• 100 little-known time-saving tips and tricks
• Step-by-step instructions and guiding screenshots
• Creative, consultant-tested solutions for MM in SAP ERP

Work smarter with Materials Management in SAP ERP! Are you ready to wow your client or supervisor with your new and improved MM knowledge and techniques? Here you go: SAP PRESS equips you with “100 Things” that unlock the secrets of Materials Management in SAP ERP!

With this book, users of all levels will:

• Save time
  With the shortcuts and workarounds provided, you‘ll learn how to complete your daily Materials Management tasks faster and more elegantly.
  
• Learn quickly
  Full of screenshots and instructions, this book will help you pick up new tips and tricks in no time, such as how to evaluate your vendors or work with MM user exits.
  
• Develop new skills
  You’ll discover new ways of doing your work and find yourself saying, “I wish I’d known how to do this a long time ago!”

Tip 15: You can add documents to a material master record!

Sometimes there’s relevant information that can’t be entered into the material master file, such as a CAD drawing or scanned document. Rather than figuring out how to send them to all parties that may need to view them, you can easily attach documents to the material master so that they can be viewed. Find out more on page 50!

 The Author

 Martin Murray has worked with SAP since 1990 and is experienced in all aspects of MM and WM functionality. He is the author of five best-selling SAP PRESS books.

Table of Contents

• ... Introduction ... 11
• PART 1 ... Master Data ... 13
• 1 ... Extending Materials for Additional Views ... 15
• 2 ... Deactivating a Vendor ... 17
• 3 ... Deleting an Obsolete Material ... 19
• 4 ... Changing the Price of a Material ... 22
• 5 ... Changing a Material’s Base Unit of Measure ... 24
• 6 ... Changing the Valuation Class in the Material Master ... 26
• 7 ... Changing the Moving Average Price for a Material ... 28
• 8 ... Manually Entering a Safety Stock Value in the Material Master ... 31
• 9 ... Setting Up Automatic Creation for the Storage Location Data of a Material ... 33
• 10 ... Creating Default Storage Locations in Production ... 36
• 11 ... Blocking Sales Orders for a Material from Being Created ... 39
• 12 ... Defaulting a Profit Center Assignment to a Sales Order ... 42
• 13 ... Working with the Availability Check Scope ... 44
• 14 ... Using Material Master User Exits to Create a New Material ... 47
• 15 ... Adding Documents to the Material Master Record ... 50
• PART 2 ... Purchasing ... 53
• 16 ... Reversing a Goods Receipt after an Invoice ... 55
• 17 ... Blocking a Vendor ... 57
• 18 ... Creating a Purchase Order for a Material with No Price ... 60
• 19 ... Adding an Attachment to a Purchase Order ... 62
• 20 ... Adding Returns to a Purchase Order for a Frequently Used Vendor ... 64
• 21 ... Defaulting the Last Purchase Order Price for the Material ... 66
• 22 ... Configuring Purchase Order Conditions to Reflect the Correct Material Price ... 69
• 23 ... Automatically Default Purchase Order Text ... 71
• 24 ... Maintaining Purchase Orders en Masse ... 74
• 25 ... Maintaining Purchase Requisitions en Masse ... 77
• 26 ... Setting Up Vendor Free Goods on the Purchase Order ... 80
• 27 ... Copying Purchase Requisition Text to a Complete PO ... 84
• 28 ... Identifying Inactive Vendors by Period ... 87
• 29 ... Editing Configuration Fields to Generate a Purchase Order Reprint ... 89
• 30 ... Automatically Converting a Requisition to a PO ... 91
• 31 ... Posting Invoices en Masse ... 94
• 32 ... Choosing Vendors by Analyzing Vendor Evaluation Reports ... 96
• 33 ... Understanding the Confirmation Control Key ... 99
• 34 ... Configuring Automatic Purchase Order Creation during Goods Receipt ... 102
• 35 ... Changing the Purchase Order List Display ... 105
• 36 ... Skipping Inspection for Vendors ... 108
• 37 ... Defining Standard Details of Forms for Company Codes ... 111
• 38 ... Limiting a User’s Authorization to Create Purchase Orders ... 114
• 39 ... Creating a One-Time Vendor ... 117
• 40 ... Assigning a Reference Purchasing Organization to a Local Level ... 119
• PART 3 ... Inventory Management ... 123
• 41 ... Manually Blocking a Storage Location ... 125
• 42 ... Blocking Materials from Inventory Posting ... 128
• 43 ... Blocking a Storage Location from Further Posting ... 130
• 44 ... Preventing an Inventory Back Posting to a Previous Period ... 133
• 45 ... Performing Month-End Closing ... 135
• 46 ... Performing Year-End Closing ... 137
• 47 ... Enabling the Use of Negative Stocks ... 139
• 48 ... Using Change Records to Formally Monitor and Document Changes ... 142
• 49 ... Configuring Criteria and Cycle Counts for ABC Analysis ... 145
• 50 ... Changing the Level of Inventory Management System Messages ... 148
• 51 ... Adding Multiple Manufacturer Part Numbers to a Material ... 150
• 52 ... Performing a Goods Receipt without Delivery ... 153
• 53 ... Processing Mass Changes to Multiple Batches ... 156
• 54 ... Setting Up Split Valuation with Batches ... 158
• 55 ... Creating a System Check for the Shelf Life Expiration Date ... 161
• 56 ... Configuring the Reversal of Goods Receipt after Invoice ... 164
• 57 ... Activating Storage Location Authorization ... 166
• 58 ... Processing a Free-of-Charge Delivery ... 169
• 59 ... Reviewing Inventory Turnover ... 171
• 60 ... Clearing Differences between Inventory and Warehouse Management Inventories ... 173
• 61 ... Setting Up Early Warnings to Improve Warehouse Efficiency ... 176
• 62 ... Re-Opening a Period Closing to Make a Change ... 179
• 63 ... Creating Automatic Scheduling Agreement Lines ... 181
• 64 ... Changing the Layout of the Stock Overview Report ... 184
• 65 ... Resetting Count Totals to Zero in Count Documents ... 187
• 66 ... Setting Up an Alternative Unit of Measure for a Material ... 189
• PART 4 ... Planning ... 193
• 67 ... Creating a Factory Calendar for a Specific Plant ... 195
• 68 ... Defining the Planning Calendar into Different Periods ... 198
• 69 ... Understanding and Entering Lead Times Correctly ... 201
• 70 ... Planning for External Processing Time for Vendors ... 204
• 71 ... Adjusting the Rescheduling Horizon ... 207
• 72 ... Changing the Material Master to Trigger Assembly Subcontracting ... 209
• 73 ... Setting Reorder Point Planning for Different Materials ... 213
• 74 ... Configuring Your System to Allow Backflushing ... 215
• 75 ... Creating a Storage Location for the MRP Area ... 218
• 76 ... Excluding a Storage Location from MRP Planning ... 221
• 77 ... Running MRP for Multiple Plants with a Planning Scope ... 224
• 78 ... Setting Up an MRP Area for a Subcontractor ... 227
• 79 ... Creating MRP Profiles with Default Values ... 230
• 80 ... Maintaining Different Production Versions for a Material ... 233
• 81 ... Transferring the Use of Discontinued Materials to Updated Materials ... 235
• 82 ... Accessing Material Consumption Statistics to Improve Purchasing Practices ... 238
• PART 5 ... Configuration ... 241
• 83 ... Creating a New Movement Type by Copying an Existing Movement Type ... 243
• 84 ... Deactivating Standard Movement Types ... 246
• 85 ... Configuring the System to Allow Consignment Stock ... 249
• 86 ... Creating a New Purchase Order Document Type to Establish Different Purchases ... 252
• 87 ... Configuring the System to Assign a Valuation Class to a Specific Material Group ... 254
• 88 ... Freezing Stock for a Physical Inventory Count ... 257
• 89 ... Creating Views for User Groups in the Batch Information Cockpit ... 259
• 90 ... Restricting Batches for Batch Determination ... 262
• 91 ... Configuring Time-Based Material Substitution ... 265
• 92 ... Excluding Materials from Being Sold to Certain Customers ... 268
• 93 ... Scheduling the Period Close to Run Automatically with Dynamic Variation ... 270
• 94 ... Maintaining the GR/IR Account to Process Variances ... 273
• 95 ... Editing the Field Display in the Service Master Record ... 275
• 96 ... Defining Default Values for Buyers in Common Documents ... 278
• 97 ... Configuring Non-Standard Payment Terms After Negotiation ... 281
• 98 ... Setting Up Different Numbering Schemas for Material Types ... 284
• 99 ... Configuring the Views in the Plant-Specific Material Master ... 287
• 100 ... Manually Creating an Inspection Lot ... 289
• ... Glossary ... 293
• ... Materials Management ­Transaction Codes ... 299
• ... The Author ... 307
• ... Index ... 309