A version of an article, a reference article, or a packaging.
You can define several variants for an article, a reference article, or a packaging in parallel. In addition to the key that the variants of a specific article, reference article, or packaging have in common with the respective object, they also have an additional alphanumeric key that identifies each variant individually.
You can create several versions of an article, reference article, or packaging in the system as variants of the respective object if you do not want to map these versions as different articles, reference articles, or packaging, but still need to or want to distinguish between the various versions in your processes. Whether you should map variants at article level (reference article) or at packaging level to differentiate between the various versions depends on your individual situation and on your master data mapping concept.
Note
To be able to use variants, you must set the Use Variants
indicator in Customizing for Recycling Administration
under . When the function is activated, the fields and functions for the use of variants are visible on the user interface.
The authorization object J_7L_VARIA
is available to control authorization relating to variants.
To be able to use variants of an article, reference article, or packaging in various processes in accordance with your requirements, the Business Add-In (BAdI) /J7L/VARIANT_MAPPING is available. For more information, see Customizing for Recycling Administration
under .
With this BAdI, you have the following control options:
You can adapt the properties of the Variant
field (for example, description, input help) on the user interface for the use of variants in your processes.
You can control the use of variants in declarations.
You can control the use of variants when creating conditions.
If you do not make any process-specific adaptations using BAdI implementations, the system uses the fallback class /J7L/BADI_DESIGN_VARIANT_MAP. In this case, the system only takes variants with an empty character string as their key value into account when creating SD conditions and MM conditions or in declarations (production run). In test runs (declaration system) and in cost analysis, the system treats all master data objects in the same way, that is, it only takes the variant into account as an additional key for the unique identification of master data objects, evaluating objects with explicitly assigned variants in the same way as objects with an empty character string as their key value for the variant.
For information about editing master data with the applications for editing the material master, see Editing of Master Data in the Material Master.
The use of variants is advantageous in the following typical cases:
Simulating master data
You want to simulate different versions of an article or packaging to find the optimum composition of properties. To do this, you map as a variant of the article or packaging both the version that you currently want to use in your processes in production and the versions of the article or packaging that you simply want to use in simulations.
For more information, see Comparisons and Simulations for Design Optimization.
Using different packaging for a product
You want to map different versions of an article or packaging as variants to be able to use these versions of the master data object simultaneously in your productive processes.
Example
You procure a product from different suppliers so the packaging is different. You map these differences using variants of the respective article or packaging. Using a customer-specific BAdI implementation, you can define, for example, that in a business process the system determines the relevant variant based on a batch and the supplier assigned to this batch. In this case, you must map the assignment between suppliers and variants in the system using a customer-specific table, for example.
A variant is identified by an alphanumeric key that the system displays in the Variant
field. This value can also be an empty string. Note the following features:
When you create a new object (article, reference article, or packaging) without explicitly creating a variant at the same time, the system automatically creates a variant with an empty string as its key value in the background. If you then create a variant for this object explicitly, two variants exist in the system.
The system automatically converts data that already exists in the system, that is, existing articles, reference articles, or packaging are automatically assigned a variant with an empty string as its key value.
When you create a new object and explicitly define a variant, only this variant exists in the system. In this case, the system does not create an additional variant with an empty string as its key value in the background.
The key of a variant cannot be changed subsequently.
If you want to select all variants of an object on a selection screen, do not enter a value (empty string) in the selection fields for the variant. If you only want to select the variant with an empty string, choose the selection option Single Value
in combination with an empty string.
The system always works with variants. Thus, a specific article, reference article, or packaging is only identified by the combination of the object key of the article, reference article, or packaging and the variant key. For this reason, the system displays the additional Variant
field at all relevant positions on the user interface.
The variants of an object can differ from each other in almost all properties; all variants of an object have identical values in the following properties only:
The key of the underlying object is identical in all variants of an object. The variants differ in the additional variant key.
An object that is based on a material master passes those properties that belong to the material master record to all variants of the object.