Definition

A document that contains all the data required to trigger and monitor the complete inbound delivery process.

Use

An inbound delivery (ID) can have the following statuses:

Real

This status represents a normal inbound delivery that you can maintain using the inbound delivery processing functions.

On Hold

This status exists at both header and item level of an inbound delivery. It blocks further processing of the entire delivery or of a particular delivery item. A delivery or delivery item may be On Hold for one of the following reasons:

Validation errors occurred (in which case the system sets the status to On Hold )

Further processing should be blocked (in which case the user sets the status to On Hold )

By using the function for placing an inbound delivery on hold, you can store incorrect or incomplete inbound deliveries. The system automatically sets inbound deliveries to On Hold when there are errors in the inbound delivery document, for example, when the material number does not exist in the system or no order data has been entered. You can process and complete inbound deliveries on hold at a later point in time.

The following functions are not available for an inbound delivery on hold:

Packing

Placement in storage

Goods receipt posting

The On Hold status is displayed at both header and item level on the SPM user interface. There are two hold statuses at header level: one is in charge of the delivery header, while the other shows whether at least one item is on hold.

During creation of a hold ID, all the standard system checks are deactivated so that an ID with errors can be created in SPM. Later, when all the errors have been corrected, the hold ID is transferred to a “real” ID.

A person responsible for preliminary entries cannot create a complete document for an inbound delivery because data is missing. For the person responsible at the unloading point, this data is available (the truck driver may have found delivery papers on the way there, for example).

The person responsible for preliminary postings can enter the inbound delivery with the incomplete data in the SAP system by using the function Put on Hold . The person responsible at the unloading point can then process this inbound delivery on hold further.

Temporary Inbound Delivery

If the inbound delivery has to be processed by SAP EWM, SPM creates a temporary inbound delivery when you make any changes or deletions. The system sends a message to SAP EWM for ackowledgement by the latter. When SAP EWM returns the acknowledgement, SPM deletes the temporary inbound delivery and the changes are made (positive acknowledgement), or not (negative acknowledgement/rejection), on the basis of the information contained in the acnowledgement.

Structure

An inbound delivery document consists of the following parts:

Document header

The document header contains general data that is relevant to the entire inbound delivery.

Document items

There can be any number of items in an inbound delivery document. Data contained in the document item refers to that particular item. You can view the items either in the item overview or in the item details screen area of the inbound delivery.

Integration

Handling Units (HUs)

You can assign handling units (HUs) to inbound deliveries. You can create an HU in the inbound delivery from the Packing Data tab page. You can find this tab page in the item overview area of the inbound delivery in the transaction Extended Inbound Delivery Processing . You can create HUs:

Manually

Automatically by using packing instructions.

You cannot change or delete HUs from the Extended Inbound Delivery Processing screen.

For more information on handling units in general, see Handling Unit Management (LO-HU).

Serial Numbers

You can use serial numbers in the inbound process. Serial numbers maintained by the supplier in ICH are sent by means of ASNs using IDocs to the ERP system and then forwarded to EWM. This serial number information is not returned to the ERP in a confirmation step; in other words, serial number information is deleted in the ERP system after the goods receipt in EWM.As a consequence, serial number information is also deleted in ICH when the goods receipt is communicated back to ICH. This means that the serial numbers maintained in ICH are no longer visible in ICH after goods receipt has taken place. For more information on serial numbers in general, see Serial Number Management .

Priority Points

Priority points serve to define an unloading sequence for inbound deliveries at item level. They are calculated using data from planning (historical data, backorder situation, and so on).

In EWM, priority points assigned to ASN items are used to calculate priority totals for transfer or for handling units. Based on these totals, an unloading sequence for transfer or handling units is defined. This sequence triggers the assignment of employees to tasks. Priority points in ASNs are determined during the creation of an ASN in ERP. ERP triggersAPOto asynchronously determine the priority points.APOdetermines priorities based, for example, on a monthly demand or a backorder situation. Subsequently, the ERP system dispatches the ASN that has been enriched with priority points back to EWM.

Priority points should be calculated in real time when required, and only for the ASNs or inbound deliveries for which they are needed, for example, for ASNs and inbound deliveries that you expect to arrive In Yard or Received on Dock in the next few days.

For more information, see the SAP Library of SAP SCM, by choosing Extended Warehouse Management → Delivery Processing → Basic Functions of Delivery Processing → Determination of Priority of Inbound Deliveries