Question:
Is it possible to have 2 external material numbers be equal to the same APO material number?
My situation is as follows:
We have regional OLTP systems, one global APO system, one global data client (GDC) for materials. The OLTP system in mind was created before the global data client, and the material numbers for the same materials are different (5 digit in OLTP, 8 in GDC....obviously we started to run out of 5's when doing global OLTP implementations). We would like to feed our "global" material numbers into APO from GDC, but we need to feed our transactional data from OLTP to APO, and have the two be the same material. The conversion rule is simple, and it would also be possible to build a mapping table as this is a problem that will eventually work itself out as all new materials created in OLTP in mind are now coming from GDC as 8 digits.
Is this possible?
Thanks.
Answer:
If you are implementing SNP or PPDS. All the planning data created in APO after u r planning run need to be transferred back to your OLTP system. As this is a lot of data, we faced lot of problems until SP22. GDC is a third party system? How are you planning to interface the GDC with APO system, through BAPI’s. It seems a complex scenario using CIF.
Thanks.
Kumar
Answer:
GDC is not 3rd party - it is a global SAP master data client for materials. It is integrated with APO through CIF, only for material master basic data. All other plant-level material information comes from OLTP systems.
Data going from APO to OLTP is very simple in our case. We are not using CIF for that, but a "planning" idoc that has been around for a while and used in other DRP systems.
It is the data going into APO from OLTP that I am worried about. Any other thoughts (other than telling me that this one is going to be somewhat complicated - I think I got that one already! )?
Thanks.
Answer:
Wild guess: What about a conversion exit in CIF using a translation table to turn the 5digits into the corresponding 8digit ones?
If you have to seperate the numbers again later, perhaps you can use a extra characteristic (infoobject), in which you store the original matnr (5 or 8 digit) when you upload data to infocubes/planning area.
I am interested in the solution
Answer:
Hi Bandito,
Since you are linking different OLTP systems, you would have different logical system names as well as multiple Business system groups. In the the user exit in APO for the material master, you could build in logic to linked the relevant material to the GDC. This info would then appear in the /SAPAPO/MATKEY table where the External number would relate to the relevant OLTP system and the MATNo field would be the APO number.
I would suggest putting APO and the GDC into the same Business group.
I hope it helps
Kind regards
Bruwer Morkel
DNA-Jumpoint
Bruwer.morkel@dnasc.com
Answer:
The Landscape is as follows:
1 GDC (SAP for global product data)
1 APO for SNP, with 1 BSG (original architects setup this way to do cross-regional stock transfer orders)
Multiple OLTP (regional)
Our original OLTP (bad OLTP) has non-global product codes. They do have counter-part codes in the GDC, so a mapping is available.
Currently the APO system is not using GDC data for this regions products. As our rollouts progress, we are on a collision path as several non-global product code in bad OLTP is equal to global product code in another regions OLTP. Therefore, the only solution that I can see being possible is to have global data in APO, and the interface between bad OLTP and APO do a material number conversion. Question is - is there any way to do this easily (without having to touch every inbound CIF user exit)?
I know that in the /sapapo/matmap table it is possible to set the ext_matnr equal to a value......and this works......except that this table has an index on BSG and MATID, which means that I am not able to have the GDC entry and the OLTP entry in here for the same global material number in the same BSG.
I am currently looking at 2 options:
1) Use the GDC data in APO, but not through CIF. More or less work wiht the material master user exit to populate GDC data.
2) Use the GDC data in APO through CIF. Modify every other user exit to do a material number conversion on the way in.
Any opinions, or other solution proposals?
Thanks again, I am finding the help here very useful.
Answer:
Have a look at "business system group" as this is designed to do exactly that. It allows the same number (but for different products) in external systems to be mapped to unique internal products in APO. From what I remember it will prefix one or more of the BSG material sets to differentiate them. Never actually had to use it and I know it does require a bit of ABAP to manage (in user exits) and define the specific rules but once this is done the conversion should be automatic (and no loookup tables required!!!). It is briefly covered in the integration course AP205. Alternatively a common coding project should keep people busy for a while?