ASN Processing

Advanced shipping notifications (ASNs) are key documents in the collaboration between suppliers and customers. A supplier uses an ASN to inform a customer that he or she has sent the customer a delivery. The ASN informs the customer which products and quantities are in transit and the expected arrival time of the delivery.

The supplier can create ASNs for the following objects:

Planned receipts (relevant for SMI)
Purchase orders
Scheduling agreement releases
Replenishment orders

ASN processing in SAP Supply Network Collaboration (SAP SNC) comprises various functions for processing an ASN in SAP SNC (from the supplier and the customer viewpoint) and for depicting the progress of the delivery process in SAP SNC.

The supplier can create ASNs manually in ASN processing and send them to the customer. Due lists are available as a starting point for targeted processing of open deliveries. These contain the planned receipts or replenishment orders that a supplier has created, for example, within the Supplier Managed Inventory process, or the customer's purchasing documents (purchase orders and scheduling agreement releases) with due schedule lines. Alternatively, suppliers can create ASNs in their back-end system and send them to SAP SNC. SAP forwards ASNs to the customer's back-end system.
In ASN processing, the customer gains an overview of the deliveries the supplier has planned or already sent and when these deliveries can be expected to arrive. The customer can send messages for delivery receipt and for goods receipts from his or her back-end system to SAP SNC. Alternatively, in ASN processing, the customer can also manually post a complete goods receipt or manually set ASNs to Closed.

Features

Functions in ASN Processing

ASN processing comprises customer-specific and supplier-specific Web screens for various tasks. The supplier can only create ASNs for scheduling agreement releases and purchase orders if confirmation control in SAP SNC permits it. For more information, see Confirmation Control.

The supplier can perform the following functions in ASN processing:

Save ASNs as drafts and only publish the final version (that is, only send the final version to the customer)
Change ASNs (see Changing ASNs).
Cancel ASNs manually (see Cancel ASN).
Round ASN items (see Rounding).
Pack ASN items (see Packing).
Print delivery notes and labels (see Printing of Labels and Delivery Notes).
Calculate the total weights and volume of an ASN, based on the product master data of unpacked products and the handling unit data of packed products (see Calculation of Total Weight and Volume of an ASN).

To be able to use the calculation of weights and volumes, you must activate the business function Supply Network Collaboration 1 (SCM_SNC_GEN_1).

In addition, the following functions are available:

SAP SNC automatically performs an SAP-SNC-internal validation, for example when saving an ASN. The validation checks whether the data is complete and free of errors. In the standard system, the supplier can only publish valid ASNs. For more information, see Validation.
You can set either external or internal number assignment on the Web user interface (UI) for ASNs and handling units (see Number Assignment).
The customer and the supplier can create notes for an ASN at header and item level. A note can be changed until an ASN is published. For more information, see Notes.
The audit trail logs all the changes made to an ASN (see Audit Trail). The ASN history contains old versions of an ASN.
SAP SNC can generate special for exceptional situations with ASNs with ASN alerts (see ASN Alert).

Attachments

Both customer and supplier can add attachments to an advanced shipping notification (ASN) at header or at item level.

You can use Collaboration Folders (cFolders) for attachment handling, or, for ASN collaboration, you can store and handle attachments in SAP SNC.

You can add attachments to an ASN as long as the ASN is changeable. If you use the attachment functionality of SAP SNC, the system automatically generates an alert when you add a new attachment to an ASN. Provided you have set up a virus scan profile for attachments (/SCA/DM_ATTACHMENTS/UPLOAD_FILE), the system performs a virus scan on the files you upload. The recipient of the attachment (for example, if the customer uploads the attachment, the supplier is the recipient) can mark the attachment as read or unread.

Note Note

For more information about storing attachments in cFolders, see Calling Collaboration Folders.

For more information on the availability of the attachment functionality for ASN collaboration without using cFolders, see SAP Note 2204812.

End of the note.

Integration with Shipment Collaboration and Quality Collaboration

On the ASN Overview screen, the Shpt column shows whether an ASN is assigned to a shipment. On the ASN Details screen, on the Shipping Details tab page, the Shipment Assignment field shows whether the ASN is assigned to a shipment. On both screens, you can navigate to the shipment by clicking the shipment number.

From the ASN Overview and the ASN Details screens, you can navigate to the related quality notifications of an ASN.

To use these functions, you must activate the business function Supply Network Collaboration 1 (SCM_SNC_GEN_1).