Configuration Options (SAP Library - Transportation (LE-TRA))

Configuration Options

During configuration in R/3 Customizing, you can specify technical or functional parameters that determine how messages are sent to the planning system and which modifications should be carried out in the messages before transmission.

R/3 Customizing

SAP uses the word Customizing to describe the necessary table settings used to tailor the R/3 system to the user’s needs. For example, in Customizing you can:

Define key values and their attributes (shipment types, for example)

Maintain number ranges (shipment numbers, for example)

Create and maintain organizational units (transportation planning points, for example)

Configure procedures for sending documents (message control, for example)
Create procedures for modifying documents (route restrictions, for example)

Carry out other customer-specific system settings

The descriptions for Customizing settings are available in detail in the Implementation Guide in Online help. Particular specifications for setting the transportation planning interface can be found in the IMG under Tools ® Customizing ® Implementation projects ® SAP Reference IMG ® Logistics Execution ® Transportation ® Interfaces ® Scheduling in Cooperation with Forwarding Agents.

Planning Restrictions for Routes

There are certain planning situations where the entire transportation process is not determined for individual deliveries. In order to optimize the planning of domestic transportation (roads) for companies sending deliveries both at home and abroad, a planning system might be used where shipment documents can also be manually generated using R/3 transactions for transportation activities for overseas shipments (sea routes). In this case, the forwarding agent has to be notified that the destination location for planning is not the decisive factor for deliveries abroad, but that automated planning should take place for another location (for example, a departure harbor or border location). Similar situations can arise for orders that are shipped from a shipping location outside the planning area and that should only have automatic subsequent leg planning carried out.

The planning restrictions are linked to the combination of forwarding agent (transportation planning point) and route. This way, you can define how a departure point or destination location substitution should be executed in the planning request for each related planning system and each delivery route separately.

Location substitution schemas are used for determining an alternative departure point or destination for planning. A substitution schema is made up of sequence of conditions that are checked one after the other until a valid substitute is found. Once an alternative location has been found, the time specifications for the location are also reset where possible.

The following conditions can be used in a substitution location procedure:

All the search strategies refer only to documents that are part of the delivery currently being processed. Locations that are used as departure and destination locations for the delivery in the existing shipments are those where the delivery is loaded or unloaded but not the absolute beginning or end of a shipment.

Condition

Time substitute

Location substituted with...

001

A, P

Departure location of earliest main leg shipment

002

A, P

Departure location of earliest preliminary leg shipment

003

A, P

Departure location of earliest subsequent leg shipment

004

F

Departure points in delivery route

050

A, P

Earliest departure location of any shipment

101

A, P

Destination location of latest main leg shipment

102

A, P

Destination location of latest preliminary leg shipment

103

A, P

Destination location of latest subsequent leg shipment

104

F

Destination points in delivery route

150

A, P

Latest destination location in any shipment

200

F

Fixed transportation connection points

999

User-specific substitution

If a substitution location is found, the system also tries to determine the connection scheduling for the departure or arrival time of the delivery at the substitution location (time substitute). This is done by using the following procedures:

Time substitute

Function

A

Substitute with actual transportation time (this takes priority due to precision, but may only be maintained in exceptional cases).

P

Substitute with planned times from shipment document.

F

Calculates new times based on delivery / GI date and the preliminary, main and subsequent leg times of the route specified in Customizing.

User-specific location substitution takes place using a customer function. You can read more about these functions in the section SAP System Settings and Modification Concept or in the online help documentation.

Location and Time Substitution with Reference to Existing Shipments

Automatic connection scheduling for existing R/3 shipments can only take place properly if all important data has been maintained in R/3 shipment documents. The following data is absolutely necessary in the shipment document:

Departure and destination location
Planned departure and arrival time in shipment header
Delivery assignment

If a connection to a collective shipment is planned, the following data must also be maintained:

Shipment Stages
Delivery assignment to legs
Departure and arrival times at shipment stages

If possible, you should also ensure that all address data is maintained for the locations involved.

Location Substitution for Subsequent Leg Planning

The planning system "Roads in Germany" is implemented for the delivery route "North America – Hamburg" to plan the subsequent legs. For this reason, the departure location of the delivery that is in North America, that is, outside of the planning area, is replaced by a departure location better suited for planning. The determination procedure would identify the following condition sequence, which is processed sequentially until a substitution location has been found:

End of last main leg. If one or more main legs exist for the corresponding delivery, the destination location of the last main leg is used as the starting location for planning. The shipment end date becomes the shipment departure date.
End of delivery route. The destination point of the delivery is used as the starting point for planning. The departure time is determined using the delivery date and the specified subsequent leg time.
Specified point: the point specified in Customizing is used. There is no departure time determination.
No substitution takes place.

The following shows the four most relevant substitution procedures with their condition steps.

Automatic Preliminary Leg Planning: Connection to Departure Location in Existing Main Leg Shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted with...
001	001	Departure location of earliest main leg shipment
002	004	Departure points in delivery route
		No substitution of destination location

Automatic Subsequent Leg Planning: Connection to Destination Location in Existing Main Leg Shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted with...
001	101	Destination location of latest main leg shipment
002	104	Destination points in delivery route
		No substitution of departure location

Automatic Main Leg Planning: Connection to Destination Location in Existing Preliminary Leg Shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted with...
001	102	Destination location of latest preliminary leg shipment
002	004	Departure points in delivery route
		No substitution of departure location

Automatic Main Leg Planning: Connection to Departure Location in Existing Subsequent Leg Shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted with...
001	003	Departure location of earliest subsequent leg shipment
002	104	Destination points in delivery route
		No substitution of departure location

Material Accumulation

It is absolutely necessary to know all details about the materials/delivery items to be transported in order to plan shipments.

In certain circumstances, it is not always relevant whether two delivery items, 500 liters of red and 500 liters of green paint, for example, are to be transported. It is often enough to know that 1000 liters of paint have to be planned as shipment goods. The circumstances are similar in batch handling, where different batches of one material are divided among several delivery items.

Delivery items can be combined according to different criteria, in order to achieve a better overview or to reduce the amount of data that is to be transmitted . This combination ( ac cumulation) can take place separately for each combination of transportation planning point and route. However, it can also be carried out generally for an entire transportation planning point.

Accumulation of delivery items takes place in a transportation planning interface and is always related to deliveries, i.e. a cross-delivery accumulation is not available.

There are two options for creating planning requests for the ac cumulation of items in the current delivery:

Reduction of shipment-relevant items:

Activating this function results in:

Combination of batch items in a header item per material
Combination of product selection of a material in a header item
Deletion of BOM items irrelevant to the shipment

Text and value items as well as automatically-generated packing items are not normally transmitted.

Accumulation according to freight code:

You can assign a freight code set to the combination of transportation planning point and route. In this way, the freight code can be determined together with the material freight group from the material master. The items of a delivery are grouped together by freight codes. The type of materials is only shown by the freight code in the message. The quantity is only available in weight and volume specifications and no longer as number of pieces, etc.

If both ac cumulation procedures are activated, the ac cumulation will first be carried out according to shipment-relevant items and then according to freight code.

You can implement a user specific ac cumulation by using a customer function. This customer function is carried out according to both the reduction of shipment-relevant items and freight class. You can read more about customer functions in the section SAP System Settings and Modification Concept or in the online help documentation of the customer function.

Procedure for Transmiting Planning Requests

Standard Transmission Procedure with Output Control

The use of the output control function is to be viewed as a standard transmission procedure. Other procedures should only be used in exceptional cases. _Trans Transmission with output control has the following attributes:

Blank transmission using transaction VT61 generates entries in output control that are used for creating planning requests for the time planned in the output type and are then transmitted.

Transmission of planning requests based on changed deliveries takes place automatically.

Control mechanisms are available in output control.

The following settings allow you to set the standard transmission procedure for a planning system:

Create an output type for your planning system based on CFPR. Do not forget to maintain the processing program.

Set the required dispatch time.

Enter your new output type in the output procedure for the shipping messages and set the condition to ‘41’ (delivery to forwarding agent).

Enter you output type in a transmission profile.

A transmission file is made up of a combination of transmission parameters, such as output type, planning specifications for forwarding agents (which transportation planning point it is to use, which delivery texts are to be transmitted). This can be changed in Transaction VT62.

If several forwarding agents are connected to your R/3 system, then you need a different output type for each forwarding agent.

Automatic Transmission

Automatic transmission only works with one forwarding agent since all deliveries are always shipped there directly.

Automatic output control has the following attributes:

Posting a new delivery generates entries in output control, which are used for creating planning requests for the time planned in the output type and which are then transmitted.

_{Tra

Transmission of planning requests based on changed deliveries takes place automatically.}

Control mechanisms are available in output control.

The following settings allow you to set the standard transmission procedure for a planning system:

Create an output type for your planning system based on TPSO. Do not forget to maintain the processing program.

Set the required dispatch time.

Enter your new output type in the output procedure for the shipping outputs and leave the condition field blank.

Enter your output type in the transportation planning point assigned to the forwarding agent.

In addition to the automatic planning system, you can also use other systems with standard transmission procedures.

Condition	Time substitute	Location substituted with...
001	A, P	Departure location of earliest main leg shipment
002	A, P	Departure location of earliest preliminary leg shipment
003	A, P	Departure location of earliest subsequent leg shipment
004	F	Departure points in delivery route
050	A, P	Earliest departure location of any shipment
101	A, P	Destination location of latest main leg shipment
102	A, P	Destination location of latest preliminary leg shipment
103	A, P	Destination location of latest subsequent leg shipment
104	F	Destination points in delivery route
150	A, P	Latest destination location in any shipment
200	F	Fixed transportation connection points
999		User-specific substitution

Time substitute	Function
A	Substitute with actual transportation time (this takes priority due to precision, but may only be maintained in exceptional cases).
P	Substitute with planned times from shipment document.
F	Calculates new times based on delivery / GI date and the preliminary, main and subsequent leg times of the route specified in Customizing.