Distribution Processing: Deliveries for
Merchandise Distribution
Use
Deliveries for a distribution are basically the same as deliveries as used in Shipping, but have a different business background.
● Actual deliveries
Deliveries for a distribution are generated with reference to defined quantities, once a goods receipt has been posted.
● Partial deliveries
If the delivery can only contain a proportion of the quantity planned, a partial delivery is created. However, partial deliveries can also be created to support continuous merchandise flow (for example, generation of a partial delivery for each handling unit cross-docked).
Once a delivery has been created for a merchandise distribution, the delivery quantities are subtracted from the quantity fields for the individual processing methods.
Special Features of Deliveries for Cross-Docking
In Customizing, you can define whether deliveries for cross-docking should be marked as not relevant for picking. Since the goods are moved straight from the goods receipt to the goods issue zone, picking is usually not required.
If you want to implement incentive wages for the associates in the cross-docking area, you can mark cross-docking deliveries as relevant for picking. This enables you to generate transfer orders for the goods to be moved from goods receipt to goods issue. The transfer orders are then used for entering actual data and calculating incentive wages.
Inbound delivery split by end customer: If you choose this option in Customizing, then in the case of cross-docking with prepacking, inbound deliveries are split by end consumer if
● multiple single-recipient orders are combined in one inbound delivery or
● if inbound deliveries are combined for non-single-recipient orders.
In the inbound delivery in these cases, for each order item or subitem, corresponding main items and subitems are created. The main item is flagged as requiring packing. The subitems have statistical character; therefore the subitems are not distributed to external Warehouse Management Systems.
If SAP Extended Warehouse Management is used as the warehouse management system, then this setting is obligatory.
For more information, see Customizing for merchandise distribution under Logistics General → Merchandise Distribution → Plant Profiles for Merchandise Distribution.
Special Features of Deliveries for Merchandise-Driven Flow-Through
Deliveries are not used as the base document for merchandise-driven flow-through. The delivery documents are only generated after the merchandise has been physically split up. Deliveries for merchandise-driven flow-through are automatically marked as not relevant for picking, as the goods have been physically split when the delivery is created. As soon as a handling unit (such as a wire basket or pallet) is full and the distribution orders have been confirmed, you generate the delivery online. The physical flow of goods is therefore the same as that mapped to the SAP system.
Effects of the Processing Methods on How Deliveries are Generated
In Customizing, you can define when a delivery should be generated for merchandise distribution and which type of delivery should be generated. The following options are available:
● Automatic generation at goods receipt
● Automatic generation on adjusting the distribution
● Generation online using separate transactions
For further information on generating a delivery online, see Generating Deliveries for Merchandise Distribution Using Collective Processing: Procedure and Generating Individual Deliveries for Merchandise Distribution: Procedure.
|
Automatic generation at goods receipt |
Automatic generation on adjusting the distribution prior to goods receipt |
Online (collective processing) |
Online (individually) |
Putaway |
x |
x |
x |
- |
Cross-docking |
x |
x |
x |
x |
Recipient-driven flow-through |
x |
x |
x |
- |
Merchandise-driven flow-through |
- |
- |
- |
x |
Generation of Deliveries Asynchronously (in the Background)
You can
activate asynchronous processing in Customizing for automatic generation of
deliveries during an adjustment and for manual generation of deliveries online
using separate transactions.
The standard system setting is synchronous delivery generation. When
deliveries are generated at goods receipt, however, this is always done in the
background, independently of the Customizing settings.
The system updates an application log that records the messages that occur during generation. You can have the application log updated:
● only when errors occur
● always
You can analyze the application log using the Display application log transaction.
If delivery generation in the background is terminated as a result of a technical problem (similar to a processing termination), no message is displayed on-screen for the user. No application log is generated either. In this case, you can examine the problem using the transaction for analyzing transactional RFCs (SM58).
Integration
The deliveries generated for Merchandise Distribution are the same as those generated in the Logistics Execution menu. As such, they can be processed exactly in the same way as in Picking and Transportation.
This is not, however, the case for deliveries for merchandise-driven flow-through and for cross-docking. In these cases, either it makes no sense to have picking or it is not required (see above).
The function for generating deliveries (collective processing) in Merchandise Distribution is not the same as the function for collective processing of due documents (transaction VL10x) in Logistics Execution.
The same applies for the function for generating individual deliveries in Merchandise Distribution and the function for creating outbound deliveries as single documents (transactions VL01N, VL01NO) in Logistics Execution.
Prerequisites