Specification Status 

Use

You can use this function to specify for a specification which usages its identifiers and value assignment instances should be protected for. You can use appropriate status entries to set the system so that:

·        Changing specification data is prohibited (in the standard system, for example, in the status Released, see also Change Not Permitted)

·        Outputting specification data on reports is prohibited (in the standard system, for example, in the status In Process, see also Generation Not Permitted)

·        The system issues a warning against editing specification data (in the standard system, for example, in the status For Release)

In Customizing an indicator profile specifies for each status which protection effect the status should have. You can enhance the basic status network.

Integration

When generating worklists in report management, status changes are taken into account in the same way as changed specification data. The check whether generation is prohibited for a data record (see Generation Not Permitted) is then made for the determined reports during report generation. If the report has a value for which generation is prohibited, the report has the status Gen. w/ Warning after generation.

Prerequisites

So that a status entry is taken into account for specification data, the Active indicator must be set in the usage of the specification data.

In Customizing for Basic Data and Tools, you have edited the Status Management section.

Features

Status Entry

The status of a specification is made up of individual status entries. Each status entry includes the following data:

·        Rating and Validity area

·        Status

A new status entry is assigned the initial status defined in Customizing. The permitted follow-on statuses are defined in the status network.

·        Time period for which the status entry applies

·        Change number if you want to use engineering change management

·        Object type in SAP component Human Resources Management and Person responsible

Status Network

You can enhance the status network delivered with the standard system by using a status profile made up of your own user statuses. The SAP system inserts your user statuses between the statuses IP (In Process) and FR (For Release). You can define the follow-on statuses yourself within the C* statuses.

The following status network is included in the standard system:

Abbreviation	Meaning	Icon	Technical Key
IP	In Process (initial status in standard system)		I0570
C1, C2...	User statuses	ICON_CUSTOMER	<E*...>
FR	For Release		I0571
NC	Noncritical Change		I0590
RE	Released		I0600

Default Setting for Status Entries

You can enter a default setting in Customizing for specification status entries. To do this you enter a usage profile for the value assignment type Status assignment (ESTST) in the IMG activity Specify Value Assignment Types. If a specification does not have its own status entries, the system creates a list from the combinations of the initial status and the usages for the profile. These are not displayed on the Status tab page. The list is taken into account by the SAP system until you have explicitly entered new status entries on the Status tab page.

Person Responsible

You can enter the person responsible for a status entry as information.

The person responsible is managed in the SAP component Human Resources Management depending on the object type (for example, work center, job, position). The person responsible is linked directly to Organizational Management.

You can specify a person responsible as the default entry in Customizing for Basic Data and Tools in under Specify Authorization Groups depending on the authorization group. This default entry is used by the SAP system as long as you have not entered an explicit person responsible for a status entry.

History

If you change the validity period for a status entry so that it has two or more validity periods, you can display all validity periods using the function  with the quick info text History.

Assignment of Value Assignment Types

Depending on the specification type you can assign any value assignment types to each status in the IMG activity Specify Statuses. Using customer exits you can specify, for example, that the value assignment types for a particular status must be edited before the status can be assigned.

Authorization Concept

The SAP system guarantees that the status assignments can be made only by authorized users.

Search Function

In the specification workbench, a search function allows you to display all specifications that belong to a specific usage and a specific status as a hit list.

Enhancements (Customer Exits)

You can use the customer exits in Customizing for Basic Data and Tools to specify that:

·        Additional checks are made in a status switch

·        Other activities are performed when you save the status (such as workflow processes)