Figure 1

The choose from pick list icon to the right of the field accesses the search help

I will show how a functional analyst can add a search help without the assistance of the ABAP or Basis teams and without a developer key. You do need to create a transport to move your search help to the QA and production systems. For this example, I will work with customer master search help.

If you are not familiar with basic search help terminology and processes, see the sidebar, “Terminology and Finding the Right Search Help”.

Customer Master Search Help

Standard SAP has multiple search helps for customer look-ups but none that allow you to search by the VAT number field, I will show how your users can easily create such a search help. For this method to work you must use a collective search help. First display the collective search help DEBI using transaction SE11. Then select Goto>Append Search Help. A pop-up screen appears showing existing SAP appended search helps. Click on the Append search help button (Figure 2). In the following pop-up screen SAP proposes a name for the new append, in this case ZADEBI, which I accept (Figure 3).

Figure 2

Append a custom collective search help

Figure 3

Enter the name for the custom elementary search help

You are taken to the maintain search help screen for the new append ZADEBI and can enter a short text.

Go to the Included search helps tab and enter the name of your elementary search help (Figure 3). This is the search help that allows the search by VAT number. You can go on to assign multiple custom elementary search helps to append search help ZADEBI. I named my elementary search help ZADEBI0. Normally SAP names the elementary search helps with the assigned hot key letter A-Z. It is best to use the numbers 0-9 for custom elementary search helps. Double-click on the elementary search help ZADEI0 to define it in detail (Figure 4). Table 1 explains how to complete this screen.

Figure 4

Create elementary search help

If the search help you want to define is similar to an existing one, go back to the SE11 main screen and copy the existing search help. Modify the fields as required rather than creating fields from scratch.

Once you have created the elementary search help you need to activate it. You also need to go back to the collective search help ZADEBI and define the parameter assignment between ZADEBI and ZADEBI0. In this case it is very simple because field KUNNR maps to KUNNR. Click on the Param. assignment button (Figure 3) and accept the SAP suggested values (Figures 6 and 7). After completing the assignment activate append search help ZADEBI.

Figure 5

Compare NAME1 and ORT01 vs. MCOD1 and MCOD3 fields

Figure 6

Assign fields of ZADEBI0 to ZADEBI

Figure 7

Accept SAP proposal

Once the activation is complete, you can test the search help by going to a screen with the customer field (e.g., XD03) and click on the choose from pick list icon next to the customer field. The new search help 0 appears in the list of elementary search helps (Figure 8) and you can now search for customers based on VAT numbers (Figure 9).

Figure 8

New search help by VAT number is available for end users

Figure 9

Search help selection hit list

Performance

When you are searching for values with a large number of entries (e.g., sales order or purchase order), the system may have 1 million plus entries resulting in a very slow search if there is no index to support the search help. If this type of search is frequently required by your users, work with your Basis team to create a supporting index to help database performance.

In the cases of master data tables with lower volumes (e.g., company code or plant) with fewer than 1,000 entries, a search help without a supporting index provides an acceptable response time. Try using some of the search helps for sales order or purchase order and you will see how long the response time can be. For example, use transaction VA03 (display sales order). Press F4 help for the Sales order field, choose Elementary Search Help A, Sales document (according to customer PO number), and search for any sales office, leave the PO number and Sales org fields blank.

Terminology and Finding the Right Search Help

Here are some terms you encounter in using search helps:

Elementary search help: defines a single method for searching for data (e.g., search for customer by account group). For some fields, such as plant or company code, only an elementary search help is defined. Nearly all search helps come standard so SAP has decided if a field needs only an elementary search help such as company code, or it needs a more comprehensive collective search help such as customer. A user can modify this for each field.

Collective search help: groups several elementary search helps, providing the user with several alternative methods of searching for the required data. An example of an elementary search help is DEBIA (Figure 1). Customers (general) is displayed as part of customer master collective search help DEBI and second elementary search help DEBID. You can see customers (by company code) on the second tab.

Figure 1

Search help A: Customers (general) is an elementary search help

When you display a collective search help using SE11 or SE12, enter the search help name in the search help field in the SE11 or initial screen. The tab Included search helps lists all the assigned elementary search helps. When the system displays a collective search help (Figure 1) click on the list search helps icon in the top right corner (circled in Figure 1) to see a full list of elementary search helps (Figure 2).

Figure 2

List of elementary search helps within collective search help DEBI for customer master

If you don’t see the letter code (hot key) next to the elementary search help, this is due to your search settings. To change them, follow this menu path, Help>Settings>F4 Help (tab) and choose Dialog (modal) (radio button) from any SAP screen. See Figure 3. Your system may be set up with a different value for consistent display of help features to users, so investigate the reason for the current setting in your system before making this change for all users.

Figure 3

Change help settings to ensure elementary search help hot key letters are displayed

How to Identify Search Help

The easiest way to tell which search help is being called upon for a specific field is to press F1 field help and then go to technical info (Figure 4). This shows the link between collective search help DEBI and the screen field where the user presses F4. In newer releases of SAP, collective search help C_KUNNR is assigned to the customer field instead of DEBI. If you drill down within the included search helps of C_KUNNR, you find A_KUNNR which includes DEBI and the same elementary search helps I mention in this article.

Figure 4

Technical info help shows the search help name for the field

The most common way a search help is assigned to a field is by using transaction SE11 and checking the Data element definition (Figure 5). You can also assign search helps to specific tables, table fields, and explicitly in programs. Assigning a search help for a data element requires Basis assistance. Keep this in mind if you create custom fields that could benefit from a search help.

Figure 5

Assign search help to data element

Rohana Gunawardena

Rohana Gunawardena heads the SAP practice division at Exium Inc. Exium is a leading business and technology consulting firm that enables companies to achieve their strategic business goals. Exium specializes in delivering superior IT solutions using ERP systems, with a special focus on SAP products. Rohana has been working with SAP since 1992. During his career he has assisted multiple clients on detailed system correction projects, such as correcting inventory balances, controlling area reorganizations, retrospectively activating group currency, and optimizing inter-company accounting transactions. He has spoken at many SAP conferences and has published more than 20 articles in Financials Expert, SCM Expert, and SAPtips on various aspects of SAP. His presentations have focused on Financials module selection, the order-to-cash process, global rollouts, business segment reporting, cross-module integration, and the financial impact of SCM transactions. Rohana is widely acknowledged as a leading SAP expert. Rohana is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. Previously Rohana has worked with the consulting practices of Accenture, Deloitte, and PwC.

Rohana will be presenting at the upcoming SAPinsider Financials 2018 conference October 16-18 in Prague. For information on the event, click here.

You may contact the author at Rohana@Exium.com .

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