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I learned a new trick recently.  I often find time where I know an exit name, like EXIT_SAPMIEQ0_001 for example.  But when I go to SMOD to find the actual enhancement, I find myself doing a lot of hunt and peck.  I finally visited my friend the google to learn how to do it right.  Here’s what you do.

1. Go to transaction SMOD
2. Use the menu: Utilities –> Find

This brings up the familiar search screen that proved to be no help in the past.

But if you press:    you end up with the following screen.

Notice the field Component name now lets you enter in the exit to search for the enhancement.

Thanks for reading,

I recently tried to recost a material so it would show up properly on my service order.  Turns out, there is a piece of config (that I relearn every few months) that allows you to mark and release cost estimates.  It’s a very easy transaction, but something I always forget.

TXN:  CK22

simply select the current period (and any future periods) to open.  Enter in the costing variant (for me it’s PPC1) and save.  Easy, but a pain when you are just trying to do a quick costing 🙂

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A recent question put me on the path of talking about bills of materials.  I’m always looking for a topic to write about, so this worked out well.

If you aren’t that familiar with BOM’s, this can seem pretty big.  First, a BOM is a BOM, the usage define where it explodes and/or how it is used, but once you get inside of the BOM, they are all the same.  So if you understand exactly how to add a material and recognize that each item has different flags, you are in good shape.  When it comes to the BOM usage, much of the difference is in setting the item flags for if something is sales relevant, costing relevant, etc.  So I wanted to talk about the different usages, at least the ones I’m familiar with.

If you go into transaction CS01 and do a pull down on the BOM usage, you will likely see a list something like the one listed below.

• 1 + . – . . – Production
• 2 . + – . . – Engineering/Design
• 3 . . – . . . Universal
• 4 – – + . . – Plant Maintenance
• 5 . . – . . + Sales and Distribution
• 6 . . – . + . Costing
• 7 . – – – . . Empties
• 8 – . – – – – Stability Study
• M . . . . . . External Munitions Display

For me, I typically use 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.  The others, I really haven’t needed in my travels.  So let me give you the quick low down on these.

1 – Production:  this is the BOM that will be used to build the product.  On the items, it will set the Production relevant, which basically tells production orders to use this BOM to build the product.  That in turn tells MRP what components to order and have available at the work center when production begins.

2 – Engineering/Design:  this is the BOM used when you are prototyping or making something new.  I have always used it to build the final production BOM, but didn’t want anyone mass producing something.  Think of this as the BOM in progress.  You aren’t complete, maybe you are still missing materials, or maybe the materials haven’t been extended to the proper plants yet.  Either way, this BOM is a “not ready for prime time” list of components.

3 – Universal:  I have been in some locations that only use a 3.  It’s a catch all.  it works for production, sales, plant maintenance, etc.  Personally, I prefer to have different usages so I can vary what things look like, but if you are in environment where the BOM is identical for everything, then this is a great way to cut down on master data.

4 – Plant Maintenace:  this is the BOM that is used for maintenance.  Think of this as the spare part list, or components that may be needed to maintain the equipment after it is in use.

5 – Sales and Distribution:  this is the BOM that will only explode on the sales order.  It is not for production.  This is common when you are dealing with a kit, or with variant configuration.  If you want to type in a single material on a sales order, but have it list our 5 different assemblies, this how you do it 🙂

6 – Costing:  never used this one…  but it sets the costing relevant flag.  I suppose this would be useful if you don’t want all the components included in the overall cost, or need different versions.

This is the quick and dirty explanation of the BOM usages I am familiar with.

Thanks for reading,

I recently had a request to talk about bills of materials (BOMs).  So I thought, why not?  I started to give it some thought and realized that it is a big topic, but that one of my friends has likely covered at some of it.  So thanks to my friend Rama, he has this great post as a starting point.

Bill of Material Functionality in SAP – ASUG Wisconsin – 072414 – v2

This was a presentation done at a regional ASUG in Wisconsin, and it has a lot of information.  So use this as your starting point.  Next up, I’ll go into a little more detail on the types of BOM’s and why you would use them.

Thanks for reading,

In general, this is a pretty simple answer.  Of course not.  So why is it so complicated to move something from bin to bin, or Storage location to a bin?  If your warehouse is WM managed, there can be a lot of transactions involved to simply move a part from bin to bin.  Between doing the initial material movement, then a transfer requirement, then a transfer order or transfer posting.  So, why would you expect your warehouse worker to be responsible for all of these transactions?

If this describes your warehouse, then you should check out WMigo for free.  This a solution that combines the standard IM (inventory managed) transactions with the WM transactions into a single movement.   This is a tool I built, and rather than let it collect dust on my server, I wanted to offer it to anyone that can use it.  Simply email me and I’ll send you the installation and documentation for it.

mpiehl@goJaveLLin.com

thanks for reading,