Variant Configuration Theory

1 Variant Configuration

Variant configuration is for manufacturing complex products in which customer determines the features of the

product. Objective of variant configuration is to react quickly to customers’ requirements.

Here it needs not to create separate material for each variant of a product. When companies introduce variant

configuration this often goes beyond a business process re-engineering project. Variant configuration offers an

opportunity to restructure product structures for which then processes are defined. This has a direct impact to the

core areas such as marketing and product data management.

2 Advantages of VC

· No need to Create separate material master for each variant combination.

· Super BOM and Super Routing is enough for representing all possible Variants and Operations.

· Able to react more flexible to customer demands.

· Increase Information exchange between sales, engineering and production.

3 What is Configurable Material?

· A material with different features or characteristics and options is known as configurable material. Example: PC,

Car.

· Configurable materials are either created in a material type that allows the configuration (n the standard system,

the material type KMAT) or they are given the indicator Configurable in the material master record.

4 Master Data used for VC

Following Objects are used as Master data for Variant configuration.

1. Super BOM

2. Super Routing

3. Characteristic

4. Class

5. Object Dependencies

6. Configuration Profile

7. SD Condition records

4.1 Super BOM

Super BOM Contains all the components for producing configurable product. It contains both variant as well as

non-variant parts required for producing configurable product.

4.1.1 Super BOM configuration

Super BOM can be created either one of the following methods.

· Create BOM with class Item of 200-class type that contains all characteristic of a configurable material.

· Create BOM with all possible materials as its components. Then assign /define dependencies to each

component.

The different between this two method is

· BOM with class item, no need to assign or define object dependencies. Instead of that each material is

classified in material master itself using class 200.

· For both cases all characteristics are assigned to class 300 which is again assigned to KMAT material in order

to trigger configuration in configuration profile.

4.1.2 Super BOM with Class Item

Class items used to control the selection of variant parts in a BOM. Variant parts are classified in a class, and the

class is entered in the BOM as a class item. When you configure the material, the class is replaced by a suitable

variant part.

4.1.3 Advantages of using Class Item in BOM

· Only one item for the class is enough, instead of several items for the individual variant parts.

· No need to create and assign selection conditions.

· Able to classify additional objects in the class at any time, without having to change the BOM.

4.1.4 Steps involved in super BOM with Class

? Define all Characteristics and its Values assign it to Class with type 200.

? Assign characteristic Values to materials by Classification material

? Assign class 200 with material instead of assigning all BOM items.

? Create and Assign class 300 (with same characteristics) with configurable product using configuration profile.

4.1.5 Super BOM with Material Components

This bill of material (BOM) of a configurable material contains all the components that are required to

manufacture the material. The BOM contains components that are only used in specific variants (variant parts),

as well as components that are used in all variants (non-variable parts).

4.1.6 Steps involved in super BOM with Material Components

? Define all Characteristics and its values assign it to Class with type 300.

? Assign Class with configurable material in Configuration profile.

? BOM is created with all variant and non-variant items.

? Define interdependency between objects (Characteristic, BOM item, Routing Operation etc?) by using Object

Dependencies.

? Assign class 300 with configurable product using configuration profile.

4.2 Super Routing

A configurable routing describes the production process for all variants of a product. Instead of creating a routing

for each variant of a product, you can create operations for one routing, or a "super" routing.

It is possible to maintain Object dependencies for following in super routing:

· Sequences

· Operations/sub-operations

· Production resource/tool assignments

The routing is configured by system, when order is created for KMAT material.

4.3 Characteristic

Characteristic is used to define the features of a configurable material. To enable to use characteristics to

configure a material, assign the material to a class of class type 300. The customer can choose from among

different options for each characteristic.

· Characteristics describe the properties of objects. The values of a characteristic specify these properties.

· Value assignment to characteristic may be single value or multiple value with required entry or restrict able

entry.

· In characteristic it is also possible to use table name and its field name in order to change the Object quantity or

values. I.e. BOM item quantity or Operation time, which is known as ?reference characteristic?.

· In Restriction screen allowed Class types are entered i.e. for what are the class this characteristic may used. In

general for Variant configuration class 200 and 300 are used.

· It is also possible to assign Dependency to characteristic values maintained in Characteristic.

4.4 Variant Class

· In Variant configuration, Class is used to hold the characteristics that describe about configurable material.

Class type to determine which object types can be classified.

· Class is used in variant configuration if the class has a class type that supports variant configuration. In

Customizing for Classification, the Variant class type indicator must be set for the class type. In the standard

system, this is class type 300.

4.5 Dependencies

· Dependencies restricts the combinations of options i.e. characteristic that are not allowed. It also select exactly

the right BOM components and operations to produce a variant.

· It also describe the interdependencies between characteristics and characteristic values

· It control which components are selected from a bill of material (BOM) and which operations are selected from a

task list

· It also changes the values of fields in BOM items and operations during configuration.

4.5.1 Global and Local Dependencies

Global dependencies have the following properties:

· They are independent of any object.

· They are identified by a name that you assign, and are maintained and managed centrally.

· If you change a global dependency, the change affects all the objects where the dependency is used

Local dependencies have the following properties:

· They are only available to the object for which you create them

· You cannot use the central maintenance functions on these dependencies, and you cannot allocate them to

other objects

· They are identified by a number assigned by the system, not an external name

Local dependencies are only used where certain dependency will not be needed elsewhere

The differences between global and local dependencies are as follows:

· Global dependencies are created centrally and can be assigned to several objects.

· Local dependencies are created for one object and can only be used with this object

4.5.2 Declarative and Procedural Dependency

· In Declarative dependencies the result are explained logically

· Declarative dependencies are easier to trace than procedural dependencies, because the point in time when

the dependency is processed and the sequence in which the dependencies are processed are not relevant.

· Example for Declarative dependency:

Constraint

Actions

Preconditions (provided that they contain no non-declarative expressions)

Selection conditions (provided that they contain no non-declarative expressions)

· In Procedural Dependency result depends on the processing sequence and the point in time when the

dependency is processed.

Procedures

Preconditions (only if they contain non-declarative expressions)

Selection conditions (only if they contain non-declarative expressions)

4.5.3 Dependencies Types

The SAP System supports the following types of dependencies:

· Preconditions

· Selection conditions

· Procedures

· Actions (obsolete)

· Constraints

4.5.4 Preconditions

Preconditions can be allocated to the following objects:

· A characteristic that you want to hide

· A characteristic value that you want to hide

Preconditions are used to hide characteristics and characteristic values that are not allowed and thereby ensure

that the configuration of an object is consistent. In the precondition, it is also possible define the circumstances

under which a characteristic or value is hidden.

A precondition is fulfilled if the condition you enter is either true or not violated.

4.5.5 Selection Conditions

Selection conditions used to ensure that all the objects relevant to a variant are selected:

· Selection conditions determine which variants require a specific component or operation

· Selection conditions determine when it is mandatory to assign a value to a characteristic

Selection conditions may allocate to the following objects:

· Characteristics

· BOM items

· Operations in task lists

· Sub-operations

· Sequences of operations

· Production resources/tools (PRTs)

A selection condition is fulfilled if the condition in it is unambiguously true.

4.5.6 Procedure

Procedures can be assigned to the following objects:

· The characteristic value that triggers the procedure

· The characteristic that triggers the procedure

· The configuration profile of the configurable object

Procedure is used for following purposes.

· A procedure is used to infer a value for a characteristic, you enter the variable $SELF before the characteristic.

· Procedures can overwrite values that are set by other procedures.

· Procedures are always used for pricing (see Variant Conditions).

Processing Sequences of Procedure

If an object has more than one procedure, a processing sequence is used to define the point when the procedure

is processed.

4.5.7 Action

Actions are used to infer characteristic values. An action is processed as soon as the characteristic to which it is

assigned has a value. It is not possible to overwrite the characteristic values that are set by an action.

The following Objects can assign to action:

· The characteristic value that triggers the action

· The characteristic that triggers the action

· The configuration profile of the configurable object

· Configuration profile

· BOM items ? to change the quantity

· Operations in task lists ? to change the standard values

Since Action is lead to serious system performance problems, it is replaced by Procedure and Constraint.

4.5.8 Constraint

This dependency type is mainly for intensively interactive configuration tasks and for configuration tasks in which

you need to take into account the dependencies between the characteristics of several objects. The main

purpose of a constraint is to monitor the consistency of a configuration.

Constraints have the following distinguishing features:

· Constraints are used to describe the dependencies between completely different objects and their

characteristics.

· Constraints are used to store information on which conditions must be fulfilled if the configuration is to be

consistent.

· Constraints are not directly allocated to individual objects. They are grouped together to form dependency nets

and allocated to a configurable material in the configuration profile.

· In constraints, you enter objects in their general form of expression, without using $SELF, $ROOT, or

$PARENT to identify objects. As a rule, you refer to objects in constraints by entering the class to which the

objects are allocated.

· Constraints are declarative dependencies. The processing sequence of constraints and the point in time when

constraints are processed is not relevant.

· Constraints are not processed in a specific order. You cannot determine when a specific constraint is used.

In any processing situation, a constraint is only processed once. If a value that is relevant to the constraint is

changed, the constraint is triggered again.

4.5.8.1 Structure of Constraints

There are four sections in a constraint. Each part is identified by a keyword. A colon follows the keyword. Each

section ends with a period.

OBJECTS:

In this section, you enter the objects that are relevant to the constraint. You must enter the relevant objects in all

constraints. You can also define variables for objects or characteristics.

CONDITION:

The condition entered here must be fulfilled in order for the constraint to be used. You do not need to enter a

condition in a constraint. You can leave out the keyword CONDITION: if required. However, if you enter the

keyword you must enter a condition.

RESTRICTIONS:

In this section, you enter the relation that must exist between the objects and characteristics if the configuration is

to be consistent. You must enter a restriction in a constraint.

INFERENCES:

In this section, you enter the characteristics for which characteristic values are to be inferred. The main purpose

of constraints is to check the consistency of a configuration. Usually, values are only inferred if you make an

entry in this section.

For reasons of performance, only use constraints to infer values if it is really necessary. Constraints are grouped

together to form dependency nets. The dependency net is allocated to a configurable material in the

configuration profile.

4.5.9 Dependency Net:

Constraints are grouped together in dependency nets. For this reason, the variant configuration menu does not

support a function for creating constraints directly. So that only constraints are defined within a dependency net.

5 Configuration Profile

The configuration profile for a material controls the configuration process in sales order. Configurable profile also

used to define central settings for configuring the object. Using this profile it is possible to hide some of the

characteristic value defined during characteristic creation. We can assign any number profile for a configurable

material in which selection is based on either priority or manual selection during configuration.

By defining a filter in the configuration profile, possible to determine the scope of the BOM items to improve

system performance when exploding the BOM. The filter is active in high-level configuration, in result-oriented

BOMs, and in SET processing.

5.1 Filters in Configurable Profile

Following objects can be used as filter:

· Object type

Class, material, document, text

In the standard system, all object types are selected and therefore exploded in the configuration. Deselect the

object types that you do not want to be displayed.

· Item category, for example, stock or non-stock item

All item categories in the configuration are exploded in the standard system. Remove the selection for the item

categories you do not want to be displayed.

· Item status

You maintain the status of a BOM item in maintain BOM dependent on its usage.

All items are displayed regardless of their item status in the standard system. However, only the items with this

status are displayed when you select specific item statuses. Items are not displayed that do not have the

selected status.

· Sort string

You can assign sort strings for BOM items in maintain BOM. You can restrict the display of the BOM items by

using these sort strings.

Only items that carry sort strings are checked and only those that match are displayed. Items that have no sort

string are always displayed.

5.2 Component availability in the configuration profile

The availability check is just a snapshot, telling that whether the materials required are in stock at this moment.

Several users can access the same material at once. This means that supply problems can sometimes be

overlooked.

Example: Only 2 pieces of a material are in stock, but the material is used in 3 BOMs. The availability check does

not detect a supply problem. The availability check for all 3 BOMs shows 2 pieces in stock.

5.3 Process Overview

There are different processes for configurable materials in sales documents. These processes can be defined on

the Configuration initial screen tab in the configuration profile, by choosing the Configuration parameter tab.

The Process are described in the following scenarios:

Planned/Production orders

This processing type is used to describe variant products whose configurable materials are assembled using

planned and production orders. The bill of material (BOM) can have single-level, multi-level, or no explosion.

Sales Order (SET)

This processing type is used to describe variant products that comprise salable configurable materials. These

products are supplied together, but are not assembled in a production order. Only sales-relevant BOM items are

exploded in the sales order.

Order BOM.

You use this processing type if you want to make customer-specific changes to the BOM of a material that you

configure in the sales order. In the sales order, you assign values to the characteristics of the header material,

but the BOM is not exploded in the sales order.

6 Material Variant and Planning Material

6.1 Material Variant

· Material Variant is an material that can arises from individual Configuration of a configurable product and can be

kept in stock

· For variants that are required frequently, we can create material variants, which can be produced without a

sales order and kept in stock. When a sales order is received, it is possible to check whether the variant required

is in stock, so that it can deliver immediately.

· For material variants, a separate material master record is created with a material type that is kept in stock.

· Separate BOM and routing for a material variant, or you can link the material variant to the BOM and routing of

the configurable material. The correct BOM items and operations are determined from the characteristic values

assigned to the variant.

6.2 Planning Material

· Planning Material is a material, which contains all the non-variant parts.

· By using planning material all non-variants are procured / produced before sales order.

· It is also possible for Planing the Planning Materials without reference to any sales requirement.

· Planning material is planned separately using strategy 65 and produced before sales order creation.

7 Planing in VC

The following strategies are used for planning configurable materials and its variant parts.

Make to Order production of Variants

? Make to Order for Material Variant. – 26

? Planning Variants without final Assembly- 55

? Planning Variants with planning Material – 65

? Make to order with configurable material.- 25

? Characteristic Planning with dependent requirement – 56 and

? Assembly Processing with Characteristic Planning – 89

8 Variant Configuration: (Object Diagram)

9 Variant Pricing and Surcharges

9.1 Sales BOM

A bill of material (BOM) describes the different components that together create a product. A BOM for a bicycle,

for example, consists of all the parts that make up the bicycle: the frame, the saddle, wheels, and so on.

When you enter the material number of a bill of materials that is relevant for sales order processing, the system

displays the material that describes the whole bill of materials as a main item. The individual components are

displayed as lower-level items.

There are two ways to process a bill of materials in Sales. Once you have entered a bill of material in a sales

order, the system runs pricing, inventory control, and delivery processing at: Main item level if the material is

assembled, or – Component level if the material is not assembled.

9.2 Processing at Main Item Level (ERLA)

If you want the system to carry out pricing, inventory control, and delivery processing at main item level, enter

ERLA in the Item category group field of the Sales: sales org. 2 screen in the material master record of the

finished product. This means that the components only function as text items and are not relevant for delivery.

9.3 Processing at Component Level (LUMF)

If you want the system to carry out pricing, inventory control, and delivery processing at the component level,

enter LUMF in the Item category group field of the Sales: sales org. 2 screen in the material master record of the

finished product. In this case, only the components are relevant for delivery. During processing the system

automatically creates a delivery group. The latest delivery date among all the components becomes the delivery

date for the entire delivery group.

10 Configuration of VC

10.1 Production Planning and Control

10.1.1 Creating Material

Use

The purpose of this activity is to create the material masters for the materials required in this scenario.

Procedure

Access the activity using one of the following navigation options:

SAP Menu Logistics ® Materials Management ® Material Master ® Material ® Create (General) ® Immediately

Transaction Code MM01

In Material Master of KMAT material following settings are maintained:

· Configurable material indicator in Basic Data must set.

· MRP type is PD.

· Lot size ? EX ( Lot for lot size)

· Availability check ? 02

· Planning Strategy 25 is entered in MRP 3 screen view.

· Item category group 0002 or 0004 is to be given in sales view.

10.1.2 Creating Bill of Material

Purpose:

· The purpose of this activity is to create bills of material (BOMs) for the configurable material which is known

as ?super BOM?

· Super BOM comprise all the variant as well as non-variant parts required for producing configurable material.

Procedure

1. Access the activity using one of the following navigation options:

SAP Menu Logistics ® Production ® Master Data ® Bills of Material ® Bill of Material ® Material BOM ® Create

Transaction Code CS01

· The Create Material BOM: initial screen appears. On this screen, data that identifies the bill of material are

maintained as well effectivity data.

· In the Material field, the configurable material for which super BOM need to create is entered.

· Plant and BOM usage is entered. In general BOM usage 1 for production and 3 is for Universal.

· In Component screen list of variant and non-variant parts are entered along with that quantity is entered based

on Base qty. of the configurable material.

· It is also possible to enter a class as a BOM component with item category ?class Item?. This class must hold

all characteristics and also classified with each material.

· Class type 200 and 300 can be used as a class item.

Following Procedure is followed for assigning class with BOM as a class Item.

· Enter the item category for class items in BOM.

· Make entries in the fields that identify the class

? Class types

? Class

· Enter the quantity.

Enter a unit of measure if appropriate.

The system determines the unit of measure from the additional data of the class.

If a unit of measure without a dimension is maintained in the additional data of the class, you cannot change this

unit.

10.1.3 Creating Characteristic

Purpose:

· Characteristic is created with possible values.

· It is also possible to use table name and its field name in order to change the Object quantity or values. Ie BOM

item quantity or Operation time. This is known as ?Reference characteristic?.

· For changing BOM quantity Characteristic is created with table name STOP-MENGE is used.

· For Variant pricing purpose SDCOM-VKOND is used.

· Characteristics allow describing and distinguishing between objects, such as length, color, or weight within the

classification system.

Procedure

SAP Menu Logistic->Centralfunction->Environment->classification->Chracteristics

Transaction Code CT04

· From the classification menu, choose Characteristics.

· Enter data on the initial screen.

· In the Characteristic field, enter a name for new characteristic

· Enter a change number if you want to create the characteristic using engineering change management.

· To do this, choose processing type Create characteristic.

· You can also copy the data of an existing characteristic. Use the pushbutton Create by copying. Enter the name

of a characteristic you want to copy.

· Confirm the entries.

· On the Basic data tab page enter the most important control data for the characteristic.

· You must maintain the basic data for all characteristics. All other screens are optional.

· In the formatting data for value assignment, whether a characteristic is single-value, multiple-value, or

retractable is defined. It is not possible change the value assignment indicator once it has set. It applies wherever

the characteristic is used.

· The data type of the characteristic determines which values can be entered for the characteristic. I can any one

of the following

Characters

Numeric

Time format/Date format

Currency format and

User defined data type.

· For numeric characteristic it need to maintain that whether interval values to a numeric characteristic, or only

individual values need to be maintain in Basic Data screen itself.

· Languages in which characteristic want to describe are entered.

· Choose the tab page Values.

· Enter values in the entry fields. Enter each value in a separate field.

· The values must match the format that you defined on the Basic Data screen. You can enter up to the number

of characters that you defined in the format.

· If your characteristic is an alphanumeric characteristic, enter a language-dependent value description. You can

enter up to 30 characters.

· It is not possible to enter a language-dependent description for numeric values

· It is also possible to define one value as a default value. This value then appears as a default in characteristic

value assignment functions

· Additional value indicator determines that whether values that are not defined as allowed values can be

assigned to a characteristic

· The following value check strategies are available in value maintenance screen.

Allowed Values:

Check Tables

Function module

Catalog character

· Allowed values permits only values defined in characteristics maintenance are used to check a characteristic

value

· Check table permits only values entered in characteristics maintenance is used to check a value

· Function module entered is used to check characteristic values.

· Value catalog entered is used to check characteristic values

· Documents, such as drawings or photographs, with characteristics can be linked in additional data screen.

Before link a document to a characteristic, it must create a document info record in the document management

system.

· In this screen it also possible to restrict or hidden or displaying only allowed values to characteristic.

· It is possible to that characteristic can be only assigned to particular class type by assigning type in restriction

screen.

· To change a characteristic selects the pushbutton Change in characteristics after entering the characteristic. To

display the characteristic chooses the pushbutton Display.

10.1.4 Creating Class:

Purpose:

· A class is used to hold the characteristics that describe a configurable material. By linking the class to the

configurable material, you allow the material to be configured using the characteristics of the class.

Procedure

SAP Menu Logistic->Central function->Environment->classification->Class

Transaction Code CL01

· Class holds all characteristics describe configurable material.

· Class with class type 300 is used in configuration profile.

· On basic Data screen class description, its status is entered. Status determines:

· whether a class can be maintained

· whether objects can be allocated to a class

· whether the class can be used for selecting objects

· Class group is used to group together related classes and also for finding classes quickly via a matchcode.

· ?Same Classification ?indicator determines whether system check for identical characteristic values. In this

case, where several objects are assigned that have the same values for all characteristics to the same class.

Depends upon indicator system give warning or error message or no message.

· Keyword string is used for finding a class via matchcode.The description entered on the basic data screen

serves as the first keyword

· On characteristic screen list characteristic which has to attach with configurable material is entered.

· Using document tab screen it is possible to assign documents related to configurable object.

· On additional data screen whether or not this class can be used as a class component in bills of material. If it is

yes then Unit of measure in which stocks of the material are managed. The system converts all the quantities you

enter in other units of measure (alternative units of measure) to the base unit of measure and resulting item

category which will replace this class item in BOM (i.e. Stock, Non-stock item etc?).

10.1.5 Creating Dependency

Purpose

Dependency describes the interdependencies between characteristics and characteristic values and it controls

which components to be selected from a bill of material (BOM) and which operations to be selected from a task

list. It also changes the field values in BOM items and operations during configuration.

Procedure

SAP Menu Logistic->Central function->Variant Configuration->dependency->Single Dependency->Create

Dependency

Transaction Code CU01

· From the variant configuration menu, choose Dependency -> Single dependency-> Create

· In initial screen name of the dependency is entered. If dependency need to create for a specific date, enter a

change number. It is also possible to create dependency by copying from existing dependency.

· On basic data screen the following data are required to enter

A language-dependent description for the dependency

Also possible to enter descriptions in different languages by choosing Descriptions.

Long texts for the dependency, choose Extras -> Documentation.

In the standard R/3 System, the status ?In preparation? when a dependency is created first time. The status is

set to ?Released? when the source code is syntactically correct.

Finally suitable dependency type is selected.

· In Dependency editor the source code for the dependency is entered. Once the source code is syntactically

correct, the source code is saved.

· Now the status of the dependency is turns to ?Released?. Save the Dependency and exit.

10.1.6 Changing Bill of Material (Assign Dependencies)

Purpose:

By assigning dependencies to BOM components, it is possible to restrict the selection of irrelevant variant

parts.i.e correct BOM components are get selected at result of configuration. It is also possible to change the

component quantity depends upon characteristic value changed.

Procedure


SAP Menu Logistics ® Production ® Master Data ® Bills of Material ® Bill of Material ® Material BOM ® Change

Transaction Code CS02

· Dependencies are assigned with respect to characteristic for each variant part.

· Dependencies are created either locally within object or globally which can be assigned to any objects.

· In BOM General Item overview screen choose the component in which dependency need to assign and choose

menu path Extras -> Dependency -> assignment of dependency for assignment.

· It also possible to enter dependency directly in BOM itself by choosing Extras -> Dependency -> dependency

editor.

10.1.7 Creating Configuration Profile

Purpose

· Configuration profile used for assigning configurable material with variant class (300) and also used to maintain

some central settings.

· It is possible to assign more than one configurable profile for one KMAT material.

· The selection of profile depends upon either by priority or by manual selection.

· It is also possible to assign dependencies to configurable profile.

· Class with type 300, which hold the entire characteristics of KMAT material, are assigned to each profile

Procedure:


SAP Menu Logistics ® Production ® Master Data ® Material Master ® Environment ® Configuration Profile ®

Create


· From the Variant Configuration menu, choose Configuration profile->Create.

· A dialog box will be displayed. The object name is entered. Confirm your entries.

· On profile overview screen the following data need to be entered.

· Profile name and the class type of classes used for configuration. In Customizing for the Classification System,

the class type must be defined as a variant class type.

· Choose Goto -> Class assignments or the ?Class assignment ? pushbutton to assign the object to a class.

· In the classification screen, names of the classes are entered.

· It is possible to restrict allowed characteristic values for the configurable object if required.

· Release of profile is possible only if configurable object is assigned to a class. To go to the detail screen, where

you define further settings, choose the Profile detail pushbutton or double-click on the profile.

10.1.7.1 Optional Settings on the Profile Overview

· Organizational Areas

You can specify organizational areas for configuration. If you restrict a profile to specific organizational areas, you

only see the characteristics that are relevant to your area when you configure the object.

You can change how characteristics are displayed according to organizational area for your user on the value

assignment screen.

· Priority of Configuration Profiles

You can create several configuration profiles for a configurable material. The profile with the lowest number has

the highest priority.

If you define several profiles for an object, you see a dialog box for selecting a profile when you start

configuration. The profile with the highest priority is at the top of the list.

The priority is also relevant if you use Application Link Enabling (ALE) or intermediate documents (IDocs) to run

configuration, rather than dialog mode. In this case, the profile with the highest priority is selected for the object.

Profiles that have no priority are at the top of the list, because they automatically have priority 0.

10.1.7.2 Profile Detail

· Configuration Profiles for Materials

The configuration profile has several screens. Depending on what you enter for the BOM explosion and

configuration process, fields are shown or hidden.

The parameters you maintain for a material apply to the material as a header material in a BOM structure. You

cannot define separate settings for use of a configurable material as an assembly in a BOM.

By choosing the Assignments pushbutton, you can assign dependencies to the configuration profile. You also

see this pushbutton on the basic data tab, once at least one dependency is assigned.

· Basic Data Tab

In the basic data, click on the profile overview data.

If configuration process need to starts with a Start logo, documents are assigned such, as a graphic showing the

product you want to configure, to the variant class.

Configuration Initial Screen Tab

· Configuration parameters

The parameters for BOM explosion and the configuration process in the sales order are specified here.

BOM application must be entered, if BOM explosion ?None? is selected rather than single and multi level

explosion is selected.

By entering a level of detail for a multi-level configuration, system performance will be improved.

It is also possible to define a filter and set the indicator for an availability check on assemblies.

10.1.8 Changing Configuration Profile: Add User Interface Settings

Purpose

Settings for the configuration editor in user interface.

An interface design is used to group characteristics together on the value assignment screen.

Here it also possible to define object-specific settings for functions in the configuration editor. These settings are

defaults for configuration, and can be overwritten for your user in the configuration editor.

For all configuration parameters except BOM explosion ?None?, manually select the screens for the

configuration editor and define which screen configuration starts with. The start screen must be one of the

allowed screens.

The indicator for the configuration browser independently of the other start screens can be selected, because the

browser is an additional screen section.

Configuration Profiles for Objects Other than Materials

Object-specific settings for displaying characteristics and characteristic values in the configuration editor can be

defined. These settings are defaults for configuration, and can be overwritten for your user in the configuration

editor.

Procedure


SAP Menu Logistics ® Production ® Master Data ® Material Master ® Environment ® Configuration Profile ®

Change


10.1.9 Configuration Simulation

Purpose:

· Configuration simulation is used to check the configuration model. In the configuration simulation, the whether

or not Object structure is created correctly and dependencies are working fine is checked.

· Simulation of Sales/Engineering

The configuration parameters in the configuration profile apply. Whether the configuration is simulated from the

sales point of view or the engineering point of view is defined.

If select Sales & distribution is selected the configuration in a sales document will be simulated (sales order or

quotation), so the BOM explosion depends on the settings in the configuration profile.

If Engineering is selected, the configuration in order BOM processing will be simulated. The configuration and

BOM explosion depend on the configuration parameters in the same way as when maintaining an order BOM.

For example, we cannot configure the header material, because the configuration is copied from the sales order.

· Simulation of a Planned Order

On the characteristic value assignment screen, we can choose Planned order to display the components that are

determined in material requirements planning (MRP) according to the characteristic values assigned. This is

especially relevant to assemblies whose BOMs are exploded in MRP, not in Sales & distribution (for example,

assemblies with the BOM explosion setting None in their configuration profile).

Procedure:

SAP R/3 menu Logistics ® Production ® Master Data ® Bills of Material ® Environment ® Variant Configuration

® Environment ® Configuration Simulation


· On the initial screen of the configuration simulation, select BOM to display the entire structure on the result

screen.

· If you have created more than one configuration profile for a material, you see a dialog box. Select a profile and

choose Continue. If you want to call detailed information on the profile, choose Profile Detail or double-click on

the profile.

· To display the task list of an assembly on the result screen, select the assembly and choose View ® Objects ®

Task list.

· You see the operations or activities in the task list that was selected for the assembly during configuration.

· Operations that have been changed by dependencies have an information icon next to them. You can display

changes by choosing Information.

· To return to the BOM explosion, choose View ® Objects ® BOM

10.2 Sales and Distribution

10.2.1 Creating Condition Records – VA00

Purpose:

The purpose of this activity is to create condition records for VA00.

Procedure


SAP Menu Logistics ® Sales and Distribution ® Master Data ® Conditions ® Select Using Condition Type ®

Create

Transaction Code VK11

· Create price for each value of the characteristics by select using condition type VA00.

· Create the Price for the condition type that represents these types of the standard-delivered condition type for

this functionality is ?VA00.?

· Condition type VA00 requires as key fields the sales Organization, distribution channel, and material number of

the configurable.

· Condition type PR00 used to maintain base price of the configurable material.

· Using VA01it is also possible to maintain Surcharges and discounts.

10.2.2 Condition records for Variant Price and Surcharges

Purpose

Condition records allow you to store and retrieve pricing data in the system. All the pricing elements of your daily

business – the prices, discounts, and surcharges for freight and taxes – that you want to use for automatic pricing

must be stored in the system as condition records. You can define as many condition records as you want for the

different pricing elements for any validity period.

You create condition records for all the pricing elements that the system takes into account during automatic

pricing. During document processing, the system transfers data from the condition records and determines the

amounts for individual pricing elements (prices, discounts and surcharges) and the final amount for the sales

document

Procedure

10.2.2.1 Create a characteristic for the Pricing

Create Pricing characteristic like CAR_Pricing and go to additional data tab give SDCOM table name VKOND

field name.



10.2.2.2 Assign the characteristic to the class

Assign given characteristics to class, In variant configuration, a class is used to hold the characteristics that

describe a configurable material. By linking the class to the configurable material, it allows the material to be

configured using the characteristics of the class. In the standard R/3 System, the class type for configurable

material is 300.

SAP Menu Logistic->Central function->Environment->classification->Class

Transaction Code CL01

10.2.2.3 Create a dependency that triggers the price

A Dependency is a rule that defines how the different options and option values, represented by characteristics

and characteristic values, relate to one another. To create a dependency, follow the menu path

SAP Menu Logistic->Central_function->VariantConfiguration->dependency->Single Dependency->Create

Dependency


10.2.2.4 Assign the dependency to the characteristic value that triggers the price

For example eCar2002, the value ?V8? refers to the engine selected by the customer. Therefore, the

dependency must be linked to the value ?V8? of the characteristic that represents the engine type. To do this, go

to the master data record of the characteristic CAR_ENGINE



Go to the ?Values? tab. From there, select the?V8? entry and use the menu path Extras Object dependencies

Assignments, which brings you to the screenshot to the right; if you have created a global dependency, you can

link it to the characteristic value.2 Once the dependency has been assigned, the information on this screen, such

as the description (?Engine price?), will default to the information entered when you created the characteristic.

10.2.2.5 Create variant price

Create price for each value of the characteristics using condition type (or transaction VK11). Create the Price for

the condition type that represents these types of the standard-delivered condition type for this functionality is ?

VA00.? Condition type VA00 requires as key fields the sales Organization, distribution channel, and material

number of the configurable.

In the same way using condition type VA01 is also used to maintain prices for surcharges and discounts.

10.2.2.6 Creating the output condition records for sales

Output types are used to represent various forms of output in the SAP system. Examples of output types in Sales

and Distribution processing are order confirmations, freight lists, and invoices. You use the output type to control

how the output should be transmitted, for example whether an order confirmation should be sent via EDI, or be

printed

10.2.3 Creating Output Condition Records: Sales

Purpose:

Output types are used to represent various forms of output in the SAP system. Examples of output types in Sales

and Distribution processing are order confirmations, freight lists, and invoices. You use the output type to control

how the output should be transmitted, for example whether an order confirmation should be sent via EDI, or be

printed

Procedure


SAP Menu Logistics ® Sales and Distribution ® Master Data ® Output ® Sales Document ® Create

Transaction Code VV11

· Choose Edit >Key combination

· Select the key combination for which condition records are to be created.

· Choose Enter.

· Enter the appropriate key for each condition record, according to the key combination you selected.

· For transmission medium 1 (Print output) or 7, you can maintain the communication data. To do this, choose

Communication.

· Save the condition records.

10.2.3.1 Creating Output Condition Records: Billing

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to create output condition records for billing. Output types are used to represent

various forms of output in the SAP system. Examples of output types in Sales and Distribution processing are

order confirmations, freight lists, and invoices. You use the output type to control how the output should be

transmitted, for example whether an order confirmation should be sent via EDI, or be printed

Procedure


SAP Menu Logistics ® Sales and Distribution ® Master Data ® Output ® Billing Document ® Create

Transaction Code VV31

Enter an output type.

· Choose Edit >Key combination

· Select the key combination for which condition records are to be created.

· Choose Enter.

· Enter the appropriate key for each condition record, according to the key combination you selected.

· For transmission medium 1 (Print output) or 7, you can maintain the communication data. To do this, choose

Communication.

· Save the condition records.

10.2.4 Order BOM

Purpose:

Products that are made to order in plant engineering and construction and mechanical engineering are generally

very complex and are specific to one customer. For this reason, you cannot define a BOM entirely in advance.

Once you have created your sales order, you need to make manual changes to the BOM by creating an order

BOM especially for the sales order, without changing the original BOM.

The sales order, sales order item, and material number identify an order BOM. In variant configuration, you can

work with 2 types of order BOM. The difference is in the way they are saved.

Knowledge based order BOM

The order BOM is saved as a copy of the super BOM with manual changes and dependencies.

Result Oriented BOM

The configuration result is saved as an order BOM, with manual changes but without dependencies.

Procedure (For knowledge based BOM)

SAP Menu Logistics ® Production Planning ® Master Data ® Bills of Material -> Order BOM Maintain (Multi-

Level)


· The Create Order BOM: initial screen appears.

· Enter the sales order number, the order item, the material number and the BOM usage

· If you want to use material BOM, or an existing order BOM to copy from, go to step 4. If you want to create an

order BOM without a reference, click and go to step 7

· You cannot use a configurable BOM as a reference

· Click on copy order BOM or Click on copy material BOM

· The Copy material BOM or Copy order BOM dialog box appears

· Enter the data required and click . The item overview appears, for the bill of material you are using as a

reference.

· Enter new items and alter items if necessary. Entering items in order BOMs is similar to entering items in

material BOMs. However, you cannot enter class items in order BOMs.

Variant Configuration Theory

Documents

Transcript of Variant Configuration Theory