MM WORK FLOW SCENARIOS XI

Extending Arrangements in Purchasing (MM-PUR-VM)

Purpose

Arrangements are defined for a fixed period (such as a year), and are settled at the end of this period. Arrangements that are to be valid for longer periods (such as longer than a year) can be extended, if an arrangement calendar exists for them.

An arrangement must be extended before the relevant purchasing documents (such as purchase orders) are entered, if the price determination date for these documents falls within the validity period of the new (that is, extended) arrangement.
Process Flow The staff in Purchasing who agreed the arrangements can be sent a message on the extension dates set in advance via workflow.

This means that, on the extension dates, a work item is sent to their inbox which they can use to call the extension transaction and relevant arrangement.

Compared to extension of arrangements by mass processing (transactions MEB7 and MER7),workflow processing has the added advantage of allowing you to change the currency of the arrangements. This is not possible in “Change” mode.


Technical Implementation (MM-PUR-VM)

Object Types Used
Object technology is used to create the interface between the R/3 functions and the

workflow system. The information given below is of a technical nature and is not necessary for an initial overview.

Standard Tasks

The standard tasks provided by SAP as single steps describe the basic business activities from an organizational point of view. A single-step task relates to a single object method (= technical link to R/3 functionality), and is linked to the agents possible from an organizational point of view.


Object: Volume-Rebate Arrangements in Purchasing
(MM-PUR-VM)
Definition
A volume-rebate arrangement in Purchasing is a volume-rebate arrangement that a purchasing organization agrees with a vendor (condition granter).
Use In this scenario, a volume-rebate arrangement in Purchasing is extended.
Location in object repository: Materials Management _ Purchasing _ Vendor - Material
Relationships and Conditions .

Standard Task TS24500005: Extending Volume Rebate
Arrangements in Purchasing (MM-PUR-VM)

Use

In this standard task, an arrangement in Purchasing is extended.
Object method referenced: object type BUS3030 (volume rebate arrangement - Purchasing),
method: EXTENDMANUALLYWITHMODIFICATION (extend manually).
Agent assignment: For the validity period, this standard task is addressed to the agent(s) in the purchasing group which is responsible for the arrangement. You must make the following settings in Customizing for this:

Assign the purchasing groups responsible to the required organizational units or organizational management positions.
Triggering events of the task The event ToBeExtendedManually has been entered as the trigger for object type BUS3030 (rebate arrangement in Purchasing).


This link between the event and the workflow template to be started is normally
inactive in the standard system. If the workflow template is to be started, it must first be activated in the Customizing application for the SAP Business Workflow.
Task container and binding The object reference to the rebate arrangement in Purchasing exists as event parameters in the container of the triggering event and must be transferred to the workflow container via a binding.


The standard system includes the following binding definition between the triggering event and the workflow container:
Workflow Container Event Parameter Container
RebateAgreementPur _Evt_Object
Steps in a Workflow
Workflow can be started for all arrangements to be extended by means of a report (Material management _ Purchasing _ Master data _ Subseq. settlement _ Arrangement settlement _ Extend __Via workflow).

Events are created for the selected arrangements, and these events trigger generation of work items for extension.
Separate workflow is started for each extension for each individual arrangement. This work item is sent to the purchasing group responsible. During extension, it is possible to change the arrangement currency. By this stage, it is not possible to do this in transaction MEB2 (change arrangement).



Preparation and Customizing (MM-PUR-VM)

Use

In addition to general customizing, which ensures that the workflow system functions correctly, customizing is also required specifically for this workflow template.
Activities Processing the organizational structure
An arrangement in Purchasing is always settled by the purchasing group responsible. All purchasing groups which extend arrangements using workflow must therefore firstly be entered in Customizing for SAP Business Workflow. A purchasing group is usually assigned to an organizational unit. An organizational unit is an area of a company, e.g. a department.


Enter your organizational plan by choosing Customizing activity Basis Components _ Business Management _ SAP Business Workflow _ Edit organizational plan.
Execute Customizing activity Basis Components _ Business Management _ SAP Business
Workflow _ Basic Settings _ Maintain assignments for SAP organizational object types, and assign the purchasing groups to the organizational units or positions which the purchasing groups represent (object type T024).

Performing Task-Specific Customizing

You assign tasks in Material Management as follows:

1. Execute the Customizing activity (Basis _ Business Management _ SAP Business
Workflow _ Perform task-specific Customizing.

2. Choose Materials Management _ Purchasing _ Vendor - Material Relationships and
Conditions and choose activity Assign tasks to agent.

3. Classify standard task TS24500005 (extending volume-rebate arrangements in
Purchasing) as a general task.
Activate Event-Receiver Linkage
The event ToBeExtendedManually for object type BUS3030 (volume rebate arrangement -
Purchasing) is a triggering events of workflow template 24500005 (extending volume rebate arrangements in Purchasing) and is entered as standard in the event coupling table. So that the event is actually started, the linkage between the triggering events and the task, as the receiver of the event, must be activated in SAP Business Workflow Customizing.


Activate the task MMArrangExt in your system as follows:

1. Execute the Customizing activity Basis Components _ Business Management _ SAP
Business Workflow _ Perform task-specific Customizing.

2. Activate event coupling for the workflow template (Materials Management _ Purchasing _ Vendor - Material Relationships and Conditions _ Activate event coupling).



Operation and Connection with Application

Functionality (MM-PUR-VM)

Use

Agreed arrangements in Purchasing, which have an arrangement calendar, can be transferred for extension to Business Workflow at regular intervals. The ways of doing this are described below. These measures should be carried out by a coordinator (e.g. a central coordinator or a coordinator for the individual purchasing organization):

1. The coordinator uses the report offered under Material management _ Purchasing _
Master data _ Subseq. settlement _ Arrangement _ Extend _Via workflow to
manually select the arrangements and start the single-step tasks in good time before the end of the validity period. Each arrangement can only be extended once.

2. If you need to start the report for extending arrangements using workflow at regular intervals (e.g. each week), you are advised to execute this report in the background. This involves two steps:
a) First you must define suitable variants for this report (report name: RWEWU001), in which the extension date is defined as a selection variable, and is filled with the day’s date each day. You can also add other selection criteria as required.
b) Then plan for the report to be executed in the background at the intervals you
require.


VMI: Creating and Acknowledging a Purchase Order
From IDoc ORDRSP VMI (MM-CBP)

Purpose

Workflow is used to create and simultaneously acknowledge a purchase order during the
inbound processing of IDocs of message type ORDRSP with message variant VMI. The IDoc
may be sent by your vendor, for example, if the vendor wants to supply you with goods using Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI).


VMI enables a vendor to offer your company the service of planning requirements of the vendor's articles.
Process Flow Workflow is started if a vendor wants to create a purchase order by EDI in your system as part of a VMI scenario.
As a result, an IDoc is transferred and used to generate and acknowledge the purchase order in your system.
The purchase order is usually created and acknowledged completely in the background. Work items are only created if errors occurred. These work items are displayed in the integrated inboxes of the people responsible for processing the errors.
Once a work item is executed, automatic checks are carried out again. If no further errors occur, workflow is complete.

Technical Implementation (MM-IV-CBP)

The following information is of a technical nature. You need the information if you are interested in the details of implementation, or want to carry out enhancements yourself.

Object Types

Object technology is used to create the interface between the SAP functions and the Workflow system.
The methods and events used to trigger workflow and to process the work items are provided by object type IDOCORDRSP (IDoc message ORDRSP). This object type represents the purely technical interface for executing work items, not a concrete IDoc.
Task Group Task groups are collections of standard tasks, workflow templates and other task groups that are used in the same context.
The workflow described here is assigned to task group 20000011.


Preparation and Customizing (MM-PUR-CBP)

Use

Several other specific customizing steps are necessary for this workflow template in addition to the general customizing that is necessary to make sure that the workflow system functions properly.

Prerequisites

You have carried out the general customizing for SAP Business Workflow.

Task-Specific Customizing

Role resolution for this workflow takes place during automatic workflow customizing for the IDoc interface/EDI.
Operation and Link to Application (MM-CBP)

Use

Workflow is automatically triggered by IDoc inbound processing (process code ORDV) if a vendor wants to create a purchase order by EDI in your system as part of a VMI scenario. In this process, an IDoc of type ORDRSP and message variant VMI is sent to your SAP system. This results in a purchase order being created in the background.
If errors occur, work items are created and sent to the integrated inboxes of the people responsible for processing the errors. Errors may arise as a result of missing master or Customizing data in the SAP System, or incorrect/insufficient data in the IDoc.

The people responsible can display the IDoc from the work items, and then change or add to the data, or make changes in the article master or in Customizing, as required. The people responsible can trigger inbound processing directly from the work item, or flag the IDoc for deletion.

If inbound processing is triggered, the whole process is carried out again. If the system does not find any further errors, a purchase order is automatically generated and acknowledged.
If errors occur during the acknowledgement of the purchase order, work items are created. The people responsible for processing the errors can display the IDoc directly from the work items and analyze the errors. In this case, however, error handling directly from the item is not possible. The standard IDoc tools must be used to process the errors.

If the system finds no further errors after the work items have been executed, workflow is complete.