Entering Materials for Substitution
The standard system contains only material determination type A001, but you may
create additional types as required.The system cannot determine the outcome without a substitution reason. You must specify one in order to carry out product selection.
You can enter a reason at the general level in the Proposed reason field. The system proposes this reason automatically for any substitutes that you enter. You can also enter a reason for each substitute (scroll right and maintain the Reasn field).
In product selection, the system checks the validity date in the condition records and the requested delivery date in the order header. Note that forward scheduling is supported.
Product selection is triggered automatically when you enter this product in an order.
To enter more than one alternative, select the main material, choose Alternative materials and list the alternatives in order of priority.
Set the material requirements planning (MRP) indicator for one of the alternatives if you want the system to confirm a partial quantity and pass information about the material shortage on to planning. The system creates a
special sub-item in the order for partial confirmations.Enter the original product as the first alternative if you want the system to check this material for availability first, before checking for other alternatives.
Original Material: Product A
Alternatives: Product A ® Substitute 1
Product B ® Substitute 2
Product C ® Substitute 3
When you enter product A in an order, the system checks whether the item is on substitution before checking availability. Once it determines that the material is to be substituted, the system attempts to find an alternative from the list of possibilities. Beginning with product A, the system checks availability for each potential substitute to determine if there is sufficient inventory.
If you do not enter a substitute unit of measure (UOM), the system determines one using the sales UOM, or if you have not entered one, the base UOM.