General Status Management in R/3 (SAP Library

General Status Management in R/3

Status and transaction
A status documents the current processing status of an object. It serves two functions:

It informs the user that a certain status has been reached.

It influences the quantity of the business transactions that can be carried out.

A business transaction is an action you carry out online when processing the objects, for example, setting an account assignment block, a master data block.

In addition, certain programs (for example, debit position) automatically trigger business transactions.

If a business transaction is carried out, it can automatically set or delete one or more statuses for the involved object.

Interaction between status and transaction

Any number of statuses can be set for an object.

A status can do the following for business transactions:

Allow
Allow with a warning
Disallow

If a transaction is not allowed for an object, you receive an error message when you carry out the transaction and it is not executed.

To carry out a business transaction, the following requirements have to be met:

At least one active status has to allow the transaction.
No active status may disallow the transaction.

A status can be either active or inactive:

A status is active if it is currently effective.
A status is inactive if it never has been active or if it was active and has been deactivated.

System status and user status

The SAP System distinguishes between system status and user status.

System status

A system status is a status set by the system informing the user that a certain function has been performed on an object. The user cannot influence the system status. The user can neither delete nor change it directly.
If you create a business entity, for example, the system automatically sets the initial status Created.

User status

A user status is a status defined by the user that can be created in addition to the existing system status. The user can define and activate as many user statuses as required.
The user statuses are defined in Customizing by means of a status profile.

System status	A system status is a status set by the system informing the user that a certain function has been performed on an object. The user cannot influence the system status. The user can neither delete nor change it directly. If you create a business entity, for example, the system automatically sets the initial status Created.
User status	A user status is a status defined by the user that can be created in addition to the existing system status. The user can define and activate as many user statuses as required. The user statuses are defined in Customizing by means of a status profile.