Name: Situation Handling for Physical Inventory Counting - SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain
Uploaded: 2020-5-1
Duration: 703 s
Description: In this video you learn how to set up a situation handling scenario to optimize the physical inventory process.

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<div><div>In this video you learn how to set up a situation handling scenario to optimize the physical inventory process.</div></div>

Situation Handling for Physical Inventory Counting - SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain

Hello, and welcome to the microlearning about Situation Handling for Physical Inventory  Counting in SAP S/4HANA for Supply Chain. My name is Gerhard Welker, and I am product manager for SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Asset  Management. In this video, you will learn how to set up a situation handling scenario, to optimize the physical inventory process. First, let us have a look to the physical inventory process flow in SAP  S/4HANA, with various possible situation handling  scenarios. Second, we will pick up one scenario as an  example, and set up the situation handling scenario for physical inventory counting in an SAP  S/4HANA system. First, starting with an overview of the physical inventory process flow in SAP  S/4HANA, as shown in the figure. At the beginning of the process flow, you always create a physical inventory  document, which can be printed out if desired. The next step is a physical counting, which could be done directly via an SAP Fiori  app in the system, for instance on a tablet, PC, or paper-based on the print-out. As soon as the count results are entered in the  system, the processor can see if there are any  differences in value or quantity, and can then decide to  either post the physical inventory document, or to order or perform a recount of stock. At the end of the process, it is necessary to post the physical inventory  document that was at a certain point in time a new physical inventory document can be  created. The entire process flow is basically designed to send reminders. The yellow arrow in the figure marks the time when warehouse clerks should be informed that particular materials have to be counted. In the system demo, we will exactly set up this  reminder via situation handling. But various other scenarios for useful reminders are possible. Two of them are marked with orange arrows in  the figure. For instance, it could be a good idea to remind inventory managers to post their physical inventory documents at the end of the  process flow. Another interesting scenario could be to inform the plant manager that there are several physical inventory documents that have a  significant tolerance exceedance in quantity or value. Let us now set up the situation handling  scenario for physical inventory counting in the SAP  S/4HANA system. For this purpose, we log on as a business process configuration expert. First, we open the SAP Fiori app Manage Teams and Responsibilities, create a new team, maintain the fields name, global ID, and the description. And for the type, we choose the predefined type for Physical Inventory Monitoring, and set the status Ready to Use directly. Then we maintain the list of responsibility  definitions. In our example, the teams responsible for plant  1010. Now add the team members. The first one is Aron, acting as an inventory manager. Predefined functions enable team members to  perform various tasks in the business process. Later in the demo, we will see how the function links a team member with a situation type. Here we are linking the function Inventory Manager to Aaron. The second team member is Elisabeth. We are searching her name. Adding her to the team. She's also acting as an inventory manager, so we are also assigning the function Inventory Manager to Elisabeth. The third team member is Berta. She's acting as a warehouse clerk. So, we are assigning the predefined function Warehouse Clerk to Berta. Last but not least, we add Caesar, and assign him the function Plant Manager. Now our team is ready, and we are saving the  team. By the way, the Manage Your Solution app allows you to configure your solution and define your own functions and function  profiles. You will find the functions in the application area Application Platform and Infrastructure. If you press the Configure button, and navigate to the customizing view, you will  find also, the predefined physical inventory profile with the assigned functions, Inventory Manager, Plant Manager, and  Warehouse Clerk, which we have used in our team. The last step for setting up the situation  handling scenario is to create a new situation type. For this purpose, we open the app, Manage  Situation Types, search the standard template for physical inventory monitoring, and copy the standard template. First, we have to maintain the ID of our new  situation type. Copy standard template provides a multitude of  parameters, which you can use as conditions for your own situation type. For our situation handling scenario, we should remind the warehouse clerk that  counting is due. We need only a subset of parameters. First, we set the parameter Is Counted equal to  no, by excluding the value equal to x. Furthermore, we copy from the templates the conditions Is Deleted equal to no and Is Difference Posted equal to no. This means that the physical inventory  documents, which are not counted yet, which are not  deleted, and whose difference is not posted are taken  into account. Now we have to define the time dimension via the parameter Planned Count Date. The value help of the Planned Count Date offers a lot of date functions. In our example, we choose the condition equal previous 14 days. This means that physical inventory documents that were due for counting in the previous two weeks will be considered. Additionally, we restrict the plant, equal to 1010. Now we have to define the batch job scheduling. We choose our time zone, and start the job at 6pm daily. The in-app situation message describes a business situation to the end user. We adjust the message and the notification  details, which were copied from the template. In the message text, you can enter up to 15  variables. As soon as you enter a curly bracket, a list of all available variables for this situation type is displayed, from which you can select the variable you  need. With the Aggregate Notifications parameter, you define whether the notifications to be sent are aggregated or separate for each situation  instance. Last but not least, we maintain responsibility by  teams to determine the recipients of the notifications. As you remember, at the beginning of this demo we created a team with responsibility Plant equal to 1010, so we choose here the responsibility definition  Plant. The Member Function determines which team  member will receive the notification. In our use-case, we are choosing the member  function Warehouse Clerk because we want to remind the warehouse clerk about counting. At the button, we leave the parameter Enable Situation Automation blank, because this option would call the roots engine on the SAP Cloud Platform for the next-level automation in Intelligent ERP, which is not part of this microlearning. Last but not least, we save and enable our new situation type. Now you can trigger the situation directly by pressing the Trigger Now button, or you can wait until the batch job is started automatically due to scheduling. Finally, let us have a look at how the warehouse  clerk, Berta, receives a notification after the batch job is  running. When Berta logs on to the system, the  notification icon informs her that notifications are available. She clicks on the notification icon, and the physical inventory documents that need attention are shown. At the end of this demo, I have a short puzzle for  you. Does a received notification fit exactly to the previous created situation type? The puzzle will be solved at the end of this  microlearning. Let's summarize the key learnings. You have learned how situation handling could  support the optimization of the physical inventory  process, how to manage teams and responsibilities, and how to create a ready-to-use situation type by using the situation template for physical inventory monitoring. For further learnings, check out the offering of openSAP courses on open.sap.com and check out SAP's Learning Journeys on help.sap.com/learningjourneys. At the end of this microlearning, I will solve the puzzle as promised. There's a little difference between the created situation type and the received  notification. The received notification is aggregated, whereas the flag aggregate notifications is not enabled in the situation type. Don't worry if you haven't found out this  difference. I would recommend enabling the aggregate notifications parameter for a better  overview. Give it a try. Thank you, and goodbye.