Setting Up PODs for Production Operators
You can use this process to customize PODs to the needs of different groups of users. The configuration and setup of the PODs determines what the end user sees on the screen and how they will interact with it.
You have created user accounts for production operators who will work in the PODs using User Management Engine (UME) (see Administration of Users and Roles).
You have created user groups for your production operators in User Group Maintenance
(see User Group Maintenance).
You have retrieved a UME user in SAP ME User Maintenance
and assigned the user to user groups and any other data required for your manufacturing facility (see User Maintenance).
In List Maintenance
, you create or modify lists that you want to use for each user group (see List Maintenance and Defining Lists).
List Maintenance
includes a default number of lists available that have been pre-configured for use as templates. Worklist
is used in Operation and Work Center PODs. Other lists are named to identify in which plug-in or POD they are meant to be used (see List Categories and Predefined Lists).
To determine how the list behaves when it is being viewed and used in a POD or plug-in, you can use the following checkboxes:
Allow Operator to Sort Rows
Allow Operator to Change Column Sequence
Allow Multiple Selection
You can further delineate the list by choosing a list type for the Worklist
list category, for example, by choosing such additional list types as Material
or Material/Version
.
Predefined lists which are associated to the Category
types and to the default PODs and plug-ins exist by default.
Recommendation
Add the Work Center
column for the Work List
in List Maintenance
. If this column is not defined, you must enter a work center in the POD Selection
area to start working in the Work Center
PODs.
In Activity Maintenance
, you create new activities and change the rule settings for POD button activities that you want to function differently from their default settings (see Activity Maintenance).
If required, you assign data fields created in Data Field Definition Maintenance
to data types and categories in Data Field Assignment Maintenance
.
In POD Maintenance
, you define PODs that you want to use (see POD Maintenance).
Select the POD type and retrieve one of the predefined PODs that most closely matches your requirements, modify, and save it with a different name.
The figure below illustrates the primary flow of user and system actions to update a POD in POD Maintenance
:

Recommendation
We recommend that you start with one of the predefined default PODs and modify it to suit your needs. For example, the Default Operation POD
is a good base for companies in the electronics (high volume manufacturing) industry, while the Default Work Center POD
is a good base for complex assembly (Aerospace and Defense).
In User Group Maintenance
, you assign each POD to the user group that you want to use the POD.
In Activity Maintenance
, you make your new PODs visible in the Activity Manager
(see Accessing PODs).