SM

Next, we’ll talk about configuring the service order to be allowed for refurbishment processing.  This is ultimately what allows the service order to work in our in-house scenario.  The refurbishment processing is simply the act that takes in a material and allows you to perform a repair, a fix, an upgrade or whatever, and then deliver the product back out again.

This piece will copy setting if you perform a copy from service order.

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Maintenance and Service Processing->Maintenance and Service Orders->Functions and Settings for Order Types->Indicate Order Types for Refurbishment Processing

From here, if you want to use refurbishment, just check the box.  If you copied an existing order type like SM03, this field will already be checked.

Thanks for reading,

Now that you are familiar with creating an order type, the next most important piece of configuration is the number range.  Without the number range, your order type is pretty much useless.  So in this lesson I’m going to over the transaction OION, which the service order numbers range in configuration.

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Maintenance and Service Processing->Maintenance and Service Orders->Functions and Settings for Order Types->Configure Number Ranges

Now once you enter the transaction, there are several key areas to visit.  Since I’m a fan of going backwards in configuration, why change tradition 🙂  The first thing I recommend is pressing the mountain button (Overview).  This will show you what number ranges are assigned to each group.  It’s rare that you will create a new group or a new number range, but if you need it, have at it.  This will show what’s been used where.

For example, the standard service orders get connected to Modules.  If you didn’t know that, you could quickly find out here because you can see that the standard SM01, SM02 & SM03 along with the PM and QM order types are all part of this number range.

Now that you know what range you’d like to assign your service order to, you come into the maintain groups.

If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you will find any order types that haven’t been assigned to a number range.  Take special note, even if you copy from an existing service order type, the number range is NOT assigned to the order type.  This must occur every time (and in every system, since transporting a number range is usually a big no-no, unless it’s a new implementation with no data in it).

So in that case, find your order type.  Click on it, and press the select element button .  Then scroll up until you find the group you want to assign it to.  Check the box in front of the group name and press the Assign Element/Group button  and save.

Now, in the event you need a new group, you can use the menu group–>insert.  But, make sure the number range exists before you do this (since it will be required to create the new group).

So for giggles, here’s the number range screen if you haven’t seen it before:

You would just need to go into edit interval to create a new number range interval.  Remember, it can’t overlap with any existing ranges, so in this screen, it could be challenging since there are so many different number ranges already.  Regardless, this is all there is to setting the number range for your service order.

Thanks for reading,

This first piece is the most vital to everything. It is creating the service order type.
Like many areas of SAP, I encourage you to copy from an order type that is close to
what you want. In our case, the SM03 order type is the standard order type provided
by SAP for in-house repairs. So it’s the perfect place to start.

IMG->Plant Maintenance and Customer Service->Maintenance and Service Processing-
>Maintenance and Service Orders->Functions and Settings for Order Types->Configure
Order Types

Here we see the available order types. I’ve already created a copy of SM03, called
ZS03, but for this example, we’ll look at the original SM03.

Now, most of these fields are pretty obscure to me, so I’ll do my best to explain them,
and most importantly what you need to worry about.

• Open Item Management : is used for commitment management. This is used
  when you use budget functionality directly for Maintenance orders or when you
  want to have budget functionality through PS. If that is flagged then
  commitments like Purchase Requisitions which are generated from Maintenance
  Orders are checked when budget availability control is active
• Revenue Postings : this is important because if you are using Repair sales
  orders, all of the revenue is captured at that level, and you cannot capture
  revenue at the service order level. So for in-house repairs, this must remain
  unchecked.
• Settlement Profile : this is a financial setting, so I always defer to my FICO
  experts. Initially, just leave it as 80.
• Budget Profile : The budget profile enables you to define budgets for individual
  orders. You should also activate the funds availability check. This allows you to
  monitor order-related budgets without using the project system. I have not
  personally used this function.
• Object Class : You can set the object class of Investment, Overhead Cost,
  Production or Profitability Analysis.
• Residence Time1 & 2 : Residence time 1 determines the time interval (in
  calendar months) that must elapse between setting the delete flag (step 1) and
  setting the deletion indicator (step 2).
• Release immediately : This determines if the service order is immediately
  released upon creation. I prefer to leave this unchecked so that planning can
  occur before release.
• Screen RefObject : This defines what type of object will be associated with the
  service order. Typically, this is left blank, but you can define the object type.
  It’s the same screen that allows you to enter the object type into the
  notification.

I haven’t used the budget aspects of the service order. If you are looking to
implement simple in-house service, the important fields you must be concerned with
are Revenue posting = blank, settlement = 80 (unless you are told otherwise by your
FICO group), and release immediately.

Thanks for reading,

I recently encountered an issue that had me baffled for longer than I care to admit.  I would run through the RAS service process, get all the way to the outbound delivery, but the delivery would always issue a warning about the complete delivery flag.  So I quickly went to my own system, did an example and couldn’t replicate the same issue.  So I started checking configuration

• requirements type
• schedule lines
• item categories
• order types
• deliveries
• delivery item category
• etc…

Every place I looked was set up the same.  Finally, I had no choice to but to go into Debug.  So after spending a while in there, finally found a reference to a flag LIPS-UPFLU.  I didn’t recognize this field, when to look at it and found it was talking about update the document flow.  Lightbulb!!!  I finally decided to look at copy control to the delivery.  It turned out for the newly created item category, the update document flow check box was blank.  As soon as I updated this to X, the delivery created without the message.  Even after all these years, I still run into things I haven’t seen before.  Hard to believe what a big difference one little checkbox can make 🙂

Thanks for reading,

I just discovered a requirement for DP80 (perhaps DP90 as well).  If you wish to have your actual materials pulled into the quote, rather than a generic material that sums up everything, you must have the Material Origin flag set to X in the material master.  This field exists in the Costing 1 screen.  MBEW-HKMAT is the technical field.

Not being a FICO expert, I’m not sure what other implications this field has, but I do know that if you don’t check this, your materials will not be pulled onto a Resource Related quote.

Thanks for reading,

Well, I was recently helping out on a new service implementation, and ran into the the error SE729, customizing not maintained.  It’s surprising, but I haven’t run into this before.  It happened anytime I went into IW42.  I checked my confirmation configuration, and everything seemed fine.  So I finally went over to OSS and found the following note:

2051088 – IW42 – Customizing incorrectly maintained

The basics are that table T162V contains entries that correspond to a table control on transaction ML81N.  I’m a bit confused how this impacts IW42, but they must share some screen elements.  Regardless, you need to go into T162V in SM31 and update the table entries to match what the table control shows.  For all the details, check out the note.

Thanks for reading,

I recently got an email from an old friend.  He started to describe a process that his current client wanted to do, and as soon as I read it, I knew he was talking about the Exchange (advanced exchange, etc.) process.  So I thought I’d go over the basics of how to set this up:

1. Define Repairs Procedure – you will need a new repair procedure that includes
action 106 in stage 101, as a default. This will place the exchange line on the
sales order upon creation.  See the sample below.

2. Define Item Categories * – you will need a new item category for the top level
to point to your new repair procedure.

3. Define Item Category Groups * – you’ll want a new item category group to
assign to the correct material to kick off the exchange process

4. Assign Item Categories *

5. Transfer of Requirements * – be sure to go through all 3 pieces of configuration
in this section. This is how you link your service order to your sales item
categories.

6. Create your Service Material with the newly created item category group.

7. Create/Process Service Products – this will link your service material to a
plant/work center/task list.

I do want to mention, that in addition to this, you’ll need to test the movement type
of 411-E. Since the customer’s equipment will still be processed and brought into
customer stock, you will need to perform this movement on the equipment to bring it
back into your rotable stock so it can be shipped to the next customer as an
exchange.

If you need more in-depth, check out my book.  It goes into the details of how to configure all the pieces in service management.

thanks for reading,

Today we talk about the last piece of workflow series, Testing.

Step 6. Test the Workflow

Your last step is to verify that your workflow method works. First, trigger the method manually. Execute transaction code SW01. In the screen that appears, select the object type from the list of options in the Object/Interface Type field (Figure 22). Select the Object type radio button in the Category section and click the Test button.

Figure 22 Test the workflow

In the next screen, click the Instance button (Figure 23). In this case the order number becomes the instance.

Figure 23 Create an instance

In the next screen, manually execute your method by selecting your order number from the list of options in the Order field and clicking the enter icon (Figure 24).

Figure 24 Enter an instance for testing

In the next screen, find the method created named Trigger_Email_From_Partner and click the Execute button to the right of the method name (Figure 25).

Figure 25 Execute the method manually

If everything is working, you should see a pop-up window resulting from the sample code inserted.

Finally, run a real test. Go to a service order and technically complete it. Execute transaction code IW32. In the screen that appears, enter in the service order number, press enter.  This will take you to Figure 27.  Click the checkered flag icon to technically complete the service order (Figure 26). A pop-up screen appears with a message that the workflow works (Figure 27).

Figure 26 Make your order technically complete

Figure 27 The workflow pop-up screen

You have created your first workflow. To finish the job, you would return back to step 3, and add the actual code for what you want to accomplish. The typical method would be to create a function or a method and then call it within the method.

I hope you enjoyed this series.  Thanks for reading,

On to step 5.

Step 5. Create a Workflow Task [Heading 2]

Because this is a simple workflow, you don’t need a whole workflow template. You just need the single task. Your event is the change in status that triggers the workflow task. That in turn triggers the method to make the change.

To create your task, execute transaction code PFTC_INS. In the screen that appears, select TS Standard task and click the create icon (Figure 18).

Figure 18 Create a task type

The basic data for the workflow is prepopulated. The work item text can be determined by clicking the insert variables icon  shown in Figure 20 and selecting the appropriate objects. This puts the text into the workflow task that is created for the event. This text allows you to see at a glance which orders have been executed within the workflow list. Figure 19 shows some of the fields that can be used to determine the text.

Figure 19 A sample of available variables to use in the text

You have many options to choose from to create any description that provides a unique text string to identify a particular workflow at a glance. Simply double click or highlight your selection and press the green checkmark.  In Figure 20, the Number (order number) and the Order type are shown.

Figure 20 Create a task fully populated

Next, you enter the triggering event by clicking the Triggering events tab (Figure 21).

Figure 21 The Triggering events tab

You need to bind the event to the object. This transfers the values from the workflow object to the BOR Object Type. Enter in the Object Category of BO BOR Object Type, an object type equal to the new object created, Z_BUS2088. The Event is the new event created, STATUS_CHANGE_TECO. Press enter to finalize your choices.  After you press enter the event creator icon will be shown in the first column, click the event creator icon  to bind the line.

If you wanted different binding rules, you can maintain these by clicking the call binding editor icon. . Typically you need to do this only if you add special or custom parameters to the business object that you transfer from the ABAP method into an object container for the next workflow task. That’s beyond the scope of this article, but it is one more area for you to be aware of when you begin using this functionality.

Once you see the status active icon , the new event has been bound to the object. Click the save icon .

When the workflow binding is saved, the workflow trigger is active.

Next time, we will talk about testing this new workflow.  thanks for reading,