Function documentationDates in Business Transactions

 

You can display and change dates in transaction documents.

In transaction documents, on a special tab page, you can edit dates and durations according to transaction types, or you can use other tab pages more suitable for such dates (for example, the Schedule Lines tab page).

You can edit dates and durations at header or item level. The following overview gives examples:

Examples for Displaying Dates

Transaction Type/Item Category

Tab Page

Date Types/Duration Types

Quotation (Header)

General

Valid from

Lease (Header)

Dates

Term of Lease

Quantity Contract (Position)

Cancellation

Cancellation Date

Prerequisites

To be able to use dates in the document, you must have assigned a date profile to the appropriate transaction or item type in Customizing.

You define the date profile in the implementation guide (IMG) of Customer Relationship Management by choosing Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Date Management Next navigation step Define Date Profile End of the navigation path.

Pay particular attention to the following settings:

  • You have grouped together all dates, durations and date rules as well as Reference Objects that are valid in this transaction type (or in this item category).

  • In the views Screen Areas: Dates and Screen Areas: Durations, all date types and duration periods have been assigned to the tab pages on which they are to appear.

  • If you want to change dates and durations in a document, do not mark the Display Only field in the views Screen Areas: Dates and Screen Areas: Durations.

  • The display format of dates is preset. You can choose whether you want to see a date, for example, with or without a time, in a document.

For more information about controlling dates, see the implementation guide (IMG) for Customer Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Date Management End of the navigation path.

Activities

When processing business transactions you can:

  • Display dates

    The system displays all date types and durations that are assigned to the tab page in a table. If dates or durations have already been entered or calculated, the times are shown according to the display format set in Customizing.

    If a date rule is assigned to a date type, this too is displayed in the table.

  • Enter dates

    You can enter dates and durations in empty fields.

  • Change dates and durations

    You can change dates and durations by overwriting existing ones.

    If a date was calculated using a date rule, and you change the date in the document manually, the corresponding date rule is automatically faded out.

    If a date or duration has been marked as a display field in Customizing, you cannot change it in the document.

  • Recalculate dates

    If you have changed a date or duration, the system recalculates all dependent dates. To do this, the system uses the calculation sequence assigned to the date type in Customizing.

    In Customizing, you can turn off the function responsible for recalculating date types (for example, the date type Valid from should not display the current date). In this case, the time for this date type is only calculated once and remains the same even if other dates are changed.

    You can select a new date rule for a date if this is permitted in the date profile. Permitted rules are displayed in the input help.