Specification Status

Use

You use this function to define the usages for which a specification’s identifiers and value assignment instances are protected. You can use appropriate status entries to configure the system to:

  • Not permit changes to specification data (for the status Released in the standard system for example, see also Change Not Permitted)

  • Not permit the output of specification data to reports (for the status In Process in the standard system for example, see also Generation Not Permitted)

  • Issue a warning before specification data is edited (for the status For Release in the standard system)

An indicator profile is defined for each status in Customizing. This defines which level of protection the status should produce. You can expand the underlying status network.

Integration

For generation of the report management worklist, the system treats status changes the same as changed specification data. The check to determine whether generation is not permitted for a data record (see Generation Not Permitted) is made for the determined reports subsequently during report generation. If the report contains a value that is not permitted for generation, the report will be given status Generated with Warning after generation.

Prerequisites

To ensure that a status entry is taken into account for specification data, the Active indicator must be set when using specification data.

In Customizing for Basic Data and Tools, you must have made settings in the Status Management section.

Features

Status entry

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

  • Rating and Validity area

  • Status

    A new status entry is given the initial status defined in Customizing. The status network is used to define the next permitted statuses.

  • Period for which the status entry is valid

  • Change Number if you are using engineering change management

  • Object Type of SAP component Human Resources Management and Person Responsible

Status Network

You can expand the status network supplied with the standard system with a status profile made up of your own user statuses. The SAP system inserts your user statuses between the status IP (In Process) and FR (For Release). You can define the next statuses within status K* manually.

The system is supplied with the following status network as standard:

Abbreviation

Description

Symbol

Technical Key

IP

In Process (initial status in standard system)

I0570

K1, K2

User Status

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 generates a list from the combinations of the initial status and 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 entered new status entries on the Status tab page.

Person Responsible

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

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

In Specify Authorization Groups in Customizing for Basic Data and Tools, you can define a responsible entity as a default entry depending on the authorization group. This default entry is used by the SAP system until you explicitly enter an entity responsible for a status entry.

History

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

Assigning Value Assignment Types

In IMG activity Specify Statuses, you can assign value assignment types to each status depending on the specification type. You can use customer exits to define that value assignment types have to be edited for a specific status before the status can be assigned.

Authorization Concept

The SAP system ensures that status assignments can only be made by users with the appropriate authorization.

Search Function

You can use a search function in the specification workbench to display a hit list of all specifications belonging to a specific usage and status.

Enhancements (Customer Exits)

In Customizing for Basic Data and Tools, you can use customer exits to

  • Trigger additional checks when a status is changed

  • Trigger additional actions when saving the status (workflow processes for example)