Material Master Transfer 

Material master records from a central R/2 system can be transmitted to decentralized R/3 systems and created there automatically in order to enable the R/2-R/3 link. Changes in the material master in the central system can also be transferred automatically to the decentralized R/3 System. The material data transfer is initiated, when a material is created or changed in the central system.

You create or change material master records in the central system. The respective material data is passed on to the decentralized R/3 System using communication documents. The data is then changed or created accordingly in the decentralized system.

For information on processing communication documents for material master data, see the section Processing Communication Documents.

Please note that only communication types Material LgO and Material SD are relevant here.

The following figure shows the general procedure for transferring material masters.

Creating a Material Master Record

When a material master record is created in the central system, the following procedure is used to transfer the material master data to a decentralized system:

  1. The user creates a material master record in the central system (using transaction TJ10 in the R/2 System, for example).
  2. If plant data is maintained during creation of the master record, the system checks whether transfer of material master data to a decentralized system has been defined for the plant and whether all required views (for example, Sales/Plant Data or Sales Text) are maintained. If this is the case, the central system creates a communication document containing all relevant material data and sends this document to the decentralized R/3 System.
  3. Once the required data has arrived, the following actions are carried out in the decentralized R/3 System:

The system creates a new material master record in the background, which includes the following views:

If Customizing is set accordingly, the person responsible for maintaining the R/3 material master receives a mail informing him that a new material master record has been created.
  1. After receiving the mail, the person responsible for the material master can maintain the material master record decentrally, if necessary. However, the extent to which he or she can carry out changes is very limited.

The transfer of material data relevant for the storage location has to be initiated manually in the central R/2 System. All other material data is sent automatically to the decentralized R/3 System. For the data relevant for the storage location, communication records of the type Material Stl and for the other material data communication records of the type Material SD are created.

Changing Material Master Records

You always change general material data in the central system. If changes to the material master are carried out in the central system, and these need to be taken into account in the decentralized R/3 System, the changed data is transferred. This is carried out as follows:

  1. A user changes material data in the central system.
  2. The central system recognizes that this data needs to be transferred to the decentralized R/3 System and creates a communication document that contains the changed data. The document is sent to the decentralized R/3 System.
  3. The relevant material data is changed in the decentralized R/3 System.

When the material master records are changed, the sending of material data relevant for the storage location also has to be initiated manually in the central R/2 System.