The Enterprise Structure is often the first area to define when implementing your SAP solution.
As you configure your solution, you may need to adjust the Enterprise Structure you defined early in your project.
Definitions for many of the Enterprise Structure settings appear in this section because they are all used in some way in Logistics Execution, even though not all of them fall specifically under the LE module.
The Enterprise Structures are:
Plant
Storage Location
Warehouse Number
Shipping Point
The warehouse structures covered in this unit are the structures that describe the physical areas of your warehouse with the exception of the actual storage bins. The warehouse structures described in this unit are configured in the IMG, whereas the storage bins are actually master data in SAP. We will cover storage bins in Unit 3.
The Warehouse structures are:
Storage Type
Storage Section
Picking Areas
Storage Bins
In each section of this Unit, the instructor will demo the configuration and the students will then perform the exercise by creating their own Enterprise and Warehouse structures.
Plant
Many considerations exist when determining what to call a „plant‟ in a company. Think of a Plant as a physical location – it does not have to produce or store anything. The Delivery Address that appears in the Purchasing documents comes from the Plant. So, if you have goods delivered to a different address, consider setting up another Plant.
The address can be maintained in the Storage Location or the Plant.
You can have more than one plant represent the same physical site; for
example, if you need to divide it up for other reasons, like having different MRP and forecast data. Also, materials may be valuated either at the company code or plant level; so, if you need to segregate material valuation, you can create multiple plants for that purpose. Would a sales office or administrative office be set up as a Plant as well?
Ask yourself the following questions before deciding whether to create one or multiple plants:
1. Do your materials need different MRP and forecast data? 2. Do your materials require different valuation methods? 3. Do you ship from or to more than one physical location? Here‟s how a plant relates to other organizational elements:
The plant is assigned to only one company code.
A company code can have several plants.
Multiple storage locations can belong to a single plant.
A single business area is assigned to a plant and to a division. Division will be defined when we cover the Sales area enterprise structure.
A plant can be assigned to several combinations of sales organizations and distribution channels.
A plant can have several shipping points. Shipping points will be defined when we cover the Sales and Distribution enterprise structure.
A shipping point can be assigned to several plants.
Enterprise Structure Definition Logistics-General Define, copy, delete, check plant
The assignment of plants to company codes is maintained here: Enterprise Structure Assignment Logistics-General Assign plant to company code
The following illustrations show the right and wrong ways to associate a plant to company codes. Plant 1000 Plant 2000 Company SP01 Plant 1000 Company SP01 Company SP02
Define Plant Configuration Demo and Exercise
Note: To access the Implementation Guide (IMG), execute Transaction Code SPRO and click on .
To configure a new Plant, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction: Transaction Code: (no unique transaction code, must use menu)
Enterprise Structure Definition Logistics-General Define, copy, delete, check plant
A pop-up box appears with the instruction: “Perform the activities in the specified order”
.
2. On the following screen, click on the copy icon:
Field Value
From Plant 3000
To Plant XX00 (where XX is the number assigned to you by the instructor)
4. Once you have entered the 'from' and 'to' plant, you will receive the following confirmation screen:
5. Choose the Define Plant activity and click .
6. Click the button on the screen and enter your plant number. Press Enter. Your cursor will be positioned on your plant.
7. Select the line with your plant and click the Display icon. 8. Change Name 1 and Name 2 on the following screen:
9. Click on the Address icon to navigate to the Address Maintenance screen. Enter Name 1, Name 2, and the address information for your plant.
Click and click to save your entries.
To assign your Plant to a Company Code, follow these steps:
1. Follow the transaction path in the IMG:
Enterprise Structure Assignment Logistics-General Assign plant to company code
OR
Transaction Code: OX18
3. Enter Company Code 3000 and your Plant, click , and save . Make sure you select your Plant and not one assigned to another
student.
You have now assigned your Plant to a Company Code.
Storage Location
Within a plant, you can have multiple storage locations. A storage location is where stock is physically kept in a plant. You must always create at least one storage location for a plant, whether you are storing inventory there or not.
The address for a storage location is only used for internal purposes and does not appear on purchasing documents. (An address on a purchasing document comes from the Plant field.)
You carry out physical inventory at the storage location level. Stocks are managed by quantity at the storage location and by value (also called the valuation level) at the plant or company code level.
If you use Warehouse Management (WM), you can assign one or more storage locations to a warehouse.
Note: The quantity of the inventory exists at the storage location level, the value is at the plant level, and the physical location of the inventory is at the Warehouse/Storage Type/Storage bin level.
Finally, you must create at least one storage location for a plant, whether you are storing inventory there or not.
Ask yourself the following questions to help determine how to set up your storage locations:
The following relationships apply to Storage Locations within the Enterprise Structure:
More than one storage location can exist in a plant.
A storage location has at least one address.
Stock is managed at the storage location level.
Physical Inventory is carried out at the storage location level.
A storage location can be assigned to one or many warehouses.
At least one storage location must be created for a plant.
The configuration for Storage Locations is maintained in the IMG here:
Enterprise Structure Definition Materials Management Maintain Storage Location
The ways to associate a storage location to plants are shown in the following illustration. Plant 1000 Plant 2000 Food Mart Storage Location 0010 Food Mart Storage Location 0020 Plant 1000 Plant 2000 Food Mart Storage Location 0010 Food Mart Storage Location 0020
Define Storage Location Configuration Demo and
Exercise
To configure a new Storage Location for your Plant, follow these
steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction: Transaction Code: OX09
Enterprise Structure Definition Materials Management Maintain Storage Location
When you create a Storage Location, you will be prompted for the Plant for which you are creating the Storage Location.
2. Enter your Plant and click . .
Field Value
Plant XX00 (where XX is the number assigned to you by the instructor)
3. Click on the icon. Enter values based on this table:
Field Value
Storage Location 00XX (where XX is the number assigned to
you by your instructor)
Description Storage Loc XX (where XX is the number
assigned to you by your instructor)
selecting your Storage Location and double clicking on Addresses of
Storage Locations. However, you will need to work with your development
team to ensure this address overrides the address of the Plant on transfer documents, purchasing documents, and any other documents on which you print the physical address.
Warehouse
The combination of Warehouse Number plus Storage Type and Storage Bin represents the physical location of the stock item.
Not all companies use Warehouse Management (WM), but if you store and pick stock, you should implement WM. WM allows you to define a precise physical location within your warehouse where you store a particular item. Ask yourself the following questions when determining how to set up your warehouse numbers:
1. Do you have more than one physical location?
2. Do you have different storage strategies for different materials?
The following list shows how Warehouse Number relates to other enterprise elements:
Warehouse Number contains descriptive text, not an address.
Stock quantities, not values, are managed within a warehouse.
You cannot assign multiple storage locations to the same plant warehouse number.
Define Warehouse Configuration Demo and Exercise
To configure a new Warehouse for your Plant, follow these steps:
Enterprise Structure Definition Logistics Execution Define, copy, delete, check warehouse number
2. Select the activity Copy/delete/check warehouse number and click .
3. On the following screen, click the copy icon:
4. Enter the Copy From and Copy To warehouse according to the following table and press Enter:
Field Value
From Warehouse no. 301
To Warehouse no. YXX (where XX is your group number
assigned by the instructor)
5. You will receive the following confirmation that the warehouse has been copied:
7. Select the Define warehouse number activity and click .
8. Click the button on the screen and enter your warehouse number. Press Enter. Your cursor will be positioned on your warehouse.
9. Select the line with your plant and change the description of the warehouse to include your XX group number:
To assign your new warehouse to a plant and storage location,
follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction:
Enterprise Structure Assignment Logistics Execution Assign warehouse number to plant/storage location
2. Click and enter the following:
Field Value
Plant XX00
Storage Location 00XX Warehouse YXX
3. Save your entries.
Shipping Point
Shipping Point is a required field to determine the type of shipping and location from where shipping is to occur.
The following illustrates how Shipping Point interacts with other organizational elements:
You can assign a single shipping point to several plants.
Delivery initiates from a single shipping point, so all items within a delivery can belong to only one shipping point.
The Shipping Point is determined by the combination of plant, loading group, and shipping condition.
Shipping Point is the key selection criteria when processing deliveries from the Delivery Due List and the Outbound Delivery Monitor.
Define Shipping Point Configuration Demo and
Exercise
To configure a new Shipping Point for your Plant, follow these
steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction:
Enterprise Structure Definition Logistics Execution Define, copy, delete, check shipping point
2. Select the activity Copy, delete, check shipping point and click .
3. Click the Copy icon:
4. Enter the Copy From and Copy To shipping point according to the following table and press Enter:
Field Value
From Shipping Point 3000
To Shipping Point SPXX (where XX is the group number
assigned to you by the instructor) 5. You will receive the following confirmation:
7. Select the Define shipping point and click .
8. Click the button on the screen and enter your shipping point. Press Enter. Your cursor will be positioned on your shipping point.
9. Select the line with your shipping point and change the description of the shipping point to include your XX group number:
10. Click on the address icon and update the address information to match the address of the plant you entered in the previous exercise:
11. Save your data.
To assign your new shipping point to your plant, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction:
Enterprise Structure Assignment Logistics Execution Assign shipping point to plant
2. Scroll down to your plant and verify your shipping point is assigned to your plant:
The shipping point is already assigned to your plant because you copied the shipping point from one that was already assigned to your plant (Shipping Point 3000). If you had created the shipping point directly, not using the copy function, you would have had to assign it on this screen.
If you want to remove a shipping point that was automatically assigned to your plant, you will first have to remove the picking area assignments from the shipping point. This is done via the following IMG menu path:
Storage Type
Storage Type represents a physical or logical storage area that has one or more storage bins. Common storage types include:
Goods Receipt Area
Goods Returns Area
Picking Area
High Rack Storage Area
Storage type data stored on the material master include storage bin stock – min/max quantities and replenishment quantities.
Storage Type has the following features:
It has a short description, not an address.
Physical Inventory is executed at the storage type/storage bin level
Interim storage bins can be used for goods in movement
Define Storage Type Configuration Demo and
Exercise
To configure a new Storage Type for your Warehouse, follow these
steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction:
Logistics Execution Warehouse Management Master Data Define Storage Type
2. Click the button and enter your warehouse number. You will see the storage types have already been created. They were copied when you created the warehouse.
3. Select one of the storage types and navigate to the details by clicking the Details icon.
The following table describes the use of some of the key fields to be maintained for the Storage Type:
Field Description
SU mgmt active Storage unit management allows you to manage your stock at another level a detail called the storage unit. A storage unit can be a box or another method of storing your materials.
Field Description
Putaway Strategy The following putaway strategies are available in standard SAP:
We will cover putaway strategies in more detail in a later unit.
Stock placement requires confirmation
When placing materials into bins in this storage type, you can require the transfer order be confirmed.
SUT check active Selecting this checkbox requires that the Storage Unit type is specified .
Addn to stock It is possible to either allow addition to existing stock, or not allow it.
Block upon Stock placement
It is possible to automatically block a storage bin within the storage type when you place stock into it. You will then have to unblock the material to be able to pick them. Stock removal strategy The following stock removal strategies are
available in standard SAP:
We will cover stock removal strategies in more detail in a later unit.
Stock removal requires confirmation
Works the same as 'putaway requires confirmation'.
Execute zero stock check Once SAP indicates that a storage bin has zero stock, it will trigger a zero stock check where a user must confirm the bin is indeed empty. The bin cannot be used until that confirmation is performed.
4. Since the storage types are already created for your warehouse in this demo/exercise, simply review the entries and exit the transaction.
Storage Section
A storage section is a logical grouping of storage bins within a storage type. It is used to group together storage bins that have similar usage for the purpose of putting stock away.
It is not mandatory to divide a storage type into storage sections. If you have high moving bins (maybe those lower to the floor) and lower moving bins (ones that may require a fork lift or ladder to reach), it may be wise to create storage sections.
Define Storage Sections
To configure new Storage Sections for your Warehouse Storage
Types, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction:
Logistics Execution Warehouse Management Master Data Define Storage Sections
2. If you copied your warehouse from a warehouse that had storage sections already defined, there will already be entries for your warehouse/storage type as shown below:
3. Create any new entries you would like and save them. Otherwise, simply review the storage sections that have been created.
4. Since the storage types are already created for your warehouse in this demo/exercise, simply review the entries and exit the transaction.
Picking Areas
Where a storage section is used for putting away materials, a picking area is used for removal of materials from storage bins. A picking area represents a group of storage bins that has picking carried out in a similar method.
Pick lists can be generated by picking areas to even out the load of the pick and allow multiple warehouse people to pick from the bins simultaneously. You must also define if transfer orders for individual deliveries can be split based on the picking areas.
Define Picking Areas Demo and Exercise
To configure new Picking Areas for your Warehouse Storage Types,
follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the IMG and execute the following transaction:
Logistics Execution Warehouse Management Master Data Define Picking Areas
2. If you copied your warehouse from a warehouse that had picking areas already defined, there will already be entries for your warehouse/storage type. In the demo, we copied from a warehouse that had picking areas defined, so we will review them here:
3. After reviewing the picking areas, exit the transaction.
Storage Bins
The storage bin represents the smallest space in a warehouse. It is where the inventory physically resides. It represents a physical 'coordinate' in the
warehouse. For example, if you have rows, shelves, and shelf positions in your warehouse, the bin may represent row 1, shelf 4, position 2, and you may call it storage bin 01-04-02.
You assign each storage bin to a warehouse, storage type, and storage section. You also define characteristics of the bin such as maximum weight, dimensions, and its type (small pallets storage, tub storage).
When developing your putaway strategies, you define which storage unit type is put away into which storage bin types.
Storage Bins are actually master data in SAP. But first, you must configure
the following before creating storage bins:
Storage Bin Types
Blocking Reasons
Storage Bin Structure
Define Storage Bin Types, Blocking Reasons and
Storage Bin Structure Demo and Exercise
Storage bin types allow you to break your storage bins down into groups – like large storage bin, small storage bin, etc. During the execution of the putaway strategy, SAP will select an appropriate storage bin type and storage unit type for your materials.
You can also block your storage bins. When you block your storage bin, you enter a blocking reason. You can configure custom blocking reasons to