Lesson 5 of 6
Other master data that drives processes
7 min
Business partners, products and G/L accounts are the big three. But many process failures come from smaller, less visible master data that sits between them. This lesson tours the ones a key user meets most often in the three core processes.
Plan to produce: BOMs, routings and work centers
A bill of material (BOM) lists the components needed to make one product. Contoso's alternator BOM might list one rotor, one stator, one housing and a set of fasteners. A routing lists the operations: wind the stator, assemble, test. Each operation runs at a work center, which carries capacity and the activity types used to cost the work.
BOMs are plant-specific (a BOM for plant 1710 does not automatically apply to 1720) and have validity dates and a usage (production, costing, sales). Classic transactions are CS01/CS02/CS03 for BOMs and CA01/CA02/CA03 for routings. In production, the BOM and routing are combined into a production version, which tells MRP and the production order which BOM and routing to use for which lot size and period.
Procure to pay: info records and source lists
A purchasing info record links a supplier and a product for a purchasing organization and plant. It holds the supplier's price, planned delivery time and the supplier's own part number. When Contoso buys rotors, the purchase order proposes the price from the info record. A source list says which suppliers are allowed (or fixed) for a product in a plant during a period. Classic transactions are ME11/ME12/ME13 for info records and ME01 for the source list. Contracts and scheduling agreements can also act as sources.
Order to cash: pricing condition records
Sales prices are not a field on the product. They are condition records: small master records that say "for this key, this price, in this validity period". The key might be just the product, or the customer plus the product, or a price list. SAP's pricing procedure looks for records in a defined order and uses the first it finds. Discounts, surcharges and freight work the same way.
In SAP GUI, condition records are maintained with VK11/VK12/VK13. In Fiori, the Manage Prices - Sales app is the main tool. In SAP Best Practices content the base price condition type is PPR0; systems converted from ECC often still use the classic PR00. Check which one your pricing procedure uses before you write test steps.
| Master data | Process | Organizational key | Symptom when missing or wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill of material | Plan to produce | Product + plant + usage | Production order has no components; costing is wrong |
| Routing / work center | Plan to produce | Product + plant | No operations to confirm; no labor or machine cost |
| Production version | Plan to produce | Product + plant | MRP or the production order cannot pick a BOM and routing |
| Purchasing info record | Procure to pay | Supplier + product + purchasing org + plant | No proposed price; buyer types prices by hand |
| Source list | Procure to pay | Product + plant | Requisition not assigned to a supplier; wrong supplier chosen |
| Price condition record | Order to cash | Depends on access: product, customer + product, price list | Item has no price or an old price; order incomplete |
Validity dates and test dates
Most of these objects have validity periods. That matters for testing in two ways. Test data built months ago may have expired by the time the regression run happens. And tests that post with a future or past date (for example, period-end tests) need master data valid on that date, not today.
What would you do?
In regression testing, the Contoso purchase order test suddenly shows the buyer having to type the rotor price manually. Last cycle the price defaulted. Nothing was transported to purchasing configuration. What do you check first?
- BOMs, routings, work centers and production versions drive production and product costing.
- Purchasing info records and source lists drive supplier selection and proposed prices.
- Sales prices are condition records with keys and validity periods, maintained in VK11 or Manage Prices - Sales.
- Expired validity dates are a common hidden cause of regression failures.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What does a bill of material list?
2. Where does a purchase order usually get its proposed price for a supplier and product?
3. Which statement about sales prices in SAP is correct?
4. What tells MRP which BOM and routing to use for a product in a plant?