, the message for this purchase order has not yet been sent. Since the supplier for the lamps is the same as the supplier for the oil pumps, Paula wants to add another purchase order item to her existing purchase order. She already knows that there is no material master record for the lamps. 

In the following demo, you will see how to add another item to an existing purchase order using the Manage Purchase Orders application. You will also learn how to order a material without a material master record. 

DemoWatch Demo