Defining Configuration Change Profiles (SAP Library - Vehicle Management System (IS-A-VMS))

Defining Configuration Change Profiles

Use

Configuration change profiles, which are dependent on the status of a vehicle and the configuration role that the VMS user has, control which configuration characteristics in the IPC can be changed and which cannot be changed (for example when you create a sales order or change a purchase order etc.). Characteristics that cannot be changed can either be displayed or hidden.

For example, you can subdivide the configuration characteristics into characteristics relevant to the purchase order (color, engine etc.) and rework characteristics or accessories (for example, roof rack or dog grate). The dealer can then, as of a specific point in time, only change the second type of characteristic whereas the importer can still change both.

Characteristic that are visible but cannot be changed can be characteristics, for example, that involve country-specific requirements (right-hand or left-hand drive, yellow headlights etc.) or characteristics that relate to levels of emission allowed by law (exhaust pipe, catalysts etc.).

Prerequisites

You have created the necessary material master data and configuration data and transferred it to the IPC.

You have created a configuration role (Customizing transaction OVELO19) for each role that there is to be in the configuration activity in the IPC (for example, importer employee, dealer employee).

Procedure

In transaction VELOP, create a configuration change profile for every combination of characteristics that can be changed and under Define Visibility of Characteristics, define which configuration characteristics you want to be visible but not changeable and which you do not want to be visible.

To do this, you must know the configuration characteristics for the vehicle models for which you want to create the configuration change profile.

Define when you want the profile to be used under Define Determination of Profile.

The use can be dependent on the following data:

Configuration role
Material/vehicle model
Availability status
Primary action control
Primary status (you can also use a generic status, in other words a status with placeholders such as MM*)
Secondary action control
Secondary status (you can also use a generic status, in other words a status with placeholders such as SD*)

You can find further information on these parameters under Vehicle and under Action Controls.

All this data is for optional fields, in other words, you can choose how much or how little data you want to include. The entry that best fits the vehicle is used.

Create an entry for each status combination for which you can execute an action with configuration. You can group together more than one status with the generic status and thus reduce the number of entries.

Transaction VELOPR offers you a report with which you can analyze the definition of the configuration change profiles. For example, you can display which configuration change profiles already exist for a specific vehicle model and a specific characteristic. With this information you can then check whether your entries in the table for defining configuration change profiles (transaction VELOP) are correct and complete.

Result

When you start the IPC from the Vehicle Manager in order to configure a vehicle, the system determines which configuration role has been assigned to the user, which vehicle model the user is currently configuring and the status of the vehicle that is being configured.

Depending on these input parameters, the system determines which configuration profile has to be used during the configuration and transfers this profile to the IPC.

You can define your own determination logic in the business add-in (BAdI) VLC_DETERM_CHPROFILE.

Example

There are the two configuration roles, importer and dealer, for which you have created the VMS roles KPIM and KPHD.

The vehicle model (material) MEDIUMCAR has the configuration characteristics MOTOR, EXTERIOR_COLOR and INTERIOR_COLOR.

When the purchase order has been confirmed (let us presume this is primary status MM10 of primary action control MMCT), then the importer is no longer allowed to change the motor and the dealer is allowed to change neither the motor nor the exterior nor the interior color.

You therefore need the following two configuration profiles:

Profile	Description	Characteristic	Changeability
CP_ONE	Engine cannot be changed	MOTOR	cannot be changed
CP_TWO	Engine, exterior color, interior color cannot be changed	MOTOR EXTERIOR_COLOR INTERIOR_COLOR	cannot be changed cannot be changed cannot be changed

Profile determination is then as follows:

Profile	Role	Material	Primary action control	Primary Status
CP_ONE	KPIM	MEDIUMCAR	MMCT	MM10
CP_TWO	KPHD	MEDIUMCAR	MMCT	MM10