1. How the tickets in production support are resolved? 2. Give some examples with solutions?

What are the types of ticket and its importance?

This depends on the SLA. It can be like:

  1. Critical.   2. Urgent.   3. High.   4. Medium   5. Low.

The response times and resolution times again are defined in the SLA based on the clients requirement and the charges.

This is probably from the viewpoint of Criticality of the problem faced by the client as defined by SAP.

  1)      First Level Ticketing:

Not severe problem. Routine errors. Mostly handled by Service desk arrangement of the company (if have one).

Eg: a) Say Credit limit block in working on certain documents?       b) Pricing Condition Record not found even though conditions are maintained?       c) Unable to print a delivery document or Packing list?

PS: In the 4th phase of ASAP Implementation Methodology( i.e Final Preparations for GO-LIVE) SAP has clearly specified that a Service desk needs to be arranged for any sort of Implementation for better handling of Production errors.

Service desk lies with in the client.

2)      Second Level Ticketing:

Some sort of serious problems. Those Could not be solved by Service Desk. Should be referred to the Service Company (or may be company as prescribed in SLA).

Eg: a) Credit Exposure (especially open values) doesn't update perfectly to KNKK Table.       b) Inter company Billing is taking a wrong value of the Bill.       c) Need a new order type to handle reservation process       d) New product has been added to our selling range. Need to include this into SAP. (Material Masters, Division attachements, Stock Handling etc.)

3)      Third Level Ticketing:

Problems could not be solved by both of the above, are referred to Online Service Support (OSS) of SAP Itself. SAP tries to solve the Problem, sometimes by providing the perfect OSS Notes, fits to the error and rarely SAP logs into our Servers (via remote log-on)for post mortem the problem. (The Medical check-up client, connections, Login id and Passwords stuff are to be provided to SAP whenever they need or at the time of opening OSS Message.)

There are lots of OSS Notes on each issue, SAP Top Notes and Notes explaining about the process of raising a OSS Message.

Sometimes SAP Charges to the client / Service company depending on the Agreement made at the time of buying License from SAP.

Eg: 1) Business Transation for the Currency 'EUR' is not possible. Check OSS Note  - This comes at the time of making Billing.       2) Transaction MMPI- Periods cannot be opened – See OSS Note.

      There are many other examples on the issue.

4)      Fourth Level Ticketing:

Where rarely, problems reach this level.

Those problem needs may be re-engineering of the business process due to change in the Business strategy. Upgradation to new Version.  More or less this leads to extinction of the SAP Implementation.

How to edit the description name of a storage location?

It is very simple, go to OX09 and straight away you can change the Storage location name. Only thing is that you should have access to change it and in view mode it is greyed out and not possible to change. If you want to change the address of S.Loc, select the desired S.Loc double click on address folder in left side, it allow you to maintain the address too.

Is it possible to maintain the same material master with same code in all plants in a company. Our client is using same materials in all their four plants?

Material numbers are always maintained at Company code level. If you look at the Material master data, some data is maintained at Company code level, some at Plant level and some at Storage location level. If you have all the 4 plants attached to one company code, they should have the same material number. What you need to do is to extend the material to all the 4 plants if thats your requirement. Also, if you have your valuation area as your Plant, then you have the flexibility to maintain Plant specific pricing for the same material.

You can use MM01 T code to copy material from old plant to new plant. But check for the required details in your new plant and make changes accordingly. 

Where we do the configuration for the cost centre allocation, because whenever we GR a material, accounting document is created for that particular material.  How that particular material go in to the particular accounting (G/L account)

In Tcode: OBYC  -- Automatic Postings.       for Inventory Posting Trns Key is: BSX      for Off setting entries like Goods issue, initial stock......Trans Key is :  GBB

Based on the Movement types, Valuation class it will be assigned to a G/L account. You can refer the configuration in Tcode: OBYC

Could any one can explain complete configuration of pricing procedure & application.

The Basic thing is Condition Technique. In which there are  1. Access Sequence 2. Condition Record 3. Condition Type 4. Condition Table. 

A Access Sequence access a Condition Record of a Condition Type in a Condition Table is a  Condition Technique.This is a simple logic 

Here the Condition Type is very important like PB00, PBXX,RA01 etc.  In the background every Condition Type has its own defition means the purpose of the Condition Type  like, is it for Pricing or Percentage, Quntity base, Accrual Feilds etc is to be defined to work this functions.  Normally we use the existing ones without any risk. But some cases, we have to Create a New Condition Types as per the organisation requirement. 

The Pricing Schema is useful to minimise condition types while mention prices for Vendor on the basis of Pricing Schema which we defined according to organisation requirement. 

The Pricing Schema means the calculations procedure of Condition Type. 

Ex.  RA01 - Discoount % is caclulated on PB00 - Gross Price  means  RA01 is based on PB00  like that we have to define in the Pricing Schema which makes easy to use in real time.  Here PB00 has the Access Sequence - 0002.  But RA01 does not have the Access Sequence.Why because it is a dependent on PB00. But both are Condition Types. 

In the system, by default some standard  Scheme will be there at Vendor Schema Group in the Vendor Master Screen means the standard one is assigned which is very lengthy which may fullfil our requirement. But some cases which may not fullfil our requirement, in such we have to define. 

For the configuration, I may not able to explain properly through here but will give some idea. 

Configuration: SPRO - IMG - Material Management - Purchasing - Conditions - Define Price Deternmination Process: 1. Define Access Sequence  2. Define Condition Type  3. Defince Calculation Schema:- Here you have to define the Schema - Define Schema group  1. Define Schema Group vendor  2. Define Pricing Schema group  3.  Schema group for Purchase Organisation  4. Assign Schema group to Purchase Organisation - Define Schema determination  1.define calculation schema for Standard purchase organisation 

After completion of the Schema Group, we have to assign it to Vendors.  Then whenever we use any transaction with this Vendor, the concerned  Schema will work as configured by us. 

The Pricing in MM is vast because each Condition have its own importance and each Access Sequence have its own importance. So you need not bother about this. First you learn how to define the Calculation Schema through the above. 

Key Org structure objects used by Materials Management are: 

Company (FI) 

Plant 

Storage Location 

Purchase Organisation

 (the red crosses indicate links that are not allowed -- see notes below) 

Q: Why do we set up SAP Organisational Structures (or SAP Hierarchy)? 

It roughly mimic the actual structure of the organisation 

Use for reporting purposes, examples: 

"What are the current stock levels at storage location 0001?" 

"I want to have a Balance Sheet for company 1000?" 

Use for authorisation purposes, examples: 

"We don't want people in plant 1000 to receipt goods related to plant 2000" 

Master data is stored per organisational object, example: 

- Valuation is on plant level, so if same material is in two plants the material will have two

accounting views (one per plant) 

- If the same vendor is used by multiple purchase organisations it will have multiple

purchasing views

To keep it simple you want minimum amount of SAP Hierarchy objects (companies, plants, storage locations, ...). Example: Don't just create a lot of plants -- always ask why, why, why? 

Company Code 

Set up on the FI side of SAP. Required if we need to do external financial reporting. All companys must have different codes (company code is 4 characters) Questions to ask business: 

What are the legal entities of the business?

Plant 

Used by all Logistics modules (MM, PM, PP, QM, PS,...) Must be link to a company code. (only one) All plants must have different numbers (plant number is 4 characters) Questions to ask business: 

Where are the physical places (storage locations, distibution centres, ..) where materials

are handled? 

If using SAP PP, where are all the factories? 

How does the valuation (prices) of material differ between all these places? 

Reporting and authorisation requirements?

Storage Locations 

Used by Inventory Management (and Warehouse Management) Part of one Plant. Storage locations within the same plant must have unique number (4 characters) Questions to ask: 

Where are all the physical storage places (warehouses, tanks, ...)

Purchase Organisation 

A plant must have a purchase organisation (one or more) The link to company code is optional. If a Purchase Organisation is link to a company code, it can only be used by plants within that one company code. Contracts / Pricing are done in the purchase organisation. It consists of people (purchasing groups) that manage the purchasing function. Purchasing views in vendor master is per Purchasing Organisation Questions to ask: 

What is company structre of contract negotiators and buyers? 

Is the same vendor used by only some buyers?

Plants can also be linked to a default Purchase Organisation. This is used for example in "Auto PO create (when doing GR)" functionality, so that the system knows what P.Org to use. This link is only required if these functionalies are used. 

CONFIGURATION IN SAP 

Creating and Assigning (linking) Plants 

First create a plant by copying an existing plant: IMG: Enterprise Structure > Definition > Logistics > Define, copy, check Plant Select Activity: Copy, delete, check plant 

 

No assign the plant to a company code: IMG: Enterprise Structure > Assign > Logistics > Assign Plant 

 

Creating Storage Locations (within plants) 

IMG: Enterprise Structure > Definition > MM > Maintain Sloc 

 

It is also possible to give a storage location "address" information (optional) 

 

Create and Assigning (linking) Purchase Organisations 

Create the purchase organisation 

 

Then link it to the plants where it will be used. 

 

It can also be link to a company code (this only takes place if the P.Org will be used plants linked to this company code). 

 

Link to default Purchase organisation (if required) 

 

Regeneration of LIS for Inventory ManagementBy Willem Hoek

Regeneration of Logistics information Structures (LIS) for Inventory Management 

Question: How do I know if there is a problem with Logistics information Structures (LIS) for

Inventory Management? 

Answer: To be sure, run tcode MB5L to get total value of stock. Then run one of the LIS reports

such as MC.1 to get total value from LIS. If the two values are not the same – you have a

problem! Keep the printouts of above two reports for audit purposes. 

Below is example of MB5L -- the stock value is 100,000. This should be the same as from MC.1

else there is a problem. 

HOW TO FIX IT – REGENERATE LIS 

If values from MB5L and MC.1 and not the same (and assuming the results from MB5L are

correct), you need to re-generate the LIS. Firstly search on SAPNET. There are quite a lot of

notes on the subject. 

Example, note 453420. If required, implement. This might ensure that you don’t do this

exercise soon again. 

To regenerate LIS – see note 79083 (and others). Below is summary of main steps. 

Steps: 

Firstly, I used version “&(6†as temporary version – you could use any other name.�  

1. Delete version “&(6†ofr S031, S032, S033, S034, S035 (if they exists) -- tcode olix�  

2. Get material documents data for “&(6†– again S031, S032, S033, S034, S035 -- �tcode oli1 

3. Get invoices data for “&(6†– again S031, S032, S033, S034, S035 -- tcode oliz�  

4. Stock values for “&(6†– again S031, S032, S033, S034, S035 -- tcode oli2�  

5. Delete version “000†(the main version) of S031, S032, S033, S034, S035 -- tcode �olix 

6. Copy data in version “&(6†to version “000†for S031, S032, S033, S034, S035� �

-- tcode olix

Typical Stats (size of table) 

Table - Company - Company 

-------- SMALL ---- MEDIUM 

S031 -- 47,000 ----- 34,520 records 

S032 -- 95,000 ----- 397,521 records 

S033 -- 145,000 ---- 176,125 records 

S034 ----- 214 ----- 1,704 records 

S035 ------- 0 ----- 1,056 records 

If using BW, you also may need to regenerate S197 (RMCBS197) and S198 (RMCBS198) 

For LOG of LIS runs – see tcode nprt 

For list of background runs – tcode smx 

Question: How long does the above runs take? 

Answer: Depends on size of data. Below is example from a SMALL company. 

Tcode - Table - Run - Run time 

---------------------------------------- 

oli1 -- MKPF -- RMCBNEUA -- 15 minutes 

oli2 -- MCON -- RMCBNEUB -- 16 minutes 

oliz -- BKPF -- RMCBNERP -- 3 minutes 

Loading Material Master Characteristics with

LSMW Direct Input methodBy Willem Hoek

This LSMW shows how to mass load material master characteristics. The LSMW used is exactly

the same as what was used to load release procedure values [sap123.com]. Input file is

obviously different. 

Material Master classification can be used to store additional information against a material

master. Example: if it is finished products you may want to store: brand, pack, etc. If it is

maintenance materials, you may want to store: size of item, grouping, etc. 

Before loading the values (per material), you first need to create the fields (characteristics) and

group them together in a class. This is done with following transaction codes: 

Create class -; transaction CL02 

Create characteristic(s)s -; transaction CT04 

Assign characteristic(s) to class - transaction CL02

No screen shots about CL02 and CT04 -; you should be be able to get that right. 

Material characteristic values can be viewed from a few places: 

MM03 Display material and select characteristic view 

CL20N Specify class type 001 and material master number 

CL24N Specify class name and class type (001 in this case)

 

 

This data was loaded with attached LSMW and following input file (cl20_1.txt) 

If the material numbers is numeric (example '123') then add leading zero's (as in my sample

input file). This is not required for alpha material numbers (example if material number is

'A123C'). 

This is how the data look in UltraEdit [ultraedit.com] 

 

Same information but displayed in Excel 

See how the leading zero's are chopped off in Excel, this is one of the main reasons to use Excel

only to display data. Do not save from Excel, as you may alter the input data. 

The last line can be deleted -; it was added to show a deliberate error when all the data was

loaded. 

So in this case 

KLART - 001 (Material Master) 

OBJEK - material master number 

CLASS - Class name 

ATNAM - Characteristic name 

ATWRT - Characteristic value

Details of LSMW (attached) 

 

 

Running LSMW 

If no error, you will see the deliberate error (that was added in last line) 

This demo was produced using LSMW version: 4.0.0 

SAP version: SAP R/3 Enterprise 

Default GL account in account assigned Purchase

RequisitionBy Willem Hoek

SAP version used for this post: SAP ECC (ERP Central Component) 5.0 

When creating a Purchase Requisition, it is possible to default a GL account based on Material

group. 

This is set in configuration: 

IMG: MM > Purchasing > Material master > Entry Aids for Items without an material master 

 

The GL account itself is link to the Valuation class in T030 (tcode omwb) 

 

If the Entry Aids (default valuation class per material group) are not found, one can also set a

default GL account in T030 by leaving the Valuation class blank. (First row in above example).