Working with alternative dates and shifts

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to work with alternative dates and shifts.

Alternative Dates

Your forklift prototype has to be changed. Therefore, you defined all related SAP objects inside one change number. Due to technical reasons, the material BOM has to be changed one week earlier. You would not define a new change number for this particular object. Therefore, you define an alternative date for the material BOM.

Your performed the object changes. Due to technical reasons, all changes have to take place one week earlier. This is why you do a date shift inside the change number.

When you create a change number, you first enter the valid-from date. This date information is then valid for all objects of the change number.

However, you now have the situation that the individual objects want to provide an individual "valid-from" information.

Watch the following video, which explains the use of alternative dates.

Date Shifts

The valid-from date for a change number can only be directly changed if there has not yet been an object change. If this is no longer the case, then the date can only be changed with a date shift. When you try to make a date shift, the system checks the settings in Customizing. If the date check is activated, then you can only perform a date shift to a date outside the protected time period.

This figure explains the use of date shifts of date elements assigned to object management records. Follow the notes for more information.

As long as the date shift does not lead to inconsistencies in any of the objects that have already been changed with the change number (for example, two changes to a BOM header on the same date) then you can perform a date shift for any object type.

If the validity period is shifted for BOMs and routings, the system checks these objects and issues a warning message. After you have checked the objects concerned, you can close the warning and perform the date shift.

Work with alternative dates and shifts

Introduction

When you assign objects to a change number, all objects are changed to the date that you assigned in the header of the change number.

However, you now want to control the validity of the objects individually. Therefore, you use alternative dates. These alternative dates can either be assigned to the object before the pending change or subsequently.

Date specifications for a change number can still be changed if the object has already been changed.

Work with Alternative Dates and Shifts

Watch the following video and get an impression of the usage of an alternative date element and a subsequent date shift.

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