This book teaches you what SAP Transportation Management (TM) is, what it can do, and how to implement and configure it into your systems. You’ll learn how to use SAP TM to design well-organized and energy-efficient transport logistics processes and link them to your business processes. Throughout the book, you’ll find practical information on all business processes from requests, orders, and dispatching, to billing and settlement of transportation services.

Using implementation and business process case studies, you’ll learn about the functionality and configuration processes for SAP TM. You’ll explore important topics such as integration with SAP Event Management, and the integration of SOA between industries and logistics service providers. You’ll also find details on the Post Processing Framework and the Shipment Order, Freight Order, and Tour Builder (SFTB), as well as basic customizing settings. With this practical, complete guide, you’ll understand how to implement and use SAP TM in your daily business processes.

The book is based on SAP TM 6.0 but also discusses the new developments for order management in Release 7.0.

Highlights

• Overview of SAP TM 6.0
• Organizational Structure and General Master Data
• Logistical Master Data
• Order Management
• Planning and Optimizing
• Subcontracting
• Calculating and Settling the Transportation Charges
• Analytics
• SAP Event Management
• Process Handling

About the Author(s)

Bernd Lauterbach, Rüdiger Fritz, Jens Gottlieb, Bernd Mosbrucker, and Till Dengel work at SAP and assume different roles within the development process of SAP TM. In this book, their experience and knowledge as software architects, developers, and product managers is combined in one definitive resource.

Table of Contents

• 1 ... Introduction to Transportation Logistics ... 17
• 1.1 ... Logistics Service Providers ... 19
• 1.1.1 ... Third Party Logistics (3PL) ... 19
• 1.1.2 ... Carriers ... 22
• 1.2 ... Transportation Logistics in the Shipper and Manufacturing Industries ... 24
• 1.2.1 ... Changing Roles in Logistics ... 25
• 1.2.2 ... Factors Influencing Processes in the Consignment Industry ... 31
• 1.2.3 ... Degree of Standardization for Each Mode of Transport ... 34
• 1.3 ... Typical Transportation Processes ... 39
• 1.3.1 ... Process ... 39
• 1.3.2 ... Modes of Transport ... 44
• 1.3.3 ... Freight Volume ... 48
• 1.4 ... Legal Requirements and Documents in Transportation ... 49
• 1.4.1 ... Regulations Governing Drivers ... 49
• 1.4.2 ... The Operational Contract between the Ordering Party and the Contractor ... 55
• 2 ... Overview of SAP TM 6.0 ... 65
• 2.1 ... History of Transportation Management Software at SAP ... 65
• 2.1.1 ... Transportation Planning with the Transportation Planning and Vehicle Scheduling (TP/VS) Component ... 68
• 2.1.2 ... Additional Components ... 68
• 2.2 ... Initiative for the Development of the New SAP Transportation Management Solution ... 70
• 2.3 ... Components of the New SAP Transportation Solution ... 72
• 2.3.1 ... Master Data ... 72
• 2.3.2 ... Order Management ... 72
• 2.3.3 ... Planning and Optimization ... 73
• 2.3.4 ... Subcontracting ... 74
• 2.3.5 ... Transportation Charge ... 74
• 2.3.6 ... Transportation Charge Settlement ... 75
• 2.3.7 ... Analytics ... 75
• 2.3.8 ... Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM ... 76
• 2.4 ... Interaction of Components ... 77
• 2.4.1 ... Integration of the SAP TM Lifecycle into Logistics and Supply Chain Management ... 77
• 2.4.2 ... Business-Process-Oriented Core Elements of the Solution ... 80
• 2.4.3 ... Integration into Existing Scenarios with the SAP Business Suite ... 82
• 2.4.4 ... Transportation Scenarios à la carte – SAP ERP and SAP TM ... 83
• 2.5 ... New User Interface ... 88
• 2.5.1 ... SAP NetWeaver Business Client (NWBC ... 89
• 2.5.2 ... Screen Areas of the NetWeaver Business Client ... 91
• 2.6 ... Possible System Landscapes with SAP TM ... 94
• 3 ... Organizational Structures and General Master Data ... 99
• 3.1 ... Basic Settings ... 99
• 3.2 ... Organizational Units of a Transportation Service Provider ... 99
• 3.3 ... Product Master Data ... 104
• 3.3.1 ... Precisely Defined Products in Third-Party Logistics ... 105
• 3.3.2 ... Standardized Freight Codes and Material Groups ... 106
• 3.3.3 ... Roughly Defined Product Categories ... 107
• 3.3.4 ... Categories of Transport Equipment ... 108
• 3.3.5 ... Service Products ... 108
• 3.4 ... Business Partners ... 109
• 3.5 ... Internal Business Partners in a Distributed Logistics Organization ... 112
• 3.6 ... Transfer of Master Data between SAP ERP and SAP TM (Core Interface, CIF) ... 113
• 3.6.1 ... Technical Preparation in SAP ERP ... 114
• 3.6.2 ... Technical Preparation in SAP TM ... 115
• 3.6.3 ... Application-Specific Preparation ... 116
• 3.6.4 ... Integration Model and Selection Model ... 116
• 4 ... Logistical Master Data ... 119
• 4.1 ... Transportation Network ... 119
• 4.1.1 ... Locations ... 120
• 4.1.2 ... Transportation Zones and Transportation Zone Hierarchy ... 124
• 4.1.3 ... Transportation Lanes ... 127
• 4.1.4 ... Transshipment Locations ... 134
• 4.1.5 ... Schedules ... 137
• 4.2 ... Resources ... 142
• 4.2.1 ... Means of Transport and Vehicle Resources ... 143
• 4.2.2 ... Transportation Unit Resources ... 145
• 4.2.3 ... Drivers ... 145
• 4.2.4 ... Calendar Resources and Handling Resources ... 146
• 4.2.5 ... Maintaining Resources and Means of Transport ... 146
• 5 ... General Tools ... 157
• 5.1 ... Conditions ... 158
• 5.2 ... Post Processing Framework (PPF) ... 161
• 5.3 ... Incompatibilities ... 170
• 6 ... Order Management ... 173
• 6.1 ... Order Objects and the Order Receipt Process in SAP TM ... 173
• 6.1.1 ... Order Receipt ... 176
• 6.1.2 ... Data Areas in the Business Object “Shipment Request ... 178
• 6.2 ... Personal Object Work List in Order Management ... 180
• 6.2.1 ... Personalization of the Personal Object Work List ... 182
• 6.2.2 ... Defining Queries ... 184
• 6.3 ... Business Object Structures in the Shipment and Freight Request ... 185
• 6.3.1 ... Business Object Nodes of the Shipment Request ... 186
• 6.3.2 ... Business Object Structure of the Freight Request ... 189
• 6.3.3 ... Use of Role Codes and Type Codes ... 190
• 6.4 ... Shipment Request Views ... 191
• 6.4.1 ... Detail View of the Shipment Request ... 192
• 6.4.2 ... Basic View of the Shipment Request ... 194
• 6.4.3 ... Document Status ... 195
• 6.4.4 ... Overview ... 197
• 6.4.5 ... Detail Data for Overview ... 198
• 6.4.6 ... Item Data ... 204
• 6.4.7 ... Business Partners ... 211
• 6.4.8 ... Packaging ... 212
• 6.4.9 ... Resources (Transportation Units and Vehicles ... 213
• 6.4.10 ... Shipment Stages ... 214
• 6.4.11 ... Notes and Dossier ... 216
• 6.4.12 ... Charges and methods of payment ... 218
• 6.4.13 ... Governmental Procedures ... 220
• 6.5 ... Associated Document Information ... 220
• 6.5.1 ... Freight Units ... 220
• 6.5.2 ... Execution Information ... 220
• 6.5.3 ... Transportation Activities ... 220
• 6.5.4 ... Customer Freight Invoice ... 221
• 6.5.5 ... Tracking and Tracing ... 221
• 6.6 ... Checking and Activating the Shipment Request ... 222
• 6.7 ... Freight Units and Their Creation ... 223
• 6.8 ... Transportation Proposal ... 228
• 6.9 ... Transportation Revenue Determination ... 231
• 6.10 ... Confirmation ... 233
• 6.11 ... Printing Documents ... 234
• 6.12 ... Communication (Email, Fax, Messages ... 235
• 6.13 ... Customer Freight Invoice ... 236
• 6.14 ... Freight Request ... 237
• 6.15 ... Quotation ... 240
• 6.16 ... Shipment Template ... 240
• 6.17 ... Shipment ... 242
• 6.18 ... Number Ranges and Tracking Numbers ... 245
• 6.19 ... Customizing ... 246
• 6.19.1 ... Role and Type Codes ... 246
• 6.19.2 ... Shipment Request Type ... 246
• 6.19.3 ... Print Documents Post Processing Framework ... 248
• 6.19.4 ... Incoterms ... 249
• 6.19.5 ... Text Types and Text Determination Procedures ... 249
• 6.20 ... Further Functions in SAP TM 7.0 ... 250
• 6.20.1 ... New Shipment Request User Interfaces ... 250
• 6.20.2 ... Customer Fact Sheet ... 251
• 6.20.3 ... Additional Functions in Order Management Area ... 251
• 7 ... Planning and Optimization ... 253
• 7.1 ... Transportation Activities ... 254
• 7.2 ... Planning Strategies ... 258
• 7.3 ... Selection Settings ... 260
• 7.3.1 ... Requirements Profile ... 262
• 7.3.2 ... Time-Related Selection Attributes ... 262
• 7.3.3 ... Geographical Selection Attributes ... 264
• 7.3.4 ... Additional Selection Attributes ... 265
• 7.4 ... Planning Settings ... 267
• 7.4.1 ... Planning Profile ... 268
• 7.4.2 ... Capacity Selection ... 269
• 7.4.3 ... Pick-Up/Delivery Windows ... 271
• 7.4.4 ... Planning Costs ... 273
• 7.4.5 ... Optimizer Settings ... 277
• 7.4.6 ... Settings for TSP Selection ... 279
• 7.4.7 ... Time Constraints ... 283
• 7.4.8 ... Settings for SFT Builder ... 284
• 7.5 ... Planning ... 289
• 7.5.1 ... Configuring the Planning Interface ... 291
• 7.5.2 ... Planning Interface ... 295
• 7.5.3 ... Manual Planning ... 298
• 7.5.4 ... Load Planning ... 303
• 7.5.5 ... Optimizer Planning ... 304
• 7.5.6 ... Transportation Proposals ... 306
• 7.6 ... Optimization Algorithm ... 309
• 8 ... Subcontracting ... 315
• 8.1 ... Booking Order ... 317
• 8.2 ... Shipment Order and Freight Order ... 321
• 8.3 ... Transportation Allocations ... 331
• 8.4 ... Transportation Service Provider Selection ... 338
• 8.4.1 ... Manual and Automatic Transportation Service Provider Selection ... 338
• 8.4.2 ... Incompatibilities and Continuous Moves ... 343
• 8.4.3 ... Optimizer for Transportation Service Provider Selection ... 345
• 8.5 ... Tendering ... 348
• 9 ... Calculating Transportation Charges ... 357
• 9.1 ... Calculating Transportation Charges within Subprocesses ... 358
• 9.1.1 ... Order Receipt ... 359
• 9.1.2 ... Subcontracting and Calculating Transportation Charges ... 401
• 9.1.3 ... Transportation Charge Calculation for Planning and Automated Transportation Service Provider Selection ... 409
• 9.2 ... All Master Data for the Calculation of Transportation Charges ... 411
• 9.2.1 ... Overview and Interaction of Objects ... 411
• 9.2.2 ... Freight Agreement ... 415
• 9.2.3 ... Tariff ... 418
• 9.2.4 ... Rule Maintenance ... 422
• 9.2.5 ... Determination Logic for Freight Agreements and Tariffs ... 432
• 9.2.6 ... Transportation Charge Calculation Sheet ... 437
• 9.2.7 ... Transportation Charge Rate Tables and Scales ... 455
• 10 ... Invoicing Transportation Charges ... 467
• 10.1 ... Creating and Processing Invoice Requests ... 468
• 10.1.1 ... Transferring the Customer Freight Invoice Request ... 475
• 10.1.2 ... Transferring the Supplier Freight Invoice Request ... 478
• 10.1.3 ... Identifying the Recipient System ... 482
• 10.2 ... SAP ERP Configuration ... 484
• 10.2.1 ... Billing Documents ... 485
• 10.2.2 ... Invoice Verification ... 488
• 10.2.3 ... Customizing for SAP TM Assignment Tables ... 490
• 11 ... Analytics ... 495
• 11.1 ... Reports and Dashboards ... 495
• 11.2 ... Data Extraction from SAP TM ... 499
• 11.2.1 ... Post Processing Framework (PPF) Settings ... 500
• 11.2.2 ... SAP NetWeaver BW Structures ... 502
• 11.2.3 ... Queries ... 502
• 12 ... SAP Event Management ... 505
• 12.1 ... Overview and Functions ... 505
• 12.1.1 ... Business Process Types ... 510
• 12.1.2 ... Application Objects ... 511
• 12.1.3 ... Event Types ... 514
• 12.1.4 ... Application Log ... 515
• 12.2 ... Event Handlers and Event Messages ... 516
• 12.3 ... Event Handler Settings ... 520
• 12.3.1 ... Basic Event Handler Settings ... 520
• 12.3.2 ... Profiles for Expected Events ... 523
• 12.3.3 ... Status Profiles ... 524
• 12.3.4 ... Additional Event Handler Data ... 525
• 12.4 ... Event Processing ... 525
• 12.4.1 ... Technical Functions for Receiving Event Messages ... 526
• 12.4.2 ... Establishing Rule Sets ... 527
• 12.5 ... Information Output and Input Using SAP Event Management ... 530
• 12.5.1 ... Event Handler List ... 530
• 12.5.2 ... Data Input for Event Messages ... 533
• 12.5.3 ... Event Confirmation ... 534
• 12.5.4 ... Expected Events Overdue List ... 534
• 12.5.5 ... Web Interface ... 535
• 13 ... Event Management Processes ... 539
• 13.1 ... Order Status Tracking ... 540
• 13.2 ... Shipment Tracking ... 542
• 13.3 ... Vehicle and Transport Equipment Tracking ... 544
• 13.4 ... Tour Status Tracking ... 546
• 13.5 ... Tendering Tracking ... 547
• 13.6 ... Enhancement of Tracking Processes ... 551
• 13.6.1 ... Enhanced Business Process Types ... 552
• 13.6.2 ... Additional Application Object Types ... 552
• 13.6.3 ... Additional Extractors and Relevance Conditions ... 553
• 13.6.4 ... Additional Event Handler Types ... 553
• 13.6.5 ... Expansion of the Rules ... 554
• 13.6.6 ... Enhancement of SAP Event Management–Triggered Control Functions in SAP TM ... 554
• 14 ... Transportation Processes ... 555
• 14.1 ... Handling of a Full Container in Sea Freight (FCL ... 556
• 14.1.1 ... FCL Transportation Order ... 556
• 14.1.2 ... Organizational Structure ... 557
• 14.1.3 ... FCL Transportation Process ... 559
• 14.1.4 ... Defining the Transportation Network ... 562
• 14.1.5 ... Entering a Booking Order for Freight Space by the Sea Freight Dispatcher ... 566
• 14.1.6 ... Receiving the Shipment Request by the Transportation Booking Agent ... 568
• 14.1.7 ... Further Processing of the Shipment Request by the Transportation Booking Agent ... 572
• 14.1.8 ... Planning the Sea Freight Stage ... 576
• 14.1.9 ... Subcontracting of the Sea Freight Stage ... 577
• 14.1.10 ... Generating the House Sea B/L (Shipment ... 578
• 14.1.11 ... Planning, Tendering, and Subcontracting of the Pre‑Carriage (Truck ... 580
• 14.1.12 ... Planning and Subcontracting the On-Carriage (Truck ... 585
• 14.1.13 ... Invoice Processing for the Service Provider Invoicing ... 585
• 14.1.14 ... Profitability Calculation and Order Completion ... 586
• 14.2 ... General Cargo Transportation (LTL) via Distribution Centers ... 587
• 14.2.1 ... LTL Transportation Order ... 588
• 14.2.2 ... Defining the Transportation Network ... 589
• 14.2.3 ... Receiving the LTL Shipment Request by the Transportation Booking Agent ... 594
• 14.2.4 ... Preplanning the LTL Shipment Request ... 596
• 14.2.5 ... LTL Costing with Split Charges ... 598
• 14.2.6 ... Shipment Tracking ... 601
• 14.3 ... Template Booking for Sea Freight ... 601
• 14.3.1 ... Product Data ... 602
• 14.3.2 ... Personal Object Work List for Shipment Templates ... 603
• 14.3.3 ... Creating a New Shipment Request ... 603
• 14.3.4 ... Routing and Transportation Charge Determination ... 606
• 14.4 ... Multimodal Routing of a Shipment ... 607
• 14.5 ... Demurrage and Detention ... 610
• 15 ... Technological Foundations ... 613
• 15.1 ... Business Object Modeling ... 613
• 15.2 ... Enterprise Services in SAP TM ... 620
• 15.2.1 ... Benefits of SOA ... 621
• 15.2.2 ... Enterprise Services in SAP TM ... 625
• 15.2.3 ... Information on Enterprise Services in the SAP Developer Network ... 632
• 15.3 ... BAdIs in SAP TM ... 635
• 16 ... Conclusion ... 637
• A ... Bibliography ... 639
• B ... The Authors ... 641