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

Question no 3972 : Maximum Release Quantity for Quality Inspection for a Material

In SAP Quality Management, Maximum Released Quantity for a Material setup for Quality Inspection can be implemented via which of the following ?

(only one answer)

A. Source List.
B. Purchasing Info Record.
C. Quality Info Record.
D. Material Master QM data view.
E. Inspection Plan Header Lot Size.
.

Answer: C

In t-code QI01, activate the "Release Qty Active" and a "Release Quantity"

Q&A in Class (2023-06-23) PLM300

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Plant Maintenance Order "CLSD" status

The final step of the Maintenance Order life-cycle is to set "CLSD" (Business Closing) status and the Pre-requisites are that
The Maintenance Order must have been fully settled ie: no remaining costs in the Maint.Order
The Purchase Order items must be fully "closed".
Check the example demonstration in this Blog Posts:


What is NWBC ? and what are examples in PM

SAP NetWeaver Business Client (NWBC) is a new SAP user interface (UI) released by SAP in early 2007, presenting end users with a seamless integration of classic SAP GUI-based transactions and newly developed applications based on Web Dynpro ABAP. In the desktop variant, a high-fidelity UI is offered to improve the user experience. NWBC provides the user with a typical, modern, desktop-based user experience.
Check the screen views example comparing Fiori App to NWBC to SAPGUI:
Also look at this example of PM Technician Confirmation using NWBC:


Do not create PR and use MRP to create PR for "PM02" or Non-Stock scenario in the Maintenance Order


What is the purpose of the "Res/PR" control indicator assigned in the Order type?
See the following Blog Post:


How to move from End User to PM Consulting

There are several steps to becoming an SAP Plant Maintenance consultant when you are an End User:
  1. As an End User of the SAP PM module, you are already one step ahead of some one who step into SAP PM Consulting without the actual day-to-day operations of the PM Module.
  2. However, in the End user environment, you company may not be using all of the SAP PM module functionalities and therefore your exposure may be limited to what was implemented.
  3. It is then advisable to look at the standard courses SAP offer for the PM module and set a target for PM Certification.
  4. At this point in June 2023, it is probably more logical to be Certified in the latest version of the S/4PM rather than the ECC PM. However, do note that "Most and if not ALL" PM features in ECC are still available in the S/4 2023 system version. To be most up to date to the S/4 PM functions is to be aware of the Innovative features of PM best practices in the S/4 system.
  5. If your company is in progress to migrate to the S/4 system (from ECC), then it is a good chance to be involved in the project from start to go-life support. Do not be afraid of the extra hours to get involved in discussion, understand the consultant blueprint, configurations, testing, data conversion, and go-life support, You full cycle implementation involvement will be a good point in your CV. 
  6. Adding to Point no.5, learn about the configuration. If you have a play ground system, try to learn to setup a new Plant, new Equipment/FL Category, new Notification Type, new Order Type etc. and test create new Primary and Secondary Master Data and go through different PM scenarios using your own data and configurations:
    • Master Data: Functional Location
    • Master Data: Equipment
    • Master Data: Equipment link to Material-Serial-Valuation Type
    • Master Data: Permits
    • Master Data: Material Master for Spares , IBAU, Assembly
    • Master Data: Service Master
    • Master Data: Asset-EQ Integration
    • Master Data: BOM (Material, EQ, FL BOMs)
    • Master Data: Maintenance Task List (A, E, T Task List Type)
    • Master Data: Measuring Point
    • Scenario: Breakdown
    • Scenario: Corrective
    • Scenario: Preventive (Single Cycle, Strategy, Multi-Counter, Service Procurement)
    • Scenario: Refurbishment (internal and external Subcontracting)
    • Scenario: Calibration (internal and external)
    • Scenario: Asset Under Construction
    • Scenario: Inspection Rounding 
    • Scenario: Using MEB with or without Project System
    • Common Process: Item Category "L" (Stock) Process
    • Common Process: Item Category "N" (Non-Stock) Process
    • Common Process: Control Key "PM01" (Internal) Process
    • Common Process: Control Key "PM02" (External Operation) Process
    • Common Process: Control Key "PM03" (External Service) Process
    • Cross-Applications: Document Management System
    • Cross-Applications: Engineering Change
    • MM: PR-RFQ-Quotation-PO-GR-Invoice 
    • FICO: G/L Account Determination
    • FICO: Costing Sheet Formula and Overhead Calculation
    • FICO: Settlement Profiles and Settlement Process
  7. Exposure of MM Material Master, Service Master, Lean Service, PR, RFQ, Quotation, Contract, PO, GR, SES and LIV steps are additional advantage to the PM Consulting. 
  8. Exposure to G/L account determinations will be good.
  9. Understanding the PM-CO integration for the Cost calculations, Overhead calculation, and Settlement Process setup and processing will be good. 
  10. Knowing how to use the MEB (Maintenance Event Builder) with or without Integration to PS is always a handy knowledge. 
  11. AND course plan to obtain the SAP PM Certification:
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Sunday, June 18, 2023

Question no 3971 : "Inspection Container" are used for what type of Inspection Processing

In SAP Quality Management, which of the following objects can be included in the "Inspection Container" in the Inspection Lot for Inspection Processing ?

(more than one answers)

A) Handling Unit.
B) Equipment.
C) Functional Location.
D) Assemblies in In-Process Inspection.
E) Physical Sample.
.

Answer: A, B, C, D, E

A) For Materials activated for "HUM" (Handling Unit Management" or "SUM" (Storage Unit Management", the HU or SU can be generated in the Containers in the Inspection Lot for individual inspection for each HU ro SU.
B, C) For the Calibration Plan of Maintenance item with more than one Equipment of Functional Location, the EQs or FLs will be generated into Containers in the Inspection Lot for individual Calibration Results Recording.
D) Routing or Recipe can be used to generate In-Process Inspection and with specific routine assigned to the Inspection Point, inspection containers can be generated based on quantities or time in the Inspection Lot for In-Process Inspection.
E) For an Inspection Plan with Physical Sampling Procedure, Physical Samples drawn are generated as Containers for each Physical Sample for individual Results Recording.

Q&A in Class (2023-06-14) S43000

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UI5
Most traditional SAP Users are familiar with the SAP GUI Interface which was introduced when R/3 was released way by in the early 1990s (to be precise is 1992). SAP user interface remained largely untouched for many years even when SAP started to release the ECC (Enterprise Centric Component) in 2014. Then, SAP has toyed with web portals through their NetWeaver technologies (called NWBC or Netweaver Business Client) in the early to mid-2000s, but this new Web interface access to the SAP systems ended with very few customers adopting the technology. 

The new SAPS/4HANA deployments in the mid 2010s (specifically starting 2015), SAP is trying a "New Interface to SAP" calling it "UX" rather than "UI (User Interface)". And "UX" is now coined to mean "User Experience"; and this new initiative wants to ensure that the new Interface approaches to comply with good design practice and delight the users!

SAP claimed that Fiori apps can speed onboarding and reduce training time. With simple and intuitive screens, based on how people work, users can get their work done faster and more accurately with greater satisfaction. We think that SAP is very serious on this new "UX" approach as it looks like SAP starting "Mass Producing" FIORI Apps for the past 8 years where they are now maybe at least 15800+ Fiori Apps and can be found in https://fioriappslibrary.hana.ondemand.com/sap/fix/externalViewer/

SAP now uses Fiori App as the default "UX" interface to various SAP systems including some to access the classic ECC, SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP Ariba, SAP Cloud for Customer, and more. AND you can classify into the following types of Fiori Apps:
  1. "Transactional Fiori Apps" which are classic backend transactions now executed using the Fiori Apps interface. When executing such Fiori Apps, the user can see a short message example: "HTML of MM01" to indicator this type of App. 
  2. "Analytical Fiori Apps" are used to provide role-based real time information about the business operations. Analytical apps integrate the power of SAP HANA with SAP business suite. Users can typical find a Main Chart, Mini Charts, and document data, with ability to navigate to the document levels.
  3. "Find ... ", "Manage ..." FIORI Apps; for example Fiori Apps which begins with the word Find or Manage (in MM, PM) are Fiori Apps to extract documents from the Database with ability to Download to Excel, follow-up functions (like set System Status etc) to the documents, navigate to related Apps about the Document and even SAVE the filter and layout to another Fiori App (like a Transaction Variant). 
  4. "Innovative Fiori Apps" for example "Malfunction Report" and "Maintenance Request" Fiori Apps in PM are new S/4 Best Practice Processing Scenario only available in S/4 via Fiori Apps AND many other such Apps in other modules of MM, SD, CS etc. 
All SAP Fiori apps are built using SAPUI5, the UI development toolkit for HTML5 that provides a programming model for desktop and mobile applications. Its JavaScript UI control library allows developers to build applications that can run on any device.

Useful links to learn about SAPUI5:

SAP Fiori Apps [help.sap.com]
SAP Reference Library
What is SAP Fiori?
SAP Course: SAP Gateway – Building OData V2 Services (GW100)
SAP Course: Transactional Apps with the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (S4D437)
SAP Course: Developing UIs with SAPUI5 (UX400)
SAP Course: Developing SAP Fiori UIs (UX401)
SAP Course: Advanced SAPUI5 Development (UX402)


Using Inspection Checklist for Calibration
One of the "Innovative Processes" in S/4HANA for Plant Maintenance is the new functionality called "Inspection Checklist" which uses PM-QM integration to generate "Inspection Checklist" via Inspection Lots for each Equipment or Functional Location published as a new TAB "Inspection Checklist" in the Maintenance Order. 

Please check this blog posts on an example of how to apply Inspection Checklist for Calibration scenario:

More comprehensive examples for the applications of the "Inspection Checklist" will be posted in the near future.


Readiness Check
The SAP readiness check is a FREE tool by SAP which is normally used to asses the impact of an ECC to an S4HANA system upgrade or conversion. It can also be used to asses the impact of an upgrade of a lower S4HANA version to a newer S4HANA version. SAP Readiness Check also helps identify the skillsets of the experts that must be involved in your project. Mandatory tasks, tasks that can be resolved prior to project start, and tasks that can be left to future project phases are clearly identified.

Useful links for SAP Readiness Check information:

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Thursday, June 8, 2023

Q&A in Class (2023-06-09) S4LG1

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User status in Plant Maintenance - Maintenance Order 
There are 2 User status types possible in PM-MO, one is at the Order Header and another at the Operation Detail. The status profile of each is assigned to the Order Type. 
The following reference:


Mass create and Mass changes for Material Master
In S/4 HANA, the following are standard features available 

1) The Classic LSMW (Legacy System Migration Workbench)

2) Using LTMC (Legacy Transfer Migration Cockpit) 

3) There is also a t-code MMCC that allows Mass copy of a Material template to many materials

4) Using MM17 to mass change fields contents in the Material Master 


Setting up Split Valuation for Plant Maintenance to manage Spare Parts stocks 
1) Split Valuation (using Valuation type / batch field) to manage the material as several partial stock and each partial stock is valuated separately.


Tool management and tracking in SAP
1) SAP provided "Pool Asset Management" for PM and CS module via the business function LOG_EAM_PAM since EHP4 and still available in S/4HANA 2022. It is SAP GUI based at the moment. Pool Asset Management (PAM) to schedule and manage shared physical assets such as vehicles, cranes, special tools among different maintenance crew. PAM can be used to control and monitor the use of pool assets from the reservation, through issue, to return and settlement using a graphical planning board. See below:
Other resources:


Assembly processing
Refer to the following documentation from SAP about
Internal Customs Warehouse Processes
This is a usually a Warehouse process where the Warehouse personnel will assemble purchase parts into an Assembly item; this is to prepare the Assembly items before future withdrawal for actual usage in Production or Maintenance Processes. A Material BOM is necessary where the Assembly is the Header Material BOM and the purchase parts are the Components. A Production Order for the Header Material (Assembly) is created where the BOM components are exploded into the Production Order. The Parts are then Goods Issue to the Production Order and the Assembly Material is later received into Stock. 
The Blog posts will show an example of Assembly Processing of Spare Parts into an Assembly:
PM-MM-PP integration for Spare Parts Assembly


Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
    Power App alternative SAP
You can find comprehensive information about "SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation" here in the SAP link.
RPA is a business process automation technology that uses virtual software robots, also known as digital robots or bots, to perform manual, time-consuming work or tasks.
Robotic process automation technology handles a variety of activities, including: 
  • Manual and repetitive tasks: Interactions with data from multiple sources, such as Microsoft Excel, vendor portals, and other sources.
  • High-volume tasks: Process steps that must be completed time after time, for example data migrations and approval workflows.
  • Multiple system tasks: Access to different applications, like Web apps, RP solutions, third-party software, and others.
You can read about RPA here:
https://blog.sap-press.com/what-is-sap-intelligent-rpa (SAP Press)


Safety Questionnaire as Vendor Evaluation Criteria
Refer to the following:
Managing Questions and Sections in the Question Library


Retention Amount
Retention process is Holding back some percent of amount from the amount due to the vendors. 
You can find the SAP explanation about Retention feature in help.sap.com
Refer to the following Blog Post:

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SAP ECC users reluctant to move to S/4HANA

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SAP ECC users reluctant to move to S/4HANA

Until today, there is little evidence of the acceleration of migrations that would be needed to meet SAP's 2027 target to terminate mainstream maintenance support for ECC. After 2027, SAP will still offer extended maintenance until the end of 2030, but with a 2 percent premium for software support fees," the global research organization said. In the industry, there is a constant discussion on what ROI and benefits to migrate to S/4hANA; and not only as a corporate decision but from the Mass Users perspective on what are the benefits of S/4HANA. This is because many existing long time ECC Users were already not happy with the ECC system; and S/4HANA is often seen as just another IT project where Users will have to put in the "Extra efforts" again on-top of their current work loads which at the end may not bring in the benefits.

Some articles about the reluctance from ECC users to S/4:

Failed S/4:

Many "Experts" have written about benefits of S/4HANA

The initiatives like 
AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), Big data, IoT, and development initiatives like "Predicative Maintenance", Those "Big words" ALL sound wonderful BUT are there really "Pragmatic"!

For the IT department, Implementing Team to make a convincing selling point of S/4HANA over ECC has not been easy in the past 8 years, but the following are several possible arguments from what my little exposure to S/4HANA applications:

1) "EM" (Experience Management) direction
SAP started the initiative of "Experience Management (XM)" a few years ago. The purpose is to use the "EM engines" to Connect experience data and operational data to understand what a customer or an employee wants. The "XM" solution direction is part of the "HXM" solution started a few years ago in 2018. 'SAP UX' is used to deliver personalized, fast and easy user experiences. This is helped by various technologies such as SAP Fiori and SAP "EM" engine.
Drive Business Outcome through Employee Experience (click to video)
How Employee Experience initiatives and SAP Fiori work together (click the video)
Deliver an Integrated Employee Experience (click to video)
What is SAP Fieri Apps (click to video)

2) On-line Real time reporting
Customers who have been using the ECC with BW knows that on-line real time connection of the 2 may not necessary be possible all the time. Therefore the OLTP (On line transaction processing) system and OLAP (On line analytical processing) system is not necessary synchronized all the time. However, SAP S/4HANA promises seamless integration between OLTP and OLAP system and the HANA Analytics does provide on-line Real time reporting and analysis of Transaction data done in S/4 Backend or FIORI data entries. 

3) Mobile solutioning and Work flow (via the Simplification imitative in S/4)
Flexible Work flow will likely be one of the Mainstream developments to encapsulate the User Experience in various SAP modules:
Example: Flexi Work flow in MM-Purchasing Approval (in contrast to the Release Strategy) allows "simplified" setup of Approval for Purchasing Documents and User assignment. Workflow of approval request are sent directly to the User "Fiori App" without programming effort. 
https://froggysap.blogspot.com/2023/06/mm-purchasing-purchase-order-workflow.html

4) The Simplification initiatives
The Simplification initiatives in SAP, in my opinion aren't really a Marketing Gimmick as many examples product or processes have take on the initiative to present processing of scenarios in an innovative manner, and the following are examples:
etc.
The new INNOVATIVE initiatives released for the different SAP modules via the "Simplification" directive of S/4 are worthwhile to be looked at like the above 2 examples in PM
PM Innovations - 
    "Report and Repair Malfunction" via FIORI App
    "Maintenance Request" via FIORI App
    "Asset Explorer" via FIORI App
    Simplified FL and EQ creation via FIORI App
    Templates from LTMC for PM Master data upload to SAP
    "Inspection Checklist" to Plan and process checklist for EQ and FL
    etc
It is highly recommended for the Customer Project Manager to get the implementation partner to provide a concrete list of Innovations from each SAP module (FICO, MM, PP, SD, PS, PM, QM, EWM etc) and how these innovations would benefits the users from each module.

5) FIORI and Excel
One of the well received FIORI initiatives is the provision of download capabilities to Excel without too much efforts. As user can now easily download report listing published to FIORI to an Excel report. 
Upload Invoice via Excel xls or cvs (click link to the APP)
Upload Journal Entries via Excel xls or cvs (click link to the APP
Upload Production Forecast via Excel xls or cvs
Since the available FIORI Apps are already available and there are some positive acceptance by the Users, we hope SAP to continue to create FIORI Apps with Excel upload, download capabilities for many more scenarios in the future. 

6) "Overview" Analytics
The "Application specific Overview" FIORI Page enables business users to perform their daily tasks quickly and effectively without the need to open many different reports and transactions. Information is displayed on set of actionable cards. Users can therefore focus on the most important tasks, enabling faster decisions and immediate action. For example as below:
Procurement Overview Page (click link to the APP)
Inventory Analytics Overview Page (click link the APP)
Quality Engineer Overview Page (click link to the APP)
Quality Technician Overview Page (click link to the APP)

7) Capitalizing the FIORI development tools
SAP Fiori is a design system that enables IT users create business apps with a consumer-grade user experience, turning casual users into SAP experts with simple screens that run on any device. SAP FIORI tools comes with a set of extensions for SAP Business Application Studio and Visual Studio Code that makes it faster and easier to develop SAP Fiori elements applications.
While SAP continue to develop and roll-out FIORI Apps that offer the "UX" experience. My opinion is for all customer IT teams to study and capitalize on the FIORI development tools in order to create Applications that offer "UX" to the Mass Users. 
Example videos on this subject: 
Modernize SAP Fiori app development using SAP Fiori tools (click to video)
SAP Fiori and SAP UI5 (click to video)
SAP Business Application Studio (click to video)
Intro to SAP Fiori App Development (click to video)
Free style Fiori Application Development (click to video)
etc.
Some argue that FIORI app is another "oversell" of another SAP initiative, and when looking at some FIORI app examples that I have to agree with that. BUT, some "creative" FIORI developers really did came up with Apps that are useful and showcase that "User Experience" motive SAP so keen to sell today. 
What I would suggest to the Project Manager is to request the Implementation Partner to list out these "USEFUL" INNOVATIVE Fiori Apps by Module and demonstrate their potentials.  

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