Processing of Changed Purchase Order Items 

Use

The customer can change a purchase order in the back-end system and send the changed purchase order to SAP Supply Network Collaboration (SAP SNC) via ReplenishmentOrderNotification. For example, the customer can change the item quantity, add items in the back-end system, or transfer goods receipt data in the purchase order to SAP SNC after a goods receipt.

SAP SNC can execute the following actions, depending on the type of change made:

●      Create alerts for new and changed purchase order items

●      Update the change status of the changed purchase order items

●      Update the confirmation status of the changed purchase order items

●      Delete confirmation schedule lines of changed purchase order items

The supplier must respond to the changes and create new confirmations if necessary.

Features

Sending Changed Purchase Orders

Purchase order collaboration in SAP SNC does not support the sending of changes. The customer must always send the complete purchase order to SAP SNC.

An SAP customer back-end system does not send an updated purchase order in the following cases:

●        If a goods receipt is posted in the back-end system

●        If the customer has manually set the Delivery Completed indicator for an item in the purchase order

●        If the components of a subcontract order were changed in the back-end system

Processing Confirmations by the Supplier

When SAP SNC receives a changed purchase order, the purchase order acquires the distribution status Updated by Customer and can be changed by the supplier. The supplier can therefore create new confirmation schedule lines or update the existing confirmation schedule lines.

Generating Alerts and Updating the Change Status

In the standard configuration, the system generates an alert of type 7051 or 7052 for new and changed PO items. The system also sets the change status of the item to New or Changed. There is a change status at header level as well that refers to new or changed items  If a purchase order contains new as well as changed items, the status has the value Changed.

For the system to generate create this alert or determine the change status, the RO_NEW_CHG_ALERT_CTRL validation check must be active. This validation check is active in the default delivery.

Alert-Relevant and Status-Relevant Changes

The system regards an item as changed in the following instances only:

●      The following data has changed:

○       Goods recipient

○       Customer location

○       Ship-to location

○       Product

○       Requested quantity

○       Requested delivery date

○       Incoterm

○       Price

●      The customer has canceled or blocked the item.

●      The customer has added a new component to a subcontract order.

Only these changes can affect the change status or cause alerts to be generated.

Granularity of Alerts for Changed Items

For each relevant change (see above), the system creates an alert of alert type 7052 (for example, an alert for a quantity change and an alert for a price change). The alert text indicates what has changed (for example, the quantity or the price).

You cannot make settings so that the system generates an alert for certain relevant changes (such as alerts for a quantity change) but not for others (such as alerts for a price change).

Updating the Confirmation Status for a Quantity Change

If a customer increases the purchase order quantity of an item in such a way that the confirmed quantity of the item is below the underdelivery tolerance, SAP SNC sets the confirmation status of the item to Partially Confirmed.

Updating the Confirmation Status for Other Changes

In the standard system, the system sets the confirmation status of an item to Not Confirmed if the customer has changed the following confirmation-relevant item data:

●      Goods recipient

●      Ship-to location

●      Product

●      Requested delivery date/time

●      Incoterm

●      Price

If you want to use this function, the PO_CONF_RELEVANCE_CTRL validation check must be active. The validation check is active in the standard system.

Deleting Confirmation Schedule Lines

You can make a setting so that SAP SNC deletes the confirmation schedule lines for the item in the case of confirmation-relevant changes to the item (for example, a quantity increase that is too large, or a new requested delivery date/time). SAP SNC deletes the confirmation schedule lines upon receipt of the changed purchase order. The supplier must therefore create new confirmation schedule lines and confirm the confirmation-relevant changes. If you want to use this function, the PO_CONFIRMATION_DELETE validation check must be active. The validation check is not active in the standard system.

Note: An SAP ERP back-end system cannot delete confirmation schedule lines, it can only replace them. To avoid temporary inconsistencies between the SAP bac-end system and SAP SNC, we recommend the following: After SAP SNC has deleted the confirmation schedule lines for an item, the supplier should create new confirmation schedule lines for the item. Only then is the supplier allowed to publish the purchase order.

Example of an Inconsistency

The customer has made confirmation-relevant changes in the customer back-end system to two purchase order items having three confirmation schedule lines each, and has sent the purchase order to SAP SNC. SAP SNC has deleted the confirmation schedule lines for the two items. The supplier creates a confirmation schedule line for one of the items but not for the other item. The supplier then publishes the purchase order, and SAP SNC sends the purchase order to the customer back-end system. There, the three confirmation schedule lines for the one item are automatically replaced by the single new confirmation schedule line. The other item retains the original three confirmation schedule lines.

Example

Example: Message Flow for Purchase Order Processingexplains which IDoc is used by the SAP back-end system to send a changed purchase order to SAP SNC.