Settings for Product Upload
Certain information is required to be able to upload product data to SAP ERP. Since all the necessary data might not be available in the system, a dialog box is displayed in which you can enter the missing data.
The first time the product is uploaded to SAP ERP, the system attempts to find this information as follows:
RFC Destination of ERP System
The RFC destination is used for data exchange with SAP ERP. Each system has its own RFC destination. Once an RFC destination has been selected, the system knows to which ERP system the product data should be transferred.
The default RFC destination and the possible RFC destinations which can be selected using the input help are determined as follows:
If an RFC destination was assigned to each relevant ERP system in the Administration Console using transaction SMOEAC, these RFC destinations can be selected using the input help. If more than one RFC destination is determined, the first RFC destination found is displayed by default in the upload dialog box.
If none of the relevant ERP systems have been assigned an RFC destination using transaction SMOEAC, all RFC destinations defined in the system using transaction SM59 can be selected using the input help.
If the input help lists several RFC destinations, you can set a default RFC destination by choosing
System
User Profile
Own Data
Parameters
. Enter the parameter
ID CRM_DESTINATION and the name of your RFC destination as the value. This
means that whenever you log onto the system, this RFC destination will be
displayed by default in the upload dialog box.
Type of Object to Be Created in ERP System (Material or Article)
You can specify in the upload dialog box what type of object should be created in SAP ERP.
Materials are created by default. However, you can specify that
articles should be created by default by choosing System
User Profile
Own Data
Parameters
. You assign the
parameter ID CRM_OLTP_OBJ_TYPE the value 02. The value 01 is the default setting
for creating materials.
Internal Assignment of Material/Article Number
You can indicate whether the material or article number should be assigned internally or the product ID used as the number.
The system attempts by default to use the product ID as the material/article number. However, as the product ID can have up to 40 characters and the material/article number a maximum of 18 characters, this can cause problems. In this case, the only option you have is to use internal number assignment.
When internal number assignment is used, the product ID and the generated material/article number can no longer be derived from each other on a 1:1 basis. It is only in the mapping table (see Uploading Products to SAP ERP) that you can find out which material/article number was assigned internally for a particular product.
To avoid using internal number assignment, you need to ensure that
the length of the product ID was restricted to 18 characters in SAP
CRM. You do this in Customizing for Cross-Application
Components
, by choosing SAP
Product
Basic Settings
Define
Output Format and Storage Format of Product IDs
.
This enables you to use product IDs on a 1:1 basis. It also means that products can be more easily identified in SAP ERP, as there is otherwise no information available in SAP ERP indicating from which product a material/article was derived.
In the case of purely numerical product IDs, the 40-character numerical product ID with leading zeros is converted to an 18-character numerical material number with leading zeros.
Note
To make sure that the number settings are known in SAP CRM and SAP ERP, you are advised to download the Customizing object DNL_CUST_PROD0. This will make the number settings defined in SAP ERP known in SAP CRM.
Data Required for Creating Materials
When materials are created, the following data is required:
The material type and industry sector must be known (these are required entry fields on the initial screen of material master maintenance).
A value for the material type can be displayed by default in the dialog box due to the assignment of the product to a material type product hierarchy (= product subtype hierarchy). Only the material type DIEN and material types derived from this are allowed for service and financing products. Service and financing products are not assigned to material types, meaning that a default value cannot be determined for the material type.
The material group must be specified if purchasing data has been created for the product.
A value for the material group can be displayed by default in the dialog box due to the assignment of the product to an EBP material group hierarchy.
The product description can be used as the material description. As the description is not a mandatory entry in SAP CRM, the product ID is used as the description for the material if the product description is missing.
You can change this behaviour in Customizing for
Cross-Application Components
, by choosing SAP Product
Basic Settings
Define Characteristics of System Messages
.
An input help is available for the fields in the dialog box. Possible entries are obtained from SAP ERP using the specified RFC destination.
Data Required for Creating Articles
When articles are created, the following data is required:
The material type, material group, and material category must be known (these are required entry fields on the initial screen of article master maintenance).
A value for the material type can be displayed by default in the dialog box due to the assignment of the product to a material type product hierarchy (= product subtype hierarchy). Only the material type DIEN and material types derived from this are allowed for service and financing products. Service and financing products are not assigned to material types, meaning that a default value cannot be determined for the material type.
A value for the material group can be displayed by default in the dialog box due to the assignment of the product to an EBP material group hierarchy.
The product description, or the product ID if this is missing, can be used as the article description.
An input help is available for the fields in the dialog box. Possible entries are obtained from SAP ERP using the specified RFC destination.
Note
To be able to derive accurate default values, you are advised to assign products to a material type product hierarchy and, if you are using retail, to an EBP material group hierarchy.
Note
The upload function does not support all material categories at present. For example, generic articles and variants cannot be created. You can display the valid material categories using the input help.
Defining Required Entry Fields
For materials, you can define any fields as required entry fields using the field selection options in SAP ERP. Provided the required entry field attribute is set at transaction level (MM01/MM02), this will not cause any problems for materials because when data is transferred, the field selection options set at transaction level MAL1/MAL2 (allowing fewer required entry fields) are used. This means that the data uploaded will not contain all required entry fields, but that the data can be uploaded. The required entry fields without entries can be filled later in SAP ERP in material master maintenance (transaction MM02) once the upload has been completed. Problems will only arise if the required entry field attribute is set at material type level.
You can also define any fields as required entry fields for articles. For articles, this can only be done at transaction level MM01/MM02 as for materials, but not at transaction level MAL1/MAL2. However, in the case of articles a material group reference article is available. This allows the missing required entry field data to be added automatically.
If the product has already been uploaded to SAP ERP and if a manual upload is started again, the input fields in the upload dialog box become display fields. The data stored in the mapping table after the first upload is displayed in the dialog box.