Process Instruction Sheets (PI Sheets)

Purpose

You can use PI sheets to exchange data between the partially or completely manually operated production level and the SAP system (PP-PI). In manually operated production lines, this usually involves a process operator who uses the PI sheet to transfer production-relevant actual data to the SAP system and receives data from the SAP System.

In a PI sheet, you can describe the entire production cycle of a product or only part of a production process. If the PI sheet only represents part of the production process, you usually need several PI sheets to manufacture a product. You can, for example, define control and picking information for the individual production steps in the PI sheets. The PI sheet is used to inform the process operator about the individual production steps that need to be performed. He or she can interactively maintain the SAP PI sheet according to the phase sequence.

Apart from control information, the PI sheet can contain input fields and pushbuttons. You can, for example, define fields into which you want the process operator to enter the quantity of material components consumed for a phase. The material withdrawals must then be posted as goods issues in inventory management. You can use process messages to automatically carry out this function.

Using pushbuttons the process operator can navigate to other SAP applications to make entries and then return to the PI sheet. You can, for example, define a pushbutton for quality inspections during production. Using this button, the process operator can navigate to quality management, record inspection results, and then return to the PI sheet.

As of Release 4.6C, you can create two different types of PI sheets:

The ABAP-list-based PI sheet
The browser-based PI sheet This is an enhanced version of the old ABAP list-based PI sheet. Two of its many advantages are the new user interface in HTML layout as well as new functions.

Caution
Please refer to the SAP Note 397504 (Support for ABAP-List-Based PI Sheet).

End of the caution.

Implementation Considerations

Install this component in process manufacturing companies.

Integration

In order to	You also need
Carry out quality inspections during production	QM - Quality Management
Post goods movements to inventory management	MM - Inventory Management
Create a batch during productionassign values to batch characteristics during production	LO - Batch Management
Send maintenance data to plant maintenance via the PI- PCS interface	PM - Plant Maintenance

Features

In the PI sheet, you can:

Display control information such as instructions for the process operator on how to carry out the production step
Display additional notes, such as notes on specific rules that must be followed when dealing with dangerous goods
Use process messages to report current process data directly from the shop floor to the order (such as, post goods receipts and issues, perform time ticket confirmation)
Use dynamic function calls to:
- Call SAP applications outside PP-PI directly from the PI sheet, make entries there, and return to the PI sheet
- Display document from the document management system in the PI sheet
- Perform calculations (such as, calculate dates of time intervals)
Use user-defined function modules to start a dialog or retrieve data from internal or external applications

You can use predefined process messages to trigger the following business transactions directly from the PI sheet and report process data:

Post goods issues
Post goods receipts
Creation of batches
Assignment of values to batch characteristics
Confirm time events for the phases of an order
Confirm time events for the secondary resources of an order
Update the user status of an operation or a phase
Update the control recipe status
Update the order status according to the control recipe status
Confirm time tickets for the phases of an order
Confirm time tickets for the secondary resources of an order
Report maintenance data to plant maintenance
Post material flows between process orders

For more information about process message categories that are available in the SAP system, see Integration Using Process Messages .

You can use predefined dynamic function calls to call the following SAP functions and make calculations:

Call any SAP transaction
Record inspection results for inspection points
Call order confirmation for phases
Display material quantity calculation for an order
Display documents from the SAP Document Management System
Creation of physical-sample records for quality inspections during production
Process samplings (for example, release, save)
Calculation of the duration of time intervals
Calculate the start date of a time interval
Calculation of the end date of a time interval

The above-mentioned function calls have been defined in sample process instructions of type 6. They are included in the standard SAP system. For more information, see Type 6: Dynamic Function Calls and Type 0: Definition of Dynamic Function Calls .

Sample process instructions of types 1 to 7 are delivered with the SAP system. You can find them in Customizing for Process Management under Process Instructions -> Define Process Instruction Categories (General). You can both use the sample process instructions as they are or copy them to define your own process instructions.