Season 

Use

In the fashion industry, seasons are an integral part of the business processes. Previously, seasons were only available in Sales and Distribution (SD). In SAP AFS, you can have a season at the stock side. It has been enhanced so that it can also be used for Material Management (MM), Production Planning (PP), and Inventory Management (IM).

Features

This function offers the following options:

Seasonality in MM and PP

A season is determined when a purchase requisition or purchase order is created, either manually or by material requirements planning (MRP). In a purchase requisition, the season is determined based on the delivery date of the purchase requisition. However, in a purchase order, a season is determined based on the Creation Date and Delivery Date.

For multiple valid seasons, MRP selects the first valid season. Material enabled for a season must find a valid season as the purchase requisition or purchase order is created, otherwise the document cannot be saved.

After initially determining a season, manual changes made to the season data invokes a season check. If a season is not valid, a message (based on the message type maintained in the condition records) is displayed. For a planned or production order, the behavior corresponds to a purchase requisition and purchase order, respectively.

Seasonality in IM

This option is enabled only if the Season Fixed indicator is set in the material master. In this case when the goods receipt is complete, the season information is transferred to the batch master.

Activities

To activate seasonality for MM/PP, do the following:

       1.      In Customizing, to create a season in the AFS system, choose Logistics - General ® Define AFS Seasons.

This is the central place to create a season, a collection, and a theme.

       2.      To link a season to a material, maintain the season on the Season tab page of AFS Basic Data.

This is also possible at stock keeping unit (SKU) level. It depends on the relevancy for season in the characteristic (Dimension). All linked seasons for the material are valid for SD and MM/PP. For MM/PP, it depends only on the season level.

       3.      Activate the season in the material master for MM/PP by the following two indicators in the material master:

¡        Season Level

This indicator decides at which level the season is being used in MM. A season can be used only as season, season/collection, or season/collection/theme.

¡        Season Fixed

This indicator can be set if only one season is allowed for this material. When you set the indicator, the season is used in IM by copying it into the batches.

A season in SD can be different from a season in MM/PP. For example, material has a season level maintained only in Season. Sales orders are created with a season/collection/theme combination, but the purchase requisition or order can be created based only on a season.

       4.      To maintain the condition records related to the stock season, on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics - General ® AFS Central Functions ® AFS Seasons  ® Change (transaction /afs/ss02).

You can maintain one record for a particular season/collection/theme combination. The creation of the record for a season is mandatory if the season is used in MM/PP. Creation Date and Delivery Date are used for season determination and season check.