Executing a Large Integration Scenario 2 – Planning, Manufacturing, and Quality Management (QM)

We work with a requirement planning with regard to a sales order.

The planned order, as a result of the planning run, serves as the basis for the procure-to-pay (here: Manufacturing).

Inspections as part of quality management are to be carried out in the in-house production process, and can be used during production. The possibility of interplay with the configuration is to be tested.

We start with the requirement that the created sales order generated. With this requirement, we go into requirements planning.

You can start multilevel requirements planning using transaction MD50. Here, this transaction is integrated into the navigation profile and is therefore visible here in the Additional Data for MRP element. As a result, you get the planned order. You can display this using the stock/requirements list (transaction MD04), for example.

The material master (MRP 2 view) also allows in-house production. For example, in the stock/requirements list, you can convert the planned order into a production order. It's also visible in the Additional Data for MRP element.

When you release the production order, you automatically create an inspection lot. You can see it on the Assignment tab page in the production order.

Important steps in production order processing are:

• Order creation

• Scheduling

• Release

• Material withdrawal

• Confirmation

• Goods receipt

• Settlement

Production orders are integrated into the functions of capacity requirements planning, costing, inventory management, and into many other applications.

Production orders are used in various industries and industry sectors and can be used in several production types. These production types are on the product stability, product complexity, and the production procedures used.

When creating a production order without a planned order, the system searches the material master for production versions that fit the lot size and basic start date. If there are several valid production versions, the alphanumerical first version is taken or the user can choose a version manually. Also, quota arrangements can be maintained to control which production version is to be used. If a valid production version isn't found, the system terminates order creation.

A production order has the mapped order structure.

Assembly BOMs are to be readied as BOMs. Production versions are used to select the valid BOM.

Routings are to be readied as routings or reference operation sets. Production versions are used to select the valid routing. Work centers are assigned to the operations in the routing. Production resources/tools are assigned to the operations in the routing. Documents (managed in the document management system) can be linked to and displayed in the production order.

More operation sequences (parallel, alternative) can exist for a standard sequence of operations. A selection can be made from several alternative operation sequences. The standard sequence must have at least one operation. If necessary, the system creates this itself.

Assigning material components, production resources/tools, and trigger points to the operation is optional. Suboperations are allowed for an operation. DMS documents (drawings, text files, images, and so on) can be linked to the production order. Execution steps are arbitrary process instructions (pressure, temperature, texts, and so on) that can be transferred to or formatted by any destination using the process integration function in the form of a control instruction and returned to the system in the form of process messages.

Costs are only calculated at operation level in order-related cost object controlling, managed at order header level, and a settlement rule is created for the order.

There could be several reasons for using Quality Management in the area of Logistics. The following video gives you some information about questions such as:

• What triggers an inspection?
• What and how much is inspected?
• What are the results of the inspection?
• What should happen to the goods?

The following video gives you an overview of Quality Management in Production. It explains the relevant quality management activities.

The following screenshot shows you relevant settings for Quality Management inside a Material.

You can define the following for each inspection type:

• Results Recording Process

• Sample Determination and Dynamic Modification

• QM order for inspection lot

• Quality Score Calculation

Inspect with task list means:

You inspect on the basis on such as the dynamic modification rule can be assigned at both header and characteristic level.

Inspect with material specification means:

You inspect on the basis of the inspection characteristics defined in the material specification.

Inspect by Configuration means:

You can include customer-specific specifications for inspection characteristics in the inspection:

• Configurations from the sales order or production order are taken into account at inspection lot creation in such a way that the specifications from the task list or material specification are adjusted accordingly.
• A prerequisite is a link between the class characteristic and the master inspection characteristic.

The inspection lot in the production order enables an inspection in Quality Management during production. For this purpose, inspection steps exist in the production order as operations from the associated routing.

Inspection characteristics exist in our example for operation 500.

The inspection characteristics at operation 500 each have a reference to a master inspection characteristic that is linked to a class characteristic with the same name. These class characteristics are the characteristics that were valuated in the configuration in the sales order.

• Valuated manually (Size (Frame))

• Valuated using object dependencies (Top Tube).

The inspection characteristics don't necessarily have to be assigned to the routing. This applies also for the remaining characteristics:

• That was created in the configuration in the sales order

• For which a master inspection characteristic with a corresponding link to the class characteristic exists

• That haven't been assigned to the routing

They're then automatically offered for inspection at the last operation of the routing.

Operation 500 is an inspection operation. A corresponding control key in the operation realizes it. Besides this, the inspection type Wipe Inspection in Production was activated via the material master in the Quality Management view.

You can link the Variant Configuration directly to the inspection in QM. It's possible to check against the configuration of the customer requirement. To do this, choose Inspect by Configuration in the activation of the individual checks in the material master.

To record inspection results, the following conditions must be met:

• Inspection characteristics have been created.

• The inspection specifications are assigned to the inspection lot (for example: inspection characteristics from the task list or from the material specification).

• Sample determination has been carried out.

The current processing status of an inspection lot is documented by the inspection lot status.

Depending on the settings in the control indicators of the inspection characteristic, you must or can record inspection results for the characteristic.

The valuation of the inspection characteristic takes place automatically using the valuation mode defined in the sampling procedure. Manual valuation is also possible.

If certain prerequisites are met, the system can close the characteristic automatically.

In QM, you can see in the results recording worklist (transaction QE51N) that 500 inspection characteristics exist for the operation.

These two inspection characteristics are linked to characteristics from the variant configuration. As a result, an automatic check against the configuration takes place for this transaction.

The size (frame) is checked against the configuration exactly (→ 555 mm).

The dimensions of the Top Tube are checked with a tolerance of +/- 2.5% (→ 470.78 to 494.92 mm).

If the configuration allows intervals as a valuation, you can also check against these intervals (currently, this is only possible under LO-VC, but not under AVC).

The following inspection characteristics are listed at the last operation:

• That are not assigned to the routing.
• That are linked to characteristics of the variant configuration.
• That are evaluated in the configuration.

You complete the inspection in QM with the Usage Decision (the example uses Accept = A).

Confirmations are the premise for progress control and are the basis for entering internal activities performed for the order. For this reason, confirmations should be as prompt and efficient as possible. Confirmations from process control systems are possible using various interfaces.

Due to the different requirements that arise in practice, SAP provides several confirmation procedures. Order confirmation is a confirmation of the entire order at order header level. An operation confirmation allows you to confirm an order step. Various procedures are available for this type of confirmation.

Subsequent functions are executed with the confirmations, including the following:

• The order and operation statuses are updated.

• The confirmed quantities and activities, dates, and times are written to the production order.

• Actual costs are calculated for the production order.

• Automatic goods issues (backflushing) and automatic goods receipt can be posted.

• Capacity reduction is carried out for the confirmed operations.

• If a scrap or rework quantity is confirmed, a quality notification can be generated.

• Confirmed actual data can be transferred to the HR module.

A step-by-step confirmation of the production order can take place in parallel to results recording in QM. A milestone without automatic goods receipt is set for the last operation via the control key. Therefore, a confirmation of this last operation 500 is enough.

Outbound deliveries are the basic documents for the different activities during the shipping process (picking, packing, and posting the goods issue). Usually, they're created regarding to one or more sales orders that are ready to be shipped. Due to the reference, the system can copy all the relevant data from the orders to the outbound delivery.

You can create one or more outbound deliveries with reference to a single order. Alternatively, multiple items from different sales orders can be combined in a single outbound delivery. To combine items from multiple orders, they must all have the same values for those characteristics key to the shipping process, for example:

• Shipping point

• Due date

• Ship-to address

The system can create deliveries either online or as a background job to be executed during off-peak hours.

A delivery document is grouped into two levels: header and item level. The data is distributed across these levels as follows:

• Header level:

  The data for the document header is valid for the entire document. This includes, for example, data for the ship-to party and deadlines for shipping processing.

• Item level:

  Each item in the delivery document contains its own data. This includes, for example, data about the material, quantities, weights, and stock information. Each delivery document can contain several items, and the individual items can be controlled differently. Examples include material items, free-of-charge items, or text items.

Posting the goods issue is often the final step in the shipping process. When the goods issue is posted, the following is carried out automatically:

• Inventory management:

  The quantity in inventory management and the delivery requirements in materials planning are updated.

• Balance sheet accounts:

  The value change in the balance sheet accounts for inventory accounting is posted (the postings from the relevant accounting document are based on the cost of the material).

• Financial accounting:

  More documents are created for financial accounting.

• Billing due list:

  The respective delivery can now be used as a basis for billing.

• Status update:

• The status in all the related documents is updated.

The main type of billing document is the invoice. The creation of invoices is often the last step in a sales and distribution process. You can create invoices regarding outbound deliveries (if you've delivered physical products to the customer) or regarding sales orders (if you've sold services).

The system can combine various preceding documents (such as outbound deliveries) in one billing document, providing these documents have the same values for some relevant characteristics, such as the following:

• Payer

• Billing date

• Destination country

The system can create invoices either online or as a background job to be executed during off-peak hours (other types of billing documents, such as credit memos, also exist.

A billing document is divided into two levels: header and item level. The data is distributed across these levels as follows:

• Header level:

  The data for the document header is valid for the entire document. This includes, for example, data about the payer and the billing date.

• Item level:

  Each item in the billing document contains its own data. This includes, for example, details about the material, billing quantities, and net values for the items. Each billing document can have several items.

When you save the billing document, the system automatically generates all the required documents for accounting. It carries out a debit posting on the customer receivables account and a credit posting on the revenue account. The postings can be reproduced using the corresponding accounting document, which can be accessed directly via the billing document or via the process flow.

Furthermore, the system can automatically generate extra documents for financial accounting, and documents for controlling and profitability analysis.

When the billing document is saved, the following also occurs:

• The status is updated in all the related sales, delivery, and billing documents.
• The customer's credit limit data is updated (if the corresponding function is used).

The posting of incoming payments is done in the financial accounting department. When an incoming payment is posted, the data on the relevant G/L accounts is posted automatically.

The system does the following:

• Post a debit on the cash account

• Enters a credit memo on the customer’s receivables account.

You can also track the posting of the incoming payment within the process flow and the status overview. The corresponding accounting document gets the status Cleared.

The in-house production process (with QM) is to be regarded as a scenario for individual customer requirements.

The following happens:

• Executing Single-Item Planning for a Sales Order

• Converting the Planned Order to a Production Order

• Record the results of QM during production

• Final confirmation of the production order