Integration of Classes and Characteristics (SAP Library - Integration of SCM Basis Master Data)

Integration of Classes and Characteristics

Use

To transfer classes and characteristics, you create your own integration model in the SAP ERP system. You specify in the integration model which characteristics and class types are to be transferred to the connected SCM system.

The integration models for classes and characteristics should not contain any other objects to keep the integration of classes and characteristics of other master data separate. Any changes made to the integration model that are required because of other objects do not result in the characteristic and class master data being transferred again.

Prerequisites

Determine the scope of the class and characteristic master data to be transferred in the integration model by specifying the organizational area. In the SAP ERP system, assign a special organizational area that you also specify in the integration model to the characteristics to be transferred to the connected SCM system.

The organizational areas must be created before the classes and characteristics are transferred to the SCM system. The characteristics and classes are still transferred to the SCM system, even if the organizational areas are not maintained in the SCM system, but you cannot display input help for the characteristics in the SCM system, for example.

1. In Customizing for the SCM system, choose Cross-Application Components ® Classification System ® Classes ® Maintain Object Types and Class Types.

2. Select the table /SAPAPO/MATKEY and choose Organizational Areas.

3. Choose New Entries to create new organizational areas.

Example

To use characteristic-dependent planning (CDP), the ERP technical names of the batch class and the variant class must be the same (class type 023 and 300). In the SCM system, the characteristics of these two classes are merged to create the class type 400 after CIF transfer.

Note

No changes can be made in a productive ERP system.

Features

APO-Specific Features

In the SAP APO system, inbound processing is then executed depending on Customizing. If the CDP configuration procedure has been configured for the system, a class is automatically created in the SAP APO system for class types 023 and 300. This class has the same name as class type 400.

Note

Class and characteristic master data can only be integrated from a logical system in the SCM system. Errors can occur during the transfer if a characteristic or a class is transferred to the SCM system and a characteristic (or class) with the same name has already been transferred from another source system. This prevents identically named but semantically different objects from mixing.

To influence which classes are to be created in SAP APO for CDP, you can use the BAdI Control Class Assignments for CDP with the method CDP_CLASSES_FILTER in Customizing under Advanced Planning and Optimization ® Master Data ® Classification and Configuration ® Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Classification and Configuration.

Additional Characteristics

In the integration model, you can specify characteristics in the Additional Characteristics field that are not assigned to an SCM-system-relevant class. This can be useful for reference characteristics (these can be used in the production data structure for CDP).

If you only want to integrate additional characteristics in the connected SCM system, but no classes, then specify an organizational area not to be used in classes in the integration model.

Object Characteristics/Check Table Characteristics in SAP APO

These characteristics refer to a table that usually has a different name in SAP ERP from the one in SAP APO. The table reference must therefore be adjusted in a customer enhancement, or subsequently in SAP APO.

Reference characteristics are used in object dependencies and can be evaluated with production data structures (PDS) in SAP APO. For more information, see SAP Library on SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com ® SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM) ® SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (SAP APO) ® Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) ® Planning with Characteristics ® Prerequisites for Planning ® Production Data Structures (PDS) for CDP and Block Planning.

To adjust the reference characteristics to the APO-specific tables, make the necessary settings in Customizing under Advanced Planning and Optimization ® Master Data ® Classification and Configuration ® Map Object Characteristics.

You can also use the BAdI Map Object Characteristics in SAP APO in Customizing under Advanced Planning and Optimization ® Master Data ® Classification and Configuration ® Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Classification and Configuration.

The reference characteristics should not be contained in classes with class type 400 and should only be used in object dependencies. Therefore, integrate reference characteristics as additional characteristics in SAP APO.

Activities

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1. In the SAP ERP system, choose Logistics ® Central Functions ® Supply Chain Planning Interface ® Core Interface Advanced Planner and Optimizer® Integration Model ® Create.

2. In the Material Independent Objects section, select the Classes/Charact indicator and choose Special Restrictions.

3. Specify the organizational area for the SCM-specific characteristics for Org. area ind.

4. Specify the class type 300.

5. Save and activate your integration model.

If an active integration model containing other objects in addition to classes and characteristics already exists, proceed as follows to split the integration models:

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1. Use the filter object search for the integration model, if required, to determine the use of organizational areas in active integration models.

2. Generate and activate a second integration model that only contains SCM-relevant classes and characteristics (when activating the integration model, the system does not transfer data again to the SCM system because all affected classes and characteristics are already contained in the active integration model).

3. Generate a new version of the first integration model that contains all objects of the active version except for the classes and characteristics.

4. Activate the new version of the integration model. Here, the system does not transfer the data again to the SCM system because all objects are already contained in an active integration model (old version).