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Summary
The objective of this article is to provide a detailed overview of the EDI interfaces required to collaborate effectively with third party logistics providers. This article also describes the technical approach for typical business requirements. The reader will gain a better understanding of the EDI processes needed to implement EDI 940 (Warehouse shipping order) and EDI 945 (Warehouse Shipping Advice) transactions for the Advanced Planning, Picking, Packing/Unpacking, Shipment Confirmation/PGI processes. Moreover, this document covers the use of Handling Unit management (HU) as a part of the overall process and the automated re-processing of failed IDocs.
Overview
The objective of this article is to provide a detailed overview of the EDI interfaces required to collaborate effectively with third party logistics providers. This article also describes the technical approach for typical business requirements. The reader will gain a better understanding of the EDI processes needed to implement EDI 940 (Warehouse shipping order) and EDI 945 (Warehouse Shipping Advice) transactions for the Advanced Planning, Picking, Packing/Unpacking, Shipment Confirmation/PGI processes. Moreover, this document covers the use of Handling Unit management (HU) as a part of the overall process and the automated re-processing of failed IDocs. Third party logistics providers offer outsourced services to support supply chain management and the delivery of shippers products to customers in an on-demand fashion with real-time information. Standardized electronic data information exchange (EDI) will increase the efficiency for business
partners. Moreover, it significantly reduces manual intervention, paper work and improves cycle time and better supports a high volume transaction environment. It provides direct electronic communication between shipper and 3PL computer systems using national andinternational telecommunication networks and requires agreements between trading partners. The communication is typically done through a VAN (Value Added Network) using international EDI standards such as the American NationalStandard Institution (ANSI) or EDI for Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT).
Background
Our client is a world leader in premium quality cheese manufacturing and the largest U.S. exporter of whey products. The clients mozzarella cheese, cheese blends, and pizza cheese are made especially for pizzeria and food service operators, frozen food manufacturers and private label cheese packagers. Our premium mozzarella cheese is the uniform source of our high-quality sweet whey, whey proteins, and lactose products. The client has 10 manufacturing plants in US and the clients whey protein business is 30% of their business. Whey is the by-product from the cheese manufacturing process and is used for nutritional supplements and ingredients. Whey customers include baby formula manufacturers, Nestle, Bristol Meyers, and M&M Mars.
As a part of the Strategic Systems Initiative project, the client decided to implement SAP ERP using the Deloitte Food & Beverage template solution. EDI plays a key role for the client in transmitting business information to their customers and vendors.
Business Requirements
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3PL Shipments to customers and Internal plants 3PL has to be notified in advance about the warehouse shipping order (EDI 940) to perform the resource planning. Warehouse shipping order can be generated either from sales order or STO for advance notification. Any changes in the warehouse shipping order have to be communicated to 3PLs. Changes may be quantity, date, address or product. If warehouse shipping order has changed the plant values then communication has to be sent to both parties. Final confirmation for the warehouse shipping order will be communicated to 3PL from the delivery document. If the delivery document is deleted after the confirmation to 3PL then the shipping order has to be sent from sales order/STO with change status. Warehouse shipping advice (EDI 945) sent by 3PL has to be update the delivery document with Pick quantity, Packing/Unpacking the Handling unit and Post Goods Issue. EDI 945 may contain partial pallet, where the original handling unit has to undergo unpacking and packing with the quantity sent by the 3PL. Automated reprocess for the failed IDocs to execute the only from the position where it has failed.
Proposed Solution
3PL will always be new/change. Only the document triggered from the delivery should go with a confirmed status. The confirmed status will signal the 3PL to ship the goods. Plant number is changed from manufacturing plant to 3PL, and then the IDoc is generated for the 3PL plant. This is the first IDoc sent to the 3PL. Plant number is changed from 3PL to manufacturing plant, then a cancellation IDoc is generated to the 3PL. Plant number is changed from one 3PL to another 3PL, then a cancellation IDoc is generated for the old 3PL and a new IDoc is triggered for the new 3PL.
When the delivery document is deleted then the output has to be triggered to the corresponding STO or sales document. Custom logic is needed in program MV50AFZ1 at USEREXIT_DELETE_DOCUMENT to trigger output for the preceding document. The 3PL will again start the advanced planning to allocate the resources for the confirmed shipment document.
If the EDI line item quantity doesn't match with the Handling Unit line item quantity then the 3PL has split the handling unit while shipping to the customer.
Retrieve the Handling unit details from VEKP and VEPO tables. Create a Handling Unit with reference to the packaging material of the existing handling unit number using the FM BAPI_HU_CREATE. Pass the Packaging Material in the HEADERPROPOSAL-PACK_MAT. It will return the new handling unit number which has generated internally with sequence. Use Commit work after the BAPI and capture the new handling unit number.
Now we have to unpack the existing handling unit and repack with the new handling unit by adjusting the quantities. Use FM 'BAPI_HU_REPACK (Tcode: HU02) to do the process in standard way. Pass the parameters as defined below. Import Parameters HUKEY <New Handling Unit Number>
Table Parameters REPACK-SOURCE_HU REPACK-PACK_QTY REPACK-BASE_UOM REPACK-MATERIAL REPACK-BATCH REPACK-PLANT REPACK-STGE_LOC <Existing Handling Unit Number> <Picked Qty > <UOM> <Material Number> <Batch Number> <Plant> <Storage Location>
If the BAPI was successful, then use execute the commit work command because the unpack/repack process is completed. Now we have to execute last step below to perform the goods movement for the new handling unit and to change the receiving batch. In the partial pallet process, the new batch will always be created with a restricted status as per the configuration requirements. Once the batch is generated, the batch status is change to unrestricted as per the parent batch characteristics.
Check the both Parent and Child Batch statuses are the same. If yes, then don't change the status.
If the Statuses are different and the parent has an unrestricted status, then change the child batch status to unrestricted using the FM VB_CHANGE_BATCH_STATUS.
For goods movement transfer use FM HU_CREATE_GOODS_MOVEMENT (Tcode: VLMOVE) passing the following parameters. Import Parameters IF_TCODE IT_MOVE_TO-HUWBEVENT IT_MOVE_TO-MATNR IT_MOVE_TO-CHARG IT_MOVE_TO-WERKS IT_MOVE_TO-LGORT IT_MOVE_TO-HU_ITEMS-VENUM IT_MOVE_TO-HU_ITEMS-VEPOS IT_INTERNAL_ID-VENUM VLMOVE 0010 <Material Number> <New Created HU number> <Plant> <Storage Location> <VEPO-VENUM> <VEPO-VEPOS> <VEPO-VENUM>
IDoc Re-Processing
For the four processes defined below there is a potential for the IDoc to fail at any point in the process. When the failed IDocs are re-processed we only want to re-process from the point of failure. Any prior steps that were completed successfully should not be re-processed. Therefore, to properly manage the IDoc re-processing a custom table was developed to record the results of each process step and to document the corresponding transactional information created, such as handling unit number, status change and goods movement. The custom table may also contain key fields such as IDoc number, delivery number, material number and batch number. When posting the IDoc for partial pallet processing the individual process triggers are defined as below.
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Handling Unit Creation Repacking of Handling units Handling unit status change Goods Movement If the above four steps are completed successfully then we can assume that the partial pallet processing has completed successfully for a given line item in the IDoc. We then need to update the custom table with the completion indictor. If the pick/pack/PGI process failed, we can retrieve the partial pallet handling unit from the custom table. The custom table has to be updated before the IDoc is set to status 51 (Error while posting the document). A more meaningful error message is provided in the long text of the IDoc.
If the 3PL sends an invalid batch number then the IDoc should raise an error. This is true for even legacy batch numbers (this may occur first few months of Go-Live). To avoid errors with legacy batch numbers a cross-reference table must be established to cross-reference the legacy batch numbers with new SAP batch number.
Conclusion
After reading this article, you should have a better understanding of SAP to 3PL integration and the technical design across the areas as highlighted below: Mapping of EDI 940 and EDI 945 transactions Developing the logic to trigger the EDI 940 document from a Sales Order, STO and delivery Defining the data requirements needed for 3PL integration Managing the output determination Understanding the requirements for batch split and partial pallet process Understanding the requirements and logic for re-processing of failed IDocs In general, standard SAP IDoc structures and programming will cover most client requirements. Also remember that mapping documents will change based on each clients specific needs. Lastly, the level of customization may be influenced by the overall process design and 3PL system integration requirements.