This Blog is mainly on SAP Exam Questions and Selected "How-to" SAP processes

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Question 3970 : Characteristics of the Refurbishment Scenarios

In SAP Plant Maintenance, pick the correct statements describing the standard SAP Refurbishment scenario ?

(more than one answers)

A. The Refurbishment scenario can be executed internal via Maintenance Order or via Procurement Subcontracting scenario.
B. Both the Functional Location and Equipment can be processed via the standard SAP Refurbishment scenario.
C. The Refurbishment process must be specified using a Maintenance Plan.
D. A special Order Type is provided by SAP to process the standard Refurbishment processing scenario.
E. SAP recommends the Split Valuation Type to describes the Refurbishment status of the Equipment.

Answer: A, D, E

A) Refurbishment via Internal Work Centers and be carried out using the standard Maintenance Order Type PM01 while Refurbishment via the Subcontracting scenario to carry out the Refurbishment externally can be carried out using Order Type PM04.
B) In Standard SAP Refurbishment scenario, the "to be Refurbish Equipment" is required to be un-installed from the Functional Location and Goods issue to the Maintenance Work Center to carry out the physical Refurbishment process. However, in SAP the Functional Location cannot be linked or assigned to a Material-Serial number and only the Equipment can do that.
C) They are no specific requirements to setup Refurbishment via a Maintenance Plan.
D) Order Type PM04 is configured for Refurbishment processing to be carried out via IW81.
E) Split Valuation's Valuation Types are used to describe the Material Master and the idea is to link the Equipment to the Material-Serial in a Valuation Type to describe its current status of Refurbishment. 

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Saturday, May 20, 2023

Question 3969 : Goods Receipt of Production Order reduce the Planned Independent Requirement

In SAP Production Planning, which of the following MRP Strategy will ensure that the Planned Independent Requirement is "Reduced" at the point of Goods Receipt of the Production Order rather than the normal Post Goods Issue of the Sales Order item ?

(only one answer)

A. Strategy "11" (Gross Planning)
B. Strategy "20" (Make-to-Order)
C. Strategy "30" (Lot Planning)
D. Strategy "50" (Planning without Final Assembly)
E. Strategy "60" (Planning with Planning Material)
.

Answer: A

Strategy "11" or Gross Planning will ignore Stocks and Sales Order in Planning and both MRP Elements are segmented in the Stocks Requirements List. However, Planned Independent Requirement is possible as a Forecast to execute Planning of the Finished Product and the rest of its BOM components. For such a Finished Product where the Sales Order is not considered for Planning and the fact that Stocks are not even considered as well for Planning; the only logical manner to reduce the Forecast (ie PIR) is when the Production Order is received.













Monday, May 15, 2023

The ERP Giants

Some interesting "Facts" about SAP


Is Microsoft buying SAP?
- Microsoft Corp. initiated merger discussions late 2003 with ERP leader SAP AG. The talks ended several months ago after Microsoft decided the deal and the postmerger integration would be too risky. Sometime in June 2004, SAP and Microsoft said in written statements that they have no intention of reviving their merger talks.


How did Oracle bought PeopleSoft and JD Edwards?
- At the turn of the Y2K, there were at least 5 Giant EPR solutions: SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics (Great Plains)
In June 2003, Oracle launched its takeover bid for PeopleSoft Inc., just days after PeopleSoft itself had entered a merger agreement with J.D. Edwards. But Oracle struggled to purchase PeopleSoft for almost 18 months as in June 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice file a lawsuit to block Oracle Corp.'s proposed acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc. The DOJ's case centers on its argument that a PeopleSoft/Oracle combination would adversely consolidate the high-end ERP market, which the DOJ sees as including only SAP, PeopleSoft and Oracle. Finally in December 2004, Oracle finally was able to acquire PeopleSoft at $10.3 billion.
Oracle have extended Premier Support for PeopleSoft and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.2 at least through 2034. 
That is why the 3 remaining ERP Giants today are SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics, but it would have been a different story if the SAP and Microsoft Corp. merger were successful. 


Why did SAP wait to embrace the Cloud technology?
Around 2006, Oracle decided to rewrite all of its existing software products to be available as cloud services. Initially, it offered a set of core cloud services, including compute, storage, and networking, to compete with established cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. And after 10 years, Oracle launched its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in October 2016 with a single region and core services across compute, storage, and networking.
Initially unveiled as SAP NetWeaver Cloud belonging to the SAP HANA Cloud portfolio on October 16, 2012 the SAP Cloud platform was reintroduced with the new name SAP HANA Cloud Platform on May 13, 2013 as the foundation for SAP cloud products, including the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud. On February 27, 2017, SAP HANA Cloud Platform was renamed SAP Cloud Platform. On January 18, 2021, SAP Cloud Platform was officially removed from SAP's product portfolio to support SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). Compared to Oracle, SAP was a latecomer to the cloud and though it have lost some market share to earlier adopters (like Oracle, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud). BUT SAP explained that its delay in embracing the cloud is to give itself an opportunity to audit the landscape and develop its own strategy; SAP showed its Cloud intent buy acquisitions of companies with cloud products, notably Concur, Success Factors, Hybris and Ariba.


SAP HANA
It is only recently that the possibility of using memory for working space and primary data storage has become viable. The first in-memory database systems from the 1990s were not “big data” or “analytics” systems as they were not capable of handling the volume of data required to do true analytics over very large data sets.
SAP's first use of a type of "In-memory" is when it introduced its proprietary "SAP liveCache technology" in early 2000. It was developed for managing complex objects in applications in which large quantities of data must be constantly available and changeable. And specifically for its Advanced PP system called APO (Advanced Planner and Optimizer).
10+ years later, in 2010, SAP HANA (High-performance ANalytic Appliance) was announced and a pre-release version was shipped to select customers in November of that year. HANA is a database that could process transactional and analytical data (Combining OLTP and OLAP processing), and is also a multi-model database that stores data in its memory instead of keeping it on a disk.


SAP Ditched Oracle Database?
SAP R/3 and ECC can run on many databases, including DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and SAP MaxDB. And for many many years, the Oracle Database is the #1 database among SAP customers around the globe, with a large customer base that gains long-term cost benefits from the two companies' integrated technologies. Organizations can run SAP applications with Oracle databases on the same code base on Unix, Linux, and Windows operating systems.SAP ditched Oracle Database in 2015 when it released S/4HANA on 3rd February 2015 which runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Unix Operating Systems BUT on a single "Database system" which is the HANA Database.


The TOP ERP Packages today?
As in 2012, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics take the top spot of each having 25 to 26% of the ERP Market (which means the 2 Giants have more than 50% of the ERP Share Market). Interesting 3rd Spot is a Software called "Workday", securing around 12.5% of the ERP Market; And another ERP Software Giant - Oracle, is having around 6.5% Market Share.
Microsoft Dynamics - Great Plains, is an independent company based in Fargo, North Dakota, released the first variation of what would later become Dynamics GP in 1993. Dynamics Release 1.0, as it was known, was one of the first multi-user accounting programs available in the US. In 2001, Microsoft Corp. announced the completion of its acquisition of Great Plains Software Inc. for approximately $1.1 billion in stock.
Workday Software - Founded in 2005 by American David Duffield, former CEO of PeopleSoft. "Workday" is primary a On-Demand Cloud-based Software of "ERP", human resources (HR) and financial management (financials) system built for large businesses to use in the cloud. It's a one-stop-shop for managing a company's workforce, including payroll, timesheets, benefits, and more. Classified as an ERP software, which today has over 32,000 Customers with a ERP Market Share of 12.42%. 


What a the Bad Reputations of the Giant ERP companies? 
Oracle - Oracle's high costs, poor customer support, complex software, compatibility issues, and security concerns make it a risky choice for businesses. Interesting fact that Oracle has a history of suing companies that it believes are using its software without proper licensing or permission, and there are also many lawsuits against the Oracle. 
SAP - The use of SAP requires relatively large investments. In addition, the maintenance and upgrade costs are quite large. This SAP system was never too friendly and requires qualified human resources to enter data precisely and with timeliness. This makes the company have to spend more to pay for the salaries of qualified human resources.

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Saturday, May 6, 2023

Question 3968 : Sales & Distribution key features for Document Processing

In SAP Sales & Distribution, select which of the following statements description various influencing factors to determine the key features of SD Processing.

A) Loading Group is an influencing factor to determine the Shipping Point.
B) Transportation Group is an influencing factor to determine the Route.
C) Item Category Group is used to determine the Item Category in the Sales Document item.
D) MRP Strategy is an influencing factor to determine the Requirement Type in the Sales Document item.
E) Shipping Condition is an influencing factor to determine the Picking Location.
.

Answer: A, B, C, D

A) Shipping Point determination: Loading Group + Delivery Plant + Shipping Condition.
B) Route determination: Country/Zone of Departure Shipping Point + Transportation Group + Shipping Condition + Country/Zone of Arrival of Ship to Party
C) Item Category determination: Order Type + Item Category Group + Usage + Higher Level Item Category
D) Requirement Type determination: MRP Strategy or Item Category + MRP Type
E) Picking Location determination: Storage Condition + Delivery Plant + Shipping Point
.

A) Loading Group as one of the influencing factor to determine the Shipping Point


B) Transportation Group is an influencing factor to determine the Route


C) Item Category Group is an influencing factor to determine Item Category


D) There are 2 methods to determine the Sales Order item's Requirement Type which is either the MRP Strategy (assigned in the Material MRP3 view) or Sales Order item Category + MRP Type.


E) Shipping Condition is an influencing factor to determine the Picking Location. 

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Question 3967 : "NLAG" Material Type

In SAP Material Management, which of the following characteristics are NOT TRUE of the Material Type "NLAG" ?

(more than one answers)

A. No Quantity update and No Value update in the Material Type.
B. With Quantity update and No Value update in the Material Type.
C. Such Materials with "NLAG" cannot be included in the Bills of Material.
D. For External Procurement rather than Internal Procurement.
E. Unit of Measure is not necessary in the Material Master.

Answer: B, C, E
.

A) No Qty update and No Value update is a CORRECT statement, and therefore it should not the the answer as the Question statement looks for a NOT TRUE statement about "NLAG" Material Type. In OMS2, "NLAG" is set as without Qty and without Value update.
"NLAG" is non-Stock (According a Google search, I think the "N" is in German "NEIN" for No and the "LAG" is in German "LAGER" for Stocks), So "N" + "LAG" become "NLAG" which should be "No Stock".
Non-Stock purchasing means when the Purchase Order is received, there is no Stock entry as it is consumed immediately either to Production or Cost Center. For Non Manufacturing, Materials with "NLAG" can be items like Office Supplies; and for Manufacturing Non-Stock Materials it can be items with relatively not expensive, shorter lead time and not critical such as Production consumables of daily use.



B) This statement is NOT TRUE and therefore is a CORRECT Answer. Since in the above, standard SAP delivers "NLAG" Material Type to be "Without Qty" and "Without Value" updating; therefore "B. With Quantity update and No Value update in the Material Type" will be WRONG (NOT TRUE). 
Material Type "UNBW" is delivered by SAP as "With Quantity Update" and "Without Value Update", Materials created with "UNBW" will require Account Assignment in the PO where Goods Receipt will charge to the Account Assignment Object but Quantity will be recorded in the Warehouse BUT Without Value. 



C. Such Materials with "NLAG" cannot be included in the Bills of Material is FALSE (NOT TRUE) and therefore is the Correct Answer. Note below that bow NLAG and UNBW Materials can be included in the BOM with Item Category "N" where a Non-Stock PR will be created at Production Order creation or release. Finally, we expect the Non-Stock PR converted to Non-Stock PO where GR will charge out the Cost of the PO to the Production Order. 





D. For External Procurement rather than Internal Procurement; this is probably a difficult one because even standard SAP delivery of the Material Type setup is confusing BUT I will say this is a TRUE statement. (as below) because Work Scheduling view not selected therefore Production Order is not allowed. 
However, even if Work Scheduling view is selected. Although the Production Order can now be created and released; GR is NOT Possible (see 2nd slide below).
Note: 
External Purchase Order setting in OSM2 means Purchase Order for Vendor and Supplying Plant.
Internal Purchase Order setting in OMS2 means Production Order.



E. Unit of Measure is not necessary in the Material Master and this is NOT TRUE and therefore is a CORRECT Answer.