Sales in SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008

This blog provides you with the latest and greatest innovations that our SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008 release has in store for you in the area of Sales. To name just a few highlights:

• Upload prices in sales from template-based spreadsheets
• Detect and reauthorize expiring payment card authorizations for sales orders
• Overview of a customer’s main key performance indicators
• Fast editing of sales order with SAP Fiori app “Manage Sales Orders”
• Approval workflows for customer returns
• Flexible analysis of pricing elements or condition types of billing items
• Documented credit decisions for sales orders with a payment card-credit block
• Handling bills of materials enabled for the accelerated returns process

In case you do not need all the information below and just briefly want to get an overview of the release highlights, please watch this video:

Figure 1: SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008 for Sales: Top 3 key innovations

Upload prices in sales from template-based spreadsheets

With this release, we introduce a new SAP Fiori app “Manage Prices – Sales”, and now you can create and update condition records by importing data from a template-based spreadsheet. You can also export condition records that match the filter criteria to a spreadsheet.

Let me quickly explain the background here: A Pricing Specialist wants to mass create or update condition records by importing data from a template-based spreadsheet.

The first step is to Download the Template: The template consists of two sheets, the first sheet is about cover page, it explains all the attributes you are using to maintain prices and data format you need to take care.

The second part is about condition maintenance, and here you maintain your key attributes like sales organization, distribution channel, and so on.

In the next step you import your Microsoft excel data into SAP S/4HANA Cloud and the system check also for you the data consistency and, in the same way, you can check the error information and correct the errors.

You need more information on this? Read the following documentation and watch the video below.

Figure 2: Upload prices in sales from template-based spreadsheets

Overview of a customer’s main key performance indicators

With this new SAP Fiori app “Customers Overview “, you can get an overview of the sales data of one or more selected customers. Let’s take an example: you are the internal sales representative in your company, and you need to respond to customer inquiries, or needs to call or visit your customer. To get quickly an overview of all relevant data, you need information concerning, for example:

• Frequency and the average net value of incoming orders
• Sales volume and margin
• Open and rejected sales orders
• Latest returns
• Open quotations
• Delivery performance over the last quarters

You can also, of course, navigate deeper with the intuitive forward navigation to the related application, for further analysis. Let’s take a second example: Frequency of Sales Orders

• In this card, details of the sales orders created in the last 6 months are displayed (named as frequency). This information helps to quantify sales.
• In the header section of the card, you can view the average number of sales orders created (i.e., total sales orders/6) for the last 6 months from the current month.
• In the item section of the card, total sales orders created in every month is displayed as a line chart.
• On clicking the header section, it navigates to Manage Sales Orders app and displays the list of the total number of sales orders created in the last 6 months (note that average amount is displayed only on the card).
• On clicking a graph point for a month, it navigates to the “Manage Sales Orders” app and opens a list of sales orders created in that month.

You need more information on this? Read the following documentation and watch the video below.

Figure 3: Get a customer overview with the new SAP Fiori app “Customers Overview”

Fast editing of sales order with SAP Fiori app “Manage Sales Orders”

The sales order is key in the Sales Order Management and Processing, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers you different ways you can use to create sales orders, depending on your specific needs.

• For complex scenarios, SAP recommends using the Create Sales Orders app (Transaction VA01!). This SAP Fiori app is an SAP GUI for HTML transaction. These transactions are available in the SAP Fiori theme to support a seamless user experience across the SAP Fiori launchpad.
• With the SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2005 release: you can create sales orders through spreadsheet upload, this means that you can batch-create sales orders directly from XLSX spreadsheet files, and after the data file is uploaded, the system automatically create sales orders.
• And with SAP S/4HANA Cloud 1911, we deliver the first version of the New SAP Fiori app “Manage Sales Orders”. And this new Fiori app does not intend to replace at the moment, the Transaction VA01. And now with the 2008 release, we extend this SAP Fiori app with a quick action ‘Update Pricing’ on the header and item level. In the same way, we improve the usability for adding items, text handling, and process flow visualization.

Figure 4: Enhancement from SAP Fiori app “Manage Sales Orders”

Detect and reauthorize expiring payment card authorizations for sales orders

In the digital payment process (1Z1), the credit block is set on the sales document in case the credit card authorization is failed. The payment card on the sales document needs to be reauthorized to make sure the valid payment card authorization is granted for processing sales documents and its subsequent processes.

However, there was no functionality available on SAP S/4HANA Cloud to search for sales documents either being blocked for payment card authorization check or payment card authorization is expired. Now with SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008, a new SAP Fiori application “Resolve Payment Card Issues – Reauthorizations” is provided to manage sales documents with payment card authorization issues.

Following scenarios of using payment cards are considered in the SAP Fiori application:

• Sales orders with failed payment card authorization checks
• Sales orders with preauthorization checks
• Sales orders with expired payment card authorizations and outbound delivery don’t exist
• Sales orders with expired payment card authorizations and outbound delivery exist
• Sales orders with multiple outbound deliveries, payment card authorization are consumed by outbound deliveries

 

You need more information on this? Read the following documentation and watch the video below.

Figure 5: New SAP Fiori app “Resolve Payment Card Issues – Reauthorizations”

Approval workflows for customer returns

In SAP S/4HANA Cloud, we continue to extend our workflows in the Sales area, and you can already set up approval workflows for the following sales document categories:

• Sales quotations
• Sales orders
• Credit memo requests

Now, with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008 release, we add one more document category:

• Customer returns (Note: The workflow fully supports accelerated returns.)

To explain the background, in certain cases, it can make sense to make sure that a sales document is first approved by a sales manager before the internal sales representative or returns and refund clerk can process it further. You could, for example, define that sales orders with a net value that is higher than USD 1,000 or sales quotations for a specific customer always need to be sent to an approver.

With the 2008 release, you can either set up the entire approval workflow within your system (internal workflow), or you can connect your system to a workflow you already use in another system (external workflow) and approve or reject the sales document with specific OData APIs for sales documents.

Prerequisites:

• The Cloud BAdI “Approval Request Reasons for Sales Documents” has been implemented and the restrictions are set by the administrator (business role: SAP_BR_ADMINISTRATOR).
• The teams and responsibilities have been defined by the business process specialist (business role: SAP_BR_BUSINESS_PROCESS_SPEC).
• The workflow has been defined by the business configuration expert (business role: SAP_BR_BPC_EXPERT).

Figure 6: Overview of mandatory and optional settings

Figure 6 gives you an overview concerning the different steps needed to understand how you activate the workflow including the mandatory and optional steps.

Below, you find some details about these different steps.

Configuration settings for enabling approval workflow

• Set approval request reasons and assign to customer returns [Mandatory]
  The configuration expert use this configuration steps for document approval in the Manage Your Solution app under Configure Your Solution à Sales à Basic Functions.
• Indicate approval relevance by using Cloud BAdI [Mandatory]
  To determine whether a customer return is relevant for approval and must be sent to an approver, you need implement and publish the Business Add-In (BAdI) “Set Approval Request Reasons for Sales Documents” (SD_APM_SET_APPROVAL_REASON).
• Define Teams & Responsibilities [Mandatory]
  Create a team of approvers, add team members, and assign functions.
• Create and manage workflows for customer returns [Mandatory]
  In the Manage Sales Document Workflows app, Choose the workflow for customer return, provide a description and validity period.
  Define the preconditions at workflow and step levels. Several precondition attributes can be used to refine your workflow and steps.
  Create step(s) of type Release of Customer Return, select the agent responsible for the workflow step(s), define the preconditions (if needed) and define the Rework exception.
  Activate and define the order for all workflows that should be considered by the workflow process.
• Define restrictions for the My Inbox app [Optional]
  This step is strongly recommended if you want to restrict the user’s authorization of approving customer returns. To do this, you can maintain the restrictions for relevant business roles in the Maintain Business Roles

You need more information on this? Read the following documentation.

Analyze price elements of billing items

With this new SAP Fiori app, you can analyze a pricing element, that is, a condition type in billing documents (for example, to check current discount conditions and pricing strategies). In the same way, you are also able to analyze a condition type with quantity and amount over sales organizations and other dimensions, by a freely definable quarter, for example, starting on 03.08.2020.

The app provides the prerequisites for answering the following business questions:

• How is a specific condition type distributed over my sales organizations in a specific quarter?
• Which pricing elements or condition types influence my sales volume by either lowering or increasing it?
• Is the current pricing strategy adequate?
• Are the current discount conditions adequate?
• Which elements, for example, discounts or price, affect my net price?

Figure 7: SAP Fiori app “Analyze price elements of billing items”

This app uses the Analytics – Billing Item Pricing Element for Condition Type (C_BillgItmPrcgElForCoTypQ) CDS view.

You need more information on this? Read the following documentation.

For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud release info: http://www.sap.com/s4-cloudrelease
• Sven Denecken’s SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008 Release Blog
• The Link Collection for SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Sales here
• SAP S/4HANA Cloud Release Blogs here
• SAP S/4HANA PSCC Digital Enablement Wheel here
• Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast here
• Best practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud here
• SAP S/4HANA Cloud Customer Community: register here

Follow us via @SAP and #S4HANA, or myself via @VoglerChrist and LinkedIn

Source: https://blogs.sap.com/2020/08/03/sales-in-sap-s-4hana-cloud-2008/

How to find Standard Task and Workflow Template for a Process Area?

Introduction

Companies which uses SAP will always use SAP Workflow. After working as a SAP Workflow Consultant for 13 years I always thought of a way to find all the Standard Workflow Template and Standard Task by Process Area. My Mantra was everything in SAP is a Table entry. Let us get to the Solution.

 

Solution

Go To SE16–>Enter Table HRS1000

 

Now in the example we are going to Search for Standard Task hence Object Type will be TS and Object abbreviation would be FI*(Finance). Now Execute

Here is the Below List

 

Now we are going to find Workflow Template

Solution

Go To SE16–>Enter Table HRS1000

 

 

Now in the example we are going to Search for Workflow Template hence Object Type will be WS and Object abbreviation would be FI*(Finance). Now Execute

Now here is the below list

 

Conclusion

The above solution can be used for both SAP ECC and SAP S/4 HANA

 

Below is the video version

 

 

Source: https://blogs.sap.com/2020/08/04/how-to-find-standard-task-and-workflow-template-for-a-process-area/

 

Do you need the DDMRP functionality offered in S/4HANA?

I love SAP. But I’m having a hard time understanding the excitement for Demand Driven MRP (DDMRP) functionality that SAP first offered in its S/4HANA 1709 version. I’ve studied DDMRP and have had many discussions with colleagues.  We cannot see how DDMRP solves planning problems that weren’t already solved with classic MRP functionality we’ve had since the R/3 days!  DDMRP requires the use of Fiori apps; additional master data; and a new way of doing exception monitoring so the functionality requires a lot more know-how. In my 10 years of SAP PP optimization consulting I have never seen a client use even classic MRP functionality correctly!  Why throw additional functionality at them?

Manufacturing companies are in business to make and deliver products on-time and at a profit to customers.  They are not in the business of keeping up with the latest SAP offering.

In this blog I’ll discuss how DDMRP solves various planning problems and how classic SAP has solved the same problems since its early days.  I assume the reader already knows how DDMRP works.  If not, please watch this excellent YouTube video by Caetano Almeida who is a Support Architect at SAP.  Please start watching at 21:41 when Caetano begins talking about S/4HANA 1709.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2JmSkuUAxw

I will refer to the product structures below.  LT = lead time

ROH1 would be a good candidate for DDMRP because it has a long lead time and consistent usage.

Two product structures

 

Here is a summary of the planning problems solved by DDMRP and an equivalent solution that has been in SAP since the R/3 days.

Planning Problem	Solutions that have been in SAP since R/3	Solution using DDMRP in S/4HANA starting at release 1709
The “forecast is always wrong” leading to high inventory of some components.	Use the correct planning strategy	Use DDMRP MRP type D1 to decouple the components’ plan from the finished goods forecast.
Want to reduce noise in the planning of low-level components.	For PD planned materials use safety stock that is partially relevant to MRP
Want to shorten the critical path	Use consumption-based planning for some low-level components (detailed below). Or use Kanban planning with an MRP signal at any BOM level (not detailed below).

 

Below are detailed explanations for each point.

“The Forecast is always wrong”

One of the things that DDMRP promises to fix is the cumulative error on the planned quantity of lower level components. This is often described as the bullwhip effect.  If FERT1 and FERT2 are planned with Strategy 40 Planning with Final Assembly you will likely hold too much inventory of ROH1 a component common to both structures. This is because strategy 40 plans demand as the higher of the VSF forecast or the sales orders.

If you forecast 100 PC of FERT1 and 50 PC of FERT2 but have sales orders of 130 PC and 10 PC respectively you will plan 180 PC of FERT (130 PC + 50 PC).  If ROH1 is used 1:1 with FERT you will plan 180 PC of ROH1.  But you need only 140 PC of ROH1 for upcoming sales.

The DDMRP solution will use MRP type D1 on ROH1 and plan it independently; “decoupling it” from the forecast on the FERTs.  You will maintain inventory of ROH1 based on its average daily usage keeping the dynamic buffer quantity satisfied.

The classic SAP solution is to use a more fitting planning strategy.   So many clients don’t use any make-to-stock planning strategies other than Strategy 40.  What a shame!

If you need to plan capacity at your FERT work centers then Strategy 63 Planning with a Planning Material is more suitable for the product structures above.  You will plan 150 PCs of the “FERT family”; this is known as a Planning material.  See process flow screen shot below from the Demand Management PP-MP-DEM document found here in the SAP Library:

https://help.sap.com/erp_hcm_ias2_2015_02/helpdata/en/29/24bf53d25ab64ce10000000a174cb4/frameset.htm

 

Process Flow for Planning Strategy 63

 

To choose the correct planning strategy you will answer these two questions:

1. With which quantities will you forecast: individual FERTs or the family of FERTs?
2. Where will you stock the assembly prior to the receipt of the sales order: the FERTs, the HALBs or the ROHs?  See Stock keeping at different BOM levels diagram below.

Stock keeping at different BOM levels

Let’s assume you’ve offered your customer a 10-day lead time.

Using correct master data settings, you will stock only HALB1 based on the forecast for the FERT family because it and its ROHs have long lead times.  MRP will plan 150 PCs of HALB1 because you’ve forecasted 150 PCs of the “FERT family”. If you sell 130 PC of FERT1 and 10 PC of FERT2 you will have only 10 extra PCs of HALB1 and nothing extra of the other HALBs and ROHs.  Therefore, you hold lower overall inventory compared to Strategy 40.

HALB2, HALB3, ROH3 and ROH4 will be planned once the sales orders for FERT1 and FERT2 are entered.  This is not a problem because with a 10-day lead time you can purchase ROH3 and ROH4 and make HALB2 and HALB3 in time.

Or, if you do not need to plan capacity at your FERT work centers because capacity is always available then consider using planning Strategy 70 Planning for Sub Assembly instead.  Enter 150 PCs of VSFB forecast for HALB1.  MRP will drive you to stock HALB1 prior to the receipt of the sales orders for FERT1 and FERT2.  Once the sales orders are entered you will procure ROH3, ROH4, HALB2 and HALB3.  Again, you have time because your promised lead time to customer is 10 days.  Here is a link to planning strategy 70 in the Demand Management PP-MP-DEM document found in the SAP Library:

https://help.sap.com/erp_hcm_ias2_2015_02/helpdata/en/29/24bf53d25ab64ce10000000a174cb4/frameset.htm

Choose a planning strategy that allows you to stock at the cheapest/most flexible BOM level while still meeting the promised lead time to customer

 

Reduce noise (exception messages) on lower level components

Another thing that DDMRP promises to fix is the high volume of exception messages you get on ROH1 when the quantity or date of the demand for FERT1 and FERT2 changes.  This is because by using the DDMRP type D1 on ROH1 you decouple its planning from the BOM structures above it.

With classic MRP Plan on Demand (MRP type PD) when you increase the quantity of the FERT demand or move it to a sooner date, the scheduled supply element such as a purchase order for ROH1 is hit with exception message 10 which tells the planner to “expedite supply”.

But classic SAP already has a solution to this problem.  Again, unfortunately, not used by most clients!

Make Safety Stock partially relevant to MRP

Within configuration you can make safety stock partially relevant to MRP.  So, for example, if you configure safety stock 60% relevant to MRP it means that you can dip up to 60% into safety stock without causing MRP to create a procurement element, or hit a scheduled receipt with exception message 10.  Here is the configuration setting within MRP Group:

OPPR Carry Out Overall Maintenance of MRP Groups

Let’s say you plan ROH1 with MRP type PD and you’ve set a safety stock level of 110 PC.  Consider this situation for the Stock Requirements List if safety stock is not partially relevant to MRP (the SAP delivered setting).  See the screen shot below.

Stock Requirements List with standard behavior of safety stock

Two purchase requisitions were created, one to satisfy safety stock and the second to satisfy the dependent requirement.  Exception Message 30 tells the planner to convert to a purchase order immediately and expedite.   Exception Message 96 tells the planner the stock has fallen below the safety stock level.

Once you configure safety stock to be 60% relevant to MRP you can partially dip into safety stock without MRP creating a purchase requisition.  See screen shot below.

Stock Requirements List with safety stock configured to be 60% relevant to MRP

Consider this Slug material to be ROH1 in our product structure.  The demand for the FERTs can increase slightly or be scheduled to a sooner date without causing MRP to create a purchase requisition.  When the safety stock level is eventually breached by demand that exceeds 60% of 110 PC a single purchase requisition will be planned to satisfy both the dependent requirement and to bring the safety stock level back up to 110 PC.

Shorten the critical path

Use consumption-based planning

Just like planning strategy 40 doesn’t suit all make to stock demand planning, MRP type PD doesn’t suit all supply planning.  Consider using consumption-based planning on materials where it makes sense.  Usually these will be at the lowest level of the BOM structure, the ROH materials.  In the table below we can see a general rule of thumb where each MRP type might be used.

Table of MRP Type usage:

 

There are two main types of consumption-based planning:

1. Reorder point planning – good for short lead time components
2. Consumption forecasting – good for long lead time components that have predicable usage; they are widely used meaning that they occur in several BOMs.

When component materials are planned using either form of consumption-based planning the demand signal is cut off as seen in the revised product structure below.  The three ROH materials are planned in their own little worlds.

Product Structure with Consumption Planned ROHs

 

The critical path also known as the total replenishment lead time to make FERT1 is now only 22 days (2 + 20) since all ROH materials are planned by consumption-based planning; they are considered to always be in stock.  If all materials were planned with MRP type PD instead, the critical path would be 57 days (2 + 20 + 35).

• MRP Type V1 requires the planner to set a reorder point in the material master such that once it is breached you will not run out of inventory before the new supply arrives. For this the planner must consider the lead time of the material and the expected usage during the lead time.  You can find the expected usage from SAP report MC42 Range of Coverage based on Usage.
• MRP Type VV requires a material forecast (demand) to be generated (usually based on historical consumption using a model such as seasonal, trend, seasonal-trend, constant, etc.). MRP runs to provide planned supply elements to satisfy the material’s forecast. Dynamic safety stock also known as range of coverage profile is often used with VV planning to cover spikes in demand.

Another added benefit of consumption-based planning is that it forgives capacity overloads.  If the FERT and/or HALB work centers are overloaded you will not carry excess inventory of ROH materials.

Summary

Supply chains are all different, hence planning problems are diverse.  To address this, SAP has offered a large toolbox of planning functionality since the R/3 days. Clients choose the best solutions for their needs.  As consultants we should encourage them to exhaust classic solutions first before introducing new functionality such as DDMRP because it is not cheap. It requires the use of Fiori apps, additional master data and additional processing know-how.

I won’t offer a glass of water to a drowning man!

• Source: https://blogs.sap.com/2020/08/03/do-you-need-the-ddmrp-functionality-offered-in-s-4hana/

How to make Error message appear as Pop Up without ABAP Coding? Really

Introduction

After working with SAP for more than 15 years and travelling across the Globe for SAP Projects one requirement I always use to get is to design a POP UP for a Custom Error SAP message. I was tired doing this until I figured out you can do this without any ABAP Coding and for every ERROR Message.

Solution

Please login to SAP and go to ME21N Tcode and before the Magic the error message shows in the bottom which may be not visible always

How we can change it to a Pop Up.

Go to Options by checking below screenshot

Select Notifications and Check Show error messages in a dialog box and Hit Apply and OK

After making this change you can get this new Pop Up.

Conclusion

You can use the above blog in SAP ECC as well as SAP S/4 HANA

For video version check below

Source:https://blogs.sap.com/2020/07/16/how-to-make-error-message-appear-as-pop-up-without-abap-coding-really/comment-page-1/#comment-519129