Output Control 

Use

You implement Output Control for the Direct Store Delivery if the system is to automatically group together all tour data for output control.

All tour-relevant information is saved in the system (for example, visit lists, deliveries, drivers, and so on). Output Control separates the visit lists and shipments. The system displays the related documents for each (shipments, visit lists and if necessary dependent documents such as deliveries) in output control, from where the documents are printed either in paper form or in IDoc format.

In this documentation we use the term download (data transfer). Download refers both to data transfer to the printer and the provision of data in IDocs.

Output Control is intended for use by the following users:

·        MRP controllers (logistics and sales and distribution) that check the messages.

·        Drivers that take the printed out documents with them on their tours (for example, delivery notes, visit lists, and so on).

Which information is relevant for the driver depends on the type of customer visit. There are two different business processes in Output Control:

·        In logistics-oriented business processes the shipment is the control document. This means that the shipment is flagged as a relevant document in the visit plan type of the visit list that the shipment is based on. Once the shipment has a certain status (for example, scheduled), the system carries out the download. The system then transfers all shipment-dependent data (for example, deliveries for this shipment or visit list in which the customer to be delivered to is found) to the spool requestor IDoc (application V7).

·        In the sales-oriented business process the visit list is the control document. The visit list defines the itinerary of the customers who are visited without having goods delivered to them. Consequently, such visit lists are not linked to shipments. The point at which the system executes the downloads is, as a rule, dependent on the date on which the visit list is carried out. For the download, the visit list and if applicable, the reference documents (for example, orders) are relevant. The download takes place from application VL (Visit list).

Implementation Considerations

To be able to use Output Control, Direct Store Delivery must be activated in Customizing.

Features

·        The starting point for Output Control are existing shipments and visit lists.
You can group deliveries together to form shipments manually or by using Dynamic Transportation Planning.

·        When you implement Dynamic Transportation Planning, the system adjusts the customer data from the deliveries so they are in concordance with the customer data from the visit lists (depending on the visit plan type and the execution date). If they are consistent, Dynamic Transportation Planning assigns the deliveries in the itinerary sequence stated in the visit list.

·        The system triggers output determination when saving visit lists or shipments.

·        Output processing: If the shipment in visit list is flagged as a relevant document, (according to visit plan type), the system carries out the download via output control for application V7 (shipment).
For visit lists, where shipment documents are not flagged as relevant documents, the system carries out the download via output control in application VL (visit list).

·        Message processing: You can display processing logs for control purposes or process already existing messages and process these again.

 

The following figure illustrates the Output Control process:

 

Process flow for output control in Direct Store Delivery

 

In Customizing, you assign an appropriate message type to each sales document object (for example, shipment, visit list). The sales document objects are closely connected to the related application.
The system controls the output control in the Direct Store Delivery Process through two applications:

§         Application V7 (shipment) for the logistics-oriented business process

§         Application VL (visit list) for the sales-oriented business process

The system carries out the download from application V7 (shipment) for visit lists that Dynamic Transportation Planning is based on. In this case, the shipment represents the relevant document.

For visit lists that do not have shipments, the system carries out the download through application VL (visit list). In this case, it is the visit list exclusively that is flagged as a relevant document in Customizing for the visit plan type.

 

In Customizing for the visit plan type, you set the indicator to show whether the shipment document or the visit list is defined as relevant document. Using this indicator, the system controls with which of the two applications the download is to be carried out.