Movement Types in WM (SAP Library - Warehouse Management System (WMS))

Movement Types in WM

Definition

The movement type is a classification key in the Warehouse Management system that describes a warehouse movement within a warehouse number.

Use

In Warehouse Management, goods movements are controlled through the movement type. Postings to inventory in IM are also identified by movement types. Together with other indicators, a movement type that is used for a goods movement in IM refers to a WM reference movement type.

The reference movement type provides the following information:

Movement type for WM
Stock category for the quants created by the movement
Indicator controlling the creation of transfer requirements and posting change notice

WM movement types provide the following information that is needed to move stock into or out of the warehouse:

Interim storage area
Type of interim storage bin (predefined, dynamic, fixed)
Control indicators for processing, confirming, and printing transfer orders
Indicator for finding the storage type in the warehouse

Example

For example, in the standard system a goods receipt based on a purchase order is assigned movement type 101, while a goods issue to a cost center is coded as movement type 201.

Using the standard WM movement type 101, the system accesses the table in which the movement type is defined to determine how the goods receipt will be handled in WM.

Note

To display this movement type, choose the path Activities ® Transfers ® Define Movement Types in the Implementation Guide under Warehouse Management.

WM movement type 101 (Goods Receipt for Purchase Order) has the following characteristics and handles goods movements as follows:

Since the goods are being transferred from the interim storage area, the source storage type is an interim storage area. In the standard system, it is defined as number 902 (Goods Receipt Area for External Receipts).
The dynamic coordinate indicator (Dyn.) is set. This means that the system creates the interim storage bin coordinate using the same number of the document that triggered the move - in this case, the purchase order number.
The type of document that is used to create the dynamic storage bin coordinates is defined in the Requirement type field as B (Purchase Order). This means that the system uses the purchase order number to build the coordinates.

When you post a goods receipt using movement type 101, WM will create an open transfer requirement with a positive quant in the interim storage area for goods receipts. Subsequently, when the transfer requirement is processed, WM creates a transfer order to move the goods from the interim storage area into a storage bin in the warehouse.

In the above example, the system uses the reference movement type 101 to access the table in which a reference movement type is assigned to a WM movement type.

Note

To assign an IM movement type to a reference movement type, choose the path Interfaces ® Inventory Management ® Define Movement Types.in the Implementation Guide (IMG) under Warehouse Management.

In addition to the reference movement type, the system uses the settings for the warehouse number and the following indicators to determine the WM reference movement type:

Stock special indicator

Movement indicator

Special stock indicator

Special movement indicator

The entry of *** in the Warehouse number column of the table indicates that the reference movement type is valid for all warehouses. The system finds that the movement type for WM (column MTy) is also 101. If the TR column is selected, it means that a transfer requirement will be created automatically by the IM component when the goods receipt is posted. This line also contains special indicators for stock and movements.