Whether it involves the procurement of raw material for production processes or the spares and consumables for maintenance activities, incoming quality certificates are needed from all your vendors to reflect adherence to a product’s specifications. When incoming quality certificates are implemented in procurement processes, you can optimize your business processes by integrating and automating your organization’s quality management (QM) system with the vendor’s QM system through electronic data interchange (EDI).

For example, with EDI, you can directly transmit and transfer the quality parameters of a vendor-delivered product noted on an incoming quality certificate into your SAP ERP system. If your organization has already integrated procurement processes with the QM module, you can build incoming quality certificates on these processes.

Configuration Settings

Your first step is to perform the necessary configuration. A control key is used to control which parameters the system should check while performing a transaction. To define a new control key or make changes to the existing one, follow menu path SPRO > Reference IMG > Quality Management > QM in Logistics > QM in Procurement > Define Control Keys (Figure 1). Select control key 0005 and click the magnifying glass icon.

Figure 1

Control key for QM in procurement

In the next screen the parameters for the standard SAP control key 0005 should be preconfigured. Ensure that at least the two check boxes for Release required and Cert required are checked (Figure 2). Release required confirms that a vendor’s relationship to the material is maintained before any procurement is initiated. This relationship is referred to as a Quality Information (Q-Info) record, which I discuss in greater depth later. The Cert required check box ensures that the vendor submits an incoming quality certificate at the time of goods delivery. Although they are related to QM, the remaining check boxes are not directly related to incoming quality certificates.

Figure 2

The detailed screen for the control key for QM in procurement

Next, you need to assess the standard control keys available in SAP ERP to evaluate if you can use them. If these do not fulfill your business requirements, then you need to define a new control key.

Define Keys for Certificate Processing

A certificate type is assigned in the material master data and is used as a further control function for incoming quality certificates. To define the control function of a specific certificate type, follow menu path SPRO > Reference IMG > Quality Management > QM in Logistics > QM in Procurement > Define Keys for Certificate Processing (Figure 3). Double-click Define Certificate Types.

Figure 3

The initial screen to define certificate types

The next screen contains a list of the standard available certificate types (Figure 4). You can either use the available certificate type or define a new one. If the existing certificate type meets your company’s business needs, then I suggest that you use it as is or make changes to it. If not, you can define a new certificate type. For my example, I use an existing type and select certificate type 0005 to view the detailed screen shown in Figure 5, which displays the various options available for certificate types.

Figure 4

Overview of available certificate types

Figure 5

Detailed screen of certificate type 0005

To gain a better understanding of each option in Figure 5, refer to Table 1.

Table 1

Certificate type options

The configuration for incoming certificates is now complete. Your next step is to maintain the relevant information in the material master data and create the Q-Info record.

Master Data for Incoming Certificates

You should start by setting up the QM master data needed for an incoming certificate in SAP ERP prior to commencing the procurement process. The required master data is:

1. Certificate details in QM view in material master data
2. Q-Info record

Certificate Details in QM View in Material Master Data

Figure 6 is the QM view of the material master. Access this using transaction code MM02, entering material number 1707 and plant 1000. In the ensuing pop-up window to select material views, select the Quality Management view and press enter. You need to check the QM proc. active check box if it is required that a Q-Info record, otherwise known as a relationship between the vendor and the material, must exist while creating a PO. As this is a procurement process, I recommend that you check this box. The standard QM Control Key 0005 is available for this purpose. The next step is to assign a certificate type, which was previously configured as 0005, and save the material master by clicking the save icon or pressing Ctrl+S.

Figure 6

Assign QM control key and certificate type in the material master QM view

Q-Info Record

Because you selected the QM proc. active check box in Figure 6, you are required to define a relationship between a material and the vendor as a part of the QM master data, as I stated earlier. To create a Q-Info record, use transaction code QI01 or follow menu path Logistics > Quality Management > Quality Planning > Logistics Master Data > Quality Info Record: Procurement > Create. Figure 7 is the initial screen for the creation of Q-Info record in which you can define the material, vendor, and plant. After you populate these three fields, press Enter.

Figure 7

The initial screen for Q-Info record

In the next screen click the Insp. Control tab (Figure 8). You must select the option Inspection active, if vendor is not certified, which ensures that the incoming certificate is checked for the relevant material (e.g., 1707) purchased from the vendor (1000). Click the save icon to save the Q-info record.

Figure 8

Inspection control tab of Q-Info record

This step completes the important QM master data work needed to implement incoming certificates in procurement processes. However, to fully review the completeness and implications of configuration and master data on procurement processes, I next review the end-to-end procurement cycle of creating a PO, posting the goods receipt, and managing missing information in incoming certificates. I also explain  how to enter incoming certificate details with reference to the PO and its line-item number, as well as the dunning process to generate reminders to vendors for submitting the missing certificates against the goods supplied.

Create a PO

You must create the PO for the material and vendor for which the Q-Info record was created (Figure 8). To create the PO, use transaction code ME21N or follow menu path Logistics > Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Order > Create > Vendor/Supplying Plant Known. In the screen that appears (Figure 9), note that in the Delivery tab, control key 0005 is activated and a certificate is required at the time of goods receipt (delivery) of the material against the PO’s line-item number. When you click the save icon, the PO is saved and a PO number is generated.

Figure 9

Item detail of the PO for the procured material

Goods Receipt against the PO

Now, perform the goods receipt against the PO. Use transaction code MIGO or follow menu path Logistics > Materials Management > Inventory Management > Goods Movement > Goods Movement. In the screen that appears, enter the PO number previously created and press the Enter key (Figure 10).

Figure 10

Warning message for the missing incoming certificate during goods receipt

To ensure that all information is complete on the goods receipt screen, click the Check button. A pop-up box appears to inform you that a category 0005 inspected certificate is required. This is a warning message that you configured by selecting W Warning from the list of options in the pull-down menu for the Control without certif. control (refer back to Figure 5). You can now confirm this warning by pressing Enter again to save the document. Had you defined this as an error message in Figure 5, the system would not allow you to proceed until the incoming certificate was entered in SAP ERP.

Incoming Inspection Certificate

Next, create an incoming inspection certificate by entering transaction code QC51 or following menu path Logistics > Quality Management > Quality Certificates > Incoming > Create. In, the screen that appears enter the PO number followed by the item number of the PO and press Enter (Figure 11).

Figure 11

The initial screen for the creation of a quality certificate

In the next screen, for the purpose of my example, define that the certificate is expected against the above PO (Figure 12).

Figure 12

Certificate data for the incoming quality certificate

Other standard available certificate statuses that you can choose from are displayed in Figure 13.

Figure 13

Available incoming certificate statuses

Incoming Certificate Worklist

To track which expected or missing incoming certificates you need to follow up on with vendors, SAP ERP provides the intuitive capability to send reminders in the form of email, Adobe Acrobat documents, or simply by mail.

To access an incoming inspection certificate’s QM Worklist, use transaction code QC55 or follow menu path Logistics > Quality Management > Quality Certificates > Incoming > Worklist. Figure 14 is the initial screen in which you define the relevant parameters so that the system creates a worklist for further action. In my example, I provide a specific certificate number (351) as well as the status of certificate receipt (1, which means that the certificate is expected). SAP ERP provides preconfigured output formats such as QM_CERT_REMIND, which you can customize to specific business requirements in ABAP.

Figure 14

The initial screen for QM Worklist – quality certificates in procurement

Click the execute icon in Figure 14 and the system displays the screen shown in Figure 15, the QM Worklist for an incoming certificate in procurement. Select the relevant items and click the Dunning notices button to allow the system to create reminders.

Figure 15

QM Worklist for quality certificates in procurement

Figure 16 shows the message that appears if the deadline to submit the certificate has not yet been exceeded. You can still confirm the message and create the reminder by clicking the Yes button.

Figure 16

The deadline for the certificate submission is not yet exceeded

Figure 17 is the print preview of the incoming certificate receipt reminder. This screen  contains all the relevant details needed to ensure that the vendor sends or submits the needed certificate as soon as possible.

Figure 17

Print preview of a certificate receipt reminder

Once the system sends the reminder, the system automatically updates the status of the certificate to 3, which denotes Reminder for certificate sent (as shown in Figure 13). Further, once the user sends a reminder for the certificate to the vendor, the system automatically updates the status of the certificate shown in Figure 12.

Jawad Akhtar

Jawad Akhtar earned his chemical engineering degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology. He has 17 years of professional experience, of which nine years are in SAP. He has completed eight end-to-end SAP project implementation lifecycles in the areas of PP, QM, MM, PM, and DMS in the steel, automobile, chemical, fertilizer, FMCG, and building products industries. He also has worked as an SAP integration manager and an SAP project manager. He has been proactively involved in a business development and solution architect role for seven years. He is the author of Production Planning and Control with SAP ERP, it's filled with in-depth infomation on discrete, process, and repetitive manufacturing types. His profile on LinkedIn is at https://pk.linkedin.com/in/jawadakhtar. You may follow Jawad on Twitter @jawadahl. Currently, he is associated with AbacusConsulting as Head of SAP Delivery. You may contact the author at jawad.akhtar@live.com. If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.