Introduction:
This blog has been written for one of the most basic problems which as a consultant in SAP we faced on every second project in Release Configuration. I will not go into basic configuration but just try to give the concept of how to achieve this requirement. For this, you should have a basic knowledge of release Strategy Configurations.
Why there is a need for Wrong Strategy Determination:
The idea of determining the wrong release strategy is that as in my consulting career of 10 Years there has been a constant question that how to make a robust system that if the End-user put wrong or different characteristics in the PR line items even then release strategy will be triggered. Normally if the End-user put different characteristic in multiple line items then release Strategy is not going to be triggered in this case. A lot of time I came across the scenario where the Client asks me what if incase user make a PR and the system didn’t trigger the release by any means in a Purchase requisition, although I have defined the parameters which are required for determining the release strategy but still it goes to purchasing Team/Buyer by skipping the approval process and moreover Goods have been purchased, received and Issued as well. By the time I come to know then it might be too late and by having this loophole, End Users/Buyers can collude and take plus/advantage just in case. So, it will and can create a situation for SAP IT person and risk for Company as well.
What are the Possible Scenario:
Let’s put the Scenario in a simple way that lets for sake of argument, we have Two Pre-requisite in classification for the determination of release of PR/PO/Outline Agreement i.e. Plant and Purchasing Group, and based on these two parameters in classification we configure our release strategies. We could have three possible scenarios’ in which users can mistakenly or intentionally do such things by which due to system technical limitation, release strategy will not get triggered.
Example:
Let’s presume that I have Two plants i.e. 1100 and 1200 and Two Purchasing Group i.e. P01, P02 and we have multiple strategies that will be triggered during release strategy determination accordingly. For Example
Release Strategies in system E.g.
If Plant is 1100 and the Purchasing group is P01 then it will go to Approve “A”
If Plant is 1200 and the Purchasing group is P02 then it will go to Approve “B”
Problem Statement:
Challenge No. 1: What if users put Different Purchasing-group and two Different plants in the same PR.
Let’s say the user is the same and authorize for both plants and purchasing groups but approvers are different. End-user will create PR with two-line items with these above both combinations. What will happen next, the system will not trigger the release strategy because to trigger release strategy in PR, characteristics in classification should be identical for all line items. So, theoretically, the system will get confused about which strategy is to be triggered and technically system will trigger Blank value in this situation at the back-end which has not been defined in our characteristic values which results in no Release strategy. So PR is available for the purchasing team to process without any hassle as mentioned in the below screenshot.
Result: No Release will be triggered.
Challenge No.2: What if users Put two Different Purchasing groups in the Same PR.
Result: No Release will be triggered
Challenge No. 3: What if the user put two different Plants in the Same PR.
Result: No Release will be triggered
All the above combinations, the system will not trigger the Release strategy.
Resolution:
There are two possible solutions to get this done in the system i.e.
- In Standard Way
- ABAP Enhancement
Standard Solution:
As explained in SAP Note 365604 clearly that During the overall release, the system takes into account only the characteristics that are identical for all items. If, for example, item 10 of a purchase requisition contains Purchasing group 001 and item 20 contains purchasing group 002, the purchasing group is set to BLANK for the strategy determination.
So, we will need to have one each blank value in 2 Characteristic i.e. Plant and Purchasing group as in mentioned below screenshot and one new Release Code which is of two characters e.g. Z1. By doing this system will trigger a release strategy even if we have different characteristics in multiples line items. We will make sure that the Z1 Release code will not be assigned to any approver so this PR would get Block for further processing until and unless the user will not correct its parameters by assigning the identical characteristics for all line items.
T-code: CT04
Plant Characteristic
The Next Step is to Create New 3 Strategies and 3 new Release codes or One new Release code as per the three possibilities.
The configuration path is as below:
OLME-Purchase Requisition->Procedure with Classification -> Set up Procedure with Classification -> Release Strategy
Do the relevant setting i.e. do assignment in CL24N, we will be able to trigger the release strategy even with different characteristics in PR.
Fill the classification one by one in the Release strategy
P1 Z1 Wrong Purchasing Group
First of all, let’s fill the Values for Class- Object P1 Z1. Now what I will do is we only select the Blank value of the Purchasing group, rest we will select all the values.
P1 Z2 Wrong Release Plants
Now what I will do is we only select the Blank value of Plant, For the rest of the characteristics, we will select all the values as per our need.
P1 Z3 Wrong Release Plants/PurchasingGroup
Now what I will do is we only select the Blank value of both Plant characteristics & purchasing group characteristics, for the rest of the characteristics we will select all the values as per our need. So that if users put both Plant and purchasing group characteristic differences in the same PR in multiple line items then the system will trigger this Release strategy.
After Configuration now let’s see the system behavior is mentioned below screenshots.
Challenge No. 1: What if users put Different Purchasing-group and two Different plants in the same PR.
Challenge No.2: What if users Put two Different Purchasing groups in the Same PR.
Challenge No. 3: What if the user put two different Plants in the Same PR.
By doing this PR will not go to the purchasing department because it necessitates approved PR, moreover, we have not assigned the Z1 Release code to any approver and no one is able to approve it. So, the user has to correct the PR first and then it follows the approval process
Second Solution (Abap_Enhacement)
You can take the help of ABAP in this regard i.e. if Purchase Requisition Processing State (EBAN-BANPR) is equal to 02 (Active) then it will not allow End-User/Buyer to save PR/PO. OR PR/PO processing State can only be 03 while Saving, it can resolve our problem impeccably.
