Batch Management

Batch management is used to identify one lot of production from another. This helps in tracking the lots during their life-cycle, as well as recording the unique characteristics of each lot. For instance, the expiry date or date of production of 2 lots can be different. Batch anagement can be applied to both process and discrete manufacturing industry. !t is tightly integrated with all business processes "i#., procurement, manufacturing, sales and in"entory management. $ome of the prominent functionalities supported as part of standard $%& batch management process are as under' ( Batch $pecification ) *lassification - *lasses can be defined for a batch and characteristic "alues can be entered accordingly. ( %uto Batch *reation + Batches can be configured to be automatically created as part of certain standard $%& processes. ( Batch ,etermination - This pro"ides an automatic batch search technique based on pre-defined criteria. !t is useful during -oods !ssue and $%& condition technique is used to configure this. !t also helps in searching for batches using specifications. ( Batch $tatus - it specifies whether the batch is acti"e, can be used further etc. Configuration Steps: $tep . + *lick on the link below /specify batch le"el and acti"ate status management0.

The first setting is, at what le"el the batch number should be unique. The default setting is as below,

The ad"antage of ha"ing batch unique at material le"el is, the batch number remains consistent during stock transfer between different plants. 1ext the batch status management is acti"ated,

The node /initial status of a new batch0 allows to set the status as /restricted0 when a new batch is created. !f there is no check mark against /initial status0 as shown in the figure below, the stock remains unrestricted. This setting is at material type le"el. The check box may not be required to be set in case 2uality anagement is acti"e. 3ith 2 , the stocks are anyways inspected, so putting them into restricted would increase one more step of bringing them from restricted to quality inspection stock.

The node /plants with batch status management0 will be required if batch le"el is at plant le"el. $tep 2 + %cti"ate batch number assignmentThe batch number can be internally assigned or externally assignment. ,epending upon the business requirement, it can be configured. $tep 4 + *reation of new batchesThe new batches can be created automatically by the system or manually "ide transaction code $*.1. To create batches automatically during certain transactions ) mo"ement types, follow the path to the following node in configuration'

The node 5define batch creation for production order ) process order5, allows you to configure for a combination of plant and production scheduling

profile. !t specifies whether a batch is created automatically at production order creation or production order release or no batch creation at all. $imilarly /batch creation for goods mo"ement0 controls the batch creation for each mo"ement type. The next node controls the batch creation for each material type, as shown below.

$tep 6 + Batch 7aluationThis step is used to maintain batch characteristic "alues while creating batches in the background 8automatically9 or manually in the foreground. Batch characteristics are also useful when batch determination functionality is required during goods issue. The batch anyways inherits the material characteristics ) class for which it is created.

$tep : + Batch ,etermination!t uses the standard sap access sequence search strategy. ;"er here, strategy type is like condition type in pricing. The following screen shows how to set it up.

*lick on the abo"e node and the list of existing strategy types will appear.

% new strategy type can be created here, preferably a copy of one of the existing strategy type. These strategy types are then used in /Batch search procedure definition0 as shown below.

The batch search procedure configured abo"e, now needs to be allocated to ! mo"ement types.

$tep < + ,efine $ort =ulesThis step determines, as the name suggests, a rule is created to sort the batches during batch determination. This sorting happens based on the characteristics defined for the batch. $tep > + aster ,ata $etting!n material master, /batch management0 indicatory needs to be set if the material is to be handled in batches.

The condition type ) strategy type for batch determination needs to be maintained. The T *ode for the same is MBC1.

The key combination displayed abo"e 8for T *ode B*.9 is as per the access sequence configured under /batch determination and batch check0. Shelf Life Expiration Date Check: This can be enabled as per the node below.

to be acti"ated at &lant ?e"el and at

The system allows the date check o"ement Type ?e"el.