In addition to standard sales order functions, there are other functions influenced by product selection. These are:

• Rescheduling
• Changing manual item categories
• Listing/Exclusions
• Customer/Material information records
• Satisfying orders
• Referring to open quotes and contracts
• Forward scheduling
• Allocation
• Automatic batch determination
• Minimum order/delivery quantities
• Bill of material (BOM) substitution
• Different units of measure (UOM)
• Weight/Volume
• Changing partners

If you change the main item category after product selection has been run, the system processes the sub-item category accordingly, but does not delete the sub-item.

If you would like to change a main item with an item category that is not valid for product selection (for example, third party orders), you must add this item category to the condition table/access sequence and process it accordingly.

For third party orders, only the main item is passed to the purchase requisition, not the sub-items.

If you create listings or exclusions for a customer, the system processes them before confirming substitute items in the order. If any of the materials are affected and removed from the list of possible alternatives, the system issues a message informing you.

This function is also available in the delivery.

If the customer uses a different material number than your internal number, you can create a customer-material info record. Customer material info records can be used in conjunction with product substitution at either the main or sub-item level.

If a record refers to a sub-item, only a portion of the detail data is copied to the schedule line. The minimum order and delivery quantities, and the plant are not copied, for example.

Fulfilling orders

In product selection, the system consumes the available inventory of each substitute prior to checking the available inventory of the next alternative. It does not optimize its proposals to give the customer the least possible number of alternatives. This means that there may be a single alternative that would completely satisfy the customer order. But because the substitutes are consumed one at a time in order of priority, the customer is shipped several products:

The system does not select product C although it would satisfy the order completely. For the system to consume product C first, you would have to reprioritize it as substitute 1.

In the standard system, you can set the system to inform you in standard orders if existing quotes or contracts exist for any items. When you activate this function, you can reference a schedule line to the existing document. These schedule lines then take on pricing and additional information from the reference document.

This function is for the main item only in product selection, not sub-items.

Forward scheduling is supported in product selection.

The system does not take substitutes that are on allocation into account.

If you were to place an order for 100 pieces, the system would normally propose 50 pieces of product A and 50 of product B. However, when allocation is coupled with product substitution, the system does not accept the alternative materials. Instead, it issues a message informing you that 100 pieces remain after product selection.

Product selection and automatic batch determination do not work together in the sales order. The system substitutes products based on their available quantities, then carries out batch determination to find an appropriate batch for the quantity entered. In this case, the system may select items that do not have valid batches in the available inventory.

Material PRODBATCH-01 has a substitution routine/batches as follows:

If you book an order for PRODBATCH-01 for 40 pieces, the system displays the following data for product selection and automatic batch determination:

The system issues a warning informing you that it could not select a batch.

The system does not process minimum order and delivery quantities in sub-items (either from material master or customer-material info records).

Product selection does not support substitution for BOM main or sub-items.

Different units of measure for substitutions are not permitted. For example, you cannot substitute one case of material 1 with two cases of material 2.

The base unit of measure, in this example one case, must be consistent between the material entered and its alternatives.

When you set the weight/volume relevance indicator for the main item category, the weight/volume of the main item is based only on the values of the main item, not the sub-items. The system does not consider the weight/volume of the sub-items in the calculation.

The system does not automatically copy the weight/volume values of the main item into the delivery or the billing document. If you need to view the weight/volume of the main item in the delivery, or if you want to use pricing conditions based on weight/volume that are repriced in the billing document, write new VOFM data transfer routines. Refer to SAPNet Note 71603 for more information.

If the weight/volume relevance indicator is set for the sub-item category, the weight/volume is based on the actual weight/volume of the sub-items. The system automatically copies these values into subsequent deliveries and billing documents.

You cannot change partners assigned in the product selection items.