Question no 4060 : Serial and Equipment creation

In SAP Plant Maintenance, the Equipment master can be prepared at which of the following Logistics Steps?

(more than one answers)

A) When creating Purchase Requisition.
B) When creating Purchase Order.
C) At the Point of Goods Receipt.
D) After Goods Receipt and then link the Equipment to the Material - Serial Master. 
E) At MRP Run when creating Purchase Requisition. 

Answer: C, D 

From the technical aspect, a Serial Number can be created even before the PR is created except that the Equipment master is not activated/created. The Serial Profile's Serial Procedure control's Serial Creation with or without Equipment requirement. For example without Serial Requirement active, the Serial number for the Material is created before or at Goods Receipt; and only after that the Equipment can be activated.

In summary, by leveraging serial number profiles and proper configuration, you can streamline the process of creating equipment records in SAP during goods receipt for purchase orders, particularly for items that are considered assets.

However, it is important to note that when the PR and PO are saved to create the Serial Number with a Serial Profile that is assigned to an Equipment Category (and also Serial Profile "POSL" assigned to the Serial Profile). Not only the Serial Number Master (accessible via IQ03) is created at point of PR or PO saving, the Equipment Master VIEW is also created BUT not yet Activated! It is only at Goods Receipt of the PO that the Equipment Master is then REALLY CREATED.