SAP Transaction Code for: Gain/loss substitution -Fixed asset

OA01

Alternative Release in SAP MM

Definition

Within the release sequence, you can define alternatives. This means that several employees can effect release (signify approval) at a certain point in the sequence. If just one of these employees has effected release, the next release status is reached. The other employees thus need take no action.

Five release codes are defined for purchase requisitions in an ascending hierarchy. The requisition item can be converted into either an RFQ or a PO if release has been effected either with the release codes 01, 02, 03 and 04 or - alternatively - with release code 05.

The box with the information on the release strategy also offers you the possible alternatives for selection (see Displaying Release Information).

An alternative release cannot be a prerequisite for the next release code. In the above example, the releases with codes 01, 02, 03 and 04 could not be prerequisites for release with 05.

Release Indicator in SAP MM

Definition

When a requisition or an external purchasing document has been processed via a release code, a release indicator is assigned to it.

When the system sets which release indicator is defined in the Customizing facility for Purchasing (in the release strategy via the release statuses).

What does the release indicator determine?

Requisitions...


External purchasing documents....

Whether the item may be changed by Purchasing or Materials Planning and Control after the start of the release procedure

Whether a new strategy is determined and whether existing releases must be cancelled in the event of changes

Whether an RFQ or a PO may be created with reference to the item


Whether the document may be changed by Purchasing after the start of the release procedure

Whether a new strategy is determined and whether existing releases must be cancelled in the event of changes

Whether the purchasing document is released for transmission



See also:

Changes After the Start of the Release Procedure

Release Prerequisites in SAP MM

Definition

The release prerequisites indicate the sequence in which a purchase requisition or an external purchasing document must be approved via the release codes. The release prerequisites are defined in the Purchasing Customizing facility (in the release strategy).

The approval procedure for purchase requisitions in an enterprise may be set up in such a way that a department manager must approve a requisition item before the next level of authority (e.g. the cost center manager). In this case, approval by the department manager is a prerequisite for approval by the cost center manager.

Release Code in SAP MM

Definition

The release code is a two-character ID allowing a person to release (clear, or approve) a requisition or an external purchasing document. Who may work with which release codes is basically controlled via a system of authorizations (authorization object M_EINK_FRG).

In addition, the assignment of release code to individual processor (processing staff member) is defined according to organizational requirements - that is to say, the various departments specify which users will be working with which release codes.

In the case of the release procedure with classification for purchase requisitions, the assignment of release code to processor can also be made via Customizing for Purchasing. In this case, there must be a linkage with SAP Business Workflow. The release codes are assigned to an Organization Management object in each case (e.g. a position). The system then determines the responsible processor (processing staff member) in each concrete case.

SAP Transaction Code for: JOA detailed information

GJ54

Release Strategy in SAP MM

Definition

The release strategy defines the approval process for purchase requisitions or external purchasing documents. The strategy specifies the release codes necessary and the sequence in which releases have to be effected. You can define a maximum of eight release codes.

The assignment of the release strategy to a requisition or a purchasing document is based on the release conditions.

Release Conditions in SAP MM

Definition

The release conditions determine the release strategy in accordance with which a requisition or an external purchasing document is to be released.

If a requisition or an external purchasing document does not meet the conditions for a release strategy, it is automatically released for further processing.

Procedure Without Classification (Requisition Items Only)

The conditions can be based on one of the following item characteristics or a combination of these:

* Account assignment category
* Material group
* Plant
* Total value

Procedure with Classification (Requisitions and External Purchasing Documents)

The conditions are formulated via characteristic values and are stored in the Purchasing Customizing facility (under the release strategy).

A precondition for this is that the characteristics are first created and then assigned to classes. For information on classification, refer to the documentation CA Characteristics and CA The Classification System and the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Purchasing (under Release Procedures).

To enable a release strategy to be assigned to it, a requisition or an external purchasing document must have one of the possible values for each characteristic.

Release (Approval) Procedure in SAP MM

Use

You use this component if you wish to set up approval procedures for purchase requisitions or other purchasing documents. Under such a procedure, if a purchase requisition or external purchasing document fulfills certain conditions (e.g. the total order value exceeds $10,000), it has to be approved (by the cost center manager, for instance) before it can be processed further. This process of approving (clearing, or giving the "green light" to) a proposed item of expenditure is replicated in the SAP System by the "release procedure".

It is sensible to define separate release procedures for different groups of materials for which different departments are responsible, and to define separate procedures for investment goods and consumption goods.

Features

Each person involved in the release procedure effects release (signifies approval) via a release transaction, using his or her release code. Once effected, a release can also be cancelled with the same code (that is to say, the original status is reinstated).
If linkage to SAP Business Workflow has been defined for a release code, rejection is also possible (only for requisitions however).

Which Documents Can be Released (Approved)?

Release procedures can be defined for the following documents:

* Purchase requisition

* The external purchasing documents purchase order (PO), contract, scheduling agreement, request for quotation (RFQ), and service entry sheet

Release Procedure for Purchase Requisitions

Two different procedures are available for requisitions:

* With classification

With this procedure, requisitions can be released both at item level (i.e. item-by-item) and in total. The latter approach is also termed "overall release".

* Without classification

With this procedure, requisitions can only be released at item level.

The two procedures are mutually exclusive (that is to say, you must decide in favor of one of them only - you cannot use both).

Release Procedure for External Purchasing Documents

External purchasing documents (i.e. purchasing documents other than requisitions) are released at header level. Item-by-item release is not possible. These documents can only be released using the release procedure with classification.

SAP Transaction Code for: Pack components for order

COPAWA

Confirmation-Related Goods Receipt in SAP MM

Use

When entering a goods receipt against a purchase order, you can have the system suggest the confirmed quantities instead of the complete order quantity.

Prerequisites

If you wish to post the goods receipt with reference to vendor confirmations, set the GR assignment indicator for the desired confirmation category in Customizing for Purchasing. SAP recommends that you always set this indicator for the last category of confirmation you expect to receive in each case.

In item 1 of a PO, 200 tons of steel were ordered for delivery on May 1st. The vendor notifies you that 50 tons will be delivered on May 1st, and 150 tons on May 3rd.

• Goods receipt with GR assignment

When you post a GR against the PO, the system will generate one default quantity line containing 50 tons, and one with 150 tons.

The GR quantities then relate to individual inbound deliveries and can also be deleted per inbound delivery. If a goods receipt of 150 tons is posted against an inbound delivery of 150 tons, the inbound delivery is cancelled out (the quantity is reduced to zero, i.e. completely offset). The inbound delivery of 50 tons remains open.

• Good receipt without GR assignment

When you enter a goods receipt against the purchase order, the system suggests the order quantity of 200 tons of Steel 1 as the GR quantity.

The inbound deliveries are offset (reduced or cancelled out) according to the confirmation date.

If you post a GR of 150 tons, the first inbound delivery is cancelled out with 50 tons, and the second one partially offset with 100 tons. The second inbound delivery is thus left with an open quantity of 50 pcs.

Error Correction: Receipt of Confirmations Via EDI in SAP MM

Use

Errors may occur during the electronic interchange of data between you and your vendors. You will wish to correct such errors. SAP Business Workflow can support you in identifying and remedying them.

Reasons for Errors

When you receive a confirmation from your vendor via EDI, the system usually updates the relevant purchasing document.

For example, when a shipping notification is received, the system will generate an inbound delivery with an inbound-delivery document and update the data in the associated purchase order.

When an order acknowledgment is received, the acknowledgment number is entered in a field of the associated PO.

In the following cases, the system is not able to update the purchasing document on the basis of an incoming EDI confirmation.

• The confirmation control key has not been maintained or does not cover this type of confirmation.
• The purchasing document to which the confirmation relates happens to be blocked at the time the incoming confirmation is received via EDI.
• The problem is due to technical reasons (for example, the maximum field length has been exceeded).
• One or more of the applicable tolerances for delivery date, quantity and price checks in the case of order acknowledgments received via EDI has been exceeded.

Error Correction

The error correction facility works as follows:

• When an error occurs, you are advised accordingly by SAP Business Workflow through the appearance of a work item (a
Notification) in your integrated inbox.
• You can process the work item, and thus branch directly into the faulty
Intermediate Document (IDoc).
• In the IDoc, you can branch to the status records to obtain information on the source of the error.

Several status records, each relating to different document items, may exist for a document.

• In a status record, you can obtain status information by displaying the long text of the error (for example, the status information that the confirmation control key has not been maintained correctly for item 20 in purchase order no. 12345.)

(If the source of the error lies with the vendor, get him to change the document and re-transmit it.)

From the long text of the error message, you can directly invoke the relevant PO and there maintain the confirmation control key.

• As soon as you save the purchase order, you are returned to the long text of the error message in the status record of the IDoc.
• From within the IDoc, you can initiate the renewed processing of the IDoc.

The system can now update the data correctly.

For detailed information on error handling, refer to the documentation CA - The IDoc Interface (section Exception Handling).

Manual Maintenance of Confirmations in SAP MM

1. Change the purchase order or scheduling agreement.
2. Select the item for which you wish to enter a confirmation and choose Item
® Confirmations ® Overview.
3. On the confirmation overview screen, maintain the confirmation category, date, time-spot, and quantity, as well as the confirmation number used by the vendor.

You can also receive a confirmation with respect to a material with a manufacturer part number (MPN). For more on this topic, refer to Manufacturer Part Number (MPN)).

If you work exclusively with order acknowledgments (i.e. without using a confirmation control key), enter the acknowledgment number on the item detail screen. This number can be any identifier customarily used in your enterprise (e.g. the date of the order acknowledgment or an external document number).
If you wish to enter the same number for each item, choose Edit ® Fast change.

Quantity Checks

• If a vendor notifies a quantity that is greater than the still-open notified quantity, the system issues a warning message.
• If the cumulative quantity from all inbound deliveries relating to a PO item exceeds the order quantity (taking the overdelivery tolerance into account), the system issues a warning message.
  This warning can also be defined as an error message on a user-specific basis.
• If the cumulative notified quantity is less than the quantity already delivered, a warning message is issued.

Depending on your settings in Customizing, an indicator showing whether or not the data in the confirmation is used in materials planning is set in column D. If the indicator has not been set, the data is for information only.

In column E, you can see whether the confirmation was entered manually in the PO (1), or generated automatically upon entry of a shipping notification using the function Create inbound delivery (2).

Monitoring Confirmations in SAP MM

Monitoring Confirmations in PO or Outline Agreement

1. Select the item for which you wish to see the accumulated confirmations and choose Item
® Confirmations ® Lists.
2. Then branch to one of the following lists:

– Quantities relevant to MRP

– Quantities that have been reduced/offset with regard to MRP

– Cumulative quantities

A line from a PO delivery schedule covering 100 tons of steel is reduced to zero as a result of the relevant order acknowledgment for 100 tons. The subsequent inbound delivery of 100 tons in turn reduces the order acknowledgment quantity to zero, and, finally, the GR of 100 tons completely offsets the inbound-delivery quantity.

Monitoring Several POs or Outline Agreements

1. Choose Purchase order
® Reporting ® Monitor confirmations.
2. Specify an interval of purchase orders and enter the category of confirmations to be monitored (for example, AB for order acknowledgment).
3. Choose Program
® Execute.

You obtain a list of all variant quantities and delivery dates.

Creating a PO or Outl. Agreement w. Acknowl. Reqt. in SAP MM

1. Create a purchase order or an outline purchase agreement and maintain the items.
2. Select the item to be acknowledged by the vendor and enter a confirmation control key in the Deadline monitoring area of the item detail screen.

If the confirmation control key provides for the submission of order acknowledgments by the vendor, and you wish to urge the latter to do so in the event that they are still outstanding after a certain period of time, set the Acknowledgment requirement indicator.

3. Save the purchase order.

If you wish to work exclusively with order acknowledgments (i.e. without using a confirmation control key), your only option is to set this indicator. You need not make any other entries.

Order Acknowledgment Expediters in SAP MM

Use

You can send messages to vendors urging them to submit outstanding order acknowledgments. You cannot issue such messages with respect to other vendor confirmation categories.

Prerequisites

A prerequisite is that the Acknowledgment requirement indicator has been set in each relevant PO or scheduling agreement item.

Activities

Choose ® Messages ® Monitor order acknowledgment.

If the indicator has been set, the system proceeds as follows when the reminder program is run:

It checks whether the confirmation control key has been set:

1. If it has not, it checks whether the acknowledgment number has been entered. If there is no such number, a message urging the vendor to submit the overdue acknowledgment is issued.

2. If it has, the sum of the quantities from all previous order acknowledgments is calculated. If the result is less than the order quantity, an urging message (expediter) is issued.

See also:

Urging Submission of Outstanding Acknowledgments

Monitoring Vendor Confirmations in SAP MM

Use

The confirmation monitoring facility enables you to check whether the expected confirmations have been received and whether the delivery quantities and dates are as you requested. The list analyses that are available for monitoring purposes provide you at all times with an overview of the status of your purchase orders and their influence on materials planning and control.

Prerequisites

• Analyses are only possible for items having a confirmation control key.
• You can specify the deadline for receipt of confirmations for each confirmation category in Customizing for Purchasing (Confirmations ® Set up confirmation control under Confirmation sequence.)

You can specify in Customizing that you wish to see the following in the monitoring list, for example:

- Which order acknowledgments have still not been received a certain number of days after the PO date

- Which shipping notifications have still not been received a certain number of days before the delivery date

Activities

To monitor vendor confirmations, choose ® Reporting ® Monitor confirmations.

See also:

Monitoring Confirmations.

Example: Checking Acknowledgments Received via EDI in SAP MM

The following example outlines the automatic quantity and date checks carried out when an order acknowledgment is received from a vendor via EDI.

You have defined under- and overdelivery tolerances of seven days each for the delivery date check. For the quantity check, you have stipulated a tolerance of 10%.

You send a purchase order consisting of a single item with a three-line delivery schedule to your vendor. Your vendor acknowledges the purchase order, but the acknowledgment contains different quantities and delivery dates. When the order acknowledgment is received via EDI, the system first checks the total quantity set out in the acknowledgment, and then the delivery dates.

Receiving Confirmations via EDI in SAP MM

Use

If you have an EDI arrangement with your vendor, incoming order acknowledgments and shipping notifications can be received via EDI and entered in your system automatically.

• If you work exclusively with order acknowledgments, the confirmation has informative character. Only the acknowledgment number is recorded in the system.
• If you work with the confirmation categories order acknowledgment and inbound delivery, quantities and dates are recorded in the system. When a shipping notification is received via EDI, an inbound delivery is created, with a separate inbound-delivery document.

Prerequisites

If you wish to receive confirmations via EDI, the IDoc interface must have been installed. (For more on this topic, refer to the documentation CA - IDoc Interface/Electronic Data Interchange.)

If you wish to work with several confirmation categories, you must set up the confirmation control facility in Customizing for Purchasing and enter a confirmation control key on the item detail screen of a purchase order or outline purchase agreement.

Features

The processing of order acknowledgments received from your vendors via EDI differs from that of incoming shipping notifications received through the same medium.

Acknowledgment

When an order acknowledgment is received via EDI, the system checks whether just the acknowledgment number is to be recorded, or also quantities and dates.

• If you work exclusively with order acknowledgments, only the acknowledgment number is recorded on the item detail screen. (In this case, no confirmation control key exists.)
• If you work with several confirmation categories and therefore a confirmation control key exists in the PO or scheduling agreement item, the quantities and dates shown in the order acknowledgment are recorded by the system.

If you want to take a look at acknowledgments that have been received, choose Item ® Confirmations ® Overview from the item overview. Column C (creation indicator) contains the value 3, meaning that the acknowledgment was received via EDI.

Updating of PO When Several Partial Acknowledgments are Received

An order acknowledgment always relates to a PO item and not to individual schedule lines.

If a vendor initially sends a partial acknowledgment relating to only two schedule lines of an item with three schedule lines, you will expect further acknowledgments.
As soon as a further partial acknowledgment is received via EDI, all old acknowledgments recorded manually or via EDI are deleted. All old data is replaced by the data of the current acknowledgment.

You have ordered 50 tons of Steel 1 to be delivered on each of 10.15, 10.18, and 10.20. Your vendor sends you a partial acknowledgment for 50 tons of Steel 1 for 10.15 and 30 tons of Steel 1 for 10.18.

In a second acknowledgment, the vendor confirms delivery of the remaining 20 tons of Steel 1 on 10.18 and 50 tons of Steel 1 on 10.20.

Since a new acknowledgment received via EDI causes all existing acknowledgments to be overwritten, only 70 tons of Steel 1 are now shown as confirmed in the system, despite the fact that the vendor has actually confirmed a total of 150 tons of Steel 1.

In each new partial acknowledgment, your vendor should therefore list both the already confirmed quantities and the quantities confirmed via the current acknowledgment.

Quantity, Date, and Price Checks

When order acknowledgments are received via EDI, the following checks are carried out:

Quantity Check

• The system compares the quantity ordered of a PO item with the total quantity confirmed by the vendor (the vendor may not have confirmed the complete quantity as at the delivery date shown in the PO but spread over several delivery dates).
• The system checks whether the overdelivery and underdelivery tolerances stipulated in the PO item have been adhered to.

Date Check

• The system checks dates at schedule line level. The confirmed dates are compared with any existing delivery dates from delivery schedule lines in the PO. The tolerance limits are determined from the confirmation control key. (You can define the confirmation control key in Customizing for Purchasing under Confirmations ® Set up Confirmation Control.)
• The system apportions the confirmed quantity among existing schedule lines one after the other.
• Adherence to the delivery date is then checked for each individual schedule line.

Price Check

• If you wish to adopt the prices transmitted to you by the vendor via EDI, you must select the Price indicator in Customizing for Purchasing and define tolerances for the price check (Confirmations ® Set up Confirmation Control under Confirmation Sequence).
• The system then checks whether the prices transmitted to you via EDI lie within the specified tolerances.

If they do, the confirmed quantities and dates are updated in the PO. If not, an error message is issued.

An example of the quantity and date check for order acknowledgments received via EDI is given in the section Example: Checking Order Acknowledgments Received via EDI.

For further information on the correction of errors, refer to the section Error Correction: Receipt of Confirmations via EDI.

In Customizing, you can specify that the material number transmitted to you in an order acknowledgment via EDI is to be adopted in the purchase order. Any existing vendor material number will be overwritten. (Purchasing ® Confirmations ® Set up Confirmation Control under Confirmation Sequence.)

At this point, SAP provides the enhancement MM06E001, enabling you to adapt quantity/price tolerances and the process of adopting the vendor material number to suit your own specific requirements.

Inbound Delivery

The system always generates separate inbound-delivery documents from shipping notifications sent to you by your vendors via EDI. If a confirmation control key with the confirmation category "inbound delivery" exists in the relevant PO or outline agreement item, the notified quantities and dates are recorded in the PO item.

During the processing of the IDoc, data variances may arise, which result in the purchasing document not being automatically updated. The system then issues an internal message, on the basis of which you can rectify the error. (See Error Correction: Receipt of Confirmations Via EDI.)

Such automatically generated inbound deliveries cannot be changed manually via the PO (or outline purchase agreement) but only using the Change Inbound Delivery function.

For more information on receiving confirmations via EDI, refer to the documentation CA The IDoc Interface under EDI Application Scenarios.

Confirmations from the Purchasing Viewpoint in SAP MM

Use

When working with vendor confirmations, you have the following options:

• You work exclusively with order acknowledgments.

In this case, the confirmation has informative character only, i.e. you cannot enter any dates or quantities in the system.

• You work with one or more self-defined confirmation categories (order acknowledgment, loading confirmation, inbound delivery, etc.). In this case, you can enter quantities and dates in the system.

If you have an EDI arrangement with your vendor, incoming EDI order acknowledgments and shipping notifications (as inbound deliveries) can be created in your system automatically.

Furthermore, you can monitor confirmations and issue acknowledgment expediters.

Prerequisites

• Working with order acknowledgments only

None

• Working with different confirmation categories

The confirmation control facility must be set up in Customizing for Purchasing.

You can also define which confirmation categories are relevant to MRP in Customizing for Purchasing (Confirmations ® Confirmation control under Confirmation sequence).

Features

Working with Order Acknowledgments Only

In this case, you do not have to enter anything when you create a purchase order (or scheduling agreement). SAP recommends that you set the Acknowledgment requirement indicator, since you can then send out messages urging vendors to submit outstanding acknowledgments.

If the indicator has been set in the relevant purchasing info record, it is adopted in the purchase order.

When your vendor sends you an order acknowledgment, enter the acknowledgment number on the item detail screen. If you wish to assign the same acknowledgment number to all items, you can use the fast change facility. (Edit ® Fast change.)

You cannot enter any dates or quantities, and are thus unable to influence materials planning. Neither can you run any analyses of confirmations.

Working with Different Confirmation Categories

In this case, you must enter a confirmation control key on the item detail screen when creating a purchase order (or outline purchase agreement). This key determines which confirmations are expected from the vendor (e.g. an order acknowledgment and a shipping notification) and in which sequence.

If a confirmation control key has been defined in the relevant purchasing info record, this is suggested. The same applies to the Acknowledgment requirement indicator.

If you create a purchase order with reference to a contract, the confirmation control key from the contract is adopted in the PO.

You can enter a confirmation in one of the following ways:

• You can enter the vendor confirmation in the PO or scheduling agreement. Enter the confirmed (or acknowledged) quantities and delivery dates on the confirmation overview screen (Item ® Confirmations ® Overview).
• You can generate an
Inbound Delivery with its own inbound-delivery document against a shipping notification sent to you by your vendor (Purchase order or Scheduling agreement ® Inbound delivery ® Create). If a confirmation control key with the confirmation category "inbound delivery" exists in the relevant PO item, the data PO item data is updated by the data from the inbound-delivery document.

See also:

Receiving Confirmations via EDI

Monitoring Confirmations

Order Acknowledgment Expediters

Example: Process of Procurement Using Vendor Confirmations in SAP MM

The following graphic provides an example of the procurement of goods using confirmations:

Meyer & Co.’s purchasing department orders 100 boxes of special steel bolts from vendor Miller Corp. The planned delivery date is August 30. On the basis of the delivery date set out in the PO, Meyer & Co.'s MRP system expects the material to be available to the production line on August 30.

Meyer & Co. expects its vendor to first send an order acknowledgment, and to follow this with a shipping notification indicating precise quantities and delivery dates when the goods are loaded for shipment. This will provide more up-to-date and reliable information for materials planning than the corresponding data in the purchase order.

On receipt of the purchase order, Miller Corp. sends Meyer & Co. an acknowledgment confirming delivery of 100 boxes of bolts on the desired date.

The data in Meyer & Co.'s materials planning system is then updated: now all the steel bolts are expected to be available on August 30.

After the materials have been loaded on board the cargo vessel, Miller Corp. sends Meyer & Co. a loading confirmation covering 100 boxes of steel bolts on August 30.

When the bolts have been loaded onto a truck for the last leg of their journey, Miller Corp. sends Meyer & Co. a shipping notification confirming delivery of the 100 bolts on August 8.

Meyer & Co. receives the shipping notification. Its materials planning system now expects the complete order quantity to be available on August 31.

Procurement Using Vendor Confirmations in SAP MM

Purpose

Working with confirmations has the advantage that Materials Planning does not have to depend solely on the delivery dates and quantities set out in purchase orders or the delivery schedules of scheduling agreements.

Confirmations enable you to plan more exactly, since during the time-span between the order date and the desired delivery date you receive increasingly more reliable information from the vendor regarding the anticipated delivery.

Furthermore, you can monitor all confirmations and issue expediters in respect of outstanding order acknowledgments.

If you receive only order acknowledgments from your vendors, the receipt of which you wish to monitor, you just enter the acknowledgment number. In this case, no information on confirmed quantities and delivery dates is available to you in support of the procurement process.

See: Confirmations from the Purchasing Viewpoint

Integration

The information from incoming confirmations is available to the inventory management and goods receiving functions.

You can specify whether each confirmation category is relevant to materials planning in Customizing. If a confirmation is MRP-relevant, the data on quantities and delivery dates appears in the current stock/requirement list. One or more confirmation categories can be MRP-relevant, but the last confirmation that is expected must be GR-relevant.

When you post a goods receipt, the stock/requirements list is updated. That is to say, the quantities and delivery dates from MRP- and GR-relevant confirmations are deleted from the list at this time.

For more information, refer to the sections Confirmations from the Materials Planning Viewpoint and Confirmations from the Inventory Management Viewpoint.

If you wish to post a goods receipt with reference to vendor confirmations, you should set the GR assignment indicator for the desired confirmation category in Customizing for Purchasing. When you then post a relevant goods receipt, the system will provide a default line containing the confirmed quantity in respect of each confirmation (with GR-assignment) previously received.

For more information, refer to the section Confirmation-Related Goods Receipt.

Prerequisites

In order to be able to receive confirmations from your vendors, you must maintain the confirmation control facility in Customizing for Purchasing (Confirmations ® Confirmation control):

• You must define the categories of confirmation that you wish to receive from your vendors and enter manually in Customizing for Purchasing. (Confirmations ® Confirmation control ® External confirmation categories.)

You can only receive via EDI and automatically process order acknowledgments and shipping notifications. (Confirmations ® Confirmation control ® Internal confirmation categories.)

• For each confirmation category, you can specify in Customizing whether the information is to be made available to Purchasing only, or also to Materials Planning and Inventory Management. Under Confirmation sequence, select the MRP-relevant and GR-relevant indicators for the confirmation categories concerned.
• You can also specify in Customizing the sequence in which you expect to receive various confirmations.

If you enter order acknowledgment numbers solely in order to acquire a general overview of which acknowledgments you need to chase up, you need not make any settings in Customizing.

Process Flow

The following process flow gives you a broad outline of the functions available to you if you work with vendor confirmations.

1. You arrange with your vendor that the latter is to send you confirmations relating to purchase orders or to delivery schedules created under scheduling agreements.

2. You create a purchase order or a scheduling agreement delivery schedule and transmit it to your vendor.

For each item, you can specify whether order acknowledgments can be expedited (i.e. whether messages can be sent urging the vendor to send an overdue acknowledgment). This cannot be done with respect to the other categories of confirmation.

See: Creating a Purchase Order or Outline Purchase Agreement with Acknowledgment Requirement

3. You await receipt of the acknowledgment:

a. Your vendor’s acknowledgment is not received on time.

If you have set the Acknowledgment requirement indicator in the PO and your vendor has not sent an acknowledgment, you can expedite the latter (send the vendor a message urging its submission).

See: Urging Vendors to Submit Outstanding Acknowledgments

b. The vendor sends you an acknowledgment.

You enter the data from the acknowledgment in the purchase order or scheduling agreement.

If you received the acknowledgment via EDI, the system processes the data automatically.

See: Manual Maintenance of Confirmations and Receiving Confirmations via EDI

4. You await receipt of the shipping notification from your vendor.

a. You can monitor both the receipt of confirmations (here a shipping notification) and the quantities and dates set out in them.

This applies to all confirmation categories (i.e. order acknowledgments, inbound deliveries, loading confirmations, etc.).

See: Monitoring Vendor Confirmations

b. When you receive a shipping notification from your vendor, you can enter the data it contains manually in the PO or scheduling agreement, or you can create an inbound delivery with a separate inbound-delivery document.

If you have received your vendor’s shipping notification via EDI, the system processes the data automatically and creates a separate inbound-delivery document.

See: Creating an Inbound Delivery Against a Shipping Notification

5. When the goods are delivered, you can post the goods receipt with reference to the PO or the delivery schedule of the relevant scheduling agreement. If an inbound-delivery document exists for a shipping notification received from one of your vendors, you can also reference this inbound delivery when entering the goods receipt.

See also:

Example: Procurement Process Using Vendor Confirmations

Vendor Confirmations in SAP MM

In Purchasing, the term Confirmation is an umbrella term for various kinds of information provided by a vendor to a customer with regard to ordered goods.

Possible types of confirmation include the following:

• Order acknowledgments
• Loading or transport confirmations
• Shipping notifications. (Note that shipping notifications may also be referred to by a number of other names, including "advice (note)", "advice of dispatch", "ship notice", and "advance(d) shipping notice" ("ASN").)

A further form of confirmation frequently used in Purchasing is the Inbound Delivery, which is created on the basis of an incoming shipping notification. The shipping notification represents a vendor’s confirmation to a purchasing organization of a delivery date for a certain quantity of ordered materials (or the date of performance of ordered services).

Structure

You can enter incoming vendor confirmations manually. Alternatively, you can receive them via EDI and have them processed automatically.

When working with vendor confirmations, you have the following options:

• You can enter the order acknowledgment number if you simply wish to provide a basis for monitoring the receipt or non-receipt of acknowledgments.
• You should enter the confirmed quantities and delivery dates if you wish to provide more detailed information in support of the purchasing, inventory management, and materials planning/control functions within your enterprise.