SAP Archives - Page 14 of 45 - Paper Street Enterprises

UI5 – Calling methods within a function

05SepAugust 30, 2016

Well, I’ve been trying to spend a little free time working in UI5 again. I recently ran into an issue that stumped me for a while. I created a worklist application using the template and everything worked great, it connected to my service, I could even add some buttons and features. Then comes the fun part. I wanted to add the dynamic features into my table. Well, for some reason when you code up a table in the xml view everything works great, but when you create it within the controller, you can’t just call the method. Special thanks to SCN and this blog post to finally get me over the hump.

I defined a button and originally it looked like this:

var oButtRefresh = new sap.m.Button({
id: “BtRefresh”,
type: “Transparent”,
press: “onRefresh”,
icon: “sap-icon://refresh”
});

However, when I would push the button, I’d get errors. I tried with quotes, without quotes, with (), without (). All to no avail. The trick that I needed to do, was first: at the top of the onInit method, I added the following line:

self = this;

then I changed my button to look like this:

var oButtRefresh = new sap.m.Button({
id: “BtRefresh”,
type: “Transparent”,
press: function() {
self.onRefresh();
},
icon: “sap-icon://refresh”
});

What I came to realize is that “this” inside of a function no longer sees the original controller. Even though it works fine from the XML version, when you build it in the controller, you need to be very aware of your “context”. In this case, I needed to give it a specific variable that wouldn’t change based on where it was called from. Hope this can save you some time in your UI5 adventure.

Thanks for reading,

SM – Configuring the Equipment Category – Serial Number Profile

01SepAugust 23, 2016

Now, we get to a really piece. The serial number profile. Without a doubt, one of my favorite areas.

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Technical Objects->Serial Number Management->Define Serial Number Profiles

Like always, I suggest making your own profile, I’m going to show you the Z002 profile that I created. You’ll notice on this first screen there are several fields that control the functions.

Description – We will call this self explanatory.
– If you check this, it means that you must first create the equipment record before it can be used. If you don’t check this box, the system will generate the equipment record automatically.
Cat – equipment category that will be generated.
StkChk (or stock check).

You’ll see that you have a few options of how the stock can be checked. If it’s blank, the serial number is not validated in inventory, if it’s 1, it warns you, if it’s 2, then it’s required that the serial number be used for inventory and be checked before movements can occur.

Next we move onto the details of the serial number profile.

You’ll notice that there are only 3 fields that control this very powerful piece of configuration. First is the procedure.

Here are some notes on the commonly used procedures.

SDAU – This procedure makes possible the use of serial numbers in sales orders, inquiries and quotations.
SDLS – This procedure makes possible the assignment of serial numbers for deliveries.
SDCC – This procedure makes possible the assignment of serial numbers when performing completeness checks for deliveries. This checks for the serial number upon Goods Issue
SDRE – This operation makes possible the assignment of serial numbers for returns deliveries.
SDCR – This procedure makes possible the assignment of serial numbers when performing completeness checks for returns deliveries. This checks for the serial number upon Goods Reciept
PPAU – makes possible the use of serial numbers in production and refurbishment orders and defines how they are assigned
PPRL – makes possible the assignment of serial numbers when production and refurbishment orders are released. If serial number requirement exists and no or not all serial numbers have been assigned, the order cannot be released

Here is the complete list of procedures that you can assign to your serial number profile. If any of these are included in the profile then it means that serials either can or must be entered for the transaction. You’ll notice there are a lot options. Be sure to include each of these procedures that you want to include serial numbers.

The remaining 2 fields control how the procedure behaves.

The usage determines if it’s none, optional, obligatory or automatic. This field is pretty self explanatory, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful.

Finally the last field:

This last value determines if it’s just a serial number record (01) or if it’s an equipment record (02). I’m a fan of the equipment record because it contains additional views. You never know when you might need the info.

The last piece is to assign this profile to a material number (sales and Distribution: Plant Data). Once that happens, all the transactions will start to behave based on this profile.

thanks for reading,

SM – Equipment Category – Assign Partner Determination

31AugAugust 23, 2016

I wanted to keep going with the different pieces of configuring the equipment category.

Assign Partner Determination Procedure to Equipment Category *

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Technical Objects->Equipment->Assign Partner Determination Procedure to Equipment Category

tech obj - equip cat 07

We will drill into the details to explain what can happen here.

tech obj - equip cat 08

Partner Determination Procedure: this is very straightforward. Enter in the appropriate partner procedure that should have been defined already.
Vendor: You only need to populate this if you plan on serializing your vendor’s equipment. Be sure the partner type you select is defined as unique in the profile.
CurrCust.: This is the current customer for the serial number.
Cust.: The partner function for the customer within the equipment master. Be sure the partner type you select is defined as unique in the profile
EndCust.: The partner function for the End User within the equipment master. Be sure the partner type you select is defined as unique in the profile
Operator: The partner function for the operator within the equipment master. Be sure the partner type you select is defined as unique in the profile.

thanks for reading,

Service Management – Configuring the Equipment Category – Define Number Range

30AugAugust 23, 2016

This is another short and sweet post.

Define Number Ranges *

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Technical Objects->Equipment->Equipment Categories->Define Number Ranges

tech obj - equip cat 05

Following the same pattern as all other number ranges.

tech obj - equip cat 06

Here you can see the number range that each equipment category is assigned.

Thanks for reading,

Service Management – Configuring the equipment category (2)

29AugAugust 23, 2016

Today I wanted to continue talking about configuring the equipment record. This is a short one, but no less important.

Define Additional Business Views for Equipment Categories *

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Technical Objects->Equipment->Equipment Categories->Define Additional Business Views for Equipment Categories

tech obj - equip cat 04

Here is the configuration that allows for advanced selection of views.

Production Res/Tools
Sales Equipment – this will provide the sales data tab for the equipment
Configuration Supported – if you use Variant Configuration, you will want to activate this view
Serial Data When Maintaining Equipment
Other Data Active

Like everything, don’t activate anything you won’t be using. The more you activate and leave blank, the more you will train your user to ignore things.

thanks for reading,

Service Management – Configuring the Equipment Category

25AugAugust 23, 2016

Like my last post, I wanted to continue talking about some configuration within SM. In fact, this section again is one of the fundamental building blocks of service management. It revolves around the equipment category. Without the equipment record (or you could use functional location or serial number), service loses a lot of it benefits. Let’s get into the meat of it.

Maintain Equipment Categories

tech obj - equip cat 01

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Technical Objects->Equipment->Equipment Categories->Maintain Equipment Categories

tech obj - equip cat 02

For each equipment type you have the following settings you can apply:

No Alpha-numeric Equipment Numbers
Indicator showing equipment category with change documents – I highly encourage this to always be checked
Indicator: Generate Event for Workflow – Should workflow events be generated
Parameter ID Object Info– this is from the object information key. For more information see the Advanced Configuration Guide.
View profile for tab index Customizing – Use this to determine what profile should be used.
Keep construction type and material number synchronous
Equipment Type with Change Documents During Creation – I highly encourage this to always be checked.

I have my general settings I tend to apply to the equipment, but as always, be flexible based on the business needs.

Thanks for reading,

Setting the View Profile for a Technical Object

24AugAugust 23, 2016

Today, I wanted to get a little more technical. It’s been a while since I had a chance to go over some configuration, so I wanted to start at the top of everything. The equipment record. For those of you doing this for a while, I’m sure this is either old hat to you… or you did it so long ago, you may have forgotten this is there 🙂 Until I started writing my first book, I only had a vague recollection. So, why is this step important?

First off, where do you find this in configuration?

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Master Data in Plant Maintenance and
Customer Service->Technical Objects->General Data->Set View Profiles for Technical
Objects

Now we arrive at a very powerful portion of configuration. This screen is
what allows you to manipulate what your equipment master screens will look like.
This screen will allow you to create your own profile, and set screens that you want
shown. Here’s how.

Once you select the Activity and Layout, you now define what tabs will be shown, and
more importantly, what fields will be visible on each tab. I highly encourage you to
always include 110 for warranty.

Here is the entire list of screens that are available. Obviously, you will need to
structure what best fits your business, but I encourage you display all of the different
screens, to make sure you know your options and see what’s available. I think I might do another small book in the future to show all the different field options for the equipment record (much like my book on service notifications.)

This last portion is not something I typically use, but like the notification, you have
the option to add icons to each of the tabs.

That’s all for today. I’m thinking of doing more posts like this in the future. Let me know if this is something you like.

thanks for reading,

Service Contracts – the latest e-book

01AugJuly 22, 2016

I’m pretty excited. I recently finished my 4th e-book. I feel like I’m starting to get into the swing of things. This E-Book is personally one of my favorites that I have done. Maybe because I keep learning more about the process, or maybe because I think this topic is poorly covered out there, that I think it will be very useful to a lot of people out there.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/652520

This latest book is all about the service contracts. I went back to my original book and focused heavily on the configuration side of how to set up. Of course, you can’t configure something if you don’t know what you need. So the book covers blueprinting, it walks you through the different service contract processes and throw in some complicated topics like billing plans and revenue recognition. If you like this book and find anything missing, or anything you think could be covered in more detail, please let me know. I would be happy to make additions or clarifications. My goal is to make this a useful reference guide to veterans and novices alike. Please check it out and let me know what you think,

thanks for reading,

Product Registration

28JulJuly 20, 2016

Early on in my adventures to create products in service management, I created a web application designed for end users to input their own information. I learned a lot from that initial product, and it gave me a lot of good ideas. At the time, the product never really took off, so I set it on the shelf for a while. As I explore the whole new UI5, responsive technology suddenly makes me wonder if this is something to revive. My brain has been focusing a lot on warranty lately, and the concept of product registration was something I designed into my old application. It worked very simply. Once someone logged into the application, they could register a product. All they needed was a serial number, material number or equipment record. Every business is slightly different, so I kept this generic. They could search SAP to see if the serial number existed. If it did, they could register it to themselves.

Upon registering it would assign an end user partner to the equipment, and it had the option to assign warranty start and end dates as well. As an added feature, within the scope of the application, you could see all products registered to you (or your company) and select them from a list if you needed to submit a notification.

If you don’t currently use SAP capture your registrations, what sort of data are you losing? I’ve worked at companies before that still receive the little postcard registrations. This is great, but someone needs to manually key these into the system. If you don’t do any sort of registration, do you know all your end users? if so, no big loss. If not, you could be losing out on the ability to market directly to the people using your product. If you use registration within SAP, you have that reporting capability available to you.

What I’m curious about is if this is something your organization would see value in. If so, I’d love to hear from you, and I’d be open to moving the original “Rapier” up on the priority list to be converted to UI5 (it is currently in ABAP Web Dynpro). I look forward to hearing your thoughts,

thanks for reading,

Setting Warranty Dates – A new option

27JulJuly 20, 2016

One of the things I have always wanted to see from SAP is an easy way to set warranty dates. They have gone out and built up a lot of automotive functionality, namely ACS-Warranty, the Warranty Claims “module” etc. But I have yet to find an easy way to enter in the dates. So, my mind naturally wonders how it could be done better. So a few months ago, I blueprinted what I thought could be a great solution. I wanted to find out if you agree, and if so, do you think it is worth developing.

What if warranty dates worked just like pricing in SD? Now, if you aren’t familiar with how SD pricing works, let me give you the high level. pricing contains a series of tables, each of the tables has different and/or more fields. let me paint you a picture.

Table 1 – material number

Table 2 – material number, product hierarchy

Table 3 – material number, pricing group, product hierarchy

and so on… within SD pricing, I can group and sequence these tables in such a way that if you find the value in a table, you stop and return that value. if not, you keep dropping down to the next table until you find a match. so if I group these tables 1 = table 3, 2 = table 2, 3 = table 1. Then table 1 will be my most generic, and last resort. Typically there are fewer entries in the most specific tables despite the fact that it is more specific. This is because there are usually only a handful of “special” cases that drive different prices.

Now, what if we could do that with warranty dates? have it use this same concept to be as generic or specific as your business needs. If your company (or any customer you have worked with in the past) could benefit from something like this?

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks for reading,