Material Inspection in the Warehouse

This function allows you to record the results of a material inspection that was carried out on returned materials received into your warehouse. Based on these results, you can specify logistical follow-up activities and trigger refunding. The system then creates the necessary follow-up documents.

Prerequisites

In the issuing plant, a returns stock transport order and the corresponding outbound delivery have been created, and a goods issue for the outbound delivery has been posted.
In the receiving plant, a goods receipt has been posted for the inbound delivery that the system automatically created from the goods issue.
The goods have been physically inspected.
You have made all the required settings for the material inspection in Customizing by choosing one of the following paths:
- In Customizing for Logistics - General, choose Advanced Returns Management Material Inspection Basic Settings for Material Inspection .
- In Customizing for Materials Management, choose Purchasing Purchase Order Returns Order Advanced Returns Management Material Inspection Basic Settings .

Features

Material Inspection

You record the results of an inspection that you carried out for returned materials that were received in your warehouse. The inspection results are entered with reference to the inbound delivery. You can select several inbound deliveries that require inspection and put them in a worklist. Inspection data includes the inspection code, an inspection comment, the inspector, and the inspection date. It is also possible to upload a local file to document the inspection. You can enter inspection data at header or item level, or you can split delivery items if different results are to be recorded for subquantities.

Inspection results can be used as the basis for determining the appropriate logistical follow-up activity and triggering the customer refund.

Note Note

To speed up the entry of inspection results, you can hide unnecessary fields.

End of the note.

Definition of Logistical Follow-Up Activity

The logistical follow-up activity code allows you to specify the next step in the logistical processing of the return (for example, 0011 Transfer to Free Available Stock or 0005 Ship to Vendor). Depending on the logistical follow-up activity that you select, you may have to specify additional information such as the next plant or a vendor.

You can save your data with or without confirming the logistical follow-up activities. If you just save the data, the system creates the inspection documents but does not create any logistical follow-up documents. You can still change the data at this point. If you confirm a logistical follow-up activity, the system creates the relevant logistical follow-up documents in the background.

The following table lists all logistical follow-up activities that are available as standard in the Material Inspection in Warehouse transaction.

Note Note

You can deactivate any unnecessary logistical follow-up activities in Customizing for Advanced Returns Management by choosing Start of the navigation path General Settings Next navigation step Activate and Rename Follow-Up Activities End of the navigation path . You can also replace the default descriptions of the follow-up activity codes with your own descriptions.

End of the note.

Follow-Up Activity Code	Default Description of Logistical Follow-Up Activity	Meaning
0004	Ship to Other Plant	Returned materials are sent to another plant.
0005	Ship to Vendor	Returned materials are sent to an external vendor.
0006	Ship to Vendor via Other Plant	Returned materials are sent to an external vendor via another plant.
0011	Transfer to Free Available Stock	Returned materials are posted to stock for which you define a stock type and storage location in Customizing.
0012	Transfer to Scrap	A goods issue to scrap is posted for the returned materials.
0015	Transfer to Specified Stock	Returned materials are posted to stock for which you specify a stock type and storage location.
0016	In-House Repair	An in-house repair is triggered for returned materials using a corresponding repair order.
0017	External Repair	An external repair is triggered for returned materials using a corresponding repair order.
0018	Transfer to Scrap for Customer	A goods issue is posted from the non-valuated returns stock to scrap for the returned materials.
0021	Send Back to Customer	Returned materials are sent back to the customer.
0022	Send Back to Last Plant	Returned materials are sent back to the issuing plant.
0031	No Further Activities	You select this follow-up activity if you want to stop logistical follow-up completely.

Note Note

For a store return that is not the logistical follow-up activity of a customer return, you cannot choose the following logistical follow-up activities during material inspection in the receiving plant: 0016 In-House Repair, 0017 External Repair, 0018 Transfer to Scrap for Customer and 0021 Send Back to Customer.

You also cannot trigger refunding in this case.

End of the note.

Compensation

In the material inspection transaction, you have the option of releasing a credit memo request or a subsequent delivery free of charge (SDF) for the delivery item or split item of a returned material:

Credit memo request
Specify the credit memo request quantity and, if necessary, a refund code. If you do not want the customer to receive any money, enter a rejection reason.
Replacement material
For the replacement material delivery, enter the replacement material, the replacement quantity, the supplying plant, and the replaced quantity. You can specify a different replacement material than the returned material. The supplying plant can be different than the plant that received the returned material.

The replacement material function for customer returns is linked to the function for non-valuated returns stock. When you release the replacement material delivery in the material inspection, the material valuation is triggered if the returned material was originally non-valuated.

You can specify a delivery block depending on the SDF order type in Customizing so that certain users are allowed to create an SDF but are not authorized to release it.

Non-Valuated Returns Stock

You can initially post the goods receipt for returned materials to non-valuated stock. The logistical follow-up activities are then based on this non-valuated returns stock. In particular, you can use non-valuated returns stock for forwarding processes such as store returns and supplier returns.

In the Material Inspection in Warehouse transaction, if you specify a logistical follow-up activity for non-valuated returns materials that signals a change in ownership, or if you trigger compensation for the customer by releasing a credit memo request or an SDF, the system posts a goods movement for valuating the material first. The valuated stock then already serves as the basis for subsequently posting the logistical follow-up activity.

Note Note

Logistical follow-up activities with a change in ownership are 0011 Transfer to Free Available Stock, 0012 Transfer to Scrap, 0015 Transfer to Specified Stock, and 0031 No Further Activities.

End of the note.

Role-Based Authorizations for Inspection and Logistical Follow-Up Activities

Inspection and logistical follow-up can be assigned to different user roles with different authorizations. In Customizing, you configure inspection profiles that define which logistical follow-up activities a user can propose and which they can confirm. You then create user groups with the required inspection profile and assign the users to the user groups.

The following is an example of how the task of inspection and logistical follow-up can be shared by two people with different authorizations. Two roles are involved: The inspector and the warehouse manager.

Example Example

Inspectors physically examine returned goods and assign an appropriate inspection code. They are also authorized to make decisions regarding uncritical follow-up activities such as Transfer to Free Available Stock. However, they can only propose critical logistical follow-up activities, such as scrapping, to the warehouse manager. The warehouse manger is responsible for checking, correcting, and confirming proposed logistical follow-up activities.

The inspector is assigned to a user group with the following inspection profile:

Follow-Up Activities that can be Proposed	Follow-Up Activities that can be Confirmed
0012 Transfer to Scrap	0011 Transfer to Free Available Stock
0005 Ship to Vendor	0004 Ship to Other Plant

The warehouse manager is assigned to a user group with the following inspection profile:

Follow-Up Activities that can be Proposed	Follow-Up Activities that can be Confirmed
0011 Transfer to Free Available Stock	0011 Transfer to Free Available Stock
0004 Ship to Other Plant	0004 Ship to Other Plant
0012 Transfer to Scrap	0012 Transfer to Scrap
0005 Ship to Vendor	0005 Ship to Vendor

End of the example.

Activities

To record the results of a material inspection, you have the following options on the SAP Easy Access screen:

Choose Logistics Central Functions Advanced Returns Management Material Inspection Enter Material Inspection in Warehouse .
Choose Logistics Materials Management Purchasing Environment Advanced Returns Management Enter Material Inspections in Warehouse .

Select a worklist of inbound deliveries that require inspection. Choose one of the deliveries from the worklist and process it. You can enter inspection information at header or item level, depending on whether or not the results vary between the items. If the inspection reveals that different quantities of the returned material have different statuses, you split the delivery item. For more information, see Creating Inspection Splits.

Note Note

You can enter quantities in the base unit of measure (UoM) or the sales UoM. If these are not the same, the system automatically converts.

End of the note.

You specify logistical follow-up activities at header level, item level, or split-item level. Depending on the logistical follow-up activity that you select, you may have to specify additional information such as the next plant or a vendor.

When you save and confirm a logistical follow-up activity, the system checks if you have made the required entries, such as:

You have chosen an inspection code.
You must specify an inspection code to be able to confirm a logistical follow-up activity. If no inspection results are available because the returned materials are to be forwarded to a different site for inspection, for example, you must still enter a temporary inspection code or a code for inspections that have not been performed yet.
The inspection quantity of a delivery item equals the original quantity.
You have specified all the required logistical follow-up information.

If any of the required information is missing, you can save the document but it is not confirmed, meaning the system does not create any logistical follow-up documents.

When you confirm the logistical follow-up activities (after the checks have been run), the system automatically creates the appropriate logistical follow-up documents and, if necessary, the credit memo request or SDF for compensating the customer.

The following table lists the logistical follow-up documents that are created according to logistical follow-up activity.

Logistical Follow-Up Activity	System Action
0011 Transfer to Free Available Stock	The system posts the material document for the goods movement to stock for which you have defined a storage location and stock type in Customizing.
0015 Transfer to Specified Stock	The system posts the material document for the goods movement to stock for which you have entered a storage location and stock type in the Logistical Follow-Up Activity group box.
0012 Transfer to Scrap	The system posts the corresponding goods issue to scrap.
0005 Ship to Vendor	The system creates the corresponding returns purchase order for the specified vendor. You then continue the returns process as described in Supplier Returns.
0004 Ship to Other Plant or 0006 Ship to Vendor via Other Plant	The system creates the corresponding returns stock transport order for the specified plant. You then continue the returns process as described in Store Returns. If you chose 0006 Ship to Vendor via Other Plant and process the return in the receiving plant of the returns stock transport order on the Material Inspection in Warehouse screen, the system proposes 0005 Ship to Vendor as the next logistical step.
0016 In-House Repair	The system creates the in-house repair order. You can configure in Customizing that you want the system to automatically create a repair item in the repair order and post the goods movement from the returns stock to the repair order stock.
0017 External Repair	The system creates the repair order for external repair. You can configure in Customizing that you want the system to automatically post the goods movement from the returns stock to the repair order stock and create the subcontract order for shipment to the external repair service.
0018 Transfer to Scrap for Customer	The system posts the material document for the goods issue from the non-valuated returns stock to scrap.
0021 Send Back to Customer	The system creates an outbound delivery with the customer as the ship-to party. This outbound delivery completes the returns process from a logistical point of view.
0022 Send Back to Last Plant	The system creates a stock transport order with the previous plant as the receiving party. This stock transport order completes the returns process from a logistical point of view.

The system also ensures that subsequent stock movements are reflected correctly in the Warehouse Management System. For more information, see Integration into Warehouse Management System (WMS).