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Function documentationUser-Specified Status

 

This function enables you to create user-specified status profiles and assign them to procurement documents. User-specified statuses make it possible to fully customize certain processes, such as closeout and termination, or you can use user-specified statuses to display the overall status of a document. You can assign user-specified statuses to the following SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM), Procurement for Public Sector (PPS) procurement documents:

  • Purchase order (at header or item level)

  • Contract (at header or item level)

  • RFx (at header or item level)

  • Shopping cart

  • External Requirement (EXTREQ)

Integration

User-specified statuses depend on the link between SAP SRM and SAP Records Management (RM). Make sure that you have SAP Records Management installed on your SAP SRM system. You can configure the integration of SAP SRM with RM in the Customizing activities for Supplier Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path SRM Server Next navigation step Cross-Application Basic Settings Next navigation step Integration with Other SAP Components Next navigation step Integration with SAP Records Management End of the navigation path.

Prerequisites

You have activated the business function SRM, Cross-Industry Functions (SRM_CROSS_INDUSTRY_1). Note that you can only use this business function in conjunction with the business function SRM, Procurement for Public Sector (SRM_PUBLIC_SECTOR_1). In other words, you must activate both business functions.

To use user-specified statuses in your procurement documents, do the following:

  • Define user-specified status profiles in Customizing for Supplier Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path SRM Server Next navigation step Cross-Industry Functions Next navigation step Application Settings Next navigation step User-Specified Status Next navigation step Create Status Profile for User-Specified Status End of the navigation path.

    Note Note

    You can define up to 10 different user-specified status profiles. There is no limit as to how many statuses you can assign to each user-specified status profile. No user-specified statuses are mandated except for if you plan to use closeout in the procurement process, in which case you must define a user-specified status profile.

    End of the note.

  • Assign user-specified status profiles to procurement documents in Customizing for Supplier Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path SRM Server Next navigation step Cross-Industry Functions Next navigation step Application Settings Next navigation step User-Specified Status Next navigation step Assign User-Specified Status Profiles to Purchasing Documents End of the navigation path.

  • Assign user-specified status profiles for each transaction type in Customizing for Supplier Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path SRM Server Next navigation step Cross-Application Basic Settings Next navigation step Define Transaction Types End of the navigation path.

For additional checks and activities during purchase order and contract processing, goods receipt, and sourcing, you can implement the Business Add-In (BAdI) in Customizing for Supplier Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path SRM Server Next navigation step Cross-Industry Functions Next navigation step Customer Enhancements (BAdIs) Next navigation step User-Specified Status Next navigation step Enhance User-Specified Status and Closeout Processing End of the navigation path. For example, implement this BAdI if you want the supplier to be notified in writing when termination is started, or to notify the contractor in writing if someone tries to change a terminated contract.

Features

The SAP system differentiates between system statuses and user-specified statuses. System statuses inform you that a business transaction has been performed for an object. User-specified statuses complement system statuses by enabling you to extend the control of business transactions defined by system statuses.

An example of how you can use user-specified statuses is if you want to track document changes. You can assign a user-specified status profile to a field, for example, where you want to see all changes made to a document. Or, you can define a user-specified status profile for the termination process at both line item and header level of a document. If termination has been started for a line item, you can, for example, have the system automatically notify the supplier in writing, or you can see if anyone tries to change the line item after the termination process begins.

Another useful application of user-specified status is for maintaining the status of a document if you are working offline. For example, you can define a user-specified status to an RFx to show that an employee is doing market research on the project. The employee is not changing the document in the system, but the document is being worked on offline, and this can be reflected using user-specified status. Or, for example, if a supplier takes you to court, you can define a legal user-specified status profile and apply it to a procurement document to show if a case has been filed about the document in question, or if the case was perhaps settled out of court. This is particularly useful, for example, if you want to create a release order against the document. If you can see on the document that it is at the center of a legal battle, you can refrain from using the document until the case is settled.

More Information

To use closeout, you have to define a user-specified status profile. For more information, see Closeout.