Availability Check Using SAP ECC 

Use

If you perform material requirements planning (PP-MRP) in SAP ECC, you can perform an availability check (ATP check) using SAP ECC in the business transaction in CRM Enterprise. This function is supported for SAP R/3 4.6B and higher releases, however, specific functions are supported as of SAP ECC 6.0 (see under Features).

Prerequisites

In SAP ECC

In SAP ECC, you must activate the Business Transaction Events (BTEs) for the Availability Check Using SAP ECC. To set this flag in SAP ECC, do the following:

...

       1.      Start transaction FIBF (SAP Business Framework: Business Transaction Events)

       2.      Choose Settings ® Identification ® SAP Applications.

       3.      Enter the following values:

App.	Active	Text
CRMATP	Set indicator	R/3 ATP check called by CRM Server

In SAP ECC, the material must not be relevant for the availability check with SAP APO.

In CRM Enterprise

In CRM Enterprise, you change the setting to availability check using SAP ECC in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for SAP Customer Relationship Management at Basic Functions ® Availability Check ® Availability Check Using SAP ECC ® Define Middleware Parameters: Availability Check Using SAP ECC.

For information about settings for availability check in SAP ECC, see the IMG for SAP ECC at Sales and Distribution ® Basic Functions ® Availability Check and Transfer of Requirements.

Features

When you perform the availability check using SAP ECC, the system performs the following functions:

●     Transfer of requirements to production or purchasing

●     Reservation of stock

●     Shipping and transportation scheduling

SAP ECC transfers the results of the availability check to the business transaction in CRM Enterprise.

You can use the following processes in SAP ECC in combination with the availability check using SAP ECC:

●     Transportation and shipment scheduling to determine the material availability date

●     Follow-up activities such as outbound delivery and goods issue

●     Product allocation

●     Backorder processing

The system does not set the order status to Newly Scheduled.

SAP CRM then automatically triggers a new availability check, among other things, when you perform one of the following actions:

●     Change the quantity

●     Change the requested delivery date

●     Change the schedule line

●     Remove the cancel reason code

During an availability check. the following data transferred from SAP CRM to SAP ECC is taken into account:

●     Order type

●     Sold-to party

●     Product

●     Quantity

●     Customer

●     Unit of measure

●     Requested delivery date

●     Sales organization (at header level)

If you use SAP ECC 6.0, the following data transferred from SAP CRM to SAP ECC is additionally taken into account during an availability check:

●     Plant/vendor

●     Ship-to party

●     Batch

●     Item category

●     Requirement rule (fixed date/quantity)

●     Shipping conditions

●     Weight

All other data is redetermined in SAP ECC. For example, Incoterms changed manually in SAP CRM are not taken into account in the availability check using SAP ECC. This means that the result of an availability check of an order created in SAP ECC may differ from that of an order created in SAP CRM.

For more information about the availability check using SAP ECC, see SAP Library for SAP ECC at SAP ERP Central Components ® Logistics ® Sales and Distribution (SD) ® Availability Check and Requirements in Sales and Distribution.

Restrictions

In the availability check using SAP ECC, the following functions and processes in SAP CRM are only partially supported, or not at all:

●     All types of product substitution in SAP ECC (material substitution is supported in SAP CRM.)

●     Configurable materials

●     Checking of subitems
Subitems created by an availability check in SAP CRM, for example, by a bill of material explosion, cannot be checked. However, you can check manually created subitems individually for availability.

●     Availability check against planned individual requirements

●     Total requirements (individual requirements, on the other hand, are supported.)

●     Availability check against product allocation
Checking against product allocation is possible, however, it is not possible against user-defined product allocation characteristics. Tests were performed successfully with checks against product, product hierarchy, and customer.

●     Use of different time zones in SAP CRM and SAP ECC
(see SAP Note 705087)

●     Rules-based availability check
(Businesses that use rules-based availability checks must perform the availability check using SAP APO.)

●     Availability check using SAP APO
For products in SAP CRM checked for availability using SAP ECC, you cannot use the availability check using SAP APO in SAP ECC.

The following functions are not supported either:

●     Third-party order processing

●     Start production from availability check

●     Assembly from catalog

●     Production

●     Special stock (consignment, returnable packaging)

●     Rush orders and cash sales

For more information about restrictions in the availability check using SAP ECC, see SAP Note 856727.