In a typical television distribution business scenario, a media company sells the license to air a television series to a channel. In many cases, the series has run for many seasons. The series is represented in SAP CRM Intellectual Property Management (CRM-IPM) as intellectual property (IP) with all the seasons represented as sub-IPs under the series IP. When the license sales contract is created, the series IP along with all the season sub-IPs are added to the contract. You can create royalties, advance, rights, and holdback scopes under both the series IP and season sub-IPs to sell different rights in different areas with specific license fees.

CRM-IPM 7.0 enhancement package 1 has a functionality called the Mass Change Tool. It allows you to maintain elements of the license sales contract for IP. However, there are a few limitations of the standard Mass Change Tool:

• It doesn’t support mass maintaining royalties, advance, rights, and holdback scopes at the sub-IP level.       
• It doesn’t support mass changes if there are any errors on the contract. Users often want to use the mass change functionality to fix such errors.
• It doesn’t support mass creation of holdbacks.
• It doesn’t support mass assignment of a holdback to multiple rights scopes during holdback creation. Users have to mass create holdbacks and then go into the contract and assign hold backs to Rights Scope one at a time. This is a vital business requirement and very time consuming without the mass change option.
• It doesn’t support mass creation of Parties Involved and Partner Functions. It allows only mass changes.

This article provides an overview of mass change technical architecture and some basic enhancements, including enabling mass changes for custom fields, F4 search helps, and drop-downs. A thorough understanding of the architecture is essential to perform the advanced enhancements that address the key limitations listed above.

This article covers:

• A high level overview of the technical framework of the Mass Change Tool
• How to add custom fields in the Search operations and enable drop-downs
• How to enable search help for a field in Contract Header Search operations
• How to create a new node and include custom fields at the item-level Change operations

Technical Framework of the Mass Change Tool

The framework of the Mass Change Tool is driven by a configuration view cluster CRMVCL_MAS_CUST. Use transaction code SM34 and follow menu path View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects (Figure 1). This is the central place where all Mass Change-related configuration is done, including setting up nodes, operations, and fields that should be available for the user. The Mass Change Tool supports the three business objects shown in Figure 1. The scope of this article is limited to the CRM License Sales Contract, and all of the configuration described here can be easily extended to the other two Business Objects.

Figure 1

Mass Change Tool central configuration

Configuration settings for each section in the hierarchy on the left side of Figure 1 are explained in the following sections, along with screenprints depicting how the configuration entries translate to the actual screens in the tool.

Nodes

Each node in the configuration represents either a dataset (such as status or dates) or a group of fields. The attributes that need to be configured for a node are explained in Table 1. These attributes define the technical name, singular and plural descriptions, hierarchy, and sequence of the node. Some nodes are standard, but you can create custom nodes depending on the requirements. For example, you can create a custom node to show the custom fields. Nodes can be configured to be hierarchical.

Table 1

Configuration settings for a node

Table 1 Configuration settings for a node

Click the Nodes folder on the left to see the standard attributes explained in Table 1 (Figure 2).  Detailed steps to create a node are covered in a subsequent section.

Figure 2

The configuration for the contract header node and its sub-nodes

In the CRM WebClient UI, follow License Sales > Mass Change License Sales Contracts to see how the hierarchy is rendered on the screen (Figure 3). Click the New button to bring up the New Step pop-up screen. Select the search help icon next to Contract Header and you can see the nodes configured in Figure 2, with Contract Header rendered as the parent node.

Figure 3

Hierarchical display of nodes along with descriptions

Figure 3 Hierarchical display of nodes along with descriptions

Operations

The Operations folder defines the list of operations that can be performed on a particular node, as well as the underlying class that holds the logic, the view to be displayed, if applicable, and whether the operation is active or inactive. The operations can be Add, Change, Delete, or Search. Details about each attribute are shown in Table 2.

Table 2

Configuration settings for an operation

Figure 4 shows the operations available for the node Contract Header – Party Involved. To see how the operations are displayed in the UI, go to the CRM WebClient UI and follow License Sales > Mass Change License Sales Contracts. Click the New button and in the resulting pop-up screen you can see the options (Figure 5).

Figure 4

Operations available for the node Contract Header – Party Involved

Figure 5

Operations displayed in the CRM WebClient UI

Fields

The fields on which a certain operation is performed are configured in the Fields folder. In addition, here you can configure field attributes such as the placement of the field, the sequence, data type, description, data source for the field, and the underlying classes to influence the field display and to perform validations. For example, in a change operation, the fields that need to be changed are configured here and rendered dynamically. The fields that should show up in the result list assignment block are also configured here. Details about each attribute are shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Configuration settings for a field

In transaction code SM34, follow Business Objects > Nodes > Operations > Fields to see the configured fields for the node Contract Header – Party Involved (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Configured fields for the node Contract Header – Party Involved

Back in the CRM WebClient UI screen, under Procedure Overview select the New button and you can see how to select the change operation for the node Header – Party Involved (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Select the change operation for the node Header – Party Involved

Figure 8 shows the fields that are available to change in the Change operation for the node Header – Party Involved.

Figure 8

The list of fields available in the Change operation for the node Header – Party Involved

Fields (UI)

The Fields (UI) folder defines additional UI attributes, such as mandatory field, field position, search help, Set/Clear/Calculate operations, and units. Details about each attribute are shown in Table 4.

Table 4

Configuration settings for Fields (UI)

The Fields (UI) folder under Operations shows the UI attributes of the Status field in the node Contract Header – Status – Operation Change (Figure 9).

Figure 9

Status field in the node Contract Header – Status – Operation Change

Figure 10 shows how the Status field is rendered on the screen in the CRM WebClient UI.

Figure 10

CRM WebClient UI Status field

Figure 11 shows how the Calculate Operation for a Date field is rendered on the screen.

Figure 11

The calculate operation for a Date field

Title Fields (UI)

The Title Fields (UI) folder defines the titles under which a set of fields needs to be grouped. The position of the title in terms of rows and columns is also specified here. Details about each attribute are shown in in the last four rows of Table 4.

In the Title Fields (UI) folder, you can see the Title Fields (UI) attributes of the field Status in the node Contract Header – Status > Operation – Change (Figure 12).

Figure 12

Title Fields (UI) attributes of the Status field in the node Contract Header – Status > Operation – Change

The actual title text needs to be maintained in the table CRMC_MAS_DVFLDT using transaction SM30 (Figure 13). The Component name field has to be the same as the one maintained under Title Fields (UI).

Figure 13

Title text maintenance

Figure 14 shows how the title is rendered on the screen in the CRM WebClient UI.

Figure 14

Title text in the user interface

Include Custom Fields in the Contract Header Search Operation

In this section, I show how to enable mass changes for a custom field.

Figure 15 shows a field created using the Application Enhancement Tool (AET) at the header level in table CRMD_ORDERADM_H.

Figure 15

A field created using the AET at the header level in table CRMD_ORDERADM_H

The base structure for the Mass Change Header advanced search is CRMT_IPM_CONTRACT_DQUERY_MC. The field ZZAFLD00000F is automatically appended to this structure by AET, as shown in Figure 16. Any field available in this structure can be added to the Search operation.

Figure 16

Field ZZAFLD00000F is automatically appended to the search structure

The following steps show how to include this field in the Contract Header Search operation.

Step 1. Navigate to the node Contract Header > Operation – Search shown in Figure 17.  (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > CONT_HEADER > Operations > SRCH > Fields), and create a new entry for the field ZZAFLD00000F. Make sure the field name is the same as the one in the search structure. The values to be entered for each attribute are shown in Table 5.

Figure 17

Configuration settings for the field ZZAFLD00000F

Table 5

Attribute values for the field ZZAFLD00000F

The class ZCL_CRM_MAS_BTX_CUSTOM_DDLB shown in Figure 18 (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > CONT_HEADER > Operations > SRCH > Fields) and Figure 19 is inherited from the standard class CL_CRM_MAS_DESCR_DDLB and ensures that the field is rendered as a drop-down.

Figure 18

Configuration settings to show the field ZZAFLD00000F in the search criteria

The inherited method BUILD_TABLE( ) is called dynamically and custom code should be implemented in the method to populate the drop-down with key or value pairs in the global internal table GT_DDLB_VALUES.

Figure 19 provides sample code to populate the drop-down values.

Figure 19

Sample code for the BUILD_TABLE( ) method in the class ZCL_CRM_MAS_BTX_CUSTOM_DDLB to show the drop-down values

Figure 20 shows the drop-down menu in the search step.

Figure 20

The search step drop-down menu

Step 2. To show the custom field in the Result List assignment block, create the following configuration entry, as shown in Figure 21 (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > CONT_HEADER > Operations > SRCH > Fields). The values to be entered for each attribute are shown in Table 6.

Table 6

Attribute values to show the field ZZAFLD00000F in the Result List

Figure 21

Configuration settings to show the field ZZAFLD00000F in the Result List

Figure 22 provides sample code for the GET_PROPERTY( ) method in the class ZCL_CUSTOM_ATTR_HANDLER to show the description instead of the key value. Note that the class ZCL_CRM_MAS_BTX_CUSTOM_DDLB used to build the drop-down values is reused here.

Figure 22

Sample code for the GET_PROPERTY( ) method in the class ZCL_CUSTOM_ATTR_HANDLER to show the description instead of the key value

Figure 23 shows the custom field in the Result List showing the description Class 1 instead of the key value 01.

Figure 23

The custom field in the Result List showing the description Class 1 instead of the key value 01

Similarly, the search operation can be enhanced at the item-level nodes, such as Rights Scope, Royalties Scope Flat Fee, Variables, and Holdbacks. The search structures for item-level nodes are shown in Table 7.

Table 7

Various scope types and their corresponding search structures

Enable Search Help for a Field in Contract Header Search Operations

Search for contracts by Product ID, a field used often in searches, is not available by default. However, this field is already available in the search structure CRMT_IPM_MC_HEADER_SEL_CR, so the standard Product search UI component PRD04QR is reused. Create an entry as shown in Figure 24 (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > CONT_HEADER > Operations > SRCH > Fields) under the Contract Header Search node. The values to be entered for each attribute are shown in Table 8.

Table 8

Attribute values to enable search help for the product ID

Figure 24

Configuration settings to enable search help for the product ID

Figure 25 offers sample code for the redefined methods in search help class ZCL_CRM_SEARCH_HELP_PRODUCT_ID. The method INITIALIZE( ) sets the name of the UI component to be called as a search help and also the title of the pop-up screen.

Figure 25

Sample code for the redefined methods in search help class ZCL_CRM_SEARCH_HELP_PRODUCT_ID

Figure 26 shows the newly added field with the search help pop-up screen.

Figure 26

The newly added field with the search help pop-up

Create a New Node and Include Custom Fields at the Item-Level Change Operation

Figure 27 shows a field created using an AET at the item level in table CRMD_CUSTOMER_I.

Figure 27

A field created using AET at the item level in table CRMD_CUSTOMER_I

To create a new node exclusively for custom fields at the item level (Royalties Scope – Flat Fee) and enable the Change operation for the field ZZAFLD0L00011, take the following steps.

Step 1. Create a new node, ROSF_CUSTOM, with the configuration settings in Table 9, as shown in Figure 28 (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes).

Table 9

Attribute values to create node ROSF_CUSTOM

Figure 28

Configuration settings to create node ROSF_CUSTOM

Step 2. Create an entry under Operations to enable the Change operation for the new node created above, as shown in Figure 29 (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > ROSF_CUSTOM > Operations). The values to be entered for each attribute are shown in Table 10.

Table 10

Attribute values for the operation change

Figure 29

Configuration settings for the operation change

Step 3. Create three entries under the Fields node as shown in Figure 30 (Transaction SM34, View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > ROSF_CUSTOM > Operations > CHNG > Fields).

Notice that, in addition to the entry for the custom field – CUSTOM_FLAG, two other entries are configured to show the item number and description in the result list. The values to be entered for each attribute are shown in Table 11.

Table 11

Attribute values to show the field ZZAFLD0L00011

Figure 30

Configuration settings to show the custom field ZZAFLD0L00011 and standard fields Item Number (NUMBER_INT) and Item Description (SCOPE_DESC)

Step 4. Create an entry under the Fields (UI) node for CUSTOM_FLAG to display it as a check box, as shown in Figure 31 (Transaction SM34 > View Cluster: CRMVCL_MAS_CUST > Business Objects > BUS2000230 > Nodes > ROSF_CUSTOM > Operations > CHNG > Fields (UI)). The values to be entered for each attribute are shown in Table 12.

Table 12

Attribute values to show the field ZZAFLD0L00011 as a check box

Figure 31

Configuration settings to show the field ZZAFLD0L00011 as a check box

Step 5. The new node created for Custom Fields appears in the step hierarchy pop-up as shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32

New node Custom Fields is shown under Royalties Scope – Flat Fee

Step 6. When the Custom Fields node is selected, the Change operation is available, as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33

Operation Change is shown in the drop-down

Step 7. When the operation is selected, the custom field is available as a check box with Set and Clear operations. It’s also available in the Result list along with item number and scope description. All the flat fee royalties scopes in the contract are displayed in the Result list for selection and the custom field can be changed, as shown in Figures 34 and 35.

Figure 34

Custom field ZZAFLD0L00011 is shown as a check box

Figure 35

Custom field ZZAFLD0L00011 is shown in the result list

Figure 35 Custom field ZZAFLD0L00011 is shown in the result list

Similarly, multiple custom fields can be configured in a step and grouped logically if needed under different sections. 

Abhishek Gundala

Abhishek Gundala is a manager at Capgemini and has more than 10 years of experience in SAP CRM and ECC. He has strong expertise in CRM WebClient UI, Object Oriented ABAP, and HANA. His experience includes multiple full life-cycle SAP implementations including upgrades to HANA spanning the Media, Services, and Defense industries. Over the years, he played multiple roles as a developer, team lead, technical architect, and project manager.

 

 

You may contact the author at agundala@gmail.com.

If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.