Variant Configuration Rev. 03/17/10 1 SAPtips Sample Variant Configuration Material Master

This segment from our 461 page Variant Configuration manual is being made available as a sample of our training manuals. Please contact David.Haynes@ERPtips.com if you have any SAP training needs, or visit www.ERPtips.com for more information.

Written by Jocelyn Hayes

Published by Klee Associates, Inc.

Copyright Klee Associates, Inc., 2010

Unit 3: Variant Configuration Master Data

In Unit 1, Variant Configuration Overview, we briefly covered the master data used to support the Variant Configuration process. In this unit, we will perform a deeper dive as well as get some hands-on practice in building our own master data.

We will review, demonstrate, and create the following master data:

Material Master

Super Bill of Material

Super Routing

Material Master

In this section, we will perform the following:

Display the Material Master and Discuss Key Fields used for VC

Demonstrate how to Create a Configurable Material Master

Perform an Exercise to Create a Configurable Material Master

Let's review the scenario for when it makes sense to use a configurable material versus creating a unique material master record for every possible configuration of your product.

Consider an automobile that can have literally hundreds of variations based on engine, trim, color, make, model, audio options, navigation options, and so on. Many of those options are dependent on each other. For example, if you choose a specific trim package, certain colors may not be available for the interior of the automobile. Variant Configuration allows you to 'code' dependencies based on other decisions to restrict the user from selecting an option that is not available.

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You can also drive characteristics to be chosen based on other selections. For example, if the user chooses the CD audio package, they may also be asked if they want a premium sound system or not, whereas they may not have that option if they chose the stock radio that does not have a CD. All of these decision trees can be developed into the system using variant configuration.

Demonstration: Display Material Master Configurable Material

In this step, we will revisit displaying the material master and the key fields used for variant configuration and configurable materials.

To display the material master, follow these steps:

1. Execute the Display Material Master Transaction

Menu Path: Logistics Sales and Distribution Master Data Products Other Material Display

Transaction Code: MM03

2. Enter the following on the Display Material: Initial Screen and press Enter.

Field Value

Material T-VPC99

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3. Select the following views and press Enter:

4. Enter the following organizational levels and press Enter:

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5. Review the fields in the Basic Data 1 view:

Field Use

General Item Category Group

Used to determine the item category on the sales order. If this value is also maintained on the Sales Org 2 view at the distribution channel level, it overrides the value maintained on the Basic Data view.

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Let's revisit the concept of Item Category.

Item Categories control whether a sales order line item:

Has pricing

Is billable

Posts to inventory

Transfers requirements to MRP

The screen shot below illustrates where you can find item category on the sales order:

A bill of material for a configurable product can have materials that are finished products and trading goods and have their own material masters and their own item category groups, which determine whether these subordinate items are pricing relevant or they transfer requirements to MRP.

We will not go into great detail in this class about the many scenarios you can have with configurable materials and their BOMs, but the key point here is that the combination of the superior configurable item category and item category group, along with the item categories and item category groups of the subordinate items, determine whether the individual components and header items will be pricing relevant and whether they transfer requirements to MRP.

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Field Use

Configuration Strategy Allows you to override the standard call of the value assignment interface, or develop your own custom code to fine tune the checks performed during configuration.

Material Variant Action Controls the systems reaction to found material variants.

ATP Material Variant Allows an Available to Promise check for found material variants.

Structure scope Controls BOM explosion. The standard option, D, allows the configuration profile to determine the extent of BOM explosion.

Variant Matching Activates material variant matching.

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6. Press Enter and review the fields in the Basic Data 2 view:

Field Value

Cross-plant CM Used when creating a material variant.

Material is configurable Indicates that this is the configurable material. Do not check this box if this is a material variant.

Variant Check this box if you are creating a material variant.

Configure Variant button Click this button to maintain the configuration of the material variant.

We will review material variants in more detail in the unit on that topic.

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7. Press Enter and select the Class type for Variants.

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8. Press Enter and review the fields in Classification view:

Field Value

Class Type Class 300 is used for variant classes. Class 200 is used for class items, which allow you to assign one value on the classification screen, which will select the variant part from the BOM. This will be covered in more detail in the section of this unit on BOMs.

Class Defines the class that holds the characteristics that will define the configuration of the material.

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9. Click to navigate to the next view.

10. Review the fields on the Sales Org. 1 view:

None of the fields on the Sales Org. 1 view are relevant for Variant Configuration.

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11. Press Enter and review the fields on the Sales Org. 2 view.

Field Value

Gen. Item cat. Grp Copied from the Basic Data view

Item category group Used to determine the item category on the sales order. If left blank, SAP uses the Gen. Item cat. Group to determine the item category for the sales order item.

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12. Press Enter and review the fields on the Sales General Plant view:

None of the fields on the Sales General Plant view are relevant for Variant Configuration.

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13. Press Enter and review the fields on the MRP 1 view:

Field Value

MRP Group The MRP group is used to define planning parameters for the material to be used during Material Requirements Planning. This is further defined in the sub-section below.

MRP Type Determines how the product will be planned during MRP. Examples include Forecast Based Planning, Reorder Point Planning, or traditional MRP, based on requirements for Sales and Production orders.

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Field Value

Lot Size For make-to-order products, you should select EX, or Lot-for-lot order quantity, which means SAP will suggest you produce or order exactly the number required by the order requirements.

MRP Group

The MRP group combines various parameters used to control how SAP plans a material during MRP. If a material does not have an MRP group assigned, SAP will use the settings defined for the plant. Many of these settings can be maintained specific to the material master on the MRP views; for example, the Strategy Group assigned on the MRP 3 view will override the Strategy Group maintained for the MRP Group on the material.

The following screen shot illustrates the various settings controlled by the MRP Group:

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Strategy Group

The first setting is the strategy group. A planning strategy group is assigned to the MRP Group as shown below:

The planning strategy group combines possible planning strategies that can be assigned in the material master.

The following screen shot shows all the possible planning strategies defined for Planning Strategy Group = 25.

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Planning Strategy

The planning strategy represents the procedure used for planning a material. It is defined by a requirements type, which can be based on a sales order or demand management (sales planning).

The configuration settings for the planning strategy are shown here:

Requirement Types

The requirements types for which this planning strategy applies are assigned here. Notice that this example planning strategy for make-to-order configurable materials does not have a requirements type for independent requirements. Independent requirements come from sales plans, not specifically from a sales order or a customer requirement, and since this is for a make-to-order item, it does not make sense to tie it to an independent requirement.

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Requirements Class

The settings that are grayed out in the screen shot above come from the settings on the requirements class, 046. The configuration for the requirements class is shown in the next screen shot:

As we learned in unit 1, Requirements Classes contain settings for:

Planning indicator

Consumption indicator

Configuration allowed/required

Configuration consumption

Requirements reduction indicator

Requirements type

The requirements class is derived from the planning strategy from the material master and the requirements type. The requirement type comes from the

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combination of the item category of the sales order line item and the MRP type of the material master.

The Requirements Class controls:

Whether there will be an availability check and requirements transfer for a transaction

Whether the requirement is relevant for MRP

How customer requirements consume independent requirements

Whether an item will be posted to an auxiliary account assignment

Transfer of Requirements to MRP is based on:

Requirements Type

Requirement Class

Check Group

Schedule Line Category

Review of Settings

Let's work backwards from the sales order and review all of these settings we have discussed.

1. Sales Order item category = material master item category group + order type

2. Requirements type = sales order item category + material master MRP type

3. Requirements class = material master planning strategy + requirements type

4. Material Master Planning Strategy (included in) Strategy group

5. Strategy group (assigned to) MRP Group (assigned to) Material Master

Now that we have completed our deep dive into material master settings relevant to configurable materials and side-stepped from the Display Material Master demonstration, let's return to where we were (Step 13, above).

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14. Press Enter and review the fields on the MRP 2 view:

None of the fields on the MRP 2 view are relevant for Variant Configuration.

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15. Press Enter and review the fields on the MRP 3 view:

Field Value

Strategy Group Defined earlier

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16. Press Enter and review the fields on the MRP 4 view:

Field Value

Individual/collective Select 1 for configurable materials.

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17. Press Enter and review the fields on the Work Scheduling view:

Field Usage

Overall Profile To enable order change management, you need to define a profile that allows overall change (standard value is PP0001). This basically drives what can be changed in the production process and when it can or cannot be changed.

Exit the transaction.

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Demonstration: Create a Configurable Material Master

Now that we have completed the deep dive of the material master, let's create one. In this demonstration, we will copy from an existing material that was created for the purposes of this class.

The material we are creating is a generic configurable material that has 3 configurable selections. The first selection is the color, the second is the model, and the third is the optional equipment. The material will always be built with a base component (Z_BASE) which we will discuss when we build the Bill of Material in the next step. The material will select a specific routing based on the color, and the optional equipment will select specific BOM components.

In this step, we will revisit displaying the material master and the key fields used for variant configuration and configurable materials.

To create a material master, follow these steps:

1. Execute the Create Material Master Transaction

Menu Path: Logistics Sales and Distribution Master Data Products Other Material Create

Transaction Code: MM01

2. Enter the following on the Create Material: Initial Screen and press Enter.

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Field Value

Material

Industry Sector M

Material Type KMAT Configurable Material

Copy From 2294

Material Type

In this demonstration, we select material type KMAT, which is a standard SAP configurable material. It is also possible to select other material types, such as trading goods or finished products, and select the 'Configurable Material' indicator on the Basic Data 2 view. If you wish to stock the material or create a material variant of the material, you will need to use a material type other than the configurable material type that includes the Plant/Storage views and Accounting views. The following screen shot is for reference purposes to show the configuration for the KMAT material type:

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3. Select the following views and press Enter:

4. Enter the following organizational levels and press Enter:

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5. Review the fields in the Basic Data 1 view and press Enter:

Field Value

Description Test Configurable Material YXX

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6. Review the fields in the Basic Data 2 view and press Enter:

Field Value

Material is configurable Notice you cannot change this setting. This is because the material type is a KMAT.

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7. Select the class type for variants 300 and press Enter.

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8. Remove the class copied from the 'copy from' material by selecting the row

with the class name and clicking the Delete icon.

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9. Enter the class you created in the previous unit and click to navigate to the next view.

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10. Review the fields on the Sales Org. 1 view and press Enter:

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11. Review the fields on the Sales Org. 2 view and press Enter.

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12. Review the fields on the Sales General Plant view and press Enter:

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13. Review the fields on the MRP 1 view and press Enter:

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14. Review the fields on the MRP 2 view and press Enter:

15. Review the fields on the MRP 3 view and press Enter:

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16. Review the fields on the MRP 4 view and press Enter:

17. Review the fields on the Work Scheduling view and press Enter:

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18. Review the fields on the Work Scheduling view and press Enter:

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19. Review the fields on the Work Scheduling view and press Enter:

20. Select Yes on the following screen to save your material master record:

Record your Material Master number here: _______________

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Exercise: Create a Configurable Material Master

Follow the demonstration steps to create a Configurable Material Master.

Copy from the material as shown in the demonstration. Be sure to check that you create the material in the correct plant and sales area.

Record your Material Master number here: ___________________

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Unit 3: Variant Configuration Master DataMaterial MasterDemonstration: Display Material Master Configurable MaterialMRP GroupStrategy GroupPlanning StrategyRequirement TypesRequirements ClassReview of Settings

Demonstration: Create a Configurable Material MasterMaterial Type

Exercise: Create a Configurable Material Master