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Shipping: Transportation

Description

In Release 3.0, transportation is a new area of functionality in the SD module. It controls and monitors the entire transportation process as a central element of the logistics chain.

Transportation can be used for both goods receipt and goods issue. Inbound shipments are carried out on the goods received side in connection with the goods purchase order and shipping notification; outbound shipments are carried out on the sales and distribution side using sales orders and deliveries.

Transportation is integrated into the sales and distribution menu as an independent element. It can also be reached from the shipping menu via Environment -> Transportation.

Forms of transportation

The following processing methods have been implemented in Release 3.0:

Requirements for transportation:

1. In the case of outbound shipments, the following requirements for transportation must be met:
If the above requirements are met, then the status of transportation planning is set to 'A' (relevant for transportation - Not processed) in the delivery header.
2. In the case of inbound shipments, the following requirement for transportation must be met:

Creating shipments

The basis of the transportation functionality is the shipment document which contains the information necessary for communication between the shipper, customer and any service agents.

On the initial screen for creating a shipment, you enter a transportation planning point, a shipment type and, if necessary, a selection variant. From the initial screen, you reach the selection screen on which deliveries can be chosen for transportation. In this case, it is possible to use a previously stored selection variant with the required selection criteria which reduces the time required for data entry when you create shipments. The selection variant can be stored in Customizing as a default value for a shipment type.

When deliveries relevant for transportation are selected, the system creates a shipment document in which the following functions are available:

Deliveries can be selected and assigned to a shipment. In this way, different deliveries can be grouped together into one shipment. It is also possible to include the same deliveries in several shipments. If the capacity of a shipment is, for example, not exhausted, the selection of the deliveries can be repeated and the shipment can be filled with newly selected deliveries. Using the menu option Edit -> Planning -> New shipment , you can create new shipments directly from the overview screen.
The sequence of the deliveries in the shipment simultaneously determines the itinerary. By moving the delivery (Edit -> Planning -> Move delivery), the itinerary can be defined later.
As long as the shipment has not been planned, deliveries can be removed again.
Using the menu option Overview, you can change the format of the available information depending on how you access the information. In addition, the shipment header contains a status list for subsequent processing.
As soon as the planned indicator is selected in the shipment document, the system creates shipment stages which contain information on the geographical factors of a shipment. In particular, the stages specify:
The deliveries are assigned to the individual stages and displayed using leg determination. Additional destinations can be specified on the detail screen.
The means of transport are represented as shipping units. If items have already been partially or completely packed into shipping units in the delivery, the shipping units are transferred from the delivery into the shipment document. The shipping units that are already packed can no longer be unpacked in the shipment document. However, new shipping units can be created, and items that are not packed or are only partially packed can be added.
A record is kept of all service agents involved in a shipment. In this case, a separate shipment stage can be assigned to each service agent. In Release 3.0, only the forwarding agent partner function (SP) can be used as a service agent.
The start/end dates of the transportation transaction are recorded. For further information on deadlines, see release note "Shipping Deadlines".
Automatic text determination is not carried out in the shipment. The texts can be entered manually.

Subsequent processing of shipments

Shipments which have been created by selecting deliveries are further processed with the transportation planning and processing functionality.

Since the functions of these two departments are different, different selection screens are available for each department for selecting the shipments. The choice of selection criteria or selection fields can be changed if required. There are two types of subsequent processing:

Planning chooses shipments with the aim of planning them.
Transportation processing chooses shipments with the aim of completing them. This also includes weighing, counting and posting goods issue.

Note

After entering the selection criteria, you confirm your selection with the Save function.

When the lists have been created, the functionality of both types of subsequent processing is once again identical.

Change system parameters in customizing

The following enhancements have been made to Customizing:

1. Shipment
The shipment type contains all the essential control features for the shipment document, such as number range and selection variant. The standard SAP R/3 System contains shipment types for both individual and collective shipments.
Delivery types for which you should be able to carry out transportation functions must be classified as revelant for transportation in Customizing.
All routes which are to be used for the shipment must be classified as relevant for transportation in Customizing.
2. Output determination
3. Text determination
New text types and text determination procedures for transportation have been introduced in text determination.
4. Organizational structure
The organizational structure has been extended to include the transportation planning point. There is no fixed assignment to the shipping points.
5. Authorization objects
Two new authorization objects have been set up for transportation:
6. Number range object
The new number range object RV_TRANSPO has been created for transportation.

Further notes

For further information on configuring transportation, see the Implementation Guide, Section "Transportation".

For more information on configuring the organizational structure of transportation, see the Implementation Guide, Section "Maintain transportation planning points" .