Transportation Chain Processing 

Use

The system uses the transportation chain as a template for generating the dateline.

Transportation chains consist of master data that you create for dates and assign, for example, at vendor level. A transportation chain maps the whole route between the vendor and the distribution center (or distribution center and store) and describes the individual transportation times for each route segment along the transport route.

A vendor transports goods by truck from their production location in China to the port of departure in Shanghai. There the goods are loaded onto a ship to Hamburg. From the destination port in Hamburg, the goods are then transported by truck to the distribution center in Hannover.

The system makes a distinction between the following types:

●      External transportation chains map the route from the vendor to the distribution center (in the case of third-party order processing to the store) and support the following dispatch methods:

○       Dispatch methods to the DC:

■       Standard

■       Express

○       Dispatch methods to the store:

■       Third-party (third-party order processing)

■       Third-party express

●      Internal transportation chains map the route from the distribution center to the store. The following dispatch methods are available:

○       Standard

○       Express

Integration

Transportation Chain Assignment

You can assign transportation chains at the following data retention levels:

●      External transportation chains at the following levels:

○       In the vendor master

○       In the purchasing info record

■       Purchasing info record without site

■       Purchasing info record with site

●      Internal transportation chains at the following levels:

○       In the vendor master record for the distribution center

○       Supplying site assignment of the store master

The transportation chains are assigned to a purchasing info record in transaction MM42 (Change Article) in the purchasing view under Data per Vendor/Purch.Org/Site. If the staging date is the predecessor for the first route date of the transportation chain assigned here, you can also set the Staging Time in the same place in transaction MM42.

Transportation Chain Determination

Whenever scheduling is performed for the first time, the system performs a transportation chain determination, for example, when creating an order list item or a purchase order document (or GPOD) in seasonal procurement. Transportation chain determination is also performed when you change the following data:

●      Vendor

●      Distribution center

●      Store

●      Article

●      Dispatch method

The system uses the following search logic:

It starts with the most detailed data level and then looks in the more general levels.

●      In the case of external transportation chains:

You can use message 487 in message class WRF_PRC_SCD (which can be maintained in Customizing) to control whether the simple or enhanced search logic should be used. If you leave the message type on the default setting “E” for errors, then the simple search logic is used. If you set it to “W“ (warning), “I” (information), or “-“, then the enhanced search logic is used. Note that if you choose “-“, no messages are logged.

You maintain the message in transaction OMRM.

The following search sequence is used:

○       Purchasing info record with site

○       Purchasing info record without site

○       Vendor master: purchasing data (table LFM2)

○       Vendor master: purchasing organization data (table LFM1)

○       Vendor master record

Simple search logic:

The system ends the search as soon as it has found a data record. It uses the external transportation chain and the staging time of the data record that was found. If the transportation chain is empty, it issues an error message. This means that it always uses the data on the lowest level that is maintained.

If the system does not find a transportation chain in the vendor master record, it issues an error message.

Enhanced search logic:

The system ends the search as soon as it has found a data record with a transportation chain. It uses the external transportation chain and the staging time of the data record that was found. This means that it always uses the data on the lowest level in which the transportation chain was maintained.

The system only issues an error message if it does not find a transportation chain in the vendor master record.

Example: The following case could occur: All articles from a vendor require specific staging – apart from one exception, which can be delivered immediately. You need to maintain the transportation chain and the staging time for this exception article, in the purchasing info record (PIR). For all other articles, it is sufficient to maintain this data (transportation chain and staging time) in the vendor master - purchasing organization data (table LFM1), for example.

●      In the case of internal transportation chains:

The system searches in the supplying site assignment of the store master first. If there is a merchandise-category-specific data record for a DC/store combination for which the transportation chain has not been maintained, the system uses the cross-merchandise-category data record (for the same DC-store combination). If it does not find an internal transportation chain, it looks in the vendor master record for the distribution center.

If the system does not find a transportation chain, it issues an error message.

For planned articles, transportation chain determination is not possible at purchasing info record level, only at the levels above.

Prerequisites

●      You have filled the table of transportation times with values. To do so, on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics → Retailing → Purchasing → Seasonal Procurement → Scheduling → Maintain Move Times.

●      You have defined partial leg calendars and arrival calendars as logistics calendars in Customizing. For more information, see Scheduling.

●      You have made the necessary settings in Customizing for Seasonal Procurement under Scheduling → Process Dates. From here, the transportation chain copies the indicator as to whether the date is to be monitored or not.

Features

Header Data

In the header data, you must assign the Type (external or internal) and the Dispatch Method. The choice of dispatch method influences the definition of the route segment in the item data.

●      For the dispatch methods Standard and Express, the last date (in the last row of your transportation chain) must be the following:

○       In the case of an external transportation chain: DC Delivery Date

○       In the case of an internal transportation chain: Store Delivery Date

●      For the dispatch method Third Party and Express Third Party, the last date has to be the Store Delivery Date.

You can define a tolerance (in workdays). If you enter a tolerance of two days, for example, the vendor has two days longer for the entire transport route. The tolerance does not change the target dates but delays the execution of activities in order monitoring (for example, the sending of reminders) by the relevant amount of time.

Item Data

●      For each line you can define the individual route segments required to map your transport route. For operational dates, you can link the departure country (and region) and the arrival country (and region) for each line with a mode of transport(for example, by sea) and a date. The system determines the length of time required for the route segment from the Move Times Table.

For informative dates, you can only enter the length of time.

The transportation chain consists of at least one item line.

When adding a route segment, the system automatically uses the arrival country and region of the preceding route segment as the departure country and region of the new route segment, and uses the date of the previous route segment as the Preceding Date.

●      For each route segment, you specify the date that scheduling needs to calculate. You must determine the preceding date for each date.

○       In the case of an external transportation chain:

When you create the first route segment, the preceding date can either be the latest order date or the staging date:

■       If you select the staging date as the preceding date, scheduling also calculates the latest order date in addition to the staging date.

■       If you select the latest order date as the preceding date, scheduling only calculates the latest order date.

○       In the case of an internal transportation chain:

When creating the first route segment, the Availability Date or the DC Goods Issue is available as the preceding date.

●      You can decide for each date in a route segment whether you want to monitor it in SAP EM. This setting is defaulted when you create a dateline but can be changed again there.

●      Calendar

For each route segment, you can enter a Partial Leg Calendar and an Arrival Calendar. Scheduling takes these into account when calculating the date.

Activities

...

To call the transactions for transportation chains, on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics → Retailing → Purchasing → Seasonal Procurement → Scheduling →

●      Create Transportation Chain (transaction WCHAIN1)

●      Change Transportation Chain (transaction WCHAIN2)

●      Display Transportation Chain (transaction WCHAIN3)

To create a transportation chain, enter at least the following data:

●      In the header:

○       Transportation chain ID

○       Dispatch Method and Type

●      In the items:

○       Country of Departure ID

○       Departure Region ID

○       Arrival Country ID

○       Arrival Region ID

○       Mode of Transport

○       Date

○       Preceding Date

Enter further item lines with the above data as required and save them.

The system checks that your entries are consistent.